1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
I saw a bunch of folks from the board were out at French Creek this past Saturday, so let's hear some race recaps!
I kind of decided to go to this race on the spur of the moment Friday afternoon. That's probably not a great way to put your best foot forward for a good result, but whatever. I woke up at about 5:30 am on Saturday and could hear the rain pounding on the window next to my bed. I briefly considered bagging it, but upon the urging of my (perpetually) hungry cat, I got up anyway. Pawsby fed, I checked the weather and saw that the storm was a very narrow band that had already passed through Elverson (where FC Park is) so I went downstairs and decided once and for all that I would go. But I made one concession to crappy weather and changed my cog on the Moots from a 19 to a 20. I'd done this race many times in the past and knew that FC wet can make for a difficult day.
I drove out to the venue through one brutal downpour and questioned why I was doing this over and over. I got to FC, and signed up day-of for a very odd fee of $67 (was $66.89 not allowed?) Then I kitted up and dropped my tiny little cooler with just three extra bottles and Clif bar along the finishing chute (since I regularly do four hour rides with only two bottles, I figured five total was probably more than I'd ever need, especially considering it was like maybe 55 degrees tops.) After that I rode around a bit and chatted with a few folks, including @Norm , @seanrunnette and @Dominique. I spoke to a few other folks I knew - Chris from Baltimore, Sean from Reading, and one or two others. Then it was time to line up.
The start was a mass start of all endurance classes. Someone in front of me stumbled jon the start, and I jumped to chase back to the lead group when I got going again but found myself in a really weird no man's land. I mean, we were less than a quarter mile into the race and there was a group of about 10 about 30 yards up the road and when I turned around, the others were probably 30 yards behind me. I felt so alone.
I did catch up to the back of the lead group on the drops after the climb, but that wasn't any effort on my part - the drops were a shit show: super slick mud below foot-high water bar drops followed by a 180 degree right turn at the bottom. I later heard from a guy in the lot after the race that a few of the racers crashed really badly there over the course of the day and I'm not surprised. That was the one part of the course I would say they may have been able to cut out due to weather, but overall it wasn't that bad -- you just really couldn't let loose down that chute or you could get pretty messed up. And if cutting it out meant re-routing any other part of the course, then I'm good with leaving it in .
Overall, this was my all-time favorite FC course. The old endurance course was much longer - like 15 mile laps. That was okay for a 6 hour race, but for a 4 hour that would have been too long. And brutal.
I kind of settled into my "forever pace" soon into the first lap and just rode that way all day. Nothing special. I had a lot of fun riding, but I just didn't have the mentality to go harder on Saturday. I rode it like I would be out there for 12 hours, but since the race was actually just four hours, I would have had to do better to compete. I ultimately finished fourth, missing the chance for a sixth lap by just a couple of minutes. Meh. I was fine with that. As it turns out, if I had just a little more competitiveness, I maybe could have been in the running for a podium spot - Both 2nd and 3rd crossed the line at right around 4 hours, so if I could have gotten more out of my old bones, I may have had a better shot. But I was fine with being done when I was. In fact, I really only had one moment of feeling "competitive" all day -- early in my third lap, I got stuck behind one of the Cat 2 classes and had to pick my way through them on the first long climb. By the time I reached the top, I had two guys on my wheel and one of them kept saying they needed to pass. So I gave them a lone but they couldn't bridge. So I continued to ride and the guy says it again. So I give him a line again without slowing down and, again, he can't bridge. So I was like "screw this" since we were approaching some of the more technical descent sections. So I picked up my pace and charged through the descents. I knew if they caught me there, I'd have to move since they were both on FS bikes and I'm not going to hold up someone from having that kind of fun on those descents. But they never did. In fact, I actually dropped both of them on my hardtail. After that I just rode hard for a bit so they wouldn't get back on and I never saw them again. Eventually, though, that wore off and I returned to my previous "just riding bikes in the muddy woods" mentality. In the end, I rolled across the line with five laps and was home before 4:00. Aside from the massive bike cleanup I (still) have to do, it was a pretty ideal race day scenario time-wise.
I look a lot angrier than I really am here ... and about half as muddy ...
I kind of decided to go to this race on the spur of the moment Friday afternoon. That's probably not a great way to put your best foot forward for a good result, but whatever. I woke up at about 5:30 am on Saturday and could hear the rain pounding on the window next to my bed. I briefly considered bagging it, but upon the urging of my (perpetually) hungry cat, I got up anyway. Pawsby fed, I checked the weather and saw that the storm was a very narrow band that had already passed through Elverson (where FC Park is) so I went downstairs and decided once and for all that I would go. But I made one concession to crappy weather and changed my cog on the Moots from a 19 to a 20. I'd done this race many times in the past and knew that FC wet can make for a difficult day.
I drove out to the venue through one brutal downpour and questioned why I was doing this over and over. I got to FC, and signed up day-of for a very odd fee of $67 (was $66.89 not allowed?) Then I kitted up and dropped my tiny little cooler with just three extra bottles and Clif bar along the finishing chute (since I regularly do four hour rides with only two bottles, I figured five total was probably more than I'd ever need, especially considering it was like maybe 55 degrees tops.) After that I rode around a bit and chatted with a few folks, including @Norm , @seanrunnette and @Dominique. I spoke to a few other folks I knew - Chris from Baltimore, Sean from Reading, and one or two others. Then it was time to line up.
The start was a mass start of all endurance classes. Someone in front of me stumbled jon the start, and I jumped to chase back to the lead group when I got going again but found myself in a really weird no man's land. I mean, we were less than a quarter mile into the race and there was a group of about 10 about 30 yards up the road and when I turned around, the others were probably 30 yards behind me. I felt so alone.
I did catch up to the back of the lead group on the drops after the climb, but that wasn't any effort on my part - the drops were a shit show: super slick mud below foot-high water bar drops followed by a 180 degree right turn at the bottom. I later heard from a guy in the lot after the race that a few of the racers crashed really badly there over the course of the day and I'm not surprised. That was the one part of the course I would say they may have been able to cut out due to weather, but overall it wasn't that bad -- you just really couldn't let loose down that chute or you could get pretty messed up. And if cutting it out meant re-routing any other part of the course, then I'm good with leaving it in .
Overall, this was my all-time favorite FC course. The old endurance course was much longer - like 15 mile laps. That was okay for a 6 hour race, but for a 4 hour that would have been too long. And brutal.
I kind of settled into my "forever pace" soon into the first lap and just rode that way all day. Nothing special. I had a lot of fun riding, but I just didn't have the mentality to go harder on Saturday. I rode it like I would be out there for 12 hours, but since the race was actually just four hours, I would have had to do better to compete. I ultimately finished fourth, missing the chance for a sixth lap by just a couple of minutes. Meh. I was fine with that. As it turns out, if I had just a little more competitiveness, I maybe could have been in the running for a podium spot - Both 2nd and 3rd crossed the line at right around 4 hours, so if I could have gotten more out of my old bones, I may have had a better shot. But I was fine with being done when I was. In fact, I really only had one moment of feeling "competitive" all day -- early in my third lap, I got stuck behind one of the Cat 2 classes and had to pick my way through them on the first long climb. By the time I reached the top, I had two guys on my wheel and one of them kept saying they needed to pass. So I gave them a lone but they couldn't bridge. So I continued to ride and the guy says it again. So I give him a line again without slowing down and, again, he can't bridge. So I was like "screw this" since we were approaching some of the more technical descent sections. So I picked up my pace and charged through the descents. I knew if they caught me there, I'd have to move since they were both on FS bikes and I'm not going to hold up someone from having that kind of fun on those descents. But they never did. In fact, I actually dropped both of them on my hardtail. After that I just rode hard for a bit so they wouldn't get back on and I never saw them again. Eventually, though, that wore off and I returned to my previous "just riding bikes in the muddy woods" mentality. In the end, I rolled across the line with five laps and was home before 4:00. Aside from the massive bike cleanup I (still) have to do, it was a pretty ideal race day scenario time-wise.
I look a lot angrier than I really am here ... and about half as muddy ...
