I has the Garmin VivoSmart HR+, which does the same stuff.. The wrist vibrate alarm is key for not waking spouse for those early morning rides or training sessions. Much easier to sneak out....
Jshort’s bike thread
- Thread starter jShort
- Start date
In the spirit of blogs not being dead, I’ll share some notes from the Challenger race.
Historically, when I get back from vacation, I suck for a few weeks. I assumed I would suck for this race for that same reason and because of that I went in with very, very low expectations. In addition to assuming I would suck, there were 20 pre-regs and I only knew @Kirt. MASS races typically have a higher level of competition….one more reason for low expectations.
I was up at 5, out the door by 5:30, and pulled into the parking spot by 7 for an 8:30 race. First impressions were positive. They had a big stage and video board, a huge blow up Stans finish line thing, lots of Team tents going up, etc. Reg was ready to go. And there were a million cops who were setting up a tent area for some kind of something. No idea what actually. I avoid cops that don’t ride bikes
Lining up I saw a few day-of ’s came and registered.. so now the field was looking like 25 or maybe close to 30. One of the biggest I have been a part of… maybe XC isn’t dying? My only goal for the start of the race was to go into the single track being able to keep track of and count how many people were in front of me. I’ve learned there are 2 styles for starting a races: the first is being non aggressive and just trying to make it hurt as little as possible. The second is very aggressive and willing to endure some pain to secure a good start. This group, of which I am a member, usually has a high concentration of experienced cross racers.
The Mayor of the town (seriously) was at the line to blow the whistle and send us off into the race. We make our way down the road and I am near the front. I cut the first turn ( a u turn that goes from the road to grass) and get into the 6th or 7th spot . perfect.
Once the racing starts, its kind of a blur. The trail is super twisty, almost six mile like, with some sandy washed out turns which are a little sketchy at speed. I also have uncut bars which add to the challenge. No pun intended. Things shake out as they do and the pretenders are spit out unable to keep pace and contenders try to distance themselves. 15 minutes into the race was in the lead group of 5. We weren’t gapping the rest, but we were comfortable ahead. I was in the last spot and taking advantage of seeing the lines everyone as taking. Being completely unfamiliar with the trail isn’t that bad as long as you have someone in front that you can follow. I was feeling great and able to hang with the lead group without going anywhere near redline. Suddenly the low expectations weren’t low.
Starting the second lap was when I had my first bit of bad luck (or bad riding). Less than a half mile into the 2nd lap singletrack, I was going over some rollers that went a bit to the left and my front tire washed out. 2 guys got by me here. I didn’t feel it at the time but I took a bar end to my thigh. I jumped up and tried to catch back up immediately. The course was not the ideal candidate for this strategy… All I managed to was to do mini burst and the brake for 5 minutes. I realized that wasn’t the way to catch up so I settled down and tried to pick my lines. Rode smooth and calm.
It took me to almost the end of the 2nd lap to catch the lead group. When I did finally bridge, I wasn’t feeling as great as I was the prev lap, but still somewhat confident.. probably to a fault.
Third lap starts and we all go by the team tents and the announcer. 5 guys in a pack at the lead….going into the last lap is kind of cool I guess… I got a little excited. As we got on the road, which was between a quarter and a half mile stretch to the singletrack, I looked at the guy next to me and smiled, like “I’m back”. Then I locked out my fork and A-fucking-takked. I’m not sure why, but I felt like I was playing with house money and said fuck it. Only 1 guy stayed with me and we went into the single track with a 5 or 6 second lead which was actually more than it seems because of the twists.
My HR was waaaay the hell up there. 190 to be exact. I hadn’t seen higher than 185 all year so this made me a little nervous. I tried to remember to stay smooth, avoid jamming on the brakes, etc.. but its tough when your way above LTHR and trying to maintain a lead at the same time on unfamiliar trails.
It became clear to me anyway, that I was going to pop any second. I tried to ease off the gas a little and as soon as I did that, the pack would start to catch me. Which causes me to panic, push, and then elevate my HR. This was a reoccurring theme for the next 20 minutes or so. Eventually I struck my pedal at the top of a short, punchy climb and the guy behind me took the lead and was audi5000. He was obviously just waiting to pounce and would have left me in the dust even if I hadn’t messed up a little.
So then I was more or less solo, and trying to fend off a group of 4 or 5 guys. I was way way way in the red and just trying to maintain speed without hitting a tree. At first I thought I was hopeless.. but a few minutes went by and I recovered a bit and got a little confidence.
The last 10 minutes took hours. I’m not going to say I was in full zombie mode, because that isn’t applicable to being in 2nd place, but after every little climb, I was in full oxygen deprivation mode. Seeing spots and basically delirious. Picture @UtahJoe on a 95 degree day at KSVP. I feel like they extended the last lap… its taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Every turn I am looking for the little paved path that leads to the finish. Somewhere along the way, following the race course gets hard… like the tape wasn’t as clear as it was lap 1 or 2. I come to an intersection and turn left. It wasn’t taped off, but it didnt feel right so I slowed. Just as I did that I heard “wrong way!!”. I turned and saw 3, 4, and 5 zoom by. Fuck.
I chase but I have nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. I’m somewhere between pissed and exhausted and just want to finish when 6th place flies by me like I’m standing still. I basically was I think. At this point I didn’t care and just slow pedaled to the finish and somehow, amazingly, held onto 7th.
I was full on delirious. Just slow pedaling had my HR at 150. It took 20 minutes before I could breathe normally and have a conversation with Kirt who finished right behind me.
Its my own fault for missing the turn, for sure. Arrows would have helped, but nobody else made the mistake so It’s all me. I don’t know if I could have held on for 2nd either, but that’s racing. I am definitely going to be back next year. This is a great race and awesome venue. The promoter did a great job and everyone should put this as a can’t miss for 2018.
Historically, when I get back from vacation, I suck for a few weeks. I assumed I would suck for this race for that same reason and because of that I went in with very, very low expectations. In addition to assuming I would suck, there were 20 pre-regs and I only knew @Kirt. MASS races typically have a higher level of competition….one more reason for low expectations.
I was up at 5, out the door by 5:30, and pulled into the parking spot by 7 for an 8:30 race. First impressions were positive. They had a big stage and video board, a huge blow up Stans finish line thing, lots of Team tents going up, etc. Reg was ready to go. And there were a million cops who were setting up a tent area for some kind of something. No idea what actually. I avoid cops that don’t ride bikes
Lining up I saw a few day-of ’s came and registered.. so now the field was looking like 25 or maybe close to 30. One of the biggest I have been a part of… maybe XC isn’t dying? My only goal for the start of the race was to go into the single track being able to keep track of and count how many people were in front of me. I’ve learned there are 2 styles for starting a races: the first is being non aggressive and just trying to make it hurt as little as possible. The second is very aggressive and willing to endure some pain to secure a good start. This group, of which I am a member, usually has a high concentration of experienced cross racers.
The Mayor of the town (seriously) was at the line to blow the whistle and send us off into the race. We make our way down the road and I am near the front. I cut the first turn ( a u turn that goes from the road to grass) and get into the 6th or 7th spot . perfect.
Once the racing starts, its kind of a blur. The trail is super twisty, almost six mile like, with some sandy washed out turns which are a little sketchy at speed. I also have uncut bars which add to the challenge. No pun intended. Things shake out as they do and the pretenders are spit out unable to keep pace and contenders try to distance themselves. 15 minutes into the race was in the lead group of 5. We weren’t gapping the rest, but we were comfortable ahead. I was in the last spot and taking advantage of seeing the lines everyone as taking. Being completely unfamiliar with the trail isn’t that bad as long as you have someone in front that you can follow. I was feeling great and able to hang with the lead group without going anywhere near redline. Suddenly the low expectations weren’t low.
Starting the second lap was when I had my first bit of bad luck (or bad riding). Less than a half mile into the 2nd lap singletrack, I was going over some rollers that went a bit to the left and my front tire washed out. 2 guys got by me here. I didn’t feel it at the time but I took a bar end to my thigh. I jumped up and tried to catch back up immediately. The course was not the ideal candidate for this strategy… All I managed to was to do mini burst and the brake for 5 minutes. I realized that wasn’t the way to catch up so I settled down and tried to pick my lines. Rode smooth and calm.
It took me to almost the end of the 2nd lap to catch the lead group. When I did finally bridge, I wasn’t feeling as great as I was the prev lap, but still somewhat confident.. probably to a fault.
Third lap starts and we all go by the team tents and the announcer. 5 guys in a pack at the lead….going into the last lap is kind of cool I guess… I got a little excited. As we got on the road, which was between a quarter and a half mile stretch to the singletrack, I looked at the guy next to me and smiled, like “I’m back”. Then I locked out my fork and A-fucking-takked. I’m not sure why, but I felt like I was playing with house money and said fuck it. Only 1 guy stayed with me and we went into the single track with a 5 or 6 second lead which was actually more than it seems because of the twists.
My HR was waaaay the hell up there. 190 to be exact. I hadn’t seen higher than 185 all year so this made me a little nervous. I tried to remember to stay smooth, avoid jamming on the brakes, etc.. but its tough when your way above LTHR and trying to maintain a lead at the same time on unfamiliar trails.
It became clear to me anyway, that I was going to pop any second. I tried to ease off the gas a little and as soon as I did that, the pack would start to catch me. Which causes me to panic, push, and then elevate my HR. This was a reoccurring theme for the next 20 minutes or so. Eventually I struck my pedal at the top of a short, punchy climb and the guy behind me took the lead and was audi5000. He was obviously just waiting to pounce and would have left me in the dust even if I hadn’t messed up a little.
So then I was more or less solo, and trying to fend off a group of 4 or 5 guys. I was way way way in the red and just trying to maintain speed without hitting a tree. At first I thought I was hopeless.. but a few minutes went by and I recovered a bit and got a little confidence.
The last 10 minutes took hours. I’m not going to say I was in full zombie mode, because that isn’t applicable to being in 2nd place, but after every little climb, I was in full oxygen deprivation mode. Seeing spots and basically delirious. Picture @UtahJoe on a 95 degree day at KSVP. I feel like they extended the last lap… its taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Every turn I am looking for the little paved path that leads to the finish. Somewhere along the way, following the race course gets hard… like the tape wasn’t as clear as it was lap 1 or 2. I come to an intersection and turn left. It wasn’t taped off, but it didnt feel right so I slowed. Just as I did that I heard “wrong way!!”. I turned and saw 3, 4, and 5 zoom by. Fuck.
I chase but I have nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. I’m somewhere between pissed and exhausted and just want to finish when 6th place flies by me like I’m standing still. I basically was I think. At this point I didn’t care and just slow pedaled to the finish and somehow, amazingly, held onto 7th.
I was full on delirious. Just slow pedaling had my HR at 150. It took 20 minutes before I could breathe normally and have a conversation with Kirt who finished right behind me.
Its my own fault for missing the turn, for sure. Arrows would have helped, but nobody else made the mistake so It’s all me. I don’t know if I could have held on for 2nd either, but that’s racing. I am definitely going to be back next year. This is a great race and awesome venue. The promoter did a great job and everyone should put this as a can’t miss for 2018.
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Nice work speedy!
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
Rather than only hitting like, I feel obligated to add commentary... blogs are not dead
Good to see you and Kurt.
At some point during my second lap when I became a victim of an attack, I felt like I was playing dizzybat with all them damn twisties.
On my third lap, I did catch a glimpse of the orange and blue kit somewhere mid lap in the twisties and was determined to not let you catch me. Thanks for the motivation
Good to see you and Kurt.
At some point during my second lap when I became a victim of an attack, I felt like I was playing dizzybat with all them damn twisties.
On my third lap, I did catch a glimpse of the orange and blue kit somewhere mid lap in the twisties and was determined to not let you catch me. Thanks for the motivation
Pretty sure you should have fought @Mountain Bike Mike for taking out the tape where you missed your turn. He stole your podium.
If blogging was still alive, we would have been able to read about his recap.
If blogging was still alive, we would have been able to read about his recap.
Kort was telling me about the heat while I was pedaling around stewart showing people the tree I left my face on. Sounded like hell...at least they started you guys early. Next year ill ask you about this race.
btw....if I do speech to text into my phone it randomly does Kirt, Kurt, Curt...
btw....if I do speech to text into my phone it randomly does Kirt, Kurt, Curt...
I found the problem. You're race number kept pulling you left
Nice work out there!
The garmin mount always gets in the way. Usually I just rip a hole, but the MASS plates are too nice for that. I was actually pretty happy with the new setup
Outstanding recap. A 5 point jump in max heart rate that isn't immediately followed by a ride in a helicopter is weird. Not sure if it's good weird or really, really bad weird. Or if it means you're just lazy. IN any case, monumental day!
Nationals Wrap up
This really didn’t go as i had hoped. This may be an epically long post for me, so I’ll try to break it up as much as possible. I have a ton of things to say.
As I’ve done more and more races during my 10ish years of racing, I’ve developed an appreciation of the big events. I like the crowds, the "pro" feel to them, and especially the competition. I sign up for the MTB National Championships to see how I stack up against the other likeminded athletes. I think we all know the people at these races (Pro cats excluded) isn’t exactly the "fastest Masters 40-45" in the country. The announcer may make it seem like this when he is filling down time before call ups, but I am pretty sure there are hundreds of guys out there who could hang and do well at this level, but they aren’t about to trek to Snowshoe WV to find out. That said, there are some really talented guys here and it’s a huge stage to compete on. I was d planned. I have a Ton of thoughts here, so I’ll break them up as much as possible.
lucky enough that my Wife was super cool with me going down for a few days while she stays home with 2 kids.
How not to lead up to a big race:
My Last race was the peter punder (SP intended). Long story Short, I went 1.5 miles off course, turned around, went 1.5 miles back to find the course, this all together was about 17 minutes of time lost and 300 ft of climbing. I turned myself inside out and got 3rd. The two other leaders in my race went off course too but they decided to throw it in, so i was pretty proud of myself for not giving up and still passing a few guys which I had given a huge gap to. I felt pretty good physically during that race too.
The Tuesday after pounder, I went for a workout ride in the AM which included some hill repeats. 1.5 sets into this and I bailed. I just felt like shit and knew it wasn’t benefiting me so I went for a 60 minute easy tempo ride, which seemed harder than it should.
The next scheduled ride was Thursday at CR. It poured so I skipped. Next ride was Saturday morning and i did my local Voorhees out and back. Again, it was a little harder than it should have been but i was still optimistic that I just needed to give my legs a rest and the lack of intense efforts would bring me back.
Next day was Stewart 45. I had the enviable responsibility (seriously I have the best volunteer job) of pre riding the loop to make sure its marked up to @UtahJoe code. This 15 mile loop around Stewart seemed way harder than it should. I was gassed towards the end. I missed the start of the race because I didn’t get back in time. It was at this point i realized something was off.
The week leading up Nats I made sure to eat right, no beer, got good sleep, and drank a ton of water. Each morning I would wake up and feel a little hungover even though as i just said, no beer. I’d wake up in a fog, then I get a headache, and the rest of the day as spent feeling fatigued. For anyone who has had lymes, this was a similar feeling.
This is not what I had hoped for, but it was time to pack up and drive down to WV for the race. Of course the ride down I had a headache. again. Took 3 Advil and had some minor relief. I got to the venue just in time to grab my number, sign the waiver, and get on the course.
The Course
Here is a detailed description of the course since a lot of people texted me asking about it.
It starts in the venue "village". it’s a ski resort/bike park so there is a paver/cobblestone area that offers a false flat into a sweeping left. You work your way down a grass hill into a long doubletrack downhill trail. It’s got a few little rollers which you can air out on if not careful. I think it’s part of a beginner downhill trail from the park.
After a punchy little climb, you enter the forest section which is a twisty single and a half track trail through the woods. No rocks, but tons of exposed roots. Big sketchy slippery roots. After a bit of this you make your way down some switch backs, also full of roots, and it dumps you onto a fire road going uphill.
One of the prettier sections of the course:
Once you crest the fireroad, you do some ups and down on doubletrack. Nothing notable here until the last part of the climb which bring you to a manmade rock garden. If you followed coverage of the nats at all (#MTBNATS), then you have this rock garden. It’s definitely rideable for people who are familiar with rocks... but this proved to be a source of fear for many. Every time I looked there was a crowd around it, studying for the proper technique. (Sidebar: IMO if you are that worried about a 20 yard stretch of the loop, get off and run. You aren’t going to lose any time, and its one less thing to worry about)
After this sketch garden, you are rewarded with a fun enduro ish downhill with berms and a little drop. This goes on for a couple minutes before you dump out into the final fire road climb which is a motherfucker. Its long, has some real steep sections and just when you think it is over, you go around a turn, and realize you're only halfway up.
At the top, after you are thoroughly gassed, you get right into the real rocks. Maybe a 1/2 mile section of rocks and roots which was another source of fear for many racers who spent much time studying lines. For people who can ride the H2H courses, its nothing too crazy. The challenge comes because you are gassed from the climb which led you there. Like most rock gardens in XC races, the trick is to just keep pedaling and sty moving. Easier said than done, but it’s not supposed to be easy.
After the rocks you climb a little to get back into the resort area where you ride over the flyover I failed to mention before, and then you are back into the village where you started.
For a course which was built just for these races, it’s not that bad. I wouldn’t ride it as a loop in its entirety just for fun, but they clearly made an effort to include a variety of obstacles and conditions.
My Pre-rides -
As soon as I get my kit on and start pedaling, I think I may be coming around. But once I get on the actual course my HR is way higher than it should for the power i was putting out. Just turning the pedals seemed like I was at a tempo HR zone. I slow pedaled 2 laps of 5.5 mile loop and dragged my ass back to my room to eat and relax.
I woke up on Thursday morning and decided to do 1 final practice loop of the course. It was 730 AM and it had rained a little during the night. The root section was slick as ice, which was different from when I had ridden the night before. It definitely gave me a different perspective of what this section could be. I continued for a total of a lap and a half feeling pretty much the same as the day before. Maybe I felt a hair better but nothing that was making feel good for the race.
Day of the Race -
I woke up and it was foggy as hell and pouring.
I looked out my window and could not even see the village area which was only a few hundred feet away. I saw some of the female masters riding around and trying to loosen up before their 8:30 start. I was not jealous of them to be out there at that moment. I was scheduled to race at 12:18, so I made some breakfast and say around for a while. I was feeling a little constipated and got no relief.
Around 11:!5 I was getting my gear on and drinking a redbull. I told myself to ignore how I had been feeling the last week and go into this race as if nothing was wrong. I was trying to play some mind over matter games with myself. I was still holding out hope that once the whistle blew and I turned a few revolutions of the crank, I would be back to myself. You may call this denial.
I got out on the roads around the resort and started warming up. Its cleared up, and is pretty muggy but not too hot. I start with slow pedaling and eventually get to standing and mashing up a few hills to open the legs and lungs. My legs had a little more snap to them, probably because they were rested, but my HR was still hitting 170 way too easy. For the context here, my avg HR during a race is 175ish with spikes to 190ish. I never see 170 just warming up. Meh.
When I get to the starting area I pop a Roctane Gu while I wait for the call ups. I am talking to Steve M, @Rich W , and some other guys, just passing time when suddenly they make an announcement. They said that there are severe storms coming, and we would be delayed a few hours. Well, WTF. I just wanted to get this going at this point, legs or no legs and this time interruption was a mind fuck at best. The skies were pretty clear and nothing fucks with racers heads like screwing up their pre-race routine. Needless to say people were kinda pissed but because there was nothing we could do, we slowly walk away from staging. After mulling about for a few, talking to @muddybike and steve I head back to my room to tweak on all the caffeine I ingested. They said to be ready at 2:45 when was a 2 hour 30 minute delay.
Me, after hearing about the delay. Thanks Kris for capturing the moment.. LOL.
Being a creature of habit, I had already eaten my pre race meal and performance enhancers… so I didn’t know what the hell to do with myself. Sit in the room and try to not go too crazy. I decide to eat, but I don’t have any more food that would be good 2 hours before a race. I go down to the starbucks which Is the slowest god damn starbucks I have even been to. In fact I could make an entire post about that alone, but I’ll spare you. I ended up with a multigrain bagel and a little avocado spread. An hour alter I begin to regret this decision as it did not agree with my stomach. Shocking.
I am Facebook messaging with Rich who was in the same boat… not knowing what to do. I think he decided to watch Rambo. USA Cycling had updated its twitter to say an “announcement would be made” at 2:45 so I took that to say we were not racing at 2:45 which they had said previously. 245 comes and I am refreshing twitter nonstop when I finally see we are racing at 3:30. Our scheduled 4 lap race was now 2 laps. I knew people would be pissed about this too but I was a little relieved given how I was feeling.
So…. 45 minutes to race. What to do,… how about another red bull? Sounds good. And lets pop another Gu too for good measure. If you’re going to do it… do it right.
It’s race time. For real this time:
For a warm up this time I decide to slow roll for 15 minutes and conserve as much as possible. The talk is all about the delay and what people did for the last 2 hours. We are told it may rain a bit but no lightning is expected.
They herd us like sheep into the call up area and try to organize into age groups. I don’t envy the race organizers because people are really not paying much attention and just bullshitting. First is single speed gets called up and then us. They are doing call ups much like a cross race and I am surprised to see I get the final call up which gets my into the 3rd row out of 6 or 7, with a total of about 45 people.
They give us the usual 1 Minute, then 30 seconds… then Go!
We’re off and I am in too low a gear for my over caffeinated legs.
No big deal… shift…
Guy in front of me slips a pedal and I narrowly avoid riding into him… fucker!...
Someone goes OTB hard to my right. I avoid that clustefuck…
Oh Shit, it was Rich… Damn.
Make our way onto the dirt towards the long off camber grass downhill, then under the flyover.
Some douchebag who can’t hold a line almost takes 3 of us out, he promptly slides out into a barrier.
Once we get to the smooth downhill its single file and I estimate I am in the top 25. Right in the middle somewhere.
When we hit a little punchy climb right before the enchanted forest I stand and mash, passing 4 of 5 guys who are spinning up. Not sure about that strategy but hey…
On the pavement before the forest I see a black blur go by me and slip into the trail 2 riders ahead. Rich caught back up pretty quickly.
In the forest, it’s a shit show as anyone could have guessed. The slick roots are giving some guys a hard time and the guys who know how to ride them are getting impatient and attempting stupid passes. Lots of guys going down hard causing jams. Lots of adrenaline fueled yelling and aggressiveness. I love this shit.
We make our way down the switchbacks and the guy behind me is trying to pass. I tell him to back the fuck off… there is a long fireroad section coming up in 20 seconds and he can pass there if he wants. He doesn’t listen and I am pretty sure he went down, although I didn’t turn around to look.
I dump out on the fire road just in time to see Rich standing and sprinting up the hill like a maniac. He is out.
I start to spin up to speed and realize I am pretty much shot. I never recovered from the start, had been working way too hard in the forest, and now reality was hitting me in the face. A tempo level of effort equaled a max heart rate. Pretty much exactly what I knew would happen. I dial it back to a level where my HR stays below threshold and I think I can maintain. On the killer climb in the back, guy are passing me and I am passing nobody. It’s a pretty helpless feeling but it was expected. I get into the rocks and actually gain on people by just being able to ride them cleanly, but as soon as I finish that section I am totally gassed.
More shots from Kris...
I start the second lap and am in full survivor mode. This is a 5 mile lap btw. This is how bad a place I am living in. Frustrating is not even close to how I feel.
Once I get to the forest I cramp up. It’s not so much stomach as is a cramp in my right side and all the way around to my lower back. It feels like gas and probably is. Pedaling is agony. Hitting bumps is as well. I start thinking about pulling out but am not even sure how to go about that. I just pedal as well as I can trying to not think about the pain.
When I get to the monster climb in the back I have to stop and get off the bike for a minute. Not finding much relief I pedal for a few, then stop again. On and off for the rest of the climb. Too much pedaling and I got a little dizzy, but I just want to get this over with. When I get to the rocks at the top, I am so done with this race. Every rock is like someone elbowing me in the back and I have a million of them to navigate.
I finally pop out and see the flyover which signals the end of the race. Every spectator I come across gives some encouragement and I’m petty grateful. I must look like death; beyond full zombie. And this was only after 11ish miles and 2 laps.
The feeling I had when the race was over is hard to describe. It was a mix of relief, disappointment, embarrassment. Even at my best a top 10 would have been a huge challenge. It is beyond frustrating to have some mystery illness kick my ass right when this race happens.
I want to mention the texts I got from @montain bike Mike and @Norm giving me some encouraging words after I told them how the day went. Norm does not sugar coat shit and he had some good things to say which was nice.
Ok, this is has gone on way too long and much like the race I want it to end and think about something else. I’ll write more thoughts on the weekend not in regards to my race. There was a lot of cool stuff going on and some stuff that made me roll my eyes. But for now, this is the end of this wrap.
This really didn’t go as i had hoped. This may be an epically long post for me, so I’ll try to break it up as much as possible. I have a ton of things to say.
As I’ve done more and more races during my 10ish years of racing, I’ve developed an appreciation of the big events. I like the crowds, the "pro" feel to them, and especially the competition. I sign up for the MTB National Championships to see how I stack up against the other likeminded athletes. I think we all know the people at these races (Pro cats excluded) isn’t exactly the "fastest Masters 40-45" in the country. The announcer may make it seem like this when he is filling down time before call ups, but I am pretty sure there are hundreds of guys out there who could hang and do well at this level, but they aren’t about to trek to Snowshoe WV to find out. That said, there are some really talented guys here and it’s a huge stage to compete on. I was d planned. I have a Ton of thoughts here, so I’ll break them up as much as possible.
lucky enough that my Wife was super cool with me going down for a few days while she stays home with 2 kids.
How not to lead up to a big race:
My Last race was the peter punder (SP intended). Long story Short, I went 1.5 miles off course, turned around, went 1.5 miles back to find the course, this all together was about 17 minutes of time lost and 300 ft of climbing. I turned myself inside out and got 3rd. The two other leaders in my race went off course too but they decided to throw it in, so i was pretty proud of myself for not giving up and still passing a few guys which I had given a huge gap to. I felt pretty good physically during that race too.
The Tuesday after pounder, I went for a workout ride in the AM which included some hill repeats. 1.5 sets into this and I bailed. I just felt like shit and knew it wasn’t benefiting me so I went for a 60 minute easy tempo ride, which seemed harder than it should.
The next scheduled ride was Thursday at CR. It poured so I skipped. Next ride was Saturday morning and i did my local Voorhees out and back. Again, it was a little harder than it should have been but i was still optimistic that I just needed to give my legs a rest and the lack of intense efforts would bring me back.
Next day was Stewart 45. I had the enviable responsibility (seriously I have the best volunteer job) of pre riding the loop to make sure its marked up to @UtahJoe code. This 15 mile loop around Stewart seemed way harder than it should. I was gassed towards the end. I missed the start of the race because I didn’t get back in time. It was at this point i realized something was off.
The week leading up Nats I made sure to eat right, no beer, got good sleep, and drank a ton of water. Each morning I would wake up and feel a little hungover even though as i just said, no beer. I’d wake up in a fog, then I get a headache, and the rest of the day as spent feeling fatigued. For anyone who has had lymes, this was a similar feeling.
This is not what I had hoped for, but it was time to pack up and drive down to WV for the race. Of course the ride down I had a headache. again. Took 3 Advil and had some minor relief. I got to the venue just in time to grab my number, sign the waiver, and get on the course.
The Course
Here is a detailed description of the course since a lot of people texted me asking about it.
It starts in the venue "village". it’s a ski resort/bike park so there is a paver/cobblestone area that offers a false flat into a sweeping left. You work your way down a grass hill into a long doubletrack downhill trail. It’s got a few little rollers which you can air out on if not careful. I think it’s part of a beginner downhill trail from the park.
After a punchy little climb, you enter the forest section which is a twisty single and a half track trail through the woods. No rocks, but tons of exposed roots. Big sketchy slippery roots. After a bit of this you make your way down some switch backs, also full of roots, and it dumps you onto a fire road going uphill.
One of the prettier sections of the course:
Once you crest the fireroad, you do some ups and down on doubletrack. Nothing notable here until the last part of the climb which bring you to a manmade rock garden. If you followed coverage of the nats at all (#MTBNATS), then you have this rock garden. It’s definitely rideable for people who are familiar with rocks... but this proved to be a source of fear for many. Every time I looked there was a crowd around it, studying for the proper technique. (Sidebar: IMO if you are that worried about a 20 yard stretch of the loop, get off and run. You aren’t going to lose any time, and its one less thing to worry about)
After this sketch garden, you are rewarded with a fun enduro ish downhill with berms and a little drop. This goes on for a couple minutes before you dump out into the final fire road climb which is a motherfucker. Its long, has some real steep sections and just when you think it is over, you go around a turn, and realize you're only halfway up.
At the top, after you are thoroughly gassed, you get right into the real rocks. Maybe a 1/2 mile section of rocks and roots which was another source of fear for many racers who spent much time studying lines. For people who can ride the H2H courses, its nothing too crazy. The challenge comes because you are gassed from the climb which led you there. Like most rock gardens in XC races, the trick is to just keep pedaling and sty moving. Easier said than done, but it’s not supposed to be easy.
After the rocks you climb a little to get back into the resort area where you ride over the flyover I failed to mention before, and then you are back into the village where you started.
For a course which was built just for these races, it’s not that bad. I wouldn’t ride it as a loop in its entirety just for fun, but they clearly made an effort to include a variety of obstacles and conditions.
My Pre-rides -
As soon as I get my kit on and start pedaling, I think I may be coming around. But once I get on the actual course my HR is way higher than it should for the power i was putting out. Just turning the pedals seemed like I was at a tempo HR zone. I slow pedaled 2 laps of 5.5 mile loop and dragged my ass back to my room to eat and relax.
I woke up on Thursday morning and decided to do 1 final practice loop of the course. It was 730 AM and it had rained a little during the night. The root section was slick as ice, which was different from when I had ridden the night before. It definitely gave me a different perspective of what this section could be. I continued for a total of a lap and a half feeling pretty much the same as the day before. Maybe I felt a hair better but nothing that was making feel good for the race.
Day of the Race -
I woke up and it was foggy as hell and pouring.
I looked out my window and could not even see the village area which was only a few hundred feet away. I saw some of the female masters riding around and trying to loosen up before their 8:30 start. I was not jealous of them to be out there at that moment. I was scheduled to race at 12:18, so I made some breakfast and say around for a while. I was feeling a little constipated and got no relief.
Around 11:!5 I was getting my gear on and drinking a redbull. I told myself to ignore how I had been feeling the last week and go into this race as if nothing was wrong. I was trying to play some mind over matter games with myself. I was still holding out hope that once the whistle blew and I turned a few revolutions of the crank, I would be back to myself. You may call this denial.
I got out on the roads around the resort and started warming up. Its cleared up, and is pretty muggy but not too hot. I start with slow pedaling and eventually get to standing and mashing up a few hills to open the legs and lungs. My legs had a little more snap to them, probably because they were rested, but my HR was still hitting 170 way too easy. For the context here, my avg HR during a race is 175ish with spikes to 190ish. I never see 170 just warming up. Meh.
When I get to the starting area I pop a Roctane Gu while I wait for the call ups. I am talking to Steve M, @Rich W , and some other guys, just passing time when suddenly they make an announcement. They said that there are severe storms coming, and we would be delayed a few hours. Well, WTF. I just wanted to get this going at this point, legs or no legs and this time interruption was a mind fuck at best. The skies were pretty clear and nothing fucks with racers heads like screwing up their pre-race routine. Needless to say people were kinda pissed but because there was nothing we could do, we slowly walk away from staging. After mulling about for a few, talking to @muddybike and steve I head back to my room to tweak on all the caffeine I ingested. They said to be ready at 2:45 when was a 2 hour 30 minute delay.
Me, after hearing about the delay. Thanks Kris for capturing the moment.. LOL.
Being a creature of habit, I had already eaten my pre race meal and performance enhancers… so I didn’t know what the hell to do with myself. Sit in the room and try to not go too crazy. I decide to eat, but I don’t have any more food that would be good 2 hours before a race. I go down to the starbucks which Is the slowest god damn starbucks I have even been to. In fact I could make an entire post about that alone, but I’ll spare you. I ended up with a multigrain bagel and a little avocado spread. An hour alter I begin to regret this decision as it did not agree with my stomach. Shocking.
I am Facebook messaging with Rich who was in the same boat… not knowing what to do. I think he decided to watch Rambo. USA Cycling had updated its twitter to say an “announcement would be made” at 2:45 so I took that to say we were not racing at 2:45 which they had said previously. 245 comes and I am refreshing twitter nonstop when I finally see we are racing at 3:30. Our scheduled 4 lap race was now 2 laps. I knew people would be pissed about this too but I was a little relieved given how I was feeling.
So…. 45 minutes to race. What to do,… how about another red bull? Sounds good. And lets pop another Gu too for good measure. If you’re going to do it… do it right.
It’s race time. For real this time:
For a warm up this time I decide to slow roll for 15 minutes and conserve as much as possible. The talk is all about the delay and what people did for the last 2 hours. We are told it may rain a bit but no lightning is expected.
They herd us like sheep into the call up area and try to organize into age groups. I don’t envy the race organizers because people are really not paying much attention and just bullshitting. First is single speed gets called up and then us. They are doing call ups much like a cross race and I am surprised to see I get the final call up which gets my into the 3rd row out of 6 or 7, with a total of about 45 people.
They give us the usual 1 Minute, then 30 seconds… then Go!
We’re off and I am in too low a gear for my over caffeinated legs.
No big deal… shift…
Guy in front of me slips a pedal and I narrowly avoid riding into him… fucker!...
Someone goes OTB hard to my right. I avoid that clustefuck…
Oh Shit, it was Rich… Damn.
Make our way onto the dirt towards the long off camber grass downhill, then under the flyover.
Some douchebag who can’t hold a line almost takes 3 of us out, he promptly slides out into a barrier.
Once we get to the smooth downhill its single file and I estimate I am in the top 25. Right in the middle somewhere.
When we hit a little punchy climb right before the enchanted forest I stand and mash, passing 4 of 5 guys who are spinning up. Not sure about that strategy but hey…
On the pavement before the forest I see a black blur go by me and slip into the trail 2 riders ahead. Rich caught back up pretty quickly.
In the forest, it’s a shit show as anyone could have guessed. The slick roots are giving some guys a hard time and the guys who know how to ride them are getting impatient and attempting stupid passes. Lots of guys going down hard causing jams. Lots of adrenaline fueled yelling and aggressiveness. I love this shit.
We make our way down the switchbacks and the guy behind me is trying to pass. I tell him to back the fuck off… there is a long fireroad section coming up in 20 seconds and he can pass there if he wants. He doesn’t listen and I am pretty sure he went down, although I didn’t turn around to look.
I dump out on the fire road just in time to see Rich standing and sprinting up the hill like a maniac. He is out.
I start to spin up to speed and realize I am pretty much shot. I never recovered from the start, had been working way too hard in the forest, and now reality was hitting me in the face. A tempo level of effort equaled a max heart rate. Pretty much exactly what I knew would happen. I dial it back to a level where my HR stays below threshold and I think I can maintain. On the killer climb in the back, guy are passing me and I am passing nobody. It’s a pretty helpless feeling but it was expected. I get into the rocks and actually gain on people by just being able to ride them cleanly, but as soon as I finish that section I am totally gassed.
More shots from Kris...
I start the second lap and am in full survivor mode. This is a 5 mile lap btw. This is how bad a place I am living in. Frustrating is not even close to how I feel.
Once I get to the forest I cramp up. It’s not so much stomach as is a cramp in my right side and all the way around to my lower back. It feels like gas and probably is. Pedaling is agony. Hitting bumps is as well. I start thinking about pulling out but am not even sure how to go about that. I just pedal as well as I can trying to not think about the pain.
When I get to the monster climb in the back I have to stop and get off the bike for a minute. Not finding much relief I pedal for a few, then stop again. On and off for the rest of the climb. Too much pedaling and I got a little dizzy, but I just want to get this over with. When I get to the rocks at the top, I am so done with this race. Every rock is like someone elbowing me in the back and I have a million of them to navigate.
I finally pop out and see the flyover which signals the end of the race. Every spectator I come across gives some encouragement and I’m petty grateful. I must look like death; beyond full zombie. And this was only after 11ish miles and 2 laps.
The feeling I had when the race was over is hard to describe. It was a mix of relief, disappointment, embarrassment. Even at my best a top 10 would have been a huge challenge. It is beyond frustrating to have some mystery illness kick my ass right when this race happens.
I want to mention the texts I got from @montain bike Mike and @Norm giving me some encouraging words after I told them how the day went. Norm does not sugar coat shit and he had some good things to say which was nice.
Ok, this is has gone on way too long and much like the race I want it to end and think about something else. I’ll write more thoughts on the weekend not in regards to my race. There was a lot of cool stuff going on and some stuff that made me roll my eyes. But for now, this is the end of this wrap.
Attachments
Really? he must like you...He usually just calls me a fat loser and tells me never to speak to him again.
I wouldn't discount that...~4800' iirc....thats something you would certainly notice at race pace.
I checked and elevation doesn't mean with you until way over 5k feet. We were around 4800 ft so I don't think made a difference I was hoping that was it.
I definitely have some kind of virus or infection. I had something similar at Lewis Morris last year. Felt like Lyme's.