1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Anyone else going to Leesburg Bakers Dozen (April 13)? Know anything about the course?
Bakers Dozen
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If its the same farm as it's always been, there's virtually no climbing. It's literally on the banks of the river, so hills are like 30 feet of gain at mos. They're short and punchy except for a couple really long ones that amount to nothing more than false flats - but for several hundred yards. There's a few logovers, step ups and a couple rocky sections, but by and large the course is not technical at all. It's fast, fast, fast - unless it's muddy. It was muddy the year I did it, and it was miserable. Know that your camp will be in the middle of an active cow pasture; so have rubber boots, sprayers, a throw away carpet remnant, disinfectants, trash bags for your contaminated gear and any other provisions that you might need to protect yourself from the shit. Be careful of what you put in your mouth, too - bite valve, or bottles. Which will feed you the least amount of e. coli? :-/
Bring extra brake pads. The shop in town had only Avids at $30 a set - and you'll need em if it's wet. I think I went through two new sets.
Bring extra brake pads. The shop in town had only Avids at $30 a set - and you'll need em if it's wet. I think I went through two new sets.
1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Now that's what I'm talking about! Thanks, Bill, for the very thorough summary! I kind of figured it was pretty flat from the little I heard from friends who went last year. No one mentioned the cow pastures, though. That's huge. I'm pretty meticulous about my camp/feed zone in races this long, so that would have driven me crazy. I'll plan ahead! Thanks again!
no prob... the one caveat of my review is that the year after I did it, there was chatter about possibly changing locations or something - I have no idea if that happened. I am assuming that they are using the same venue, since what are the odds that they have access to two different farms with trails on the same river, in the same area? 🙂
One other thing, pay very close attention to your laps and times. The timing was even more of a shit show than the mud and cowpies. I had to protest three or four different times and each time they made the change on the spot, on my word - I feel like I could have told them anything. It was bad enough that I sent a note to the promoter afterwards - and it's pretty rare for something to prompt that out of me. I hope they got a better timing company.
When we found out that it was going to rain, I made a last minute decision to book a hotel in Frederick for the night before and after. That was a good move because we had a warm shower (to clean ourselves and the bikes) and a bed to sleep in. Also, Frederick is a pretty cool historic town with a lot of food and beverage options if camping/cooking in a pasture isn't your thing.
One other thing, pay very close attention to your laps and times. The timing was even more of a shit show than the mud and cowpies. I had to protest three or four different times and each time they made the change on the spot, on my word - I feel like I could have told them anything. It was bad enough that I sent a note to the promoter afterwards - and it's pretty rare for something to prompt that out of me. I hope they got a better timing company.
When we found out that it was going to rain, I made a last minute decision to book a hotel in Frederick for the night before and after. That was a good move because we had a warm shower (to clean ourselves and the bikes) and a bed to sleep in. Also, Frederick is a pretty cool historic town with a lot of food and beverage options if camping/cooking in a pasture isn't your thing.
I did it a few years back. Bshow covered most of the bases. It was fun but the year i did it there was alot of rain followed by a few hot dry days which resulted in cemented hoove prints in most of the single track which rattled my fillings out after 13hrs on the bike.
Its flat and fast. I remember a few logs, some punchy climbs and small drop which, feels pretty big after 100 miles. The atmosphere was good...big bonfire and balleyhoo.
Sounds like you will be SS, I ran 34/18 and was happy with my choice.
Its flat and fast. I remember a few logs, some punchy climbs and small drop which, feels pretty big after 100 miles. The atmosphere was good...big bonfire and balleyhoo.
Sounds like you will be SS, I ran 34/18 and was happy with my choice.
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Agreed. It's what, a foot and a half? two feet at most? Damned if that thing didn't feel huge and awkward later in the day.
I have done this race for the past three seasons with some buddies and we are going down again this year. This race is a super fun way to start the season. The course is super fast and was downright dusty last year which made it tough to see during the night laps. I hear tha lap will be counter clockwise this year which seems to feel a bit harder; coming uphill at the end of the lap through the transition zone is about the only climbing that you will see. Look out for cow patties and animal bones! Hopefully the guy with the lawn mower will be there again this year so you can mow a spot for your camp.
1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
So I did the Bakers Dozen on Saturday. I might put together a blog post and post it in the "Wherever I May Roam" thread once I get some photos and "official" results. Short version: everything you guys described about the course was spot on, so thanks! I loved everything about the course -- the super fast section through the trees, the rocks you could ride right up, and the ridiculous amount of flow. The only section that gave me trouble was the rooty section after the short climb through the backside pasture, and that was only because I still have a broken bone in my left hand so that gave me a jolt now and then. The whole event was awesome. I did get five flats, all the rear tire (less than a week after telling a friend of mine that I have never really had a reason to switch to tubeless, so I kind of felt like that was a bit of bad juju sent my way from the good folks at Stan's.) And it wasn't that there was something stuck in my tire -- I had five legitimate pinch flats because of the little sections of sharp rocks that I should have been more careful in but just kind of bounced through without thinking every time. In the end, I probably lost about two laps total because of the flats. I finished my 15th lap at 9:56, so I had the option to do a 16th, and I figure that if I add back all the time I spent replacing flats and getting back to it, I might have been able to find enough time to sneak in another lap, too, because my moving speed was above 11 mph for the day, which would have bought me more than enough time to finish 16 before 10 pm. Oh well. I shut it down after 15, though, because I was out of tubes and CO2 and didn't want to risk yet another flat that late in the day. Good enoguh for 5th out of 25, though, so I was happy with that.
All in all, a really fun event!
1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Thanks, guys. Yeah, it was a lot, but honestly in 13 hours, it still felt like I spent almost the whole day moving. One girl passed me three times when I was fixing them and later on my last lap of the day I came around her on a climb and she said, "Try to stay on the bike this time, Metal -- I've seen you on the side of the trail all day!" (I was wearing my T6 kit, which is why she called me Metal.) I just laughed.
I was talking to Patrick Blair, who won my class, after the race and he runs the same tires as I do, but (wisely) runs them tubeless. He was telling me he tinkered with it a bit during the day and was at only 15 psi by the end of the race. For most courses in the region, I think I can get away with tubes, but on one where the only rocks are all big jagged ones like Leesburg was, I think I learned my lesson. It also didn't help that I'd refill with CO2 each time, which means I really had only a general idea of my pressure. I know for a fact that I was running higher pressure as a result than I normally do. And you'd think I'd learn by the end not to try to just attack things, but when you've been bunny hopping logs all day and feeling like a kid in a candy store, it's tough to ease off the gas, especially when you're having one of those rare days where everything feels easy effort-wise.