1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Headed out to Bernville for Blue Marsh Cyclemania yesterday. Last year, they had cancelled this race because of wet conditions, so I was kind of surprised that it was still on after registration was closed on Saturday afternoon and it was still raining outside. I had done this race a few times in the past, and when they added the four hour endurance class two years ago, I jumped into it right away. It's an open class, which means we SSers line up with geared guys. I kind of like that because it adds a whole different challenge.
I knew that Chris Schilling was coming after he contacted me on Saturday, and I saw that Iggy and Gordon Davies had signed up, so I knew right away that it was going to be a fast race. And then when I was walking back to my car after getting my number, I saw that Chris had brought Mitch and another friend Tim along. Having Chris there had already changed the race for me -- this would be the first time another SSer was lining up for this class -- but now there were going to be at least four of us, which was pretty cool.
The start was delayed like 20 minutes - something about the timer - but I actually didn't mind that too much because it gave us a chance to warm up a bit more. IT was cold and foggy when we had pre-rode the first singletrack section, so every second we waited gave us a little less time with any fog.
We finally were off and I jumped out front right away. I knew that I wasn't going to hold off the geared guys, but I did this for a specific reason: the start finsih area has a taped off section that runs up and down the contours of a grassy hill. That grass was bound to be wet, so I wanted to be safely near the front in case anyone lost it and slid out. I don't know if anyone did, but I was able to avoid any problems and kept the gas on through the first singletrack section. Gordon came around me followed by another rider and then Iggy and I just sat in and tried to hang on. I took a quick look behind me at one point and saw that there were five of us gone clear. Tim the other SSer was sitting right off my wheel. I could see Chris charging a bit further back, so I figured he'd join us soon.
The 7.5 mile course itself is a super-fast, singletrack-heavy course with two noteworthy climbs on it -- the first is short and steep and loose stone in some parts, and the second is a long winding monster up the back of the old Blue Marsh Ski Area. Other than those two, though, the entire course is flat and fast. I was able to hang on to the group through the first climb but then had to drop off on the long climb. It's actually a mix of steep pitches and lesser inclines, so I basically rode where I could and pushed where I couldn't. The three up fron rode it smooth all the way up and I could only watch them go. So that left me, Tim and Chris hiking along in a line on the steepest section near the top and once we got over the top, it was a quick bomb down to the fire road section that led to the turnaround point on the road. Tim and I were able to put a little time into Chris at that point, but I figured that was probably strategy on Chris's part -- we were less than a half hour into the race so he had plenty of time to get back up to us.
Tim and I decided we'd ride together to chase the lead group, who were now well out of sight. And that was basically how the next few hours went. I rode on the front and Tim was right on my wheel for the next 3+ hours as we tried to stay as fast as possible to catch the lead group and/or hold off any chasers. Our arrangement worked pretty well -- I am not very good at following wheels on singletrack. I get skittish if I can't see my own lines, and Tim was a much smoother rider who kept his eye out for chasers. I told him early that I was going ot ride a pace and if that started to feel too slow for him, I'd let him by, but he was happy with the pace and we kept ourselves right around 12 MPH all day.
In the end, we were able to stretch our lead over the chasers but never came that close to reeling in the leaders. We had done six laps for about 43 miles and came through the start/finish at 3:47, and were starting to head out for lap number 7 when a guy told us we were done. I asked why we couldn't go out again -- I thought it was you had to start your last lap before 4 hours -- and he said we were too far ahead for anyone to catch us and that we'd won. I told him that we definitely hadn't won and that we were chasing the real leaders who wer eprobably out on lap 7 right then, but he said no one else had done 7 laps. I was sure that was wrong,but he insisted and told us we couldn't do another lap. So we were done. Tim and I both doubted that was true, but we just had to accept it. Chris came through about ten minutes later with what should have been enough time to do a 7th lap as well, but they told him to stop as well. Sure enough, around 4 hours and 15 minutes, Gordon comes rolling in and right after he crosses the line I told him he should talk to the timer because they must have missed one of his laps. The second guy came in shortly after and then Iggy a few minutes after that. I was kind of annoyed that we were stopped from doign our last lap -- it would have been nice to do 7 laps there -- but looking at the finish times, it really wouldn't have mattered. Iggy was too far ahead for us to make up that time in one lap and I'm pretty sure that if he even had an idea we were coming, he'd have taken off anyway. So our places wouldn't have changed, and going over that mountain a 7th time wasn't something I was too upset about anyway.
In the end, I ended up really tied for fourth with Tim since we pretty much crossed the line at the exact same time. Not too bad -- there was no question the three geared guys ahead of us were stronger and finishing ahead of guys like Chris and Mitch is an accomplishment -- if I hadn't had Tim to keep pushing me all day, I'm pretty sure that woudln't have happened. I felt like I rode pretty well but I was definitely feeling the effort later on that day when all I wanted to do was crash on the couch!
I knew that Chris Schilling was coming after he contacted me on Saturday, and I saw that Iggy and Gordon Davies had signed up, so I knew right away that it was going to be a fast race. And then when I was walking back to my car after getting my number, I saw that Chris had brought Mitch and another friend Tim along. Having Chris there had already changed the race for me -- this would be the first time another SSer was lining up for this class -- but now there were going to be at least four of us, which was pretty cool.
The start was delayed like 20 minutes - something about the timer - but I actually didn't mind that too much because it gave us a chance to warm up a bit more. IT was cold and foggy when we had pre-rode the first singletrack section, so every second we waited gave us a little less time with any fog.
We finally were off and I jumped out front right away. I knew that I wasn't going to hold off the geared guys, but I did this for a specific reason: the start finsih area has a taped off section that runs up and down the contours of a grassy hill. That grass was bound to be wet, so I wanted to be safely near the front in case anyone lost it and slid out. I don't know if anyone did, but I was able to avoid any problems and kept the gas on through the first singletrack section. Gordon came around me followed by another rider and then Iggy and I just sat in and tried to hang on. I took a quick look behind me at one point and saw that there were five of us gone clear. Tim the other SSer was sitting right off my wheel. I could see Chris charging a bit further back, so I figured he'd join us soon.
The 7.5 mile course itself is a super-fast, singletrack-heavy course with two noteworthy climbs on it -- the first is short and steep and loose stone in some parts, and the second is a long winding monster up the back of the old Blue Marsh Ski Area. Other than those two, though, the entire course is flat and fast. I was able to hang on to the group through the first climb but then had to drop off on the long climb. It's actually a mix of steep pitches and lesser inclines, so I basically rode where I could and pushed where I couldn't. The three up fron rode it smooth all the way up and I could only watch them go. So that left me, Tim and Chris hiking along in a line on the steepest section near the top and once we got over the top, it was a quick bomb down to the fire road section that led to the turnaround point on the road. Tim and I were able to put a little time into Chris at that point, but I figured that was probably strategy on Chris's part -- we were less than a half hour into the race so he had plenty of time to get back up to us.
Tim and I decided we'd ride together to chase the lead group, who were now well out of sight. And that was basically how the next few hours went. I rode on the front and Tim was right on my wheel for the next 3+ hours as we tried to stay as fast as possible to catch the lead group and/or hold off any chasers. Our arrangement worked pretty well -- I am not very good at following wheels on singletrack. I get skittish if I can't see my own lines, and Tim was a much smoother rider who kept his eye out for chasers. I told him early that I was going ot ride a pace and if that started to feel too slow for him, I'd let him by, but he was happy with the pace and we kept ourselves right around 12 MPH all day.
In the end, we were able to stretch our lead over the chasers but never came that close to reeling in the leaders. We had done six laps for about 43 miles and came through the start/finish at 3:47, and were starting to head out for lap number 7 when a guy told us we were done. I asked why we couldn't go out again -- I thought it was you had to start your last lap before 4 hours -- and he said we were too far ahead for anyone to catch us and that we'd won. I told him that we definitely hadn't won and that we were chasing the real leaders who wer eprobably out on lap 7 right then, but he said no one else had done 7 laps. I was sure that was wrong,but he insisted and told us we couldn't do another lap. So we were done. Tim and I both doubted that was true, but we just had to accept it. Chris came through about ten minutes later with what should have been enough time to do a 7th lap as well, but they told him to stop as well. Sure enough, around 4 hours and 15 minutes, Gordon comes rolling in and right after he crosses the line I told him he should talk to the timer because they must have missed one of his laps. The second guy came in shortly after and then Iggy a few minutes after that. I was kind of annoyed that we were stopped from doign our last lap -- it would have been nice to do 7 laps there -- but looking at the finish times, it really wouldn't have mattered. Iggy was too far ahead for us to make up that time in one lap and I'm pretty sure that if he even had an idea we were coming, he'd have taken off anyway. So our places wouldn't have changed, and going over that mountain a 7th time wasn't something I was too upset about anyway.
In the end, I ended up really tied for fourth with Tim since we pretty much crossed the line at the exact same time. Not too bad -- there was no question the three geared guys ahead of us were stronger and finishing ahead of guys like Chris and Mitch is an accomplishment -- if I hadn't had Tim to keep pushing me all day, I'm pretty sure that woudln't have happened. I felt like I rode pretty well but I was definitely feeling the effort later on that day when all I wanted to do was crash on the couch!
. Those climbs are such a crazy contrast to all the flat terrain there. 
