Chronicles of a Cat 3 Schlub

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Boxbaum Bash
H2H Series - Men Cat 2, 45+
Aug 8, 2022

I decided earlier in the week to jump into the final race of the H2H series after seeing somewhere that the course up at Port Jervis was less climby/more flow than the Point Peter Pounder version. Part of Painted Apron was in the course... Sign me up!!!!

The Cat 2 race was an 11am start, and Port Jervis is about a 90 minute drive, so I wasn't really in a rush to get out the door. Thankfully I remembered to bring the number plate from the Jungle fiasco, as H2H uses a series plate. Phew. All checked in and situated.
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With about 25 minutes before the start, I pedaled up the gravel road to where a course marshal was watching for traffic as the race crossed over. He said the first section of ST was only about 3/4 of a mile, so I road back the start, and pre-rode the first section.
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From the starting line, the course goes down the gravel road about 150-200 yards, then makes a right onto another gravel road, then a quick hard left into the ST. The transition here is loose pea gravel. Someone's gonna go down. The Port Jervis terrain is immediately front and center as the ST begins. Lots of small pointy rocks/shale/slate. Some loose piles to roll over, but nothing like what's up top where the other race is held. I rolled thru the first section in a few minutes, then back to the car for a quick Gu before the race started.

At this point, it's warm out, kinda humid, but not really unbearable. Dejay sends out the Cat 2 19+, then calls up the 45+ group. There are 7 of us at the line, he gives a 5 second countdown and we go. Down the gravel road halfway, and 5 guys are in front of me. Somebody ain't making one of the two gravel turns, so I back off a touch.

Sure enough, someone fucks up the second turn into the ST and I have to come to a stop and track stand for a split second. Two of the three guys get going again, and I get past one still trying to collect himself. Now in 5th. The three guys up front are maybe 15-20 yards in front of the guy who's in front of me. We're making our way thru the first section that I pre-rode, and everyone is more or less hitting the same pace. Mid way thru here, guy in front of me either clips his bar on a tree or he wheel slipped out on an angular rock, because all of a sudden he's on the ground. I grab a fist full of brakes to avoid running him over, and as he's getting up I pass/ask if he's hurt. All good, carry on.

As I exit the first section and cross the road, I can still see 3rd place in front of me, maybe 50 yards at this point. First and second are out of sight. We're about 1.5 miles into 15 total.

Somewhere in the next mile or so I catch/pass one of the 19+ racers, and I can still see 3rd place guy ahead, although much further. The trails are flowy, with enough rocks littered about that there's almost always some sort of chatter going on. Short ups and downs, log overs here and there. Really fun at race pace. About mile 4 was the top of Paint Apron..... If you've never been here, it's an awesome flow trail with berms and some cool jumps/drops here and there. Only the top half was in the race, and then we cut out and back up a gravel road climb. At this point I got passed by one of the guys in the race behind me, and caught another of the race in front of me, so still in 4th.

As we head back into the ST off the gravel climb, we pass by the S/F area at around mile 5.5ish (so 2 miles left in the lap) I pass 3rd place guy who's pulled off the trail and administering CO2 to one of his tyres. There's still another .3 or .4 mile climb to go and another 19+ guy ahead of me, so I try to pick it up a little here since I didn't know how far ahead CO2 guy was when he flatted, how long he was fiddling with it, or how much longer it would take him.

After this climb levels off, the trail gets twisty and flows again, and I eventually pass the 19+ guy who was ahead of me and finish out lap 1 in 00:49:25. Holy shit, this is a long XC race.

As lap 2 starts, I feel like the heat kicked up a bunch, and I was starting to feel it. Somewhere around mile 2 or 3 of Lap 2 @xc62701 (Cat 1/2 15+ 3 laps) passes me on his 3rd lap from the 10:30 start. He won his race. :thumbsup: The came 1/2 45+ winner Joe Johnston. I passed @Earthmiller (Endurance) on the way up to Painted Apron and got passed by Mancuso. As I approached the top and started down PA, I could see Dave Kahl and another guy behind me. Fuck, I don't want to be in front of them on the DH, and have no idea how far back CO2 guys is behind them. Welp. About 3/4 of the way down they're both right on my wheel, so I pull to the side and let them rip by. Only 3 miles to go now, and 1 of those miles is uphill.

As I turn onto the gravel climb back up I can see movement coming out of the ST. I'm 25 yards up the gravel road and here comes CO2 guy like he's shot out of a canon. FUUUUUUUUCK. Back in 4th. He's standing, sprinting up this hill, looking back every 20 yards, and I'm like derp, see ya at the finish line. :dead: Nothing extra left in the tank. I gave it a little extra gas, but there was nothing.

Now I'm thinking "oh shit, who's behind him?" Thankfully no one. Finished out the last few miles with my foot on the gas and nobody around me. Lap 2 00:52:17

4th place of 7 starters. 1:09 behind 3rd place CO2 guy. Total time was 1:41:42 for 14.5 miles. I'll take it.
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The course was great. @Dejay Birtch and the StarCrawf crew put together a killer loop with a great mix of fun and pain. 10 of 10. Wood do again.

Nice work out there and great recap! You looked like you were having fun when I saw you in the pines. Such an awesome course. I agree that this is the better of the two areas for a race. Like you said as well, the top of Painted Aprons - yes please. I almost clipped a tree in mid air there. That would have been messy.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
More jumps.
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MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Aistriu Mayhem
H2H Series - Men Cat 2, 45+
March 25, 2023


Mayhem is usually the first race of the season, and this year’s 9th edition was no different. It’s flat, it’s fast, and it always gets a big turnout. This year they added rain. It’s basically a longer CX race on a MTB. Perfect course for a hard tail.

A few weeks ago, I upgraded the fork on my 2017ish Giant XtC from the stock 120mmReba RL to a 120mm Fox Factory 34 StepCast @jShort had on offer. Also replaced the stock dropper with a PNW Rainer Gen 3 (very limited choices for 27.2).

Race day forecast called for temps in the 40’s with rain, and a real feel in the mid 30’s. Thankfully the temperature was a bit warmer and the rain held off for the entire drive down and most of the time before staging for the 11:30am start.
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Pretty uneventful race for me. Rain at staging tapered but didn’t stop. Standing there for 15 minutes got me pretty cold. The 45+ was the third group to go off, behind Cat 2 Men 15-18 and the 19+.

I’m center of the front row (2, maybe 3 rows?) and we get the countdown for our start. I got a good start, came out of the field after the hard left turn in third wheel at a very hot pace. I gave up a couple spots before the first single track section and maybe two more on the sandy road before heading over the dam. The rain was coming down a lot harder now. Anything that was sandy was fine, most of the dirt trails held ok, but a few of the turns were getting REALLY slick.

After a couple miles we started to pick off the tail end of the race in front, everyone was chill about passing.

Not a lot else to say, the rain let up after about 20-25 minutes and the soft spots tacked up nicely for the second lap. No crashes, almost cramped in the last half mile. I probably didn’t drink enough since it was so cold?
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Finished 13th of 21. Second lap was 2-3 minutes slower than first. Set a new max HR of 196, average was 176.
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Changed into dry clothes. Watched the Cat 1s start. Hung around for @Leadman ‘s 2nd place podium, he lost to Kelly Cline in a sprint, then hit the road.

Sunday was cleanup day.
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JDurk

Well-Known Member
Aistriu Mayhem
H2H Series - Men Cat 2, 45+
March 25, 2023


Mayhem is usually the first race of the season, and this year’s 9th edition was no different. It’s flat, it’s fast, and it always gets a big turnout. This year they added rain. It’s basically a longer CX race on a MTB. Perfect course for a hard tail.

A few weeks ago, I upgraded the fork on my 2017ish Giant XtC from the stock 120mmReba RL to a 120mm Fox Factory 34 StepCast @jShort had on offer. Also replaced the stock dropper with a PNW Rainer Gen 3 (very limited choices for 27.2).

Race day forecast called for temps in the 40’s with rain, and a real feel in the mid 30’s. Thankfully the temperature was a bit warmer and the rain held off for the entire drive down and most of the time before staging for the 11:30am start.
View attachment 210410
Pretty uneventful race for me. Rain at staging tapered but didn’t stop. Standing there for 15 minutes got me pretty cold. The 45+ was the third group to go off, behind Cat 2 Men 15-18 and the 19+.

I’m center of the front row (2, maybe 3 rows?) and we get the countdown for our start. I got a good start, came out of the field after the hard left turn in third wheel at a very hot pace. I gave up a couple spots before the first single track section and maybe two more on the sandy road before heading over the dam. The rain was coming down a lot harder now. Anything that was sandy was fine, most of the dirt trails held ok, but a few of the turns were getting REALLY slick.

After a couple miles we started to pick off the tail end of the race in front, everyone was chill about passing.

Not a lot else to say, the rain let up after about 20-25 minutes and the soft spots tacked up nicely for the second lap. No crashes, almost cramped in the last half mile. I probably didn’t drink enough since it was so cold?
View attachment 210411View attachment 210413View attachment 210414View attachment 210415View attachment 210416
Finished 13th of 21. Second lap was 2-3 minutes slower than first. Set a new max HR of 196, average was 176.
View attachment 210417
Changed into dry clothes. Watched the Cat 1s start. Hung around for @Leadman ‘s 2nd place podium, he lost to Kelly Cline in a sprint, then hit the road.

Sunday was cleanup day.
View attachment 210412
Good job. Fork looks good on that bike.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Pole vault, of course. He’s no good on his feet.

lessons with Carl@Vault Factory is the way to go.....think he is in basking ridge.
He has a club team and goes to various open competitions. Junior Olympics track, etc.

All the cool kids do pole vault - the kid at Princeton just did 19'2" indoor.........it was incredible.
I was officiating on the track and the place basically stopped everything to watch.
Yeah - he is on a scholarship.....just sayin.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
lessons with Carl@Vault Factory is the way to go.....think he is in basking ridge.
He has a club team and goes to various open competitions. Junior Olympics track, etc.

All the cool kids do pole vault - the kid at Princeton just did 19'2" indoor.........it was incredible.
I was officiating on the track and the place basically stopped everything to watch.
Yeah - he is on a scholarship.....just sayin.
Noted.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Jungle Escape
H2H Series - Men Cat 2, 45+
April 8th, 2023


Race number 2 of the H2H series. After last year's debacle, the dry conditions were much welcomed.
I went up to do an easy recon lap on Friday afternoon to get acquainted with the course. Jungle is so much fun to ride, but we usually do a different route, and I'm not familiar enough with the park to consider myself comfortable with just looking at a map and knowing what trail has what rocks. Besides, the weather Friday afternoon was awesome.
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Saturday morning was relaxed, since the Cat 2 start wasn't until 11am. I dropped my son off at the high school for the bus to his track meet, then home to pack up the car and head up to West Milford. I pulled into the lot about 9:45 or so, parked next to @Leadman and @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST pulled into the lot right behind me. Checked in, and put on the number plate from Mayhem (reusable for the whole H2H series) and then tried to decide what the correct clothing choice would be for the race, mid 40's to start up to low 50's around finish time. The correct answer was shorts/short sleeves with a light vest, and G-Form knee/elbow pads for a little extra warmth, and protection from all those rocks.

We lined up a bit before 11am, with the race consisting of one short loop followed by one longer loop. Orderly start, we sprint up a short steep paved section, then bang a hard left under the timing trusses, and swing down towards the right, and then a left into the single track. There is a small tree right in the middle of the trail entrance. I made a mental note of it on Friday, but coming in at race pace on Saturday, I ALMOST forgot about it. One or two guys in front of me clearly didn't know it was there and really had to brake check to avoid riding straight into it. I was in 6th or 7th position at this point. A majority of the first section of single track it felt like we were all together. Eventually we picked up the tail end of the race in front of us, and there were a few dabs by others. I got a little caught up a couple times which allowed some guys to get past.

At some point, Glenn passed me, but I was able to stay with him for a bit, which was kinda cool. Eventually he put some distance between the two of us, and was gone. I picked up a couple other guys from the race in front, while also getting passed by others behind me (both from my race and the pointy end of the other races behind me). I finished up the short lap, and was feeling pretty good, both handling and fitness wise.
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Starting the second lap, it was a redo of most of the first lap, where I caught a couple more guys, and also got passed by a few others. I did my best to focus on constant peddling and riding as smooth and clean as I could thru the rocky sections and pushing the downhills to my limit.
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pic @Stef

I finished up in 13th place (again) 2:39 behind Glenn in 10th and only 9 seconds behind the dude in front of me, who I didn't know was in my race.
Average HR was 171, with a 182 max. Don't think I left much out there. Could have been a bit cleaner, and maybe pushed some climbs a little more, but not by much.
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Next up is Ringwood, and then possibly 2 laps at Iron Furnace.
 

Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Jungle Escape
H2H Series - Men Cat 2, 45+
April 8th, 2023


Race number 2 of the H2H series. After last year's debacle, the dry conditions were much welcomed.
I went up to do an easy recon lap on Friday afternoon to get acquainted with the course. Jungle is so much fun to ride, but we usually do a different route, and I'm not familiar enough with the park to consider myself comfortable with just looking at a map and knowing what trail has what rocks. Besides, the weather Friday afternoon was awesome.
View attachment 211450View attachment 211454

Saturday morning was relaxed, since the Cat 2 start wasn't until 11am. I dropped my son off at the high school for the bus to his track meet, then home to pack up the car and head up to West Milford. I pulled into the lot about 9:45 or so, parked next to @Leadman and @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST pulled into the lot right behind me. Checked in, and put on the number plate from Mayhem (reusable for the whole H2H series) and then tried to decide what the correct clothing choice would be for the race, mid 40's to start up to low 50's around finish time. The correct answer was shorts/short sleeves with a light vest, and G-Form knee/elbow pads for a little extra warmth, and protection from all those rocks.

We lined up a bit before 11am, with the race consisting of one short loop followed by one longer loop. Orderly start, we sprint up a short steep paved section, then bang a hard left under the timing trusses, and swing down towards the right, and then a left into the single track. There is a small tree right in the middle of the trail entrance. I made a mental note of it on Friday, but coming in at race pace on Saturday, I ALMOST forgot about it. One or two guys in front of me clearly didn't know it was there and really had to brake check to avoid riding straight into it. I was in 6th or 7th position at this point. A majority of the first section of single track it felt like we were all together. Eventually we picked up the tail end of the race in front of us, and there were a few dabs by others. I got a little caught up a couple times which allowed some guys to get past.

At some point, Glenn passed me, but I was able to stay with him for a bit, which was kinda cool. Eventually he put some distance between the two of us, and was gone. I picked up a couple other guys from the race in front, while also getting passed by others behind me (both from my race and the pointy end of the other races behind me). I finished up the short lap, and was feeling pretty good, both handling and fitness wise.
View attachment 211453
Starting the second lap, it was a redo of most of the first lap, where I caught a couple more guys, and also got passed by a few others. I did my best to focus on constant peddling and riding as smooth and clean as I could thru the rocky sections and pushing the downhills to my limit.
View attachment 211452
pic @Stef

I finished up in 13th place (again) 2:39 behind Glenn in 10th and only 9 seconds behind the dude in front of me, who I didn't know was in my race.
Average HR was 171, with a 182 max. Don't think I left much out there. Could have been a bit cleaner, and maybe pushed some climbs a little more, but not by much.
View attachment 211451


Next up is Ringwood, and then possibly 2 laps at Iron Furnace.
Great recap. See you at Ringwood.
Traffic on that course was hard to manage.
Not many safe places to pass.
 
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