Whew, tough riding today, wanted to get this posted while still on the mind then ready to call it a night. Gave the Catawba Riverfront Classic a go today and coming off a 27 mile Stumpjump race and a sweet 27 mile FATS ride figured it was as good as its gonna get going into this posted 18 mile ride (actually was two 9.5 mile loops). Ariving at the trailhead ran into Cycle Center Harry who was finished with his 50+ race (came in 2nd) and some guy named Brad that won the Harbison Sport 30-39 race. Not sure if there were any Harrels guys from earlier races as my race wasn't until 1:00 and I got there around 12:20.
No exuses whatsoever, just didnt work out like I was hoping. I went in with goals of finishing middle of the pack but ended up in the bottom, AGAIN. I left the trailhead before the protest window was over but current standings had me finishing 15th out of 18 with the last two guys DNF. I'm hoping the DNF's might have been from exhaustion rather than mechanical :). I'm getting a good initiation into this racing stuff and really starting to respect those who make this look easy.
Perspectivly speaking I thought the course was alot like Spider Woman with an xtra innter loop and reverse climbs out. This course beat me to death and I was grannying all over on 4 or 5 climbs atleast just to make sure I didnt blow up. It had a number of twisty, rooty, choppy descents only to force you to climb your way back up the same type terrain. Like mentioned coming off my last few long rides I figured I'd pack lighter this go round but after a couple of them tough climbs I was thinking, man I may run out of the goo and hydration on this race.
I was ever so relieved to find sections of the course that smoothed out more inline with a stewardship type trail and even routed us up a couple power line sections.
My first lap went good, I hit the woods around middle of the pack, passed a couple riders on some early climbs and didnt start to get passed till around 4-5 miles in. But boy, when I did start getting passed by a couple they were coming on strong and I just couldnt keep pace and with each climb they pulled away further and further. The first lap went good, there were no crashes or dismounts and aside from the normal drain of riding hard I was still in my ride. The second lap was when things changed in a bad way. About a mile in on the second loop I was getting a little maverick trying to get some distance between me and another rider who had been about 20 or so feet behind me for the last 10 minutes and on a right downhill section my front wheel washed out causing my bars to all the way right and I went down hard on my ribs righ on the bar end that was up. That one took the breath right out of me and just when I could manage to suck a lung full of air here comes that guy that was twenty feet back and lays it down right into me and my bike knocking me down again. Whew, ok, after a couple back and forths "you alright" we both got up and he came out ok and was off. Me on the other hand had my chain come off and get stuck between the frame and inner ring so after hobling off this turn had to flip the bike over and get it unstuck. Hated this, there was a couple other riders that passed me while Im fumbling with my chain, I had to get going.
Again, no exuses, I was able to push it harder and catch up to this last pack that passed until they just outdid me on the climbs which by now I am fully accepting this is my big weakness. The last three miles of the race was a good finish (which now in hindsight I realize must of been riders in another class) but there were 3 of us all within site of eachother and we kept giving and taking ground from eachother to within a couple bikes lengths. Alright, this is when I might have got a little cocky to myself, the guy ahead was rolling good but I knew I could take him in this single track I kept closing right behind him till he would pull away on a climb, thats ok, we still have a couple miles. Now, the guy behind me, I dube him Steroid boy, this guy is riding with no shirt as to show off his muscles or something but he keeps letting out these gorilla like roars. Im thinking is this guy trying to syche us out or does he just need a shot of the juice. Well, after about 3 or 4 of these Im convinced I aint let'n steriod boy pass me dammit and Im gonna give him reason to change his roaring to moans. Funny the things you find for motivation on your last leg of energy but that did it, I turned it up a notch and was able to pull far away from this jungle boy that I knew he was no longer gonna catch me. Then within the last mile I was able to overtake the guy ahead of me to.. We were both spent, and when I did pass he asked me what class I was in and when I replied 30-39 he said whew, "Im in 40-50, was just seeing if were gonna have to start racing", I gotta say I chuckled and just replied, na, no need buddy. It was a good finish and I still pushed it thru the single track to keep a distance, but darn if that sucker didnt take me on the final climb up the gravel road to finish ahead no matter how small a distance.
All in all I gotta say I had a good tough race today and even though Im at the bottom end I feel good that I put in my race effort. With three races I now have a good baseline for my rookie year.
Still waiting for official results to be posted online, hopefully will be on the results link from site http://www.charlottemtnbike.com/
My cycle computer Stats from today :
Distance: 20.38
Time : 2:05
Avg: 9.7
Max: 22.1
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2 comments:
Sounds like another good race. Avoiding a DNF and not finishing last is always a good thing. By next year, you'll be up front battling for position :)
Good job Jim, stay at it. As long as your having fun your winning.
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