Late Fall 2009
With Fall well behind me and Spring but a distant vision, I engaged in a long series of monologues about how I was going to do more racing in 2010. Sure the
Tacchino CX race hadn't gone so well but that was hardly surprising - I was out of shape and riding the wrong kind of bike. Just look at the
Monster Mash - I'd trained and done relatively well - even if it wasn't the most competitive of races.
Yes, definitely more racing in 2010. Cant't wait to get started. Too bad it's the middle of winter.
December 17, 2009
A link appeared on
http://more-mtb.org for the Snotcycle on January 30, 2010. Well, that happened earlier than I expected. With 1.5 months to go, surely I could get my ass in gear. Go for some rides on warmer days. Running too, that would be a good idea. No time like the present to get started.
January 3, 2010
I finally got around to buying the trainer that Jennifer and I had been talking about getting for awhile. I'm ready to get serious now. Still haven't registered but I'm really planning on doing so. Jennifer even got me some new socks and toe warmers for Christmas to encourage me to race. Tomorrow, definitely tomorrow.
January 13, 2010
With the field rapidly filling up, and having talked about doing it amongst friends and family, I pretty much had to register and finally pulled the trigger. Two weeks isn't a lot of time, but do-able with some laser-focused effort. I mean I'd already been on the trainer a couple of times - albeit on Jennifer's bike.
January 18, 2010
Finally got off my ass and bought a slick to mount for the rear wheel so I could begin training in earnest on a bike that fit me. Race day was still a decent distance off (relative to the amount of effort I was willing to put in).
January 19-28, 2010
If "training fiend" can be described as someone who got on the trainer a few times a week, wanted to do more but was waylaid by post-work exhaustion/general laziness than fiend I was. I suspect I do not fit the usual definition. But things did improve here. Of course barring a broken leg the only direction was greater fitness.
January 29, 2010
Anxiety had been building all week but not too bad. Given my lack of effort I didn't expect too much from myself. Weather was also starting to play a factor - everything from snow showers to a for-real storm on race day. As we got closer to race day the weather firmed up with snow forecast as starting later in the morning. Not that it mattered, race was on regardless of conditions.
The only thing I really needed to pick up was some shoe covers as I didn't think duct tape was going to cut it. I picked up some covers that I thought would be OK, if a bit warm. Certainly wouldn't need the toe-warmers Jennifer bought me. Fast-forwarding slightly, I am an idiot.
Took a final quick spin on the trainer and then pulled off the bike to put on my regular MTB tires. And then suddenly, and quite without warning, I was looking at the stem from my tube lodged in the pump. At 8:20 PM. The night before the race. That
did not just happen. I raced to REI to pick up two spare tubes. Crisis avoided.
January 30, 2010 - Race Day
6:30 came
way too early. I made way way out to Leesburg with the anticipation of warming up for a bit before the race. What I did instead was pick up my number, timing chip and then stand by the bonfire.
Somewhere around 8:30 I grudgingly made my way back to the car to gear up. Little bit cold there. Came
real close to forgetting to attach my timing chip and was only saved by overhearing someone else say something about theirs. I spent the rest of my time spinning up and down the access road before the announcer called for Cat 3 racers to report to the starting line.
I'n not a front-of-the-packer yet but knew I didn't want to be all the way at the back again - too much nonsense to overcome. Stamped my feet to try and warm them up, met some fellow MORE folk and then we were off.
There was a prologue of sorts which is to say that the farm we were racing on/around had a truck path that provided two lanes of singletrack before heading into the woods. I remember 1-3 people passing me here but can't remember if I passed anyone. I think I was just concentrating on finding my pace.
The opening singletrack was lots of fun - well spaced pine trees with the trail bobbing and weaving about. I think I passed one or two riders here before hitting a bottleneck at the first obstacle. It would have been an entertaining rock climb but was now choked with riders dismounting. I think in the past it would have offended me to dismount but this was a race not a style competition, so I just got off and ran up CX-style.
I passed 1-2 more riders here and then settled into a nice pace before I hit the next group. They seemed to be going at a reasonable clip, or so I thought until we hit a few twisting downhills. Brakes?!? This was perfect ground to run up some speed. A more experienced racer would have know to pass immediately but I thought maybe they were just getting their bearings. Two more small downhills and I knew I needed to pass.
We were now back on some flow-y trail making our way back to the entrance road and I was over whatever passing hesitations I had before. If you catch up with them, it means you're faster - just pass them and be done with it.
I passed another 2-3 riders before crossing over the entrance road to the clanging of cowbells - always fun to hear. I think I passed one more rider before I emerged out into a pasture and made my way to the back half of the course.
This section was far more technical (relatively speaking) with a number of log/rock crossings/climbs and one steep drop that would have given me pause if I'd seen it coming - instead I just dropped down the the thing with a passing thought of "well that was entertaining" (I later heard that this turned into another mini-bottleneck).
I closed on another group of riders and sat there for a bit as I didn't really feel like I had the gas to pass and the opportunities to do so were now more limited given the trail. Sometime over the last little bit it had also started to snow. So I was feeling relatively good from a cardio perspective even if I couldn't feel my toes
at all by this point. And then something odd happened. Riders started pulling up - whether from cold or fitness or just feeling me behind and letting me pass, I couldn't say. What it translated to was skipping by 4-5 riders with no effort at all.
I came up one someone walking the trail in reverse who told me were nearly done - this was probably around the 7 mile mark. Thank god as my feet were just blocks now. I came up on one more rider and sat on his wheel until I could find the space and energy to pass.
We came out of the woods and back into the pasture for the last stretch to the finish. I was still on the other rider's wheel when we hit a downhill and up another small climb. He didn't carry his speed so I had to check mine and get out of the saddle to top out. I felt my left calf seize for a second when I stood and knew I need to pass before anything worse happened. I took the next curve inside of him and brought it home to the finish line.
As I crossed the line I thought I heard someone say "14th" and assumed they were talking about me. I don't know what I was aiming for, but 14th was better than I could have hoped. I pedaled around for a bit and made my way back to the car to try and warm up. It eventually took about 30 minutes in front of the bonfire before my feet felt comfortable again. I headed back to the timing table but they didn't have official results yet so I chatted with some folk around the bonfire for a bit before calling it a day and heading home.
January 31, 2010
Spent some time looking for pics (some watermarked images
here, I'm in the middle and the bottom of the page (I'll be buying pics soon)) and waiting on the official results. So this was more than a little surprising:
| Place | Bib # | Rider | Time |
| 9 | 211 | Brian Connors | 48:09.3 |
OK, so that was
way better than I expected. And with 15 points toward the rest of the series (Hotcycle and SpeedFreaks), now I have some skin in the game and pretty much have to race.
It was a great race and I'm glad I did it. Each of these little efforts is having a positive effect and momentum seems to be building. I'm definitely also starting to amass some lessons learned when racing - pass when you can because sitting on a wheel that's slower than you just wastes time. Doing this a few times a race and the minutes rack up.
Thanks, as always, to Jennifer and Lauren for their love and encouragement.
Spring is coming up quick...
