Red Wing 2012 MMBS #3

Wow. It has been a while since I last posted. Here is a race recap for the first race of the year:

Race Recap – Memorial Park, June 17th, 2012

This was the first race of the year and I was feeling the pre-race jitters worst than ever. I think the nervousness was from the knowledge that I was coming into the race with some great base mileage (almost a 1000 miles/75 hours on the bike to date), which was more than I had for all of 2011. Riding at the front is a lot more stressful, and my mind wasn’t quite convinced that it wanted to suffer yet. The anxiety was enough to make my legs shake on the warm-up, but I was able to suppress that after a couple hard sprints. On top of it all, I had brought the kids out to race. The morning seemed like I was either putting a bike together, running to the car, or getting someone registered.



At the line up, I met up with Andy. Everyone seemed in good spirits and there was the typical pre-race chatter. After call-ups I was situated in the middle of the second row next to Andy and David L. David pointed out to me that the two guys in front of us were in a 28 or 30 tooth gear in the rear and middle chain ring. We both smiled with the same thought on our mind; there was going to be a hole opening up between these two riders.



At the whistle, I threw a little elbow at David in an effort to get between the two riders in front of me. I blew between them, and was sitting in 4th or 5th position on the wrong side of the double track. I put in a quick attack through the grass and was riding in second. I wasted a lot of effort with a poor line in passing through the grass, but I was now on the smooth portion of the double track riding behind #1. I took inventory at the crest of the first climb and decided that I felt good enough to put in a big effort and be the first guy to the woods. I threw the hammer down and rode away from the group. By the time I got to the woods I was 10-15 seconds up on the pack but starting to pop. At that point I made the decision to let the group catch me, and ride on someone’s wheel for a while. It was the right decision, because I was not riding efficient, and wasting a lot of energy taking bad lines.



I was able to hold back the top group for about a minute or two during my recovery. At which point the riders started to trickle by. It was a blow to my psyche after I let the 5-7 riders past. I was beginning to doubt my abilities and thought that this was going to be a typical Sport experience from the past. It was at that point that the last rider to catch me said we should work together and bring riders back. I told him I had popped, but he said we could do it. That positive change it perspective allowed me to regroup and realize there was a lot of racing left to be had. I sat back on his wheel for a bit and had him drag me through the woods as I grabbed some water. The legs were coming back as we hit the long double track climb. I took the lead as we passed a couple of riders up the climb. Once we got to the halfway point and came out of the woods, I let the partner take the lead. He cut the wind for me as he dug deep across the open field. By the time we hit the single track again, he was done.



The second half of the lap I was feeling good. I dropped the partner and had picked up a couple guys on the climb. Now the single track was fast and I had targets in sight. By the time I hit the Stairway climb I had caught the next group of three and passed one of them as I ran up the climb. I made it through the last section of single track with two guys about 100 yards ahead, starting their 2nd lap. They were going recovery speed, so I was able to catch and drop them relatively quickly in the open fields. Once I got back into woods, I noticed a chase group was gaining on me and was 20-30 seconds behind. At this point I was getting a little nervous that they might catch me, but at the same time I was feeling great and had a good feel for the trail.



I rode on my own for most of the single track section on lap two. I noticed that I was pulling away from the riders behind, and gaining on the riders in front. I had estimated that there were 2-3 guys still up ahead. I caught one on the long double track climb and dropped him like a bad habit. Just before the Stairway climb, I caught the guy that I thought was in the #1 position. I was going to stay on his wheel until the finish, but at the bottom of the Stairway climb I rolled over one of the many rocks and spun out. I jumped off the bike and started running up the climb. The guy in the yellow jersey slowly rode away. At the top, I was gassed, but I knew I could bring guy in the yellow back. I was faster in the single track, as observed in riding his wheel before.



I could see and hear him on the switchbacks. He was running hard. In the last section of single track, a crowd had developed along the trail. Two guys coaxed me on, “He’s 10 seconds ahead!” I crested a quick roller and came face to face with a grouse starring me down (this nesting grouse had been buzzing people all week (MORC)). In order to not run it over, I took a not-so-ideal line and had to dab. I turned the corner on the last climb into the staging area. The crowd was great and really pushed me on, but I couldn’t make time on him at the end. I crossed the line with two guys in front from my wave, 10 seconds behind guy in yellow and 60 seconds behind the first place rider.



For the race I finished 5th overall in sport and 2nd for my age group. I have a whole new perspective on strategy and racing and I hope to get a few more opportunities to play with this year. See you on the trail...