Mountain Bike Season Finale: DINO Southwestway

My second full DINO season is in the books with the completion of the race at Southwestway Park in Indianapolis this weekend. The course was different this year due to extensive new trail construction being performed by HMBA. I went on a course pre-ride the Sunday before the race with a large group consisting of primarily guys from the Matthews Bicycle Shop Team. The ride was a great workout and showcased some of the new trail, as well as the rooty, technical descent which was added this year, (we actually climbed this descent last year….this year flipped things around.)

On Friday I was at a conference for work which ended a bit early so I decided to get one more pre-ride in since the course would be marked for the weekend’s races. I’m glad I did! The course had been changed. A long climb up Mann Hill via a powerline easement was removed, and instead we would be climbing up a recently built flowing downhill. (Note: I went down this trail the Sunday before and it was a blast!) Unfortunately, the combination of a new trail and no recent rain meant this section as going to be very sandy. Actually the entire course was dry and dusty. Slide outs were a concern. Here is my Strava file from the race itself which shows the climbs. Note this was two laps.

Looking at the series standings pre-race,  I found I was in 7^th place in Cat 3 and four points behind the first place rider in the 30-39 age group. A bit of math indicated that as long as I didn’t have a major screw up, and finished in the top 12, I would take first. (only the top five races count towards the series and this would be my sixth race which would in turn erase my worst finish at North Vernon back in June) Knowing the same two riders I’ve been going back and forth with all year would be racing, I assembled a loose plan. The idea was to get out in the top three early on and see how everyone was riding. Once we came to the first part of Mann Hill, a steep washed out gravel road, which levels out, and then takes a hard left and becomes even steeper and goes towards the parking lot. Depending on how the other riders were doing, I planned to attack on the steep left hand turn to the parking lot to see if I could gap the other two and drop them.

All smiles prior to the start! Rider in green is Eric Lewis, a Cat 2 rider who
often trades  his geared bike for a single speed. Photo: Beth Bragg

Back to the start line, our group got off to a fast start on a initial ¾ mile gravel road section. Everyone stayed upright despite the dry and loose conditions, although I was force to take a few turns wider than I would have liked. One rider was off the front of the group, although I closed the gap as we entered the woods.

At the start! A bit slower than I would have liked.
Photo: Beth Bragg

Things were going fine and the pace was high, but not unbearably so.  Unfortunately, while in the single track we came up behind a rider from Marian University in the 19-29 group. He crashed on a turn ahead of us and blocked the whole trail. He wasn’t injured, but said he was stuck in the bike. I wasn’t terribly concerned about the delay as everyone was still fairly close. However, one of the riders behind me cut through the brush and got around the delay. The now former first place rider was not happy and had some words with the Marian rider before taking off. Once I got going again I realized the other two had a bit of a gap. I started pushing the pace to catch up.

 

Hitting a downhill to the lower section of the course I found that I had caught up with Mike but Bryan had pulled away. Another rider named Brian (he had raced at French Lick and Versailles) was also close behind me. Hitting the levy I kicked up the pace to catch Bryan and passed Mike. I pushed extremely hard on this section and into the trail section2s along the river but did close the gap and found myself on Bryan’s wheel just before the gravel climb, while the other Brian remained on my wheel.

Hitting the climb we were all in a close line. I was feeling a little worn out and began to think I pushed it too hard earlier in the lap. Nevertheless, I studied Bryan’s back and thought he was having some difficulty on the climb. While my plan had been to attack on the second lap, as we hit the left turn up to the parking lot, I accelerated and passed him. It was cool to hear the crowd react to the attack and I felt good as I turned onto the new trail on Mann Hill.

Just after I made my attack. The small lead I had is dwindling. Photo: Beth Bragg

I continued to push and glanced back to gauge the success of the attack…..and both Bryan and Brian were still behind me. While they had dropped a bit at the onset, they had regained their position on my wheel. So much for that! My glorious attack had failed, a big match burned, with no gain. C'est la vie.

We climbed up the flow trail portion on the other side of the hill and then dropped down the technical descent. At the bottom, the course takes a hard left and then takes a right and drops down a dusty embankment to the parking and on to the finish line. As I hit the dusty right embanked turn, I heard a spectator yell “Be careful on the turn!” a split second too late. At that point my rear tire was already sliding out and down I went.
 

Coming down the technical descent with the chasers close on my wheel.
I was on the ground about 5 seconds after this photo was taken. Photo: Beth Bragg

I contacted on my right knee, hip and elbow. Both Bryan and Brian asked if I was ok, and I told them yes and go ahead. And boy did they. I got up, grabbed my water bottle which was doing its best to roll away into the parking lot and jumped back on the bike.

Unfortunately, Bryan and Brian were pushing it and they had a large gap. Pretty obvious that I wasn’t dictating any pace on the second lap, and had a lot of work ahead of me to catch up. I pushed hard but couldn’t seem to close the gap. I was passed by two 40-49ers who were absolutely blazing. Their speed was amazing. Glad I won’t be racing head to head with them any time soon.

Not sure where is was, but kind of a neat shot between
the trees. Photo: Beth Bragg

Coming up on the gravel climb for the second time I shifted my focus to maintain my position. I knew Mike was still somewhere behind me and I didn’t want to lose third place or drop any farther in the overall. On the flow trail climb I actually spotted Bryan a short ways ahead and thought for a minute I could catch him. However, I think he saw me too because he was gone.

Climbing up the flow trail. It is much more fun to ride it the other way!
Photo: William Snyder

I ended in third place for the age group and 9^th overall. I was happy with the result, although could have ridden a better race. First, I should not have attacked on the first climb. That was way premature, but I think my over confidence in my climbing ability (which wasn’t that great that day) and actually the crowd noise kind of fired me up. I should have bided my time and waited until the second lap. Second, I should have drank more. The hour before the race I was sipping a bottle of Heed and took only one bottle for the actual race. This was enough, but while I thought I was drinking enough, at the finish I found I still had half a bottle left. Yikes. 

One technical note, I switched to a Maxxis Crossmark for my rear tire versus my normal Aspen (yes, I like Maxxis tires). The Aspen was getting a little worn and with the dry conditions I wanted to make sure I had grip and a fast rolling tire. I was very happy with the Crossmark. With the exception of the slide out entering the parking lot (I doubt any tire could have saved that one) it was rock solid the entire day.

Series standings came out earlier in the week and I ended up 7^th overall and won the 30-39 age group. Overall, I’m happy with the year. I came in hoping to place in my age group in a race and finish top ten in a race. I accomplished this, and won the 30-39, which was not a goal, but still very nice. I feel like I am faster and smarter on the bike. Additionally, I started the season weighing 213 and as I type this weigh in at 198. Hopefully I can maintain this weight and train well over the winter.  A final goal was to evaluate my readiness to move to Cat 2. Winning the age group made that decision for me, but I’m going to have to talk to some Cat 2 folks and troll some message boards to find out how to deal with the increased distance in those races.

I had hoped to do the 6 Hour solo division at the 24 Hours of DINO, but was informed earlier this year that a family reunion had been scheduled for that Saturday, 9/7. Luckily, the DRT Brown County Time Trial scheduled its rain date for 9/8. Everything was working out. Unfortunately, when I received a copy of the reunion invite last week I found that it was scheduled for 9/8.  So the DRT TT is out, and while 24 of DINO could be done, I’m in no shape to ride extended miles. Last year at this time I was already riding longer miles to prepare for the race. I haven’t done anything like that this year and will not have time to prepare before the race. So, it looks like my MTB season is over.

I’m go to enjoy some recreational riding in September and October (I’d like to make it to O’Bannon Woods State Park) and get more time in on the singlespeed. Cyclocross season is starting up, and I’m thinking that I might follow the lead I took for mountain biking and set up a training plan for September and early October to see if I can up my game in that discipline. Of course, I will be racing on my 29er in the Indiana Cyclocross Cup, since I’ve heard the Ohio Vallet CX series frowns upon mtb usage. Luckily, ICX has four races within 30 minutes of me (one race is a 15 minute bike ride from my house). I think I’ll treat these as short track MTB races and train accordingly. Might be kind of fun and would give me an excuse to buy a new drivetrain at the end of the year.

 

 

The Magic is Gone.

A few months ago I posted with much pride about my new singlespeed and the discovery of a "magic" gear, 32x18. All worked swimmingly for a few months. But, after the night race at Southwestway a few weeks ago I thought the chain looked a little droopy. Soon after that while on a ride at Fort Ben Harrison I managed to drop my chain four times in 40 minutes, each time in a most embarrassing place, such as in front of trail runners, or while attempting to pass other mtbers.

The chain definitely looked a bit droopy so I installed a tensioner, although I modified it to push up. With the chain nice and tight I set off on a morning ride. While about to climb a hill behind the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the chain dropped again. I replaced it, and tried again on the hill, only to have it drop, AND break.

Well, it didn’t break, but the masterlink came apart. Unfortunately, being on a gravel road in the woods, in the dark, I was unable to find the back plate for the link. So, I had a hike home.

This was all leading up to a night race at Town Run on Saturday. After replacing the master link, I considered my options. The chain line looked good, and had been good for the past few months, so I figured the issue was still tension related. I had a half link to install, but with a busy work week, I chose to hold that experiment off for a few days and instead used a zip tie on my chain stay to pull the tensioner up even more. A short ride (bad idea) around the block and everything went well. Off I went to race in the dark.

Things did not go well. During my warm up the chain dropped again. In a panic, I applied additional zip ties. Less than two minutes into the race and in 3^rd place the chain dropped. I quickly got it back on, rode for a another minute before it happened again. This is how the first one a half miles went. At that point I decided I needed to bail. It was not going to be enjoyable even if I did forget about the race. When I came to section where the inbound and outbound trails were close together I cut over and struggled back to the parking lot.

So, what is the problem with the bike? It seems like when drops occur when under load, such as a hill, or powering over obstacles (like my warm up Saturday night). I assumed it was a tension issue, but even after placing several zip ties and getting the chain quite tight, I was still suffering drops.

I tweaked the chainline a bit and set about installing my half link. But, upon installation, I was still about half a centimeter off between the ends of the chain. I seem to have hit some sort of gray area with the gearing I have. So, as it stands now, I ordered a 17t rear cog to fit with that chain.

But, since I am impatient, I pulled out a new 20t cog and a new Sram PC-1 I had been holding for a possible hilly ride later this year (Gravel Grovel?) and installed them last night with a half link. Tension looks good, but I’m planning a test ride tomorrow to see how it plays out.  Hopefully it all works since I miss the almost care free single speed riding.

In other news, the final DINO race of the season comes to an end this Sunday at Southwestway Park here in Indianapolis. I did a group ride on the course last weekend and the race looks like it will be a blast. Lots of new trail, but still some tough climbing.

Yes, another race report: France Park DINO

It’s nice when a prerace plan actually works.  Doesn’t happen much, but things came together nicely at the DINO race at France Park this past weekend.

First, a bit of drama. France Park is a county park located near Logansport, Indiana. It is a unique course as it has a mixture of single track, dirt and gravel double track, and some grassy lanes. The course also goes through a dried quarry which would remind me of riding through a desert out west if I had ever actually ridden such a desert. The course also skirts the edge of cliff bordering another, water filled quarry, complete with 50 feet drop down to the water’s surface.  A map of the course is here. I’ve raced France Park twice and enjoyed the variety both times.

But, in the week prior to the race the internets, specifically the HMBA forums and DINO Facebook page, were all a flutter with reports of massive trail damage due to a dirt bike/ATV race held at the park the weekend before.  There were various reports of the extent of the destruction (one person even said 90% of the trails were destroyed) although the race director thought the trails would be ok by race time. With no pre-ride, the trail conditions would be a wildcard for the race.

My goal for the race itself was to stay with the other two 30-39ers with whom I have been racing with all season. The top rider Mike, had won our age group every race, but I was hoping I could stay within attacking distance this race. Besides trying to ensure top three podium finishes, I have been paying closer attention to the overall standings. These are dominated at the top by a group of very fast 19-29ers, but I was hoping I could crack the top ten. The race started and the myself and the other two 30-39ers referenced above got away from the main pack. The pace was hard, but I was within a few bike lengths of 2^nd place and still had 1^st in sight, although barely.

At the start, looking all serious.
Photo: Beth Bragg

As for the course, there were admittedly some rough sections. Several areas were very rough from the ATV race and there were numerous broken roots and rocks which had been kicked up as well. But overall, it was not as bad as I had expected, or as had been hyped online. Lots of the actual singletrack had not been touched, or if it had, looked just as it has in past years. There were locations where new ATV tracks had been cut through the woods rather willy nilly, but not much one can do about that.

As for the race, the first lap was uneventful. Near the end of the first lap you come upon a creek crossing. Getting into the creek is easy. Getting out not so much as there is an insurmountable (well for me) rock ledge that requires a dismount. 

Foregoing the plank bridge since the creek is all of 2 inches deep.
Photo: Eric Lewis

I passed the second place rider before the creek and following my remount, looked to see if he was behind me so we could possibly work together to catch first place. He was not, and I spotted first place well ahead (maybe 20 seconds) on a flat field stretch which ran near the main park road. I took off in pursuit.  I started the second lap in second and handled the single and double track ok. What had been a difficult and very steep descent in this section of the course had been removed and replaced with a nice bench cut descent. The only problem was the family I encountered sauntering along the trail. Not the best idea during a race.

Following the descent the course hit a long dirt double track section which parallels the southern boundary of the park, and which leads into a grass field. I spotted first still well ahead of me. I pushed hard and got on his wheel in the field section. This wasn’t to last long as once we reentered the woods and trail we hit a new technical climb which had been built over the winter. This climb replaced a straight up hike a bike (about 60 feet up) which was an energy drainer in previous years. I had no idea about what to expect with the new climb, but had seen this video made by the race director:

Doesn’t seem so bad. A log skinny followed by lots of rocks. No big deal. Well it sort of was. The log skinny was actually a foot  and a half off the ground and was bordered by numerous pointy rocks. First place attempted the skinny but had to stop, as did I. We then hiked/rode through a long section of loose rocky terrain, before hitting dirt for the last section of the climb.  The good news: No flats from the rocks. The bad new: First place got a bit of a gap which he maintained going into the remainder of the lap. A pre-ride would have helped with that section.

I continued to chase until near the end in a section called “Biker’s Ridge.” This is a steep uphill which I have never been able to climb all the way, usually  making it half or ¾ of the way up. First place had to walk it too and I restarted on his wheel. As we neared the creek crossing I thought he was getting a bit fatigued, and called out a pass and he let me by. I got across the creek and pushed hard for the remainder of the course and ended with a first in my age group and 6^th overall.

Overall, the race went very well. I had a plan which worked well and there were no mishaps or mechanicals.  The final DINO race (where has this year gone?!?) is a week from this Sunday at Southwestway Park in Indianapolis. The SWW course has changed a bit from last year since HMBA is building new trails. One addition will be reversing a technical hiking trail climb from last year. Instead, we will be descending on this trail! Consider my mind blown.

Following this past Sunday’s race, I am top ten in Cat 3 series points, and I still get to drop the lowest point race (North Vernon) following Southwestway, assuming I do better than 17^th overall.  There is no reason to stay in Cat 3, so I anticipate moving up to Cat 2 at the end of the year. A couple of the fast 19-29ers referenced earlier have been forced to move up to Cat 2 for the SWW race. I’m anxious to see how they fare against the longer races and the riders.