DINO Town Run Tune Up Race Report

First cross country race of the year is in the books, although it is a “tune up” or practice race so the results are not indicative of how a year will go.  Saturday dawned with clear skies and mild temperatures. The DINO Tune Up at Town Run has had a checkered history. Since being switched to this venue three years ago, one race was held in marginal conditions, with mist and a slick course. The second race n 2013 was cancelled since the course was under 5 feet of water.

I raced Cat 3 for the tune up in 2012, and finished 5^th. While encouraging, my results the rest of the year were not quite that good, I think because the Tune Up is early for many Indiana riders, and it is not as well attended as the actual series events, since there are no prizes to be won or points awarded.

So, off I went, with my road rash from my recent crash covered in an assortment of arm and leg warmers, and a bike whose seat post did not want to stay in the up position. Oh quick aside. Before the race I was working on the seat post and the cool stock clamp broke as I was loosening it. Oops. I slapped on the clamp from my old bike and it seemed to work. I also placed a piece of tape on the tube so I could check to see if it was slipping during the race.

Ok, back to the race proper. I donned my new racing kit from DRT Consulting...

….and of course got to the trailhead later than I would have liked. After checking in, I got everything situated and found I had forgotten tape to attach a gel shot to my top tube. Luckily a friend had some and I was off.

The start for the Tune Up was predictably less crowded than a regular series race, but still it was a good turnout. Only 4 Cat 30-30ers who racing, although the whole of Cat 2 had 24 riders.  I didn’t recognize any of the other racers in my wave,   except for Brian W., who raced in a few DINO events last year and who soundly smashed me in the series finale at Southwestway Park. I follow him and Strava and his riding is impressive, and frankly, he is just plain faster than me. So….my grand strategy was to try my best to hook on his wheel and stay in contact. Getting ahead of him and racing from the front would not work. There is no way I was going to drop him.

So, Pro/Elite and Cat 1 went off, followed by Cat 2 open and 19-29.  Then off we went.

Another quick aside: While waiting for the race to start, I noticed that the tape holding my gel shot was coming undone. Turns out the gel was leaking out and nullifying the adhesive. I folded over the top and stuffed it in the cuff of my pants. No need to think about the mess I was making right then.

The thing about the race start at TRTP is that is begins on a short intro loop, which follows a gravel road over a few jumps and then down into a rough single track section and then up to the trail head. At the start, the right route is typically fastest, although riders can take the longer left route and both trails intersect just before a short jump section.

In fact, you can see our start on this cool drone video. (This is a Facebook video and I can't figure out how to imbed the video itself.)

 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203501598166418

Our group is the wave of four about 3/4 of the way through the video. I took the right route, while Brian took the left route. The rider ahead of me was a bit slower, which resulted in Brian and I hitting the intersection neck and neck. At the top of the first jump I told him to take the second spot and began to execute my plan. Too bad the plan didn’t work beyond that. We hit the trail proper at a more or less casual pace. We were fast, but not as fast as we could have gone. Suddenly, just as we were poised to go over a section of levee, Brian punched the afterburners and passed the first place rider in the rough. I wasn’t ready for that, and found myself at a slower pace while he charged ahead. A second later I called for a pass and took off in pursuit.  I wasn’t too far back, and kept Brian in sight for most of the first half lap, but then we hit the field section. This southern part of the course is mostly in a wide open prairie like field, which sandy trail, wind, and lots of sun. I always seem to lose any rhythm I have had at this point and I always lose time. And lose time I did. Each loop in the trail saw Brian getting farther and farther from me.

Photo: Beth Bragg

Finally, as we left this section and headed back towards the relatively shady woods, I could no longer see him. Frustration aside, I tried to keep up the pressure in a futile hope of catching him. In the meantime, I finished the first lap and came upon two riders, one who I think was a Cat 2 open, and the other a 19-29er. I passed both easily, but the 19-29er, then sped up and caught up with me. This forced me to push the pace, to a point which was becoming hard to maintain so I let him back by. He remained in sight for most of the rest of the race, but I could never catch him.

Photo: Beth Bragg

During the second lap, I noticed my knees were getting close, and my legs were not extending as far as they should when pedaling. This correlated to a slightly slower speed then I was expecting as well. Looking down, sure enough the piece of tape I had placed on the seat post was crumpled and being pushed upward. It looked like the post was already down about a half an inch. I had my multi tool and could have stopped to try to fix it, but chose to press on, hoping to keep any fast riders from the later age groups at bay.

Photo: Beth Bragg

Also somewhere in the second lap I knocked back the gel shot. When I tried to remove it from my shorts, I found it was stuck to my leg hair. Yay. Not wanting to litter, I stuffed the used pack back into the shorts. The mess that awaited me at the finish line was fun.

The third lap was spent trying to catch the aforementioned 19-29er and keeping the older guys from catching up. Ultimately, I did not catch the 19-29er, but I was close enough to edge him out in the standings thanks to the 2 minute staggered start. I finished overall 6^th out of 24, and 2 out of 4 for the age group.

Town Run is a hard course to race. There is little elevation gain, and really no time for recovery. You are always on the gas, which leads to physical breakdowns and other bad things. Like hatred of mountain bike racing. Also, traditionally, I am better at climbing, and TRTP definitely is not hilly.  With this in mind, I was happy with my performance. I was averaging 32 minute laps, which is not great, but decent. Plus, I hydrated and fueled pretty well. I am concerned about the bike. It is fast, but I can’t help but think I’m losing some speed and power due to the seat post issue. Would this have been enough to catch Brian? Probably not. But it could have helped the overall.

Otherwise, I need to figure out where to go from here. I knew Brian would be tough, but he beat me by 4 minutes, an eternity in mountain bike racing time.  I think an increase in intensity training may be needed if I am to have any hope of keeping up with him, and a few others not present at this race.

Also, it was nice to be recognized for last year's age group series' win. Probably should savor that 'cause that will be a tall order this year.

 

 

April Training Brings Something in May

I’ve got a lot to cover in this post since I haven’t done a substantive posting since the Barry Roubaix Race Report back in March. To start things off, my new race bike is built and ready to roll! I present the Orbea Alma Hydro 29er.

 

I decided it was time to upgrade the trust Access XCL 29er, as well as work on the components.

Well it isn’t all new. The Reba Fork and the wheelset were already in my possession. Here are the stats:

Crankset: Shimano Deore XT 39-26

Front Derailleur: Sram XO-2 speed

Rear Derailluer: Sram X9-10 speed

Shifters: X9 Trigger

Brakes: Shimano SLX Ice Tech (from old bike)

Handlebar: Random Niner flat bar, 680 mm

Fork: Rock Shox Reba RL 100mm

Chain: Sram 1071

Cassette: Sram 1070 11-32

Saddle WTB Race V

Wheelset: Stans Arch 29er

Tires: Maxxis Crossmark UST (rear) Continental Mountain King II, Black Chili (front)

Grips: Some cool Bontrager grips I bought locally but can no longer remember the name.

The bike works great, although the extremely short chain stays took some time to get used to. Great for tight courses, but I have found that in fast accelerations I sometimes pop the front wheel off the ground. Also, the seat post clamp sucks. As I ride I notice that my knees seem to be moving up. Sure enough, the post just continues to slip, even when the bolts are fully tightened.

As for the engine side of the new bike, April has been an up and down month. My hours are a bit lower, and there was less organized training. Work has picked up quite a bit, so that certainly has had an impact. Additionally, I think there was a bit of post Barry Roubaix complacency. I see the Barry Roubaix as one of my primary races for the year, so following the good result, a inadvertently seemed to drop the level of intensity, Part o that is understandable, that after a hard race I drop back the intensity for a short period. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting the intensity back.

Also discouraging was watching Strava and seeing riders I race against getting more time on the bike, and getting faster throughout the month, while work, and some cycling advocacy duties, took up my time. Finally, last week was going to be a big comeback week. I planned to do a long ride home on Friday from work, and then two longer rides, with an emphasis on single track, on Saturday and Sunday. All of this was to be on the new bike. The weather for all three days was beautiful.

On Friday, I left work and headed to the eastside of downtown to swing my some a friend’s house, where my wife and a few others had gathered to have after work drinks.  I figured I would stop by, say hi, and then continue on to a nearby park which has a nice rolling 1 mile gravel loop, perfect for sprints. Unfortunately, I never made it. In making my way east, I got turned around and found myself on Rural St, a rather busy, and not very good quality road way. Cursing my less than stellar navigation, I got a gap traffic and tried to sprint to an alleyway about a block north. I got out of the saddle, accelerated, and then heard a sharp snapping sound and suddenly found my cranks spinning freely and myself going over the handlebars. In the matter of a second, I was almost over the bars, somehow pulled myself back down to the saddle, but in the process I lost control, my front wheel hit the curb (like a 8 inch high curb), and I crashed onto the gravel covered side walk and slid.

My first thought was that I had just screwed up my brand new bike. This lasted for a millisecond before being replaced with how much pain I was in, and the realization I was bleeding profusely.

Thanks to the gentleman in the old Cadillac who slowed down and “advised” me that I better get my bike out of the road. Please note, I was still on the sidewalk stunned and not moving at this point.

I got up, pulled my bike out of the street, retrieved the broken Sram 1071 chain from the road, and called my wife for assistance. She and our friends arrived a few minutes later with first aid supplies and ice packs. I went back to their house where I proceeded to junk out the newly refinished shower with dirt and blood. Sorry L

I had deep cuts on my arm and leg and road rash all down my right side. The good news was that I was able to get out for my planned rides on Saturday and Sunday and got some good time in for the bike.  I was hurting and stiff through it all, but everything on me, and the bike, seemed to work.

My recovery continued this week in lead up to the kick off of the DINO series. The Tune Up practice race is set for this afternoon at Town Run, which will be my first Category 2 race. I had a good training session out at Town Run on Thursday, but we’ll see how everything works out. Weather is perfect, with a bit of rain yesterday to knock down the dust and hopefully help with traction.

Belated Bike Loot Post

Wow, the past few weeks have flown by. Work has been ramping up, so while I have still been riding and training, the time to discuss such things has been limited. Luckily, no races were missed. However, I did want to get this post taken care of before we get into the thick of things with races later this month and May.

So my birthday is in December. My wife, ever the ingenious gift giver, gave me a subscription to Bike Loot, a monthly service which sends a box of bike related items. Kind of a Jelly of the Month Club without the jelly.

So far, the boxes have been very interesting. A variety of food items, and a few non-food stuffs(such as chap stick). They also come packaged very nicely:

 

As for the contents, here is this month's box:

 

And here is the contents of the March edition:

 

Neat little thing to look forward to each month and it is keeping me well supplied with ride snacks.