I Needed A New Saddle Anyway: DINO North Vernon XC and STXC Race Reports

More racing over the July 4 weekend, this time with DINO at Muscatatuck County Park in North Vernon. A traditionally friendly course for me, since my in laws live 5 minutes away and I ride if relatively often, this year saw pleasant temperatures, low humidity and no rain. There would be no repeat of the mud fest from last year.

As with last year, I raced in the short track state championship on Saturday and the cross country race on Sunday. For a little foreshadowing, I will say that it was a weekend of extremes….

Short Track

I won the Cat 3 race last year and was looking for a decent finish this year. The turnout for rather low, although Cat 2 had some fast riders present. The short track course is divided between grassy lanes on the front stretch leading to the finish, and a single track section on the back end, punctuated with a tight left hand turn to drop in, a hard left leading to a short power climb, and then a hard left onto gravel leading to the grassy front section.

So off we went. Two riders from Speedway Wheelmen immediately jumped into first and second. I tried to make a move for third before the hard left drop in, but a rider from Rangeline beat me to it. I stayed behind him until the left onto the grassy section and then took off in pursuit.

I was able to hook on to the Speedway leaders and fell into a repetitious cycle. I would catch them at the hard left drop in, stay with them on the single track and then fall victim to their superior acceleration on the hard left onto the grassy front section. There I would have to speed up in order to recover their wheels.

I was content to stay in third and the race was mostly uneventful save a few pieces of drama. The second place rider slid out on the left turn onto the power climb early in the race. I held back since it was a bit early to be making a move up, but he slid out again (it was a slick corner and I had slid too during warm ups) with only a few laps remaining and in retrospect I should have made a move, but I did not jump at the chance. Also, we ran into lapped traffic on the power climb and it seemed there was an immediate acceleration to get past them before the trail narrowed again. Having used this same strategy last year, I panicked and chased and because bike racing is dead serious business, I maybe had a less than nice pass on the lapped traffic, including a Cat 1 woman (who said all was fine after the race).

In the end, the three of us were all together but I couldn’t close the gap in the final grassy sprint. We finished within a three seconds of each other, with me one second behind second.

Still, it was a very fun (and fast) race and I was glad to get some hardware.

 

And, if the riveting written description above is not enough for you,  I also filmed the entire race on my new Go Pro…just need to figure out how to compress the file enough to post online. That may be another post.

Cross Country

No mud brought stellar course conditions, and all the usual suspects in the Cat 2 30-39 wave. Things got off with a bang, with a rider from Bicycle Exchange shooting out to an early lead. Things went fine from there, passed a few people, partially screwed up on the steep rooty section after a creek section which allowed a few folks (both Bryan and Brian) to get by.

Good sized Cat 2 30-39 field at the start. Photo: Beth Bragg

Passed a few people on a small climb and on a couple of muddy and slick uphill sections, before settling into chasing Brian W. up a climb on the back side of the park. Grant from the Matthews team got on my wheel and we chased Brian. I asked at one point if he wanted to pull, and he said something to the effect that he was maxed out so I stayed on front. I tried to put my clear glasses into my back pocket due to fogging issues and dropped them. So long glasses.

Spotted the Bicycle Exchange rider ahead. Brian W. had caught and passed him so he was my next target. Heading into the final mile or so I caught Bicycle Exchange and was camped out on his wheel. Lots of exposure and little passing space here, plus, with the Start/Finish area coming up, and two laps remaining, there would be plenty of time to chase Brian.

I was on Bicycle Exchange’s wheel when the world went upside down.

I found myself on the ground on the right side of the trail. The riders behind me yelled to see if I was alright and I told them I was, although a full assessment had not been made. I hauled the back end of my bike off the trail and took stock. In front of me on the ground was my saddle, in two pieces. And an excruciating pain in my right leg.

First I checked my head. It had not contacted the ground, as my shoulder and hip hit first. Thank goodness for that. Luckily, I landed in leaves and brush and the scrapes were minimal. I then tested my right leg. It hurt…a lot. But I could still move it so I didn’t think there was a break. I then looked at my bike. The saddle rails were still on the seat post and the rest of the bike seemed fine.

I knew I hit something, but wasn’t sure what until I looked at the trail. Right there was a reddish colored rock sticking out of the ground. I’ve seen this rock each time I have ridden Muscatatuck. I’m guessing I was so close to the Bicycle Exchange rider’s wheel that I had no chance to miss the rock when he dodged around it. I must have hit that and lost control. The saddle was sheared off by a tree which was right next to the trail about 3 feet beyond the rock. Somehow the whole of my body appears to have missed that…although I’m now thinking my right leg actually did hit it.

Anyway, I stood up and waved off numerous inquiries from passing riders about my condition. I stuck the destroyed seat in my pocket and clipped back in. My plan was to ride the remaining race mostly out of the saddle, and sitting on the rails occasionally. However, this was not my biggest issue. My right leg was swelling and slowly began to not work. Every turn of the crank brought terrible pain and it was a chore to turn the pedals over. I made it to the finish line, and decided to call it a day. My first DINO DNF. Sucks, especially considering I was feeling good, and was well positioned for a good result.

Looking much happier than I was actually feeling. Photo: Beth Bragg

I hung out and limped around until the end of the race to see Brian W. be overtaken and beat by Dan M., an extremely fast rider who upgraded from Cat 3 earlier this year. Those riders who had been behind me at the time of the crash said that it sounded quite terrible.

Overall, I seem to have come through pretty well. I did a short spin bike ride on Monday and since then have been on the bike. My leg was stiff, but as I sit here (Thursday) there is no pain or even aching, and movement is just fine.

It seems my luck in DINO races is running out. Brown County went well but in Logansport there were some issues (crashes, technical section problems) and now the wheels seemed to have come completely off at North Vernon (at least in terms of XC). I’m hoping to get things turned around before Versailles  in just over a week.

Southern Five Ferdinand Race Report

Ferdinand State Forest has some of the most demanding mountain biking in the state of Indiana. While not technically difficult, the amount of constant climbing wears on you and eventually breaks you down. I’m guessing that this, and FSF’s rather isolated location, has resulted in it being a relatively little used and not very well liked trail system.

With that preamble, myself and Aaron Lifford from Matthews Mountain Bike Team headed down to Ferdinand Indiana early on the morning of June 28 (yeah, I’m behind on blogs) for the Southern Five cross country race at FSF. Southern Five is a race series base around five courses in southern Indiana and Kentucky which I think was born of the frustrations of people in the far southern part of the state had with driving to all of the DINO races throughout the state.

Aaron and I left at 6 am in order to get to the park early enough to do some pre-riding on an unfamiliar course. We arrived with a little over an hour to spare, and got registered and chatted with a few other riders. Quite a few came from the Evansville area and many had never ridden Ferdinand before.

The course could be conveniently divided into three sections. The starting section, which for our purposes ended when the trail crossed the park road. The next section went from the park road to a gravel county road a few miles north. The course cuts across on the gravel road and then enters a third section which went to the finish. Lap lengths were supposed to be about 7.5 miles.

We pre-rode the first section, which from the start line, immediately went started to climb on steep fire road/double track. There were sections of single-track and several descents, which immediately popped back up into steep climbs. There were a few creek crossings, which appeared quickly and had the potential of being tricky at speed. Glad we pre-rode. The trail ended with a fast fire road section and creek crossing and we debated doing the next section. Deciding that we may not get back in time, we instead rode the last .5 of the trial backwards and then returned to the finish line. One thing was clear…the humidity and heat was going to be nasty, and I would likely be spending much time in

Being a southern race, riders from Adventure Cycling and Racing and Evansville Mountain Bike Association were present in force. There were 15 riders in the intermediate (Cat 2) race, but there were some very strong riders in the group. The start was rather laid back. I suspect everyone, even those who had not ridden at FSF, were well aware of tis hilly reputation and the start was mostly civil.

Aaron immediately got a solid jump and started to open a gap. I was in a chase group of 6 riders from Bicycle Outfitters, Dan’s Comp, and Evansville Mountain Bike Association. Unfortunately, I was in the back, and the pace seemed a bit laid back at times. This was fine, since I wasn’t going to catch Aaron. I’ve raced against him many times and while it may sound defeatist, the guy is just faster than me. I instead focused on the group I was in.

The chase group on the first climb from the start line. Yes, a chase group had formed 2 minutes into the race.

By the time we hit the park road Aaron was gone. The group of 6 kept together as we tackled the second segment. The non-stop hills were starting to take a toll. Things started to break up when on a descent the leading rider from BOI took a wrong turn. Myself and a few others passed him and things started to spread out. The climbs took their toll, and the Dan’s Comp rider and an EMBA rider started to get away. I passed the second BOI rider on a climb and hooked onto the second EMBA ride in our merry group.

During this time I decided to take the gel taped to my top bar. I had been watching it since the start and the tape keeping it in place continued to peel and I knew it was only a matter of time before it went flying off. I took a little earlier than I had wanted, but I hoped it would suffice for the remaining lap and a half.

We continued and hit the gravel road on the north end of the course and into the last third of the course, which was more hills on a combination of double track and single-track. One fin section was on a descent, where there was a rocky technical section. I had been aware this was coming, but it still took me by surprise. I made it through, with the help of a few less than family friendly words.

After this was the final climb and descent to the finish, a section Aaron and I had already ridden. After hopping out of the woods the course runs along a grass section below the damn to the FSF lake. Several bottle holders were here but I had not left one for pick up and I was regretting it as my supplies were running low. Aaron had a stand with one bottle and I was kind of wishing I had left one of my own on the other slot on his stand. I had already decided that if Aaron’s bottle was still there, I would take it. But it was gone. Time to ration.

 

Entering the second lap, the EMBA rider ahead of me was definitely slowing. On the fire road section leading out from the start/finish line I made my pass, although I told him that to just yell out if he caught me on the descents. Turns out it was not needed as I gained a steady gap and then dropped him.

So now I was alone. I crossed the park road and started the second third of the course feeling ok, but well aware of the rapidly decreasing amount of water. Additionally, the twinges of cramps in my legs were becoming more frequent, although I held them at bay. Just before the fire road I passed a rider walking up a steep hill. He was from the expert wave and looked gassed. Normally I would ask if he was ok, but between climbing and the heat and my own exhaustion, I just went right past. About this time, I spotted a glimpse of color in the trees ahead. It was a Dan’s Comp jersey! If I could see him, perhaps I could catch him. I had a bit of a resurgence, and when I entered the gravel road on the north end of the course I pushed hard to gain ground.

The final section (Twin Lakes is the name) provided more glimpses and it appeared I was gaining, especially on some of the climbs. All the while, the cramp twinges were getting worse and I emptied the last of my water.

But my glorious chase was cut short (as they often are) due to an incident. The rocky technical section I referenced before came up, and despite expecting it, I had a minor flub, braked, nearly went over the handlebars, got one foot down, and then sort of began to tip over. Not sure what happened exactly, but suffice to say I stopped and was sitting on a rock partially tangled in my bike.

Usually not a huge deal, but I wasn’t sure how far back the next rider was, and my cramp twinges both exploded into full fledged cramps in both calves.

It was terrible. So much pain.

I got up and through the pain remounted and pushed on gritting my teeth the entire way. The pain continued all the way to the final descent and the run into the finish. Despite the hurting, I  made it up a final short steep incline just before the finish and managed to get in at 4^th place.

Fighting up the final hill to the finish line.

That was an incredibly tough XC race. The distance wasn’t bad, and the tech factor was mostly low, but the constant climbs were very tough. As was the 85% humidity.

The race was a great one for a DINO off week, especially since my training had been somewhat lackluster the few weeks prior. Southern 5 also put on a good show (placing out to 5^th) and I would definitely try their races again. One minor complaint was that there were a few minor paths and fire roads which may have benefited from some tape in order to clarify where the course went. Otherwise, very good race.

Podium Pic! The one I had taken and posted on my Facebook page was tagged multiple
times and had dozens of likes and comments. I think DINO should do this.