Mentioning the DINO Kickapoo Race and Trying to Figure Out What The Heck Is Wrong

I won’t spend much time on the DINO race at Kickapoo State Park. We arrived in Danville, Illinois Friday evening to pre-ride the DINO course at Kickapoo. Rain was threatening all around, but the course was dry as a bone.  It was a fun, easy ride on the monster 11 mile course. I took a hard spill on a switch back on the “Heaven and Hell” section, a steep descent followed by a steep climb. Nothing broken, but my pride was tarnished.

The race was the next morning and I was feeling pretty good. I got a decent start, despite the horrendous ¾ mile start over a recently mowed lane of ruts and bumps. Things seemed ok, but I could tell the engine wasn’t quite there, as in the past few races. Coming into the descent where I crashed during the pre-ride I panicked and dismounted and walked the switchback. Yeah…not very cool. Later, I crashed as I was trying to get a drink. By this time I was nearly last in my age group and just focused on trying to get done.

Hey look, a log. And me.
Photo: Willam Snyder

On the lap I grabbed a water bottle and gel and felt a little better. Problem was, the leaders were well away from me and I rode mostly alone. I rolled in several minutes down from everyone and not feeling too great. To add icing to the cake, my front tire went flat soon after the race. So much for going tubeless!

So….some race report, huh? The trip back and the few days after involved a lot of consideration of my situation. It seems everything started to go weird at the North Vernon race when I crashed badly and DNF’ed. I think the leg injury and pain (someone suggested it was deep tissue bruising due to the lingering bruise and pain) was worse than I wanted to believe, which slowed me down in the next few races. Further, I think there was a bit of timidity there too. I had been pushing the pace at North Vernon when I crashed, and perhaps I’m just a little gun shy.

So how do you solve issues like these? Besides flying off a switchback during a pre-ride? You get a road bike. Well, not really a road bike, but a reincarnation of my venerable Access 29er, only now with drop bars and slick tires. A whole blog posting could be dedicated to the build of this thing…and probably will. But, for now just a preview. I slapped some road shifters onto a road bar, and then married that with my Access frame. I matched the shifters with a rear derailleur which turns out is not perfectly compatible (stupid Dyna Sys), meaning I can only get to 8 of the 10 gears. But still, the bike is faster than riding my Orbea on the road, and is a lot easier on the expensive tubeless tires.

Since building the bike two weeks ago, I have put in over 8 hours of riding each week, which for me, is quite a bit considering my soul crushing job and need to mow the lawn. And they have been longer rides, too. And you know what? I feel better. I went on only my 4^th dirt mtb ride in the past 40 days this weekend at Ft. Ben and felt very good. It was fun, I was handling the little tech sections, etc. The speed wasn’t there, but I typically don’t go fast at Ft Ben anyway, since you’re constantly dodging hikers, joggers, and parents with their 10 kids who thought hiking a 3 mile trail was a good idea.

This weekend is the final DINO race at Southwestway. Probably the closest thing to a home course for me, since I ride it frequently and have raced there (day and night) several times. There is a new course set up which adds a new climb and descent, but otherwise, I’ve ridden everything there. I pre-rode the course Friday night with one of my fellow racers, and it is going to be a good course. Nothing too new, but on the south side of the park there is the addition of a steep downhill followed by a very steep climb up from the river bank to the hill. It was rough going, but I’m glad I tried it out before the race. So…onto the season finale. And then cross season starts…