French Lick DINO Race Report

Well that was fun.  I would say that French Lick was the most technical course on the DINO series.  The result? One badly cut up arm and a screwed up rear wheel. But still, fun was had.

My wife and I arrived in French Lick on Friday night and stayed at the West Baden Hotel, a true architectural marvel and a historical landmark which was a less than five minute ride from the race start. If you are in the area at least stop by and see the dome at the center of the hotel. Quite spectacular.

 

 

I also finally got a chance to ride the French Lick trails for the first time. The trail started with a “green” loop which was fairly easy and then to the “blue” loop which was noticeably more difficult, including a long extended climb. Lots of fun, and numerous cool trial features including several rock features and caves.

 

On Saturday morning I did a nice warm up by hitting several gravel road hills near the hotel. Of course, my heart rate was still going to be back to normal at the start but oh well.

I lined up on the inside line of the Cat 3 30-39 group, right next to a single speeder, who following a quick chat I found that he was using a 32 x 17 ratio. He had also ridden the course Friday night, but with a 32 x 16. After the preride, he decided to bump up the ratio to 17.  I wouldn’t want to ride these trails with either of those ratios.

My start was good and I got into the singletrack in third place, with the aforementioned singlespeeder in first. The course starts on a steady, uphill with rocky singletrack. The singlespeeder started to slow and he had to drop back.  I was in second when we came to a narrow and rocky section of trail which was fairly level. All of the sudden my back wheel washed out and I went down hard on my right arm. It didn’t hurt too badly, but I had to haul myself off of the trail to avoid riders behind me and was passed by several.  I got going again and caught up with two riders who had passed me just as we left the “Green” beginner trail and entered the Blue trail, which is the more advanced section. Immediately things got interesting. The already numerous rocks multiplied and the trail became quite rough.

I stuck with these two riders until one bobbled on a tech section which allowed me to pass. The next guy bobbled going through a creek crossing and a series of unfortunate events occurred. First, I couldn’t around the fall rider on the bike, so I dismounted and tried to walk around him. I then slipped on some mud and fell right on top of my bike. My right knee went straight through the rear wheel and actually impacted the ground. I extracted my knee from the spokes and got up and without really looking at the wheel leapt back on the bike to try to get away from the chaos at the crossing. I was expecting to have all sorts of nastiness, including rubbing discs, a wiggling out of true wheel, and crap shifting. But I found nothing. The wheel was spinning just fine and everything seemed fine. So on I rode.

Following this crossing was the largest climb in the course, a seemingly never ending climb of almost 300 feet. I tried to accelerate, but was gassed. I was starting to wheeze and the legs felt heavy. However, I was able to gap the riders behind me, and noticed another rider well ahead of me. I used him as a carrot and despite feeling absolutely wasted, I continued to gain ground. The climb tops out near where the trail crosses a utility easement and travels through a pine forest. Just before this I within about 20 feet of other the rider when we started a descending section. As in the past, I was slower on the descents and he got away. However, the trail turned upward again and I spotted him and continued to chase, got close again, and then watched him slowly gap me on the final descent. I pushed hard, and put in a nice sprint coming out of woods towards the finish, but catching him was not going to happen.

I crossed the line at 48:10 and placed 13^th overall and 5^th in the 30-39 age group. An inspection of my wheel showed one broken, and two badly bent spokes. Still impressed that it held together, but when I took it into the shop to have it checked out I found that the rim was cracked. One of the spokes which had not broken actually partially pulled out of the rim, warping and cracking the area around the spoke hole. The shop had a Stan’s Arch rim in stock so the wheel will be rebuilt in time for Muscatatuk in a week and a half.

Overall I was happy with the result, which is my best overall finish in a DINO race to date. A top 10 finish and a podium place was likely if I hadn’t had my little encounter with the ground, but still a solid effort. I was a bit more winded in the first half of the race than I would have liked, but I settled down in the second half and felt pretty good.

So to sum it up:

The Good: The French Lick trails, my sturdy rear wheel, and my new IndyCog jersey.

The Bad: My torn up arm, needing to get my wheel fixed, and 19-29 age group riders who will do their best to impede a pass

In a week and a half will be the races at Muscatatuck Park in North Vernon. Saturday includes a short track and downhill race, while Sunday is the XC race.  I’m planning on participating in all three. The downhill event should be…..fun?