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 7th
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 9th
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 7th 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.
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