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 5th.
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.)
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.
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| 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 6th 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.
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