As you may have noticed from my prior postings, I joined
the DRT Racing team this year. In the past DRT has done a series of three or
four races, but in recent years has focused on one time trial event at Brown
County. After missing last year’s event, I figured it would be a good idea to
get out and show the flag at the sponsor’s event.
First, the weather was
magnificent. Sunny with highs in the seventies. The trees are in the process of
coming out and the trails were dry. All was right with the mountain bike world.
Now about the race. This is a
time trial, which starts from Hesitation Point, and uses almost every inch of
trail down to the North Tower lot. For those who like to follow along visually,
here is a map of the trails at BCSP.
So the race starts by going down Hesitation Point, then
counterclockwise up Aynes, then up the short side of Aynes to Green Valley,
then you take a right on North Tower, take it back down to a valley, then
counter clockwise around North Tower, to the NT connector, a left on Pine Loop
to the NT parking lot, and then back up a short section of the NT connector to
the Upper North Tower parking area.
Whew. Total mileage for me per my GPS was 15.8
miles. Not a huge ride, but most definitely a tough one.
Anyway, registration was a bit
low until just before the cut off on Friday, but in the end Cat 2 had about 20
riders, which about a third of that in 30-39 range.
Digressing a bit, you may recall
some issues I had with my seat post at DINO race last week. Acting on a few
suggestions, I picked up some carbon grease from BGI’s shop at the Bike Hub in
downtown Indianapolis (they gave me a small packet for free!) and decided to
give it a shot. Turns out it worked. A few commute rides, and a mostly likely
too hard ride at Southwestway Park on Saturday showed no slippage. Problem
solved.
Anyway, we kicked things off at
1:30. I was paired with the sole 19-29er. Things got off to a less than
glorious start when I nearly crashed 20 seconds in, in full view of everyone.
The trail just below the start had been modified (or eroded?) since I had last
ridden it and now had a sort of small drop off, which I was unprepared for.
Luckily I kept things together and continued onward.
Now, I have made it clear it that
I am weak on the descents. I kept this in mind, but had planned to hit the
climbs as hard as possible in order to maintain a gap, or make a pass. And the
19-29er just drilled the descent and disappeared but I was more concerned with
riders coming up from behind. Sure enough, not halfway through the descent, I
spotted a flash of red on a switch back right above me. It was Bryan D., a
rider from the wave behind me.
Well, at least I’m consistent with the slow descents.
 |
| Careening through one of the rocky sections on Hesitation Point with a smile on my face. Photo: Rob Cowell |
Luckily I was near the bottom of
the trail and once on the flat section I upped my effort and then attacked the
climb out of the valley and up towards the junction with Aynes Loop. I seemed
to get a gap on Bryan and then continued to push up the backside of the Aynes
climb. Disclosure: I had never ridden the Aynes loop in this direction. It was
tough, but I managed to keep a decent pace although I every once in a while
spotted flash of red behind me.
The potential of a chaser kept
the pace high and I felt like I was on the verge of control on the descent from
Aynes (meaning I nearly crashed several times). Once in the valley, I made sure
to drink and pushed hard for the climb up the short side of Aynes to the Green
Valley trail head. This is a relatively short climb (just over a hundred feet
of elevation gain) but there are some tricky spots with roots and rocks.
Pushing hard I didn’t see anyone behind me when I reached the Green Valley.
And…another descent. Thinking
about the chasing riders, I really launched myself at this one, more so than on
Aynes. I’ve ridden Green Valley more than HP and Aynes and have more confidence with the
sweeping, bermed descent from this trail head. Near the bottom of the descent
there are a few short bumps in the trail, which only serve to act as ramps for
getting some air. Air is not something I normally like. The rubber should stay
in contact with the ground since bad things can happen between launch and
landing. But the speed was too great and I was getting some great air over
these humps. And I was landing safely too. So that was nice.
Green Valley was a bit of
climbing and a bit of descent. My pace stayed high, although I finally got a
look at who was behind me thanks to the large loops that are characteristic of
the trail and provide you a look across the small valleys to see trail you had
been riding on a few minutes prior. There I spotted not one, but two riders in pursuit.
One was wearing a Bicycle Outfitters of Indy kit and he had just overtaken the
rider in red I think I had glimpsed earlier. I had an idea of who this rider
was and tried to keep a gap by powering up the hills. Somewhere in here I
passed a Cat 1 single speeder who was putting in a strong performance. But not
long after this, the BOI rider caught me. Turns out he was the rider I was
expecting and this race confirmed how fast he actually is.
I stayed within a few seconds of BOI for the remainder of
Green Valley and down on to the short side of North Tower. On the initial
climbs up North Tower I thought I could close the gap but he pulled ahead and I
lost him.
Now, a fun fact about North Tower
is that we rode it counter clockwise. I had never done this before. All the
times I had been to BCSP, and all the DINO races, I always did NT clockwise.
Part of me was surprised by the amount of climbing, while the other, more
logical part kept noting that of course there was climbing, since the clockwise
route always seemed to be downhill.
 |
| Couldn't help but get some air on this stretch of the North Tower Connector Trail. Photo: Rob Cowell |
Arriving at the junction of North
Tower and the connector trail back to the parking lot, I hit the afterburner. I
still could not see anyone behind me, save for a few brief glimpses on
switchbacks or curves. I raced through the connector, took a left onto Pine
Loop, down to the north parking lot, and then back up the North Tower Connector
for the .5 uphill sprint to the end.
Apparently the ride was rough on
everyone, since the finishing area was littered with racers who had just
collapsed on the grass or who were standing in a mute daze. I joined them, but was quickly revived
(mostly) by the spread of food available including hot dogs and Doritos.
Results were not immediately posted,
but I was thinking I had done well in the age group and overall. However, there
was still almost 45 minutes until the results would be finalized, and my car
was several miles, and a couple hundred feet of climbing away, up at the Hesitation
Point parking lot.
 |
| Waiting for the awards. In this picture is Paul Gilson. Not pictured, the Doritos and hot dogs. Photo: E. Fujawa |
Those hot dogs and chips were
probably not a good idea. But, I trudged, albeit very slowly, back to the car
and changed before heading back to the finish line. As it turns out, I did have
a decent race. I managed 3rd in the 30-30 Cat 2 age group, and 6th
for Cat 2 overall with a time of 1:18:03.
 |
| Podium pic! With plaid shorts! |
No races again until May 18. There is a DINO race in Warsaw as well as a Kentucky Point Series
race at Waverly Park in Louisville that week. I don’t like Warsaw’s course, and
Waverly sounds like a fun ride with plenty of hills (and the requisite, evil
descents). But, I think it could come down to the weather. If it is raining in
Louisville, I will go to Winona. Otherwise, Waverly it is.
Lastly, I nearly forgot a post race report
on the bike. It performed admirably. As for the seat post, after Sunday’s race
there was a bit of slippage (lots of roots and rocks out there) but it wasn’t
enough for me to notice while riding and it didn’t impact my performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment