France Park DINO Race Report: Sometimes A Trail Will Bite Back

My run of podiums in cross country races for this year had to come to an end, and end it did along the banks of the Wabash River at France Park in Logansport.

Overly dramatic? Yeah, a bit. But Sunday’s race was one of the harder races I can recall. Logansport has never been an issue in the past, but the additional lap which comes with being in Category 2 was rough.

Much like the week prior to Brown County, this past week the race was the last thing on my mind, and I even thought I might not go. A trial set for Monday, June  16 required week long prep. Although, a last minute settlement did allow me to attend the race. Perhaps also complicating things was my future brother in law's bachelor party the night before. I behaved myself, and limited my evening to one drink, and a gracious bowing out at 11:30, but it was still a late night.

The race started well, and I got in behind Brian W. who was in second behind the Matthews Bike Shop Rider from the Brown County race. We kept things pretty close up until the infamous creek crossing, which is typically handled by a dismount and a jump up the opposite bank. Matthews attempted to ride it, and ended up crashing quite badly. Brian W and I dismounted and jumped around him and got a short gap.

Chasing Brian W. Spoiler: I did not catch him.

Starting the second lap found us still in the one – two position. However, this section included a uphill log skinny and technical rocky climb which was introduced last year. To be blunt, I sucked at this. I had pre-ridden this section, and had not sucked as badly, but in the race, it did not work out. I sort of panicked as I approached it, and tried to take a bypass, but was stymied by a large pile of rocks at the end. Once remounted, I made good progress, but then got held up by another rider who had floundered in a narrow section with a rock ledge. I was forced to stop, and lost my balance and fell over. I was fine, but Brian W. had a gap, and Matthews, and a rider in black were right on me. I made my way through the remainder of the rocky section and headed in pursuit of Brian. W. As I entered the gravel road that was used as part of the starting chute, I tried to shift to my big ring (I had been using the small 26t ring in the tech section) and my chain promptly dropped off. Several seconds were spent soft pedaling trying to get it back on. Finally, it took, but not before Matthews had caught me.

I got in behind him and the rider in black was behind me. I suspected the rider in black was biding his time…he didn’t seem to be suffering and appeared relaxed. I held with these two into the second lap, and then things started to fall apart.

First was the log/rocky section again. I let Matthews and Rider in Black go around me, since I didn’t want to slow them down again due to my previous fumble. Well, they didn’t slow down a bit, and boom, they were gone. Yeah things were grim. I pushed hard into the back section of the course called Biker’s Surprise, a twisty singletrack section with lots of overgrown weeds and numerous small tree adjacent to the trail.

Guess I pushed it too hard because I clipped a tree with my right grip and went careening off into the brush. It would have been worse, but I hit both brakes and came to a dead stop before hitting a small drop and more trees. Lots of weeds and poison ivy (I didn’t get any) but I was able to restart in mostly short order, although I was a bit shaken.

At this point I was riding alone, which for me is dangerous. If I don’t have someone to track down, or someone behind me to stay away from, I tend to drop in a less than fast pace. However, in the last third of the course there is a steep hike a bike up a hill. As I rode the prelude to this hike, I spotted a bit of blue ahead of me. As I turned onto a long straightaway before the hike, I got a clear view of the Matthews rider far ahead, about a minute time wise, hitting the hike a bike.

Physically I was not doing well at this point, despite taking a gel, and drinking frequently. Spotting Matthews gave me a boost and I upped my pace from “steady” to “frantic.” I gained ground on him on the singletrack around the northern most lake on the course, and gained some more on the creek crossing.  After this was a brief straightaway in the grass along the park road, followed by a tight turn onto a gravel access road and then a dry quarry. I had cut the gap down to less than 30 seconds and was still gaining. I spotted Matthews looking back at me a few times, but the gap was still dwindling. In the past I have taken the quarry with some care. Lots of sharp rocks means the potential of a torn tire. Not this time. I was all out. At the end of the section I was almost on him, only a few seconds behind. As you exit the quarry, you take a hard right onto a gravel road and a final 1/3 of a mile sprint to the finish. Yeah, I could make this happen. Third place was right there for the taking. Hurray for bike racing!

Or not.

Apparently I took the gravel turn too fast and tight, and my rear tire slid out and I went down hard on my right side. Much profanity ensued (sorry to the spectators at that turn) and as I remounted I found that my chain had dropped off again. A few more seconds to get that worked out, and I was off and riding, but my chance for a podium was gone. Then I realized how much my hip and right arm hurt. I could barely grab my right grip and brought the bike in one handed. I ended up in 4^th for the age group (30 seconds behind Matthews), but I did get 10^th overall in Cat 2, which was a very nice surprise.

Injury wise, my elbow was slightly scraped, although the pain subsided soon after the finish and I could move it much better, albeit a little stiffly. My right lower hip was scraped pretty badly (not as bad as my road crash back in April) and I tore my shorts, but it’ll be a fast heal.  The Orbea took a beating. My right grip got shredded from the tree, and my rear derailleur is looking pretty bad.

I think the worst of it was during the crash in the final stretch. Most concerning was the cable housing leading to the derailleur which was all screwed up and crumpled. Going to have to replace that.

Overall, the race turned out better than I thought. Missing a podium, and not being able to follow through on my final attack was disappointing, but my first overall top 10 in Cat 2 was very welcomed.  This race was rough, a thought echoed by several others during post race discussions. The extra lap took a toll, and the constant need to be “on” for the full 20 miles proved to be quite draining by the end. Courses like Brown County have extended downhill sections for recovery. France Park requires constant on the gas riding. Plus, there are no climbs of any significance, which is typically where I gain time.

Time to fix the bike, and evaluate how to handle training for the next few weeks. The DINO race at Mustcatatuck is in three weeks, although I was thinking of doing the Southern Five race at Ferdinand State Forest in two weeks.