Southern Five Ferdinand Race Report

Ferdinand State Forest has some of the most demanding mountain biking in the state of Indiana. While not technically difficult, the amount of constant climbing wears on you and eventually breaks you down. I’m guessing that this, and FSF’s rather isolated location, has resulted in it being a relatively little used and not very well liked trail system.

With that preamble, myself and Aaron Lifford from Matthews Mountain Bike Team headed down to Ferdinand Indiana early on the morning of June 28 (yeah, I’m behind on blogs) for the Southern Five cross country race at FSF. Southern Five is a race series base around five courses in southern Indiana and Kentucky which I think was born of the frustrations of people in the far southern part of the state had with driving to all of the DINO races throughout the state.

Aaron and I left at 6 am in order to get to the park early enough to do some pre-riding on an unfamiliar course. We arrived with a little over an hour to spare, and got registered and chatted with a few other riders. Quite a few came from the Evansville area and many had never ridden Ferdinand before.

The course could be conveniently divided into three sections. The starting section, which for our purposes ended when the trail crossed the park road. The next section went from the park road to a gravel county road a few miles north. The course cuts across on the gravel road and then enters a third section which went to the finish. Lap lengths were supposed to be about 7.5 miles.

We pre-rode the first section, which from the start line, immediately went started to climb on steep fire road/double track. There were sections of single-track and several descents, which immediately popped back up into steep climbs. There were a few creek crossings, which appeared quickly and had the potential of being tricky at speed. Glad we pre-rode. The trail ended with a fast fire road section and creek crossing and we debated doing the next section. Deciding that we may not get back in time, we instead rode the last .5 of the trial backwards and then returned to the finish line. One thing was clear…the humidity and heat was going to be nasty, and I would likely be spending much time in

Being a southern race, riders from Adventure Cycling and Racing and Evansville Mountain Bike Association were present in force. There were 15 riders in the intermediate (Cat 2) race, but there were some very strong riders in the group. The start was rather laid back. I suspect everyone, even those who had not ridden at FSF, were well aware of tis hilly reputation and the start was mostly civil.

Aaron immediately got a solid jump and started to open a gap. I was in a chase group of 6 riders from Bicycle Outfitters, Dan’s Comp, and Evansville Mountain Bike Association. Unfortunately, I was in the back, and the pace seemed a bit laid back at times. This was fine, since I wasn’t going to catch Aaron. I’ve raced against him many times and while it may sound defeatist, the guy is just faster than me. I instead focused on the group I was in.

The chase group on the first climb from the start line. Yes, a chase group had formed 2 minutes into the race.

By the time we hit the park road Aaron was gone. The group of 6 kept together as we tackled the second segment. The non-stop hills were starting to take a toll. Things started to break up when on a descent the leading rider from BOI took a wrong turn. Myself and a few others passed him and things started to spread out. The climbs took their toll, and the Dan’s Comp rider and an EMBA rider started to get away. I passed the second BOI rider on a climb and hooked onto the second EMBA ride in our merry group.

During this time I decided to take the gel taped to my top bar. I had been watching it since the start and the tape keeping it in place continued to peel and I knew it was only a matter of time before it went flying off. I took a little earlier than I had wanted, but I hoped it would suffice for the remaining lap and a half.

We continued and hit the gravel road on the north end of the course and into the last third of the course, which was more hills on a combination of double track and single-track. One fin section was on a descent, where there was a rocky technical section. I had been aware this was coming, but it still took me by surprise. I made it through, with the help of a few less than family friendly words.

After this was the final climb and descent to the finish, a section Aaron and I had already ridden. After hopping out of the woods the course runs along a grass section below the damn to the FSF lake. Several bottle holders were here but I had not left one for pick up and I was regretting it as my supplies were running low. Aaron had a stand with one bottle and I was kind of wishing I had left one of my own on the other slot on his stand. I had already decided that if Aaron’s bottle was still there, I would take it. But it was gone. Time to ration.

 

Entering the second lap, the EMBA rider ahead of me was definitely slowing. On the fire road section leading out from the start/finish line I made my pass, although I told him that to just yell out if he caught me on the descents. Turns out it was not needed as I gained a steady gap and then dropped him.

So now I was alone. I crossed the park road and started the second third of the course feeling ok, but well aware of the rapidly decreasing amount of water. Additionally, the twinges of cramps in my legs were becoming more frequent, although I held them at bay. Just before the fire road I passed a rider walking up a steep hill. He was from the expert wave and looked gassed. Normally I would ask if he was ok, but between climbing and the heat and my own exhaustion, I just went right past. About this time, I spotted a glimpse of color in the trees ahead. It was a Dan’s Comp jersey! If I could see him, perhaps I could catch him. I had a bit of a resurgence, and when I entered the gravel road on the north end of the course I pushed hard to gain ground.

The final section (Twin Lakes is the name) provided more glimpses and it appeared I was gaining, especially on some of the climbs. All the while, the cramp twinges were getting worse and I emptied the last of my water.

But my glorious chase was cut short (as they often are) due to an incident. The rocky technical section I referenced before came up, and despite expecting it, I had a minor flub, braked, nearly went over the handlebars, got one foot down, and then sort of began to tip over. Not sure what happened exactly, but suffice to say I stopped and was sitting on a rock partially tangled in my bike.

Usually not a huge deal, but I wasn’t sure how far back the next rider was, and my cramp twinges both exploded into full fledged cramps in both calves.

It was terrible. So much pain.

I got up and through the pain remounted and pushed on gritting my teeth the entire way. The pain continued all the way to the final descent and the run into the finish. Despite the hurting, I  made it up a final short steep incline just before the finish and managed to get in at 4^th place.

Fighting up the final hill to the finish line.

That was an incredibly tough XC race. The distance wasn’t bad, and the tech factor was mostly low, but the constant climbs were very tough. As was the 85% humidity.

The race was a great one for a DINO off week, especially since my training had been somewhat lackluster the few weeks prior. Southern 5 also put on a good show (placing out to 5^th) and I would definitely try their races again. One minor complaint was that there were a few minor paths and fire roads which may have benefited from some tape in order to clarify where the course went. Otherwise, very good race.

Podium Pic! The one I had taken and posted on my Facebook page was tagged multiple
times and had dozens of likes and comments. I think DINO should do this.