Mountain Bike Season Ended And I Nearly Forgot To Write About It (DINO Southwestway)

Lots of water under the bridge since my last posting and now we're halfway through cross season. I need to do a big cross update detailing the races thus far, but first I need to knock out the final race of the DINO season, at least for me. The rained out Versailles race had been rescheduled but it was for a weekend hat I was going to be on vacation. So, SWW was it for me.

All the top riders for Cat 2 Open were present and accounted for so I knew things were going to be rough. I was on the verge of having my first DINO season with no podium finish and this race was not looking too promising.

I got a decent start but was beat to the woods by the same cast of riders, including Michael, Rob, Jeff, Zach, Aaron and Brian. No major mishaps, but the leading group began to pull away. Not terribly unexpected since they are all very strong, but I was able to keep Brian in sight, along with a few glimpses of Aaron and Jeff.

New section of the course was this steep rocky and loose
downhill section. Quite fun!
Photo: Vladimir Cardenas

The course was much changed from last year.  In 2014 a large rainstorm came through the day before the race, and caused White River to rise, flooding out a good chunk of the course.  The reroutes resulted in some very solid and extended climbs.  This year's course had some climbs, including a few incredibly steep grades, but the climb were not very long. As I have said many times, climbing is my bread and butter in mountain bike races...so the lack of sustained climbing was not helping.

I did eventually catch and pass Brian, although I suspect a broken spoke had something to do with that. A few spectators suggested that Jeff was not too far ahead of me, so I went on a tear during the final half lap to A) try to catch him and B) to keep Brian from catching up. Neither happened and as it turned out, Jeff was 45 seconds ahead of me. Not a gap I would have been able to close down in the last half lap. In the end, I finished 7 overall and 6th in Cat 2 open. It was my best overall finish of the year (third top 10) but I missed out on a podium for this season.

Climbing up one of the more moderate climbs on the course.
There was a switchback right ahead of this and I was staring down Brian
at this point as I was slowly catching him on the climbs 

Good news is that several of the top Cat 2 Open riders will be moving up to Cat 1. Bad news is that they will be replaced by fast age groupers. More good news is that I learned a lot this season and will put that to good use in training for next year. And I am planning to get a new bike. With full suspension. And carbon. So beware.

Strangely, the race was not very long. An hour and fifteen minutes for me. That left me some time to hang around....and race in the fat bike wave at 12:10. Almost an hour to recover. So, I plopped myself down under the team tent and relaxed and tried to recover.

All too soon, the greatest idea I have ever had was at hand, so I toed the start line with my 40 pound Surly Pugsley Necromancer. I was surrounded by aluminum and carbon framed fatties. Yeah, this will be fun.

And it was. To a point. That is a heavy bike. Which steers like a semi loaded with concrete slabs and a flat tire. But, I made it through the race, despite screwing up a rocky section which resulted in about 4 other fatbikers crashing into me. Teach them to stay so close to my wheel.

Hitting the fun downhill on the fatbike was still fun,
although the mechanical BB7's on the Surley didn't have
the umph of the hydros on the other bike.
Photo: Vladimir Cardenas

But, I missed the podium again and got 4th. The carbon and Al bikes won out. So, I destroyed myself twice in one day, with no podiums, but some cool pics. Bike racing is great.

So to sum up the DINO season? Meh. Not quite what I had in mind. The results weren't there and even when the odds were in my favor (South Bend, Ferdinand) I couldn't quite get over the hump. But remember, there was stiff competition at the top of Cat 2 Open. And the mid season debacle at North Vernon took me down a few notches. Things won't get much easier next year, but like I said, I learned a lot during this go around and my training (and motivation) will be adjusted accordingly.