It was with some trepidation that I prepared for this year's Pickett's Charge race in Bend. My race bike was spending time in the shop, as its fork had been releasing copious amounts of oil, causing it to bottom out and otherwise generally malfunction. Additionally, there was a recall on part of the rear shock linkage, and it was recommended not to ride it until the manufacturors had remedied the situation. So I resurrected the old 31-pound Giant VT full suspension, and slapped some well-worn racing semi-slicks on to give it some decent acceleration (and consequent limited traction and braking). Seemed to work OK in test rides, though felt a mite skittish.
Then next bit of misery had to do with the teeth in my head, not on my chainrings. One had been paining me here and there for years, so finally decided to get some crown work done on it on Tuesday before the race. But this backfired, as it flaired up in major pain afterwards. Two more trips to the dentist that week, along with various prescriptions to kill the pain/inflamation. So cranky all week, and couldn't ride much as blood flow exacerbated the pain. Observed that increasing my alcohol intake to 4+ a night helped assuage the pain, however that probably wasn't going to make me any faster on Sunday. Then Saturday, after starting some new high dose adrenal inflammatory depressant drug, went to the gym to languidly move some pieces of metal around, and yanked something in my shoulder.
So started the race Sunday in pretty bad shape, with a bike I know is slower than my race bike, a throbbing toothache, and an ailing shoulder. But the upside of this is that I was totally relaxed, and didn't give a shit how I did.
The gun went off, and I nosed into the dust cloud created by the front pack. Actually the dust bowl effect wasn't that bad, having been mitigated somewhat by thundershowers the previous evening. The first of 2 20 mile laps went by rather quickly. Felt great and noticed my split time was good, even with the CIA technical section they added this year. Was having a blast - full suspension just plain makes racing more fun. Not much to report on this race : temps were great, no controversies, racers very courteous and allowing people to pass. Had a good surge at the end, and passed a couple people on the downhill, which is rare.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
Things you can pull out of your dog's ass
was just one of the many interesting dinner conversation topics at Chris's house the evening after the Firecracker race. I guess we were tired and strung out after a 2.5 hour race with 4500 vf of climbing. The course was brutal and fun, with an awesome downhill - continuous from top to bottom - and a steep slog back up to the top on singletrack. We had to do 4 laps of the fun/pain cycle. I didn't preride the downhill, so it was all a surprise on the first lap - especially the table-top with an unexpected steep runout, which cause me to land too front-heavy and go flying over the bars, towards an old-growth tree that didn't look like a soft impact. Managed to twist my body and only graze the big old conifer, resulting in upper and lower body scrapes. Otherwise, was fortunately OK, and back on the bike in less than 30 seconds after untwisting my handlebars and re-railing the chain. Hmm, I better setup the rebound correctly on my rear shock, as the the crash shouldn't have happened under normal circumstances.
The Crash made me a bit hesitant afterwards, as lost confidence in my bike setup (I found out later something was wrong with my fork, as it was bottoming out on any sharp hit). Caught up to the people who passed me while I was down on next climb. But then for the next 2 laps got in this annoying cycle where people who were climbing faster than me passed me 2/3 of the way up the climb, then I would get stuck behind them and their feeble downhill skills for half the descent, virtually twiddling my thumbs waiting for a passing opportunity - there was no way to pass unless someone in front of you screwed up or crashed, as the downhill was continous narrow single track. This was the only failing of the course, and a critical one if you got caught behind the wrong people. I don't usually get pissed off or annoyed during a race, but I'll admit I was unhappy to not be getting full enjoyment out of the downhills. Losing time was secondary to loss of enjoyment :) Finally on last lap I had the downhill to myself and had smiley face syndrome, though was hard to hang onto the bars after 2.5 hours of racing. Actually almost missed the free ride, as a climber came up behind me just as I was entering the final downhill. Put over a minute on him on the final run - so the downhill times actually have some impact on final results, unlike most races. Ok enough whining :) Many people commented that I should have been more vocal, asking slower riders to pull over lest I run them over. Yeah maybe I try that next time - but these weren't like beginners, just slightly slower Experts, so not a big deal to me at the time. Anyways had I not crashed, I probably would have able to avoid being caught in the downhill slowdown cycle. Shit, are you still talking about this ? Shutup already !:) Now start working on slow-rider harpoon.
Official beer of the Kermit Green Jet9'ers
Post race hydration
Trail work next day
Post trail work hydration
Chainbreaker break
Mid ride log ring
The Crash made me a bit hesitant afterwards, as lost confidence in my bike setup (I found out later something was wrong with my fork, as it was bottoming out on any sharp hit). Caught up to the people who passed me while I was down on next climb. But then for the next 2 laps got in this annoying cycle where people who were climbing faster than me passed me 2/3 of the way up the climb, then I would get stuck behind them and their feeble downhill skills for half the descent, virtually twiddling my thumbs waiting for a passing opportunity - there was no way to pass unless someone in front of you screwed up or crashed, as the downhill was continous narrow single track. This was the only failing of the course, and a critical one if you got caught behind the wrong people. I don't usually get pissed off or annoyed during a race, but I'll admit I was unhappy to not be getting full enjoyment out of the downhills. Losing time was secondary to loss of enjoyment :) Finally on last lap I had the downhill to myself and had smiley face syndrome, though was hard to hang onto the bars after 2.5 hours of racing. Actually almost missed the free ride, as a climber came up behind me just as I was entering the final downhill. Put over a minute on him on the final run - so the downhill times actually have some impact on final results, unlike most races. Ok enough whining :) Many people commented that I should have been more vocal, asking slower riders to pull over lest I run them over. Yeah maybe I try that next time - but these weren't like beginners, just slightly slower Experts, so not a big deal to me at the time. Anyways had I not crashed, I probably would have able to avoid being caught in the downhill slowdown cycle. Shit, are you still talking about this ? Shutup already !:) Now start working on slow-rider harpoon.
Official beer of the Kermit Green Jet9'ers
Post race hydration
Trail work next day
Post trail work hydration
Chainbreaker break
Mid ride log ring
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