BUMP was a great host this weekend for the 2nd race of the inaugural U.S. Cup East mountain bike race series. The food was plenty and the bathrooms few as is the norm at an event that involves a bunch of caffeinated adrenaline junkies mixing it up on a quick anaerobic loop around a rooty, somewhat technical, rock strewn course with one really good climb and some smoking fast singletrack.
I have ridden the course, Oak Mountain, several times before but not in the past few years, and never, ever on a single speed. The website for the race hinted that there had been some improvements or changes or something going on with the course that was different from last year. It also stated repeatedly; pre-ride, pre-ride, pre-ride. I took this to heart and chose to ride Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga the weekend before the race. This would count as pre-ride uh ride. Granted it is roughly 4 hrs away I figured it would count for a good pre-ride uh ride, it's not like it's in a different time zone or anything, well, yeah technically it is, but how much different can the course be for God's sake.
As is typical in the days prior to a race, I started having some aches, pains, concerns and some questions about why I eat so much pizza and chase it down with beer so often. Maybe it was Raccoon Mtn or the heated pace of riding with a bunch of hammer heads for 3 + hrs, I dunno but I felt my back tightening up at the end of last week. You know I have had back trouble for a while, but I was not too concerned as it just tight and was not giving me too much trouble.
At 3:30AM Sunday I peeled myself from a mattresss that was not offering me anything resembling sleep to finish loading the FJ Cruiser and double check my gear, shoes, helmet, gloves, bike, epi-pen, special kit to wear on podium, etc. and start the drive down to the race venue. My back was really stiff with some pain on the right side (my good side). I thought it would loosen up and I would feel better. I arrived and immediately got my schwag bag, and # plate, looked around eyeing others with single mindedness and then proceeded to organize my things. We were given I.D. bracelets, time chips what ever, to wear on our shoes. After a quick refresher course in trigonometry I was able to attach mine to my left SIDI. After the unexpected mental challenge I began to try to loosen up my tight back. All good I am ready to go, sort of. I did an enjoyable ~20min warm up on the bike and then some more stretching before the start.
As I rolled up to the start with the other single speeders I did as any other competitor does, I started eyeing the competition. While I did not immediately recognize anyone as a threat to my mid pack finish quest, I did notice one thing. I had a belly and hairy legs and the other mmmm.... 24 contestants did not. I sorta looked behind me to make eye contact with the person or persons that I was pretty sure were either going to run over me or yell at me for holding them up at the start.
The whistle blew and I got spit out the back like the peloton of single speeders had been shooting EPO and eating Laxatives for the past few months. It was all I could do to just hang on. Several thoughts started drifting through my head as I pedaled up the road toward the single track. Maybe I should be running a 18t cog instead of this 20t? Should I have a bagel or an orange at the finish? Will there be snacks along the course? Will shaving my beard make me faster or will it just take up more time in the morning with maintenance that could otherwise be spent training? The single track will soon let me know the answers to these questions and more.
When we, I mean I hit the single track I was pretty much in last place and my back was really hurting, not excruciating but pretty painful. I slowed down and told myself to take it easy and see if I felt better at a more relaxed pace. Wow I can see again and that loud percussion occurring in my chest is getting more faint. Hey I'm not dizzy anymore either, this is nice. Surprisingly enough I began to catch and pass a couple of single speeders and quite a few geared guys when I backed off and settled into the ride a little. Obviously a few people went out way too hard and just by simply passing a few people I began to feel a little better. Nothing lifts ones spirit like seeing others suffer and endure misery.
After about 30 anaerobic minutes the climbing began and the trail continued to gain elevation and then give it away for several miles. Up and down and then the big climb hits at about 40 minutes into the loop. Somehow when the climbing began I started to feel a little better and ended up reeling in a few more of the single speeders and some of the geared guys too. Once at the top it was time to spin time away, take in some scenery and go back to daydreaming. Did I leave the iron on? I wonder who will be at the pool later? What kind of beer in the can should I drink at the pool? The Tecate in a can is pretty nice. The flat part at the top of the ridge goes on forever and I was spinning like mad and getting passed by a lot of people with way more gear combinations than me. When after what seemed like forever I arrived at the descent and ended up behind a geared full squishy that I followed maybe a little too closely all the way down to 'Blood Rock'. In the rockiest, gnarliest section of Blood Rock the geared squishy went down and not wanting to stack right on top of him I chose to exit the trail to the left where a bluff resides and immediately stacked right into a huge rock. It really wasn't very dramatic so no damage to me or the bike. I jumped back on and was almost tangled in another crash but kept going and finished the technical descent feeling better as the race progressed.
There was one more hill to negotiate and I managed to get by some more people on the final significant climb that graduated on for a while. The track was really tight so passing was quite tedious but I was getting by without too much trouble and made up for some of the time I lost at the beginning of the race. I was really beginning to feel pretty good at about 1hr 10 mins into the race and kept a strong pace to the finish. Official finish time 1:30:53. 18th place Single speed. Out of 25. Not so good, but in retrospect, it was a really strong field, and I am not too disappointed with my time. Maybe I should have run a 19t or even an 18t on the rear but then the climbing would have taken more out of me. Who knows.... oh yeah; I guess the guys that pre-ride the damn course know after a few loops, hey I am really much faster with the blah, blah, blah tooth cog. Big deal, I had fun and rode myself silly, so in that respect I did what I came to do.
Oh yeah, the training and fitness recap, I really think my fitness is better than my time shows and I feel like I could have done better if my back was not hurting in the beginning but I also felt a pretty high PE in the beginning too, so I don't know if I could have done much better. The competition rode strong and stomped on me pretty hard so I have to work on my top end a little more, I think the endurance is pretty good for now. I had a great time and enjoyed the race and am looking forward to SERC at Raccon Mountain at the end of the month.
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