el lagarto

ok, its the first race of the season.

leading up to the race, i've done a healthy amount of base miles on the road, but not so many off-road miles. my only off road miles prior to el lagarto weekend were the san felasco 50 and karlos' naked indian ride (which was maybe 50% off-road). that lack of off-road experience sealed the deal on what course i would ride at el lagarto - i chose the 'corporate' course over the super-technical 'red' course. my technical riding skills aren't that good in the first place, much less at carter, where i don't ride very often. so i played it safe and concentrated on getting a good result in the corporate category.

saturday before the race i headed out to carter to preride the course. the course was mostly pretty easy, with some tough narrow spots on modelo hiway and some tough climbs on some of the ridge sections. i did 3 laps to get a feel of the course and didn't feel like i was going to be able to put in very good laptimes. i struggled getting thru some of the narrow stuff and didn't feel like i was going all that fast. oh well, i thought, ill just do my hardest to try and not stop and see if i can make the top 10.

race day comes. i was happy to see that the red course riders would be starting in front of the corp riders. i always get nervous on the first lap of these races dealing with slower/faster riders, and i feel like my time suffers as a result. after the potato sack start, i hop on the bike and find myself near the middle of the pack. once i get moving i go straight into the big ring and hammer as hard as i can on the short road section to pass as many riders as i can. i probably pass at least 30 people and dive into ivy in a much better position than i thought i would (though i couldn't see how many riders were ahead of me).

at about halfway into lap 1, some fat rider passes me and starts yelling obnoxious things to the riders in front (who i guess were his buddies). the guy is obviously going way harder than he can sustain. i take it easy and wait for him to misstep or for him to get tired. we get out to the dirt road that heads back to the start and i hit the big ring again and leave him behind, never to be seen again.

the next few laps progress nicely, no crashes and little traffic. around lap 4 or 5 i pass a rider on snake ridge and he asks me if i'm a solo rider, i say yes and he tells me that he was in 2nd, and that the 1st place rider is not far ahead wearing a red and white jersey. i was quite surprised, but was a little afraid that maybe i was pushing too hard and that i wouldn't be able to keep up the pace at the end of the race, so i didn't push myself anymore than i already was.

by lap 7 or 8 i started cramping in my legs, in a place i can't really identify...but somewhere in my upper leg around my inner thighs. the cramping hurt but i could still pedal so i just kept moving, and popped some endurolytes when i stopped to change bottles.

at some point in the race my handlebars came loose flying down puffnstuff, almost causing a horrible crash. i stopped to tighten the bars and they stayed tight for the rest of the race but that was something ill need to check over before other races.

at the start of lap 9 i came up behind some traffic in ivy. the rider in front of we was trying to pass the rider in front of him. to convey the urgency of his situation, he informed the rider that he was the corp leader. i followed him past and announced myself as second place (maybe i shouldn't have...), we introduced ourselves and tried to pretend like we both were still feeling fresh. going up sprinkler hill i figured i must have been going faster than him if i caught up to him so i should try and make a pass - i do so and he wishes me luck, but stays right on my tail. we stay neck and neck until we reach puffnstuff and get stuck behind slower riders. i was freaking out thinking about what to do if (when) the riders in front fail to make it up the pavers climb. i decide that i will try climbing the left side of the climb off of the pavers - something i was able to do with some success on previous laps.

sure enough, the lead rider stalled halfway up the climb, and blocks the rider behind her. she unclips and puts her foot right in my path. i stop and somehow fall to he left, down the ridge about halfway to the water, still clipped in. my competition asks if im ok, i say yes, and he continues up the hill (im not sure how he got by the jam), i claw my way back up the hill and try to regain my composure so i dont lose much time.

after a few moments i realize i took a pretty hard blow from my handlebars in the ribs. im also pretty upset that i made a bad decision and lost the lead of the race. i could see the leader in the distance but i couldnt find the effort to push myself and catch up. i resigned myself to second and hoped that 3rd was not close behind.

my last two laps were my slowest (33 min) and i experienced very painful cramps on the final road section. marcel was encouraging me to push and catch the leader when i passed the start/finish but i knew that the race was already decided. second was better than i expected but i know that if i had made a better decision dealing with the slower riders i could have had a good chance at winning.

so i got second place and learned a lesson about what not to do.

red trail racing put on an excellent race and the trails were in excellent shape and a lot of fun to ride. i don't get much time at carter, mostly because it's not my favorite kind of riding, but its equally as exciting a place to ride as alafia, if you're into that sort of thing.

next year i hope i'll do the red course so i can measure myself against the best of the best.

next event is the croom 50 - an event ive been looking forward to since last year's croom 50. then there is the 12 hours of santos where i plan to do the 6 hour solo.