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.

recap

ok so before i can get in to writing about the 2009 events i want to quickly review and summarize my 2008 cycling highlights. it all began at the...

croom 50 - my first group ride, my first ride over 35 miles, and to this day still one of the most enjoyable rides i've ever done. i finished feeling great in just a little over 5 hours. along the way i ate swamp balls and drank the special swamp punch.

squiggy 6 hours - my first race. i entered with S in the beginners's team class for ages totalling under 120. i rode too much in the days leading up to the race in a desperate attempt to "be prepared". S was late to the race so i had to do the run at the start and the first lap. my running skills suck so i spent a lot of time at the beginning of the lap stuck behind a long chain of riders. i did alot of passing in the wide, fast and open trails and was in a good position when we got to the tight singletrack. on tecno pig i took a wrong turn, got confused, and fell over. the rider behind me stupidly followed me and mercilessly ran me over on his way back to the trail. oh well, it seemed rude at the time but rubbin is racin...
once we got to the low trails it was clear that this was not going to be an easy race. a rainstorm the night before had left huge mud puddles throughout gatorbait and indian. the severity of these mud holes was exacerbated by each and every rider that rode or pushed their bike through. i managed to say upright and trudge through the sludge, but the effort took a lot out on me. when i tagged S after my 3rd lap and got off the bike my legs cramped up really bad. i sat and relaxed for a little bit - hoping S wouldnt make it back in time for me to do a 4th lap. of course, he did, and i told myself just to go out and finish the lap at a reasonable, casual pace. i did that and when i made it back, S told me that we may have won our class. i couldnt believe it, but after some controversy over 2 missing laps, S and i were acknowledged as the class winners. totally unexpected!!!

8 hours of labor - this race was awesome. many of the big boys and girls were there racing. i felt well prepared and even recruited someone to help me in the pits. at the start of the race i had a decent run and started out in the middle of the pack. i came up on a rider I knew and we pushed a medium pace for the first half a lap or so. my HR was astronomical for most of the first lap so i was reluctant to push it too much. after lap one my HR normalized and the field became more spread out, so i started riding faster. around lap 3 or 4, i was coming down one of the hills on tung nut and grazed a tree with my right shoulder, knocking me off the bike. dazed, i took a minute to compose myself and rode on. laps 5, 6, and 7 passed without anything crazy. the race ended for me on lap 7, my time putting me in 16th position overall. not too bad i thought, considering that there were over 60 total solo riders. my ineffectual, lazy and unsympathetic "pit crew" did little more than nothing to help me out - a major bummer that not only lost me time havign to ride back to the car to fill my bottles and get food, but also in being psychologically distracting. in spite of this, i was pleased with my performance.

12 hours of pine log - first 12 hour race, first night riding. traveled with J, S and Marcel to panama city beach for the race and a weekend of fun. my run at the beginning was excellent, my nutrition plan worked great - no cramping or bonking - but my consistency with regard to pace was erratic. i wont forget the joy fo knowing i was the leader of the race for about 4 hours in the afternoon. somewhere around lap 10 or 11 i was passed by 2 riders and went from 1st to 3rd, where i would finish at the end, after 19 laps and 130+ miles.
i have to say thanks to J, S and Marcel for motivating me to keep riding at the end and for filling my bottles and letting me borrow some of their equiptment. you guys really helped me out a lot!!

here's to an even better year in 2009!!

root beer

ok so i promised to discuss the differences that came along with riding J's gary fisher SS. all in all it was a great experience. i will probably never buy a gary fisher, for a number of reasons (this is one reason), but it was nice to get a feel of a different kind of bike and a different kind of riding. so, in turn, i will discuss the 4 major differences i listed in my previous post.

first, some prefatory remarks. it was hard to isolate just what attribute of the bike was responsible for what different kind of 'feel' i was experienceing. so all that follows is probably nonsense, illegitimate garbage.

1. big wheels - im going to upset the 29er contingent here, but i have to say i was quite a bit underwhelmed by the 29er wheelsize. i experienced little to none of the benefits that 29er advocates like to talk incessantly about. i still felt the roots, rocks and bumps just as much as I would have on my 26er. perhaps the only place i might have noticed a difference was on the south abyss trail at boyette - where less of my momentum was taken away by some of the big exposed roots on the uphills and downhills. this, though, can easily be achieved on a 26er bike with good line choice or a little lifting of the front wheel. the thing i most noticed about the 29 inch wheels was the increase in weight. now J's wheels were not heavywheights - chris king hubs and stan's rims - but it seemed like the weight discrepancy between the 29er wheel and my 26er wheel was quite dramatic. overall i find no good reason to run 29 inch tires.
   
2. hardtail - riding a hardtail again was great. i felt more in touch with the bike and the trail below me. the transfer of power from me to the ground was noticably better. plus, the bike just looks so much better without a rear shock and a silly swingarm mechanism. my next bike WILL be a hardtail.
3. size L frame - i had no fitment issues riding the L frame. my XL frame sometime feels too big. not sure exactly which is better for me, but this is probably irrelavent since i'm planning for my next bike to be custom sized.
4. single speed - single speeding was awesome. i love the way the bike looks without the sifters and derailleurs. the EBB is a silly idea and I think a sliding dropout is the way to go. it was great to not worry about gearing and just focus on my pedal stroke and trying to maintain as much momentum as possible. despite this, there is no way i'd want my only bike (or a race bike) to be a single speed, unless i was trying to lose. this is for obvious reasons - given an equal rider, he/she should always be faster on a geared bike. you really can't argue with that. single speeding is fun and yeah youre really hardcore for only using one gear on all those vicious FL climbs, but in the end it is more or less a gimmick.

thanks again J for the experience - can i have my trainer back?

spirit tree

i rode with Karlos and P at croom with the goal of finding the spirit tree. we found it and each paid our respects. mostly a memorial for the croom equestrian enthusiasts, it was nonetheless an interesting destination, and a challenge to find.

johnathan's gary fisher singlespeed 29er did me quite well for two rides out at croom, covering 70 miles. the bike is radically different from my usual ride - it is a hardtail, it has bigger wheels, it has one gear, and it is a size L frame (19in, rush is XL). i will consider each of these differences in the next post.

update, or lack thereof

it's the end of the school semester and by far not my favorite time of year. hopefully by the end of this week i will be able to get back in the saddle and get my mileage back to normal levels, or beyond.

i am temporarily in possession of Johnathan's gary fisher rig 29er ss and hope to throw that girl around for a bit soon, see how she feels between my legs.

i've got an out-the-door route for use in morning training rides that is pretty good and takes me down to the tip of davis island, one of my favorite spots. out and back is 25 miles, and can easily be increased with laps around davis island and/or by sightseeing down bayshore. this route should become at least a twice-a-week thing. it can be done in under 1h30min.

anyways, hopefully i will have some thoughts on the 29er singlespeed for my next post...