Full Service Racing/CORA- Revenge of Mt. Mother- Harbin Park

This was a race that wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't going to race, but I have found over the past couple of months that the best way to train for racing is to race. So I drove out to Harbin and met Chris and his friend (and photographer) Randy. It was a surprisingly nice day... not too hot or humid.

For those of you who have never been to Harbin Park, here is one racer's description, "75% uphill, 5% level and 20% downhill." That pretty much sums up the course. Mt. Mother is a steep (some have measured it out at over 20%), loose, rutted beast of a hill that has a short, equally steep and loose run in. Each lap came in around 5 miles with a little over 500 ft of climbing. The cruel and unusual gang at Full Service Racing (ahem...Phill...ahem) put on the show, much like their wildly successful Hueston Woods race (a race I observed from a hammock atop the longest climb).

Chris was to race two laps while I was in for three laps of torture. My goal was a good workout. I let almost everyone go ahead of me down the grassy slope and into the single track. Slowly I picked up my pace and began picking people off... not in order to move up, but instead to go faster. I began catching some of the earlier waves towards the end of my first lap. I just kept chugging along passing people, hoping for the end, hating my lack of handling skills, passing more people, praying for the wretched race to be over.

Then I finished. I find finishing races very anticlimactic. There are rarely people cheering for you. Occasionally someone says your name over a loudspeaker. You find a nice patch of grass (hopefully near a water cooler) and lay your bike down and drench yourself as you try and consume as much water/Gatorade/recovery bar as possible in the short window that athletes have to stuff their faces after exercises. Harbin was no different. I rolled over the Chris (Mt. Mother + recovering knee = not good), sat, talked, drank, ate, drank, talked with random racers and friends, and drank some more.

Phill called us all over for hoagies and awards. Chris and I weren't expecting anything, but somehow, during my hour and forty minutes of suffering I had passed everyone in my age group save for one hardy soul. The photos throughout this post are courtesy of Randy. It is now time for me to hit the sack and get ready for my second trip to Brown Country in three days! I will post some thing about said trips in the next few days.

Kenda DInO- Versailles State Park

Hot. Everything about this race screamed hot. A fair bit of climbing, dusty trails, humidity through the roof in the woods. Hot. In the shade my Garmin was reading 92 F. That's hot to be forcing yourself to ride at your limit for an hour and a half.

But that is what we got at Versailles this weekend. Jess somehow had the day off so we drove out and met Chris at 7:20 in the morning to set up our pit area. Nice canopy and rocking folding chairs thanks to Chris (btw... rocking folding chairs are on my Christmas wish list- they are the perfect post race chill spot).

My race went off first at 10 am. We had about 10 or 12 guys in my start wave. I had pre-ridden the first mile of the course and felt very confident in my tire selection. Bontrager XR 0- a light tire with very little tread, but great roll. From the bullhorn (we don't use guns to start races here in the Mid-West) I jumped in to second place for the fist single track section. At the first gravel road crossing about 600 m into the race, I nearly took out some spectator by sliding out under the tape. Evidently my tire choice wasn't too hot.

For the rest of the race I was second guessing my line choice and sliding through turns like I was riding a road tire on ice. I had guys passing me left and right on some of the tight descents. I always caught and passed them on the fast flowing sections and the long climbs, but would give my advantage away at any sort of technical descent.

On the last fire road climb and subsequent single track slog, I build up a decent lead over what I assumed was sixth or seventh place. I then descended the rock garden to the finish line like there was not tomorrow. I didn't bother resting my index finger on my brake lever, just gripped the bar and let the bike bounce.

I gave this race more juice than I have ever given a race. I just let it all hang out there and ripped the climbs and the last few descents. Evidently that payed off, because I wound up placing third in my age group and start wave, which should bump me up nicely in the DInO overall. Here is me at the finish line, just thank full to be upright and done.

After about an hour of cooling off, Jess and Chris started their respective races. Jess met a few trees and rocks along the way, but ended the race with a nice sprint. Chris met a kid who couldn't quite stay on the trail, but never the less raced to a nice 2nd in the intro class. Looks like it's time to cat up! Here's Jess ripping the first section of single track.

For Chris' take on the race check out his blog @ Will Climb for Downhills.

OMBC#5: East Fork Race Report

I am going to preface this race report with a summary of my week.
Monday: 4th of July spent hanging around the apartment
Tuesday: Rode with Justin in the morning to show group ride route, then worked
Wednesday: Worked, then hung out with Jess, Jared, Caitlyn, and the rest of the D-clan
Thursday: Work and Shadowbox! Followed by staying up until 3 in the morning watching Top Gear
Friday: Work and sleep
Saturday: Work, short ride, sleep.

So it pretty apparent that I didn't get a lot of sleep and didn't ride much throughout the week. Which leads me to today's race.

Chris and I drove out to Eastfork together, in what is beginning to become a Sunday routine. We nabbed a nice little spot by one of several closed restrooms (evidently in this economy, the parks commission has decided to abandon parts of Eastfork). During our pre-ride we found that the course still had a lot of mud holes, some of which had branches laid across them to attempt to minimize damage to the trail. What probably was not thought of was how much damage the mud soaked branches could cause to the racers. Most of these spots where on the beginner trails, which I think we could have easy done without (this is a very biased opinion as you will soon find out).

The first mile and a half of the race was a paved climb to the beginner trail. My Garmin told me that this section of the race was about 110 degrees. Whatever the temperature, it was scorching form the top (sun) and bottom (pavement). In my normal fashion I nailed it from the get go and hit. Leading up to the trail head my legs began to feel a little dull. Not quite dead, but close, so I eased up and let a few people lead me into the woods. A handful more passed me throughout the woods, only to have me catch them on the road section on the second lap.

Shortly into the woods the second time I lofted my front wheel over a mud hole filled with branches. When my front wheel came down on one of the last branches, it shifted and my front wheel slid out sending me sprawling over the trail. And bashing the family jewels into my frame. And both knees into something hard. After a minute or two sitting of leaning over my bike and letting most of the race go by me, I was able to (gingerly) get back on the saddle and continue on my way. After what seemed like an eternity, I made it back to the pavement and caught one of the riders who had passed me while I was immobile. He had just enough left in him to out kick me to the line. Which is how I would up last by  3 seconds.

Now back at home, I am planning on taking these next two weeks to train and pick up a little more speed in my legs. Hopefully Versailles (two weeks away) will treat me a little better.

Two Very Full Weekends

I know two weeks ago I promised a few posts, but things have been pretty exciting and I haven't had the time or energy to sit down and write. So I will start in chronological order.

New Bike: I sold my Madone last week back to its original owner and picked up this thing of beauty...

It is a 2009 Gary Fisher Presidio cross bike with True Temper OX Platinum steel frame and all of my old standby components (all of the components have been on my last three bikes). Because of this bike Jess now has a brand new Rival drivetrain and brake and Bontrager wheel set up on her road bike.

OMBC #4 Race to the Hills: Lake Hope

It rained from 6 AM until halfway through my race. That should be enough of a description. There was mud everywhere. I wound up sitting 3 rows back at the start and had to fight tooth and nail to hit the trail head in the top 20. After that, I was thankful for mud tires and cursing my derailleurs. I had awesome traction, but couldn't shift. Chain suck was a huge problem (to the point of ruining my front mech) and my cassette (rear gears) was so clogged with mud that I could only access 3 gears. I wound up finishing 6th in my class, one spot out of the money.

England-Idelwild Time Trial series:
For the past month, Jess and I have made the trip down to Kentucky of the Thursday night mountain time trial series. So far I have posted two 6th and one 9th based off of average speed (I have been racing three laps which is the longest allowed). This past Thursday I not only bettered my personal time by a handful of seconds, but also slotted in the 5th fastest average speed. Things are looking up!

DInO #4: North Vernon- Mascatatuck Park:
First off, by the beginning of the race it was clear that I wasn't going to have reliable access to my large chain ring which meant that I was going to have to attack every climb in order to limit my losses on the descents and flats. When the gun went off I managed a good start, hitting the woods in third position. The second placed rider slid out in front of me about two turns in, allowing me to move up. On the first climb, with four or five guys sitting behind me, the leader let me pass, at which point I gave the hill everything I had. The rest of the three lap race I spent climbing like mad, and picking up as much free speed as possible when heading down. I never saw another racer from my age bracket, though one junior from my starting wave nipped me by a second or two at the line. I would blame my lack of a big ring, but at that point, I don't think it really mattered.

In other news... I have qualified for the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships! To bad I only found this out today and the race is in three weeks... in Idaho. Hopefully I will qualify again next year.

Enjoy the ride.

Brooks Swallow Review

The saddle. It is hard to find a more controversial product in the cycling industry. Everyone has a different take on it. Specialized likes the center cut out. Bontrager likes different padding. Fizik determines which rider should be on which saddle through a flexibility profile. And then there are the fringe saddles like ISM triathlon saddles.

And while all of these saddle makers have their "proof" and "science" claiming their seats superior, there is one saddle company that for over a century has captured the hearts (or would that be ischial tuberosities or sit bones) of countless riders. Brooks. This company creates saddles using a brilliant (and common) design dating back to the late 19th century: a single piece of thick leather supported at the back by a band of steel and at the front by a stretching mechanism. Over a quarter of the riders I have met crossing the country ride Brooks. A few of my instructors at UBI rode them. Several people I ride with day to day have logged tens of thousands of miles on Brooks saddles.

So I decided to give a Brooks a try. Not just any Brooks, but the top dog, racing saddle, the Swallow. My test saddle came to me through a customer who had found it to not be the one. He offered to let me ride it to see what I thought of it. I have put in about 200 miles on it over the past week or so and have reached the point where I can give you all something worthwhile.

Every time I jump on the Swallow it doesn't feel quite right. It is either too tight or too loose. On a few rides (one 26 miles, another 32) the saddle hit its stride about 20 minutes and I never thought of it again (a good thing in my opinion). On other rides I was still trying to find the right position as I rolled home. The one definitive thing that I have to say about this saddle is that it is not designed for riders who like to slide around. I found that I was comfortable in one particular spot. Too far forward and the bump from the tension mechanism pressed me. Too far back and I was sitting on the rivets. Unfortunately, I like to slide around. After talking with a few Brooks riders, it seems that the Brooks best suited for me is the Swift, a slightly flatter saddle.

This is a beautiful saddle. The honey brown of my model is amazing. It makes every bike it goes on look better (and a little heavier). But this saddle just isn't for me.

Up next: OMBC #4 Race to the Hills: Lake Hope report (racing it tomorrow) and sometime next week some photos of my new steed!