So the day finally came that I have been anticipating since, a monster of a sandy hill and a tight 180 turn in a sandpit. I was competing in both the C and B categories tonight. My aim was to do well in C’s and use the B race to fine tune my ‘cross legs for the rest of the season. The hole shot is critical in ‘cross and I only managed to place fifth of sixth rounding hill at the first turn. I was on the inside and the rider in front of my went straight over his bars blocking the whole inside line bringing me to a complete stop. By the time I recovered I was down in about twelfth place. Thoughts of victory were gone in that first turn. When we hit the creek crossing for the first time the field bottlenecked and I ended up, no exaggeration, waiting my turn as riders crossed three abreast. After that, much of the race was a blur. It took a few laps before I found my rhythm. The creek crossing was a focal point for the crowd and a herd of screaming cowbell toting ‘cross fans made for a gladiatorial atmosphere. After thirty lung scorching minutes it was over, all too soon.
Results weren’t available on the night as the new electronic scoring system was bedding in but I found out later that I had managed a respectable 2nd place in the 35+ category. Can’t be disappointed with that at the first race of the season.
After a quick bike clean up and check over I was back at the start line less than thirty minutes later for the 45 minute B race. I took a steadier approach and felt fully in control as I picked off riders lap by lap. I purposefully started at the back and worked my way up about fifteen places during the race as I gained in confidence and commitment. By the end of the B race the creek crossing was a total leap of faith as the lights failed to illuminate the entry bank. Both legs were submerged half way to your knees in mud as you jumped in. Perfect. The hurdles area was also in complete darkness by the later laps with lights shining in your eyes as you tried to line up for them. Again this just added to the challenge.
Post race a crowd of wet, sweaty, muddy racers dissected the race over a beer while the A racers showed us how it was done. Did I mention that I love the fall for a reason?
I love the mountain bike stage races that are done by Tailwind. You have 3 different disciplines, Time Trial, Short Track and Cross Country. Saturday was the TT and Short Track at Addison Oaks , there was a small field for our group of 50 to 59 year old racers but I was able to eek out a psychological win in the short track by taking 3rd place in my age group. I used my cross bike and it handled the extreme turns very well. The turns did not affect me, but I stuffed my pedal into the hill on an off camber turn and, although I was in 3rd place of the entire ‘sport’ group, went to the back of the pack in seconds. It is only a 15 minute race, so it is a lung burning, leg cramp-fest, a fall is fatal. So, like I said, a 3rd place finish for our age group was a nice win.
In the morning we had the Time Trial and I ended up 4th of 4 in our age group there. Even though the number of racers in my age group was low, these stage races are double points races and set the tone for the leaders for the rest of the season. As such…finishing 4th is strategically valuable…even if there were only 5 or six of us out there this weekend.
Final tally, 4th place TT, 3rd Place Short Track, 5th place in today’s extremely hot 3 lap cross country race…overall I should walk away with a 4th place double points win for WSI-Team Active.
As Eric Cook, Dave Goff, and I were making our way to registration table I felt as though I was going to have a lonely 20+ miles out there on the course not seeing any other mountain bikes let alone SS. With the usual pre-race preparations complete we made our way to the start line setting around the front 3rd of the field. When the gun went off I was at top speed with a few strokes of the crank as the back half of the field passed me like I was out cruising around on a Sunday ride. With in the first half mile we turned onto the gravel roads and now I had the advantage.
Despite some placing mix-ups in the results, I ended up getting 3rd place in the single speed category (but missed the podium picture opportunity).
The dirt roads started out a little wet and loose for the riders with skinny tires, so I was able to regain all that was lost and even caught a group that Eric was leading. As I hung on to the back of this group we started to pull away from the field behind us. Eric was trying to organize a push to catch the leaders but the group was too worried about racing each other. After about 8-9 miles of spinning out and bouncing off my saddle I realized I was going to blow myself up and not keep a good pace to make it to the end so I backed off a little and let the pack go. Reality is we got out on to some pavement and the pack left me behind to fight a stiff head wind for the next 6+ miles. I would periodically catch a dropped rider, draft off them for a rest and then move on.
A mile or two after the half way point there was an option for mountain bikes to take a shorter route on a rail trail. I thought good idea take it. Not sure if that was true or not. I traded a hill climb for riding down a 3/4 mile rail bed of loose 3-4 inch size rocks that had me cussing the whole way how stupid that it was to take. Note – don’t take the rail trail short cut.
Knowing I was on my way back toward he finish I put my head down and just spun away. Having riders insight to chase made it bearable to keep pushing ahead. I was able to pass 3-4 riders while trying to real in one more before the finish but he was able to slip away having the advantage on climbing the hill at the finish line. All in all it was fun and I even finished on the podium. Unfortunately they had some mistakes with the results so I wasn’t listed until the next day and didn’t get my picture with the rest of the finishers. I look forward to a repeat performance in the fall race.
On Saturday, March 30th four of us from the team traveled to Lowell, MI to race the Lowell 50 (http://www.thelowell50.com) gravel road race. The upper 70s of weeks past were nowhere to be found and the temperature gauge in the team van rad 35 when we got to the race to pick up our numbers. Chuck, David and I met at the shop and took the Team Active van to the race, flying “team colors” (and I must say it was pretty cool to show up in a “team vehicle” – the only one there, I might add). Derrick came down from Grand Rapids and met us at the race. He raced the 50-mile course, while the three of us opted for the 28 miler.
My race started out unusually well, finding me rolling out with the rest of the 28 mile group, even leading the pack for a bit while the course wound through a mixture of gravel and paved country roads. We reached the first hill (ouch!) and the reality of my “gravitational challenges” (i.e. the fact that I weigh 220 lbs.) quickly set in reality smacked me across my chilly face. I watched as rider after rider (yes, the skinny ones) passed me going up the hill. While somewhat discouraging, I knew we were only a few miles into the day, so there would be time to make up the gap – or so I hoped.
The race really turned out to be much more of a road race than last week’s Barry Roubaix, with the entire course 100% ridable (and fast). Even the dirt roads were hard-packed and on many of the stretches we had (muddy) pacelines of 23+mph. The group that passed me on the first hill got away and, despite trying to get some of the guys in the second group to form a chance and “hunt them down” I realized they were gone and the best I could do was to at least try and keep in control of the chase group and finish strong with this group of guys.
At about mile 8 Chuck (who was racing on a single-speed mountain bike) caught up to me and we rode for a bit. He was riding really strong, but the fact that he had only one gear really hindered his ability to keep up on the downhills, as well as the faster paved road paceline riding. I’m not sure how he did it, given that I used all of my gears for this race, as there were big hills that required the “granny gear” but then topped out on the road just like on a road bike. My cyclocross bike performed flawlessly, which unfortunately was not the case with porr Derrick who battled technical issues on the cyclocross bike he borrowed (and rode 50 miles). Poor guy, but something tells me a cyclocross bike may be in his future…
Anyway, back on with the race. I made some good pulls, bridged some large gaps to catch some stragglers between the lead group and the chase group. At around mile 18 I took off (again, nobody from the group joined me) and caught a guy on a mountain bike from Freewheel Cycling. He was hauling and had been out in front for several miles on his own. The good news is he was a fellow “big guy” and we joked about how these guys that don’t have the luxury of tipping the scales in the 200+ range just don’t know what it’s like to really ride a bike. As is the case with big guys, we kept out front for another couple of miles swapping turns pulling for the other until we got to another big-arse hill. The chase group caught up about 3/4 of the way up the hill, but this time I was able to hang on and regroup with them at the top. Coming back down the backside I made up most of my places and it wasn’t going to be long until the finish line.
There was one more long stretch of road and we were cruising along at a decent pace. My “big” friend put in a massive pull at the front and gave me some much-needed rest and then I took a turn at the front. However, the rest of the group seemed satisfied about sitting on our wheels and taking in the draft. I guess this is one of the things that is somewhat aggravating about road racing is the “mental games” that are involved, as I’d much rather go out and hammer and let the fastest person win. In this case, I knew there were a lot of guys behind me that were keeping “fresh” thanks to our work, but decided I wasn’t going to worry about it and just pressed on. Guess that’s why I like triathlons and mountain bike racing since your results are largely based on YOUR performance. But, that’s bike racing…
Coming into the finish we again crossed one of the two scenic covered bridges that we went through on the way out, so I knew we were getting close. I was sitting in #2 position behind another cyclocross guy that came around with about 500 yards to go and. I timed my jump well enough to get past him, but there were two other guys behind me that had been “enjoying the ride” for the past couple of miles, so their legs were better prepared to get them across the line in front of me. I ended up coming in 3rd in the group sprint, despite that for the last 50 yards every pedal stroke caused my legs to cramp.
Crossing the line I was very pleased at my performance for the day. I was still cramping with every pedal-stroke, so kept on riding until the pain went away. I had a couple of guys come up to me while “cooling down” and comment on what a good ride I had (they must have been some of the beneficiaries of my “pulls” for the day), which made me feel good. Looking over the results, I came in at 1:34:33 for 5th place in the 40-49 category and 6th place had the same time as me (so the sprint finish must have been a close one – I had no idea, as I was focused on getting across the line). It was a great day of racing and was nice to get back into competition. This was my first race of the season and was pretty cool to see the WSI/Team Active kit, even it it was “only” four of us.
~Eric
Results Sumary
Eric Cook – 5/26 (Age 40-49) 1:34:33 – Avg. Speed 17.77 – 28 miles
Chuck Brenner – 3/6 (Single Speed) 1:40:25 – Avg. Speed 16.73 – 28 miles
David Goff – 9/22 (Age 30-39) 1:42:26 – Avg. Speed 16.40 – 28 miles
Derrick O’Brien – 5/13 (Age 20-29) 2:46:01 – Ave. Speed 18.07 – 50 miles
After a week of summer weather in March, the filthier the conditions, the better!
It was less than an hour’s drive with the race day nerves jangling. After parking in the middle of a swamp and a quick gear check, the biggest headache was gambling on how much to wear. The weather was undecided and of course it had look good with the new TAR/WSI Internet kit. We headed to the road to warm up and check out conditions. A short run on the first gravel section confirmed that my tire pressures were good and I was grinning from ear to ear with anticipation before we made it back to the start.
I was in the third wave and got surprised by the 25+ mph pace during the neutralized roll out. Things were a little crazy and elbows were even flying up at the front of the pack. I backed off as there was plenty of time left to get aggressive with my riding. I settled in for a two hour effort. Things were fairly routine and a lot of fun but I was getting hot on the hills. Had I worn too much? I wasn’t taking on enough fluid either and as a result calf cramps hit at 15 miles. I stripped the arm warmers, committed to my bottles and tagged on to the end of a train where I could recover for a few miles.
I felt myself coming back and chased down one of my buddies on the course who had been disappearing down the road. I was now taking my turn pulling and gaining strength. And then it happened. I hit the new sandy section. I was riding the cross bike and it was a mountain biker’s paradise. It was brutal at that late stage in the race. I found myself alongside one of my new teammates questioning whether we were technically still racing as there was no one in sight pedalling a bike and no way past the bodies in front of us without taking crazy risks. As soon as I could remount I threw myself across the bike and put on my trail riding head. It was Custeresque in nature and there were plenty of the mud and puddles I was hoping for at the outset. Finally it was over and the course was back to the B-R we know and love.
I rose out of the saddle on the final climb and found my quads in knots. Even so, hitting the pavement with about six miles to go it was time to empty the tank. I threw down the hammer and hooked up with a couple of like minded souls who were ready and willing to work plus a couple that weren’t. To their credit they did have the good grace to thank me after we’d finished. I put my head down and (yes I’m really saying this) took a trip to my hurt box.
I can never complain when I left it all on the course. Today I did that and finished with a smile and a huge buzz from the whirlwind finish. A podium was not on the cards this time, I finished 57th of 129 in my category. My measure of success was that it was nearly a full 20 minutes before I started thinking about how I could be faster next year…
