Raystown

Cat 2 Jungle Recap

I think I was the seventh car in the lot. Pre rode with Dustin and Tyler. I don’t normally warm up that much but I felt good. We finish our warm up and are tooling around the upper lot. Dustin cracks a joke about my chain being loose. Didn’t notice it until now. It can’t be that bad.

Before I know it I am in the front of the starting line. Not sure how I ended up at the front, but whatever. It looks cool. I only recognized a couple of people this time around, which I didn’t know would be a good thing or a bad thing. I try to focus with 15 seconds to go. Dudeman blows the horn and were off. I somehow miss my cleat and feel like an idiot, but it doesn’t cost me anything.

My goal was to stick with Dustin as long as I could. I get in front of him and I would say we are the front of the second group. I’m cool with this. Follow Henry from Campmoor into this section and the beginning of the course is just up my alley. Smooth and flowy. I’m relaxed and feeling good. Dustin chats with me and says I’m keeping it steady and flowing good. Thats encouraging. I keep this for maybe 2 miles. All the sudden I have no pressure on my cranks. WTF. My chain is off.

Matty ends up passing me and asking if I was okay. This happened at Blue once (Which I thought was a fluke and didn’t check it like an idiot) so I figured this was the one time. Cool. I catch back up to Matty and he lets me pass him as I try to hawk down Dustin up otter slide. I see him at the top of the hill but I never catch him, or see him again.

I come around for the end of the first lap and all I can think of is that took forever. I can’t keep this crap up. I grab another fresh bottle from Mandi and head back in. Knowing it was a little smoother in the beginning gave my bones some time to rest.

—–
I can’t remember all the details at this point, but here are some key points:
-Chain falls off another five times for a total of six.
– Me and Joaquin (I only know his name because someone yelled it) Battled for much of the race. He’s a cool dude. Eventually I couldn’t keep my damn chain on the bike so I fell way back.
– Some geared guy gets pissed that I got in his way on this tight single track. He doesn’t give me any notice or tell me he wants to pass. I told him that he should have told me which way he wants to pass me. 45 seconds later he has a flat. Karma.
– My rear tire rubbed the WHOLE RACE. WTF? It’s never rubbed before. I have to throw something smaller than a 2.2 on it and see what happens.
——

Not much else happens here, I get smoked by ChrisS and Kirt at one point who were on fire the whole way. Tyler eventually blows by me too. He is getting freaking fast.

Towards the last fire road towards AC, I come up on a SSer in a Team Town Cycle jersey. YES.

I fall in behind him and ride his wheel up the fire road. He asks if I want to pass and I say no. I’m totally spent at this point and knowing that Animal Chute isn’t making it any better. As soon as I said No he tries to lay down the juice. This lasts for about 10 seconds and he peels off. I pass him right after the entrance to AC and give it all I got. It isn’t much, but it was more than he had. I end up getting too tripped up and hike some of these sections. I hear geared bikes munching behind me and at this point I know that guy is toast. I climb to the top and see the Campmor ladies hanging out. I know I’m close and try my best to keep myself composed. I don’t see the TTC guy and that means I made it stick. That never happens to me. I pass under the tunnel and pop some bottles. I spray Chris in the face with my water bottle. Boy was I happy that was over.

Me passing the guy kept me from DFL. Not much else I could have done better this time around, besides learn how to tighten up my EBB incase shit happens again.

I am learning something. My breaking point. That’s what I’ve learned so far this year, what dead feels like. What drained and the true meaning of “tired” feels like. I thought I knew that before these first 2 Cat 2 races, but boy was I wrong. I’m much stronger than I think. For the first time I have felt my upper body give out on me. My chicken legs are stronger than my chicken arms.

I demand a rematch vs Dustin. I did lose outright, no excuses. Ringwood wasn’t on my radar but now that I didn’t have a clean race against Dustin I can’t admit full defeat, yet. Racing against Dustin also seems to calm my nerves. I pretend as if he is trying to touch my booty and or stole my milk money. Once he was out of sight I was stressed out again and way too focused on things that didn’t matter. He is my rock.

I’ll probably upgrade the EBB over the winter or something. I wish I could do it right now, but I really don’t want to drop anymore coin on this thing, but I should be able to ride it the way it is 10 times and not have it slip. We will see.

I sealed my first tubeless tire by myself at work. What excitement. The floor looks like I was really excited, too.

First Cat 2 SS Race – Blue Mountain

Keep this short sweet as I am scared;

Rode into work today with sneakers to keep my legs fresh. It is only 11 minutes each way, on my bike, so it is hardly anything to talk about. I felt funny with a t shirt and khakis on. I’m suppose to meet up with someone at Six Mile to sell my SS rear wheel, I’m debating on getting in a quick spin session before I stuff my face for Sunday. The whole, “rest before I race” thing, doesn’t work for me.

First Cat 2 race
Not sure what everyone elses first Cat 2 race expectations were (and I would love to hear them) but my goal is just to finish with a respectable time. I could finish last, but if I finish last chasing the 2nd to last place guy, that is okay in my books. The fact that the guy who set the course up said it is more of a MTB course than a spinning roadie course made me feel better. I feel I have more skills on the mountain bike than my lungs and brain do at staying fresh and on top of things.

It almost reminds me when we used to goto Englishtown and would do quarter mile runs. I would line up next to a 10-11 second car. My car wasn’t that fast. Instead of waiting for the tree to turn and get smoked by a car doing a wheelie, I waited until I was ready to run before I pushed it. Not saying I’m going to fall back on purpose at the first mile of the race, I’m not going to focus on others at all. We will see. I hope it rains so I can use it as an excuse.

Screw all the lead up stuff.
The goals for my first Cat 2 race:
Not to die
Not to blow up (even if I have to sacrifice effort)
Beat the start of the cat 1 race

12 pre-reg’d for this event, Not sure on the final count. I get into line and almost take out Mark as I swing my bike around. Good job, dumbass. What a way to look really cool in your first big dog race.

I hung to the back off the start and didn’t want to get in anyones away. We had a big pile up mid pack up the first loose gravely hill. That thing sucked. I ended up passing either 2 riders off of the second fire road climb. I decided to settle in behind an older guy in a campmor jersey. He ended up losing me.

I find him on the side of the trail fixing a wheel and he peels off as I pass him. I can’t remember if he passes me again or not. 2 laps = hard to remember all the details

I end up going past a Cat 1 guy watching and he said “1/4 mile to go, SS you crazy!” The whole race I was thinking the six miles would go fast, but they didn’t. That was a rough 6 miles.

First lap comes to an end and I say to myself as I pass the tent “I feel really good”. I have to do the whole bottle exchange. Mandi was ON POINT and was able to give me a great exchange.

Just like RUChris said, once you pass the first lap start/finish, you kind of just go back to business. I didn’t feel drained yet and I still had something left in the tank.

I spend the next couple of miles tailing a geared rider in a Allenwood? jersey. He said I could pass him, but I was content where I was. He was hurting and was just looking to stay alive. I swap places with him a couple of times and eventually I don’t see him anymore.

EDIT:
At some point around here, I pass a guy with the front wheel off, ass in the leaves on the side of the trail. I asked everyone I went by if they were alright. He said he needed a pump. I slammed on my brakes and threw my pump at the guy. Told him my name and said he would drop it off at the tent. I got this pump for free from Dustin, so I figured what the hell. At the end of the race the guy returned the pump the to start/finish table. Good people are still around!

Kirt and Chris26er come up past me on one of the loose gravely climbs. Exchange some words with this Chris as he asked how I was doing. They both were moving. I got out of the way since they were chasing some other geared dudes. Man they were boogying.

RUChris then comes up on me. He was with some other guys as well in a chase, so I get out of the way. Out of no where, pooriggy is hell bent on the next downhill. I never see him after he makes the next turn on the downhill section. Boy was he killing it.

I stay on Chris’ wheel until Yin (the last rock garden after the 1/4 mile guy), where I’m running low on fuel and get tripped up. I cleaned it the first time since so many people were watching.

I come around the finish and have a smile on my face. I somehow enjoyed this more than I thought. My legs felt pretty good.

The only thing that I can say that was holding me back was my gearing. 33×19 was painful. I don’t think I would have gained another place with the gearing, but I would have been in better shape afterwards.

So now that I have my own opinion, This was the roughest race I have done. The course wasn’t frightening, but it was far from a cake walk. That being said, this was not my kind of course. I have a rough time with power and power was needed through a lot of this race. I was silky smooth on the downhills and the tech sections. I almost want to say 15% of this course was not rideable (I’m sure Luke will disagree). I felt that since I wasn’t on the bike 100% of the time, I wasn’t really in the groove. Sure I got to rest and catch my breath as I hiked some of these features that were too rough for me, but I felt as if it messed me up more.

I’m sure I’m missing something, but overall it was a great way to break into the Cat 2 class.

So this morning I woke up not too stiff. My joints ache but nothing too crazy. I realized I had a couple of weird bruises, one on my ankle and one on my thigh.

Went for a quick spin today with mandi and jrel6 around the canal side of six mile before the storm came through. His first time around the red trail. We sprinted back from the bridge to the car as the lightning and wind came.

I noticed that the bruise on my ankle is from my crank arm. I am somehow torquing my legs in such a weird way that I am wacking the inside of my ankle on it. Is this normal? Are my cleats f’d up on my shoes? I’ve never noticed this before.

Rode the Road

Since I lowered my seat a little, I wanted to tinker on the road and put in a couple of miles, maybe 30-45 minutes at best.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48066404

How come with wind is always pushing you in the face, in every direction you go?

I ended up exploring and finding some new places I’ve never been before. No real pain to talk about anymore. Never really opened it up or pushed it hard. I wanted to put in one semi-medium-distance ride before Blue. Towards the last couple of miles, I saw tons of cars packed into the middle school parking lot. I knew it was the pop warner football kids practicing. I decided to tinker on through and see how it was.

My 30 seconds of cyclocross
So there is a little paved path that connects the two middle schools. other than that, it was all grass. I figured I would cut across the practice football field to hop back on the road. I don’t know if I was bored of riding the road or just lazy to turn around, wiggle through a gate, pass the fat kid with the football; I don’t know. I went for it. Man that was fun. It was scary because I was bouncing all over the place, but I now see the attraction the cross.

Would I do a cross race? As of right now, no. I love the idea of one though. I also said I would not want a bike with drop bars; now look where I am.

Structure talk and “training”
I used to play pop warner when I was a little shit. I still am a little shit to most of you old people. It just kind of put things into perspective about competing and practicing for it. Half the time at football practice we were cracking jokes and flicking boogers at each other. It made me think about how much effort everyone puts into training and practicing to ride bicycles. Sure you want to be good and kill people, but at the same time practicing and screwing around with your friends is sometimes just as good. As of right now, I’m content with having fun and not really having this structured kind of work out. I would have been pissed if my calendar said I had to go home and sit inside.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissing or putting down people that have a structured lesson plan to kill it; I just hope that if you do, you are still having fun and enjoying riding bicycles at the end of the day. Can you still throw your leg over your bike and shoot the shit with everyone?

Too many words. Sorry.

Photos < Text
Sorry Kevin, I have been slacking with the text in this thread. Maybe I can get a couple more views with the text. I try to put something up when I have anything meaningful to write, but I have been pretty bike-less for the last week or so.

The Knee Pain, again
I originally posted that my knee hurt after Thursdays fun little road ride. This is becoming a reoccurring process that I can’t figure the cure to. I’m always the kind of person to tinker with things before I call it quits and give in to a bike shop or the doctor. Hopefully this isn’t something serious.

Mandi and I rode White Clay today with Dustin, Dana, Lou and Walter. Walter does still ride bicycles. About 3 miles in my knee starts acting up. This is the third ride on my new bike and I have never had any fit issues with it, yet. Maybe because I only rode it 3 times, Or I dialed that shit in. I don’t know I was in pain on Thursday, but I just figured I was sore and didn’t eat/drink/protein blah blah etc. Friday I felt fine. I think back to the road ride and start cursing at myself.

I stopped writing here to think, I can’t remember if this is the same knee that hurts time and time again. I will make a public note NOW that it is my RIGHT knee.

I sucked it up for the rest of the first leg of the ride. It was only bad on the climbing sections of the hills, but still tolerable. It was worth it to bomb these fun downhills. We need to come back down to this area again, It is freaking awesome.

The last little 200 foot climb back to the parking lot it is all over. I end up walking up the little gradual uphill and I am pissed. Everything else in my body felt great except for my freaking knee.

Anything bent over 45 degree angle hurts like a bitch. I can feel the pain across my knee from the inside to the top. I can walk fine and everything else, but getting up from sitting down; I feel like an old man.

Fitment
For now I lowered my seat 1cm and tilted my seat forward. I realized my seat was tilted upward. I leveled that out for now and I’ll give it a short spin in a couple of days. No more big rides before my death march Blue race.

Up next
Mandi and I were planning on going to Jungle for the Womens/Mens ride. Hopefully tomorrow off the cycle. September is going to be a busy month; Blue, Jungle, Raystown. Exciteee.

 

Jungle
Rode Jungle with Dustin while Mandi broke off and rode with her new lady friends. I feel like she won’t be riding with us anymore. We will see. We rode just about every trail (I think) at a nice fun endurance pace. So much better than tinking around six mile thinking I am a beast and shit. Sometimes I wish we lived north of 80.

The best part about the ride is that my legs, lungs and most of all, my knee felt (and still feel) great. phew.

Knee = Good
Last second, I dropped my seat on my mountain bike before we left, Just incase that was the issue. I don’t know if the MTB seat was to blame or not, but all is fine on that end. I still have a little pain, but I really need to push my knee to the extreme in a stretch or something to feel it burn. I would say it is 95% better. I think I’m going to take a quick spin after work (less than an hour) on the lowered seat road bike to see if it makes a difference.

Then I came home, had two labor day hot dogs and took a nap:

The New Bike Review
Now that I am four rides into this bike I can fully comment on how it feels. After Kevin said i was going to split in two from a mountain bike seat jack hammering into my ass at Blue, I was skeptical. How different could steel/aluminum be? I now know the difference. I think it may have to do with how stiff the lefty is (which is great sometimes). I didn’t feel as fatigued as I thought I would be after being slammed around form the lefty and the aluminum frame. I guess it was because I was comparing myself to how Dustin was feeling. Dustin was so hammered from that rigid fork, he was talking about getting a suspension fork. I still need a new rear tire and a miracle to have the front tubeless wheel laced to the lefty hub. Stupid hub.

Blue
Note to self for this week, I need a 20t for Blue. That also means I need the tools on how to change it myself.