Root 66 Race Series: Stonewall Farm, Keene, NH

Race Report for Root 66 MTB Series: Bikes for Bovines, NH, 8/23/2009


Climb mother phucker, climb!

Course: start in a nice quaint farm; quick fire road onto short section of pavement and back another fire road that went up, and up, and up…five miles of straight unrelenting climbing. The climb started on a nice groomed fire road but then turned into a loose wet slippery rocky dirt track. 2000 feet elevation gain on that first climb. At the top of the climb, the course shot into tight twisty, off camber, rocky and rooty single track which was very wet from the massive rains NH had gotten over the past two days. Looking at your brakes the wrong way at the wrong time and down you went! Several miles in, another climb, this one shorter but w/ many sections too steep and muddy to actually ride. The last three miles were fire roads back down: flying in the big ring and aero position to gain as much speed as possible. Lap length: 13 miles. Thank dog, we only did one!

They called us up by age group and lined us up accordingly, but then announced a mass start! There were three age groups lined up in front of us and somehow we all to have to fit through the narrow start gate. The whistle blew and of course it was one giant ass cluster phuck. Riders were banging into each other. One of them banged into me, making me bang into someone else who … To add some insult, right after the gate was a giant mud puddle through which I went flying (no choice as I was stuck in a pack). I lost traction, slipping sideways, about to go down, but then slamming into the racer next to me, who went down, but helped me stay up right. Thanks! The climb was wide enough that everyone could pass. Some were racing up, while others were settling in. I tried to find a guy that seemed to have the same pace as me and grabbed his wheel. People were passing but then burning up and dropping back. Within the first ½ mile there were only 10 riders left in front, and that number quickly dropped to 6. The rest of the pack was falling back and a good gap was starting to form already. A racer behind me picked up some speed and passed me, so I grabbed his wheel. Slowly we started to pick off the rest of the riders ahead. One by one. I had no idea how long the climb was and noticed I forgot to reset my computer. DOH! So my strategy was to stick to the guy in front and try not to burn up all my matches. Several miles in, still climbing, without any type of brake what so ever, we had passed everyone. My legs were screaming and I was struggling to catch my breath, but just kept on holding on. The guy’s pace was starting to come down and I could tell he was getting tired. I eventually passed him and he grabbed my wheel. We finally (!!!) crested the top and started the tricky single track. He fell behind quickly and had soon lost him. I finished the rest of the course by myself, and beat him by two minutes.

I ended up winning not only my age group but the whole field. This was pretty sweet for me since I was on the next day, adding one more year to the pile of years I had already collected, so it was nice to beat all those younger guys!

If you like climbing, add this race to your calendar next year. This was a massive climb.

Well, I ain't no King...

Race Report: King of Burlingame - 4/5/09

This was a mountain bike time trial w/ each rider starting at a 30 second interval.Good turnout from the team (for a mountain bike race that is) w/ Jeff, Geoff, Nate, Kirk (sp) and myself. 5 refunds riders at an mtb race! Maybe everyone will convert to mtb in the next couple of years (yeah right!).I was wondering how I would fare this year. Last year I was still recovering from my knee injury and never really had any serious training time. This year, though my knee was (and is) still acting up here and there, and has prevented me from putting in hard efforts, I have been able to spend time on the trainer several times a week.Well I am definitely no King (though I have princess like qualities!)Jeff and I pre rode the course yesterday and we had stopped in several sections to try to pick the best lines through some technical sections. Nothing was too bad and everything was ride-able (at least for jeff). Some lines just lend themselves better to keep your momentum. Perhaps there were three tricky sections total. The first was a short uphill then a flat w/ some large sized rocks, this came soon after the start; the second, a large down wet tree over a stream at an awkward angle; and the last was a mud hole with a couple of large rocks after a bridge. Throughout the whole pre-ride I think I dismounted for only those sections w/ everything else being very ride-able.I felt pretty good this morning and was looking forward the season opener. The first 1/3 of the race quickly dampened my enthusiasm. Right from the start I kept on hesitating and taking the wrong lines. I kept on telling myself I should be looking down the trail and not right in front of my tire, but my gaze just kept on coming back to only what was right in front of my tire, resulting in much dabbling and having to walk certain sections which I knew I should have been able to flow through. This was really slowing me down, and starting to piss me off. I did quickly catch up to the guy in front of me which energized me, but when I passed him, I realized it was not because I was fast but rather because he was just really slow. A little bit of a letdown but I was still glad that I at least had passed one guy as I would not end up being dead last.The rest of course was easier and had many more flowing single track sections, and there I found my rhythm. Midway, there was a fire road climb and I saw the next guy in front of cresting the top. Soon after re-entering the single track sections and finding a good flow on the downhill and over the rock ledges, I caught him and saw another racer ahead. That one was hurting, and I had to dismount and run off the trail past him as he was short on air and not quite aware of what he was doing or that I wanted to pass. The rest was just a hammer fest w/ a few mud pits thrown in at the end to slow you down and make you work just a little harder.Though the race was a short 7.xx miles, it was pretty painful from being pretty close to max heart right from the start and having to stay there throughout the race. No time to allow for any recovery and where. I thought I would finish mid pack and ended up finishing third, with a time of 34 min and ?? seconds. This might actually be mid pack since I have no idea how many racers were in our group, and there might just have been 6 or7. It looks like the guy (Steven) who came in second, might have beaten me by less than ½ second. That makes me wish I had not coasted over the finish line! I'll see when the official results are up. Anyways, I did win a nice new pair of Spech gloves.Also of note is that Jeff ended up winning not only his age group but the whole sports category w/ a fantastic time of 31 minutes!