Spartanburg Stumpjump Race Report
The Spartanburg Stumpjump, held at Croft State Park, is one of my favorite XC races each year. I love this trail. It’s hilly (at least for part of the time), it’s technical, it’s fast in spots, and it’s fairly scenic. When it’s dry, it’s a ton of fun. When it’s wet, it’s VERY slick, with some red clay-mud and lots of roots. The climbs become impassible, even hard to hike up. The descents become treacherous and slick. Last year, it rained heavily the night before and the morning of the race. It didn’t actually rain during my race, but it was wet enough that I went over the handlebars on one of the aforementioned descents and rolled down a hill — all the while yelling, “RIDER DOWN!” so the girl who was close behind wouldn’t come down the hill on top of me. Three years ago, back when they did the “Idaho” section during the race, there were ropes on the exit side of a steep gulley so people could pull themselves out. Walking/riding wasn’t possible (I hear), due to the mud. I never had the pleasure of riding that section in the mud. I’ve ridden it, and it’s hard enough without mud.
So, this year, it rained a bit on Friday. We went down Saturday, attempting to ride around noon or so. We wanted to give ample time for the trail to dry. Well, Spartanburg really isn’t very far from Boiling Springs, so we were really early and decided to stop at the outlet mall on the way. After a quick run through the outlets and a stop at a wierd drive-through-or-eat-outside-only Chik-fil-A, we headed to the trails for the pre-ride. The trail was in good condition, considering. It was worse last year. Saturday, it had a few wet spots, and very few really slick spots. It could have been much worse. The course itself was the same as last year, with a start in the grass down the road, and a turn into the trail that if you took too sharply you’d find yourself nosing down into a ditch. The trick is to swing wide and go down the length of the ditch. For the rest of the trail, although it hadn’t changed, it was more technical than I remembered. The first powerline descent had been smoothed out due to people launching down the waterbars and separating shoulders and breaking collarbones. The following steep climb didn’t seem as steep. I climbed it in the middle ring, but I think I walked it last year. From there, it’s almost all singletrack. There are a couple of big climbs in the beginning, a long flat section in the middle that winds around down by the creek, and then some technical sections that you’re off the bike walking if you miss a line. Once you get through some technical stuff, rocks, and slick technical climbs, the last third of the trail is the rest of the climbing.
Saturday afternoon, it rained again (after we rode). We went to Hops and had a yummy dinner. We talked about wedding plans. (Now, we have a plan.) Sunday, I expected it to be a mess after the additional rain. The beginners’ race was first at 9:00. When they finished, they said it really wasn’t even as bad as Saturday. Well, that’s good. One less thing to worry about. My Sport race was at 11:00. I remembered to eat and to take care of my bike and to warm up. I was off to a good start. My biggest worry was the lap count. Every year, they put our class down for three 9-mile laps, and every year we vote it down to two. 27 miles of technical trail is WAY too much for a Sport XC race. The catch is, that the vote has to be unanimous. It never fails that one girl wants to do all 3 laps, ruins the vote, and ends up DNFing. Yes, that’s happened in my class more than once.
On the start line, there are 6 of us in my category, and 1 (Philicia) in the 19-29 category. We’re all lobbying for the two-lap vote. One girl says she kinda wants to do three. I asked if she’s ever ridden there. No. Does she realize three laps would probably take us about three hours? No. She continues to hold her ground, though. Madonna threatens to have me beat her if she votes for three. Finally, they get to our class and there’s the vote. We all vote for 2. It comes down to this one chick. She gives in and says she’ll do whatever everyone else wants. I didn’t get a chance to find her to thank her and to see if she’s happy with her decision. I’ll assume she was.
Ready, go. I couldn’t get clipped in. I was somewhere in the middle of the pack, but felt like everyone was leaving me. I warned everyone about the trail entrance, since I saw some guys in the earlier race almost eat it and/or take everyone else out by short-cutting the gulley. Our group got through it ok. We were very bunched up in the first singletrack section. Brian was hiding in the bushes taking pictures here….
Down the big, fast powerline downhill, up the steep climb. “3-lap-girl” misses the climb and is off the bike walking. I passed another here, too. Into the woods, I’m behind Madonna, Philicia and Theresa and ahead of a few others. We all stayed together for a while. I passed Theresa early. I sat behind Philicia until she slid out in a turn and I got around her. I traded places with her for the rest of the race. One girl from Georgia rode behind me for a while and we chatted. She didn’t know the trail, so I called stuff out to her. I felt like I was holding her up, but she insisted that my pace was good. She and Philicia passed me when I dabbed on one of the technical climbs about 3/4 of the way through the first lap. I never saw her again, but I stayed in sight of Philicia for the rest of the race.
At the start of the second lap, I was hurting already. I tried to ignore it and take my own advice and take a few swigs of Hammergel. That stuff is magic in a flask. I was headed down the road to the trail, when I saw “3-lap-girl” come out of the woods to finish her first lap. Gosh, I didn’t realize she was so close. I sped up and made it back into the trail. Somewhere in the singletrack, suddenly Beth is RIGHT behind me. I had no idea she was there. I sped it up a bit more and we played yo-yo for the last half of the second lap. After the tech stuff and starting the last climbs, I didn’t think I had anything left. But, I thought I was in third, and I didn’t want to let Beth beat me. I kept going and had some more Hammergel. I got my second wind. I’m not sure what exactly the mechanisms are in my body, but I SWEAR I found leg muscles I didn’t know I had. I put a gap on Beth and finished for third place. The girl from GA (last rider in the pic above) got first, Madonna second, me third, Beth fourth, “3-lap girl” 5th (I think) and Theresa 6th (I think). I’m obviously not sure about the last two.
I felt like I had a good race. I love that course. It’s worth a day-trip. Brian’s race was cut short due to lightning. He was happy about that and we got home earlier than expected. He was scheduled to do four laps and only did three. Four laps is a long hard race.
On the way home, I started cramping. I dropped B off in Boiling Springs, came home, showered and, you guessed it….. ICE BATH! With the warmer weather, ice melts faster, so I had to stop at the gas station for some extra ice. It still didn’t last very long, but it SO works. No pain on Monday.
I went to sleep early. I slept well Sunday night.
