Jennifer Dilworth Hynes — mtbchk

Last weekend was the final race of the Cane Creek series at Hobby Park in Winston Salem.  I like Hobby… it’s probably one of my favorite courses to race.  It’s not a smooth course and it somehow fits my riding style (except for the climb up the paved soapbox-derby hill).

So, I’ve been a slug most of the summer, due to work.  Not much riding.  The last race I did was at Catawba, but I raced in the SS category since I had to work later in the day.  I got killed in the category, mostly because those guys are that much faster than me, but I should mention that I did have my wheel slide a few times in the horizontal drop-outs so I stopped to fix that a few times.  I think my slowness was actually why I got slammed, though.  (I DID beat a couple of guys that DNF’ed.  Does that count?)

Two or three weeks ago, I started having more time to ride.  I’ve been making time during the day and riding the trails out here at the center.  Formerly, “Catawba”, it’s now the US National Whitewater Center.  Same trails, a bit abbreviated for now, but still the same hills.  I’ve been riding during lunch, at least 3 times during the week, or any other time during the day that I have a moment and someone here as backup.  My comment about the SS hurting here is not as valid as it once was.  I’ve been swapping between the SS and the Titus, and steadily moving toward more SS.  I rode the other day and only had to walk the first switchback on the Goat Hill.  I made the Carpet climb.  whoo-hoo.. Maybe the time off has helped.

So, Sunday was the Hobby Park race.  I had figured out that I needed to beat Beth in order to keep my 2nd place standing for the Cane Creek series.  I was beating Beth early this year, but she tends to peak late, so she’s been beating me in the later races.  I was just barely ahead of her in the points going into the last race.  Madonna had 1st wrapped up.  All I had to do was be in front of Beth at the finish line.

At the start line, there were four of us:  Me, Madonna, Beth, and a new girl who claimed to be a roadie on her 2nd mountain bike ride and 1st mtb race.  (Or something like that).   There were four girls in the 19-29 age class and they started with us, too.  The race started us up the soap-box-derby hill (my weakness).  Beth and I in the back, me yelling at Beth, “Come ON!  Let’s GO!”  I was looking for a race.  I beat her up the hill.  Into the singletrack, I quickly passed a couple of the women in the younger age class.  I kept thinking if I stayed ahead of Beth and out of her sight, she would mentally give up.  I was riding so well.  I can’t describe it, but I was “on”.  I rode all the best lines.  Carried tons of speed.  Powered the climbs.  I wouldn’t let myself slow down and I wouldn’t let my mind wander.  I started catching and passing some of the men in the group ahead of us.  There were still four girls in front of me:  two in my age class and two younger.  I kept thinking that I could catch them. 

Then, something happened.  I don’t know exactly where or when it happened.  Somewhere about 2/3 or 3/4 through the first lap, my bike started handling erratically.  I couldn’t steer.  I looked down to make sure the quick release was tight, since the wheel felt wobbly.  I got out into the field below the slalom track and asked a spectator if my tire looked flat.  He said it was low.  I stopped and checked.  It was almost totally flat.  I got out the CO2/Pump and tried adding air.  Stupid 12 gram CO2 cartridge.  Empty.  I started pumping.  I got some air in.  I thought, “I’ll just ride it out.  It won’t be that bad”.  I got back into the singletrack and decided that was dumb after going down a small rock drop and almost losing it.   So, off the bike, changed the tube, tried a new CO2 (12 grams is NOT enough for my tire).

I figured it took Beth about 4-5 minutes to catch and pass me.  It seemed to be taking FOREVER to change the stupid tube.  As she passed she said I needed to get on it and catch her.  I informed her that I planned on finishing, but didn’t know if I’d catch her.  Oh well.  That’s racing.

I finished out the second lap, riding conservatively.  I was still “racing”, but not quite like before.  That was it.  I lose the 2nd place standing because of a flat tire.  At least I felt good!  Beth ended up beating me by 8 minutes.  Looking back at my HR monitor data, it looks like I lost a total of 12 minutes from the flat tire change, plus whatever speed losses from riding conservatively.

After the race, we’re hanging around waiting for prizes when they called me on the PA to come over to the scoring tent.  They asked me what other women I knew that raced in the SS races.  I said I only knew of myself and two others who had done any of them.  Cane Creek decided to give series prizes for the women singlespeeders.  I didn’t expect this.  I raced Catawba SS because I had to work later and I thought it would be fun.  I didn’t expect to get anything, especially since I sucked.  But lo and behold, I got 2nd place for the series in women’s SS.  (It even paid out more than 2nd place Sport Women!) 

As I was walking away after the verification of the list, I’m told, “Oh, by the way, you got 2nd in Sport Women for the series”.  It turns out Beth and I were exactly tied for points after the Hobby race.  We had done the same number of races and had the same number of points.  She turned in paydirt points, I did not.  Overall, I had beaten her more times than she beat me, so I got 2nd.  Wow.  Bonus.

Good day.  I rode well.  Flat tire.  Got 4th (last) in the race, but still won some cool 4-lens Tifosi glasses.  Got 2nd for the series in Sport Women 30-39, and the surprise, 2nd in SS Women.  Brought home some cash and a medal, too.

Cane Creek is bowing out as the title sponsor.  Thanks to Cane Creek for the series.  I’ve raced this series for the last three years and have come to really enjoy it.  It looks like Maxxis is picking it up, along with some other unnamed sponsors.  I don’t know if the format will be the same.  I think I’ll need to make some decisions on what I want to race next year.  I burnt myself out again this year physically, but I’m starting to dig the longer endurance races.  We’ll see.  I have a long time to decide.  In the meantime, I have Catawba to ride EVERY DAY!  (weather and workload dependent, of course).

Edit:  Oh yeah, and the “roadie” won the race.  Go figure.

OK, so I’ve been a little busy since the Burn Race…. more on that later.  First, a race recap…

After two years of racing the Burn 24-hour race on all-female teams (which is really fun and I highly recommend it…), and a solo 12-hour race last year, I decided to take the plunge and race solo this year at the Burn 24-hour.  Once I convinced myself to commit to the solo race, I spent a LOT of time thinking about it.  If you’ve been reading my blog, you might have gotten that idea.  I figured I could do it physically, but I wasn’t really sure how I’d hold up on the mental side.  I tend to get emotional when I haven’t had much sleep, and I didn’t know how the overnight hours would find me.  To try to combat the emotional stress, I spent the weeks leading up to the race making packing lists, nutritional plans and formulating my strategy.

The race is held on Memorial Day weekend, which is convenient.  Brian and I took Friday off from work to go up to the Dark Mountain trails in N. Wilkesboro, NC and set up camp.  Officially, camping opens at noon.  Last year, we were there at noon and had our pick of campsites.  This year, we arrived at 12:09 and got the last campsite along the much-coveted first section of track after the trail exit.  At least we were set up next to some local buddies, the “Beerrun” team (Terry W., Chris R., Cheech G., Joe R., Chris W….) and fellow 1st-time 24-hour solo racer Dave Branch.  Here’s Dave and I in our pit on Friday afternoon…

After we set everything up and sat around the campsite debating the chance of rain for a while, we set off to ride the trail late that afternoon.  I rode my SS to see how my 32×20 gearing would do in the off-chance I would need to use that bike as a back-up.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t really eaten anything, but I figured I had an easy gear, we were going slowly, and if anything happened, we’d all be together.  About a mile into the trail, I realized my rear brake calipers were up against the rotor after my hurried cog change-out the night before.  They weren’t just rubbing, they were binding to the point that I couldn’t adjust the pads out to compensate.  Of course, all my tools were in my seatbag on the other bike as part of my strategy to not carry a camelback during the daylight hours of the race.  So, I rode the trail in what felt like 36×16 with no food.  I bonked pretty hard.  Luckily, I was riding with Meghan (a teammate from last year’s team who was racing on the Dirt Divas’ team again).  She had some Envirite which she shared.  I felt better after that, but embarassed about the mechanical issues and lack of food and tool planning for the pre-ride.  I guess I should take these rides more seriously.

Friday night, it was early to bed in the tent.  I wanted to get as much sleep as I could.  Unfortunately, some of our neighbors that we didn’t know decided to show up late that night and make a lot of noise.  Then, of course, they were talking and laughing loudly again before sunrise (I estimate around 5:00 am).  After much shhusshhing and sighs, I finally got up and gave up on sleep.  I sat around the campsite while Brian rode three laps before the start of the race and before his pit-bitch duties began at noon.

Finally — the start of the race.  It starts at noon Saturday with a run (ok, for me, a jog) around the track, then you hop on your bikes and start riding.  I was determined to be the last one on my bike, since I wanted to pace myself and be very conservative at the start of the race.  Unfortunately, several others had similar ideas, or just wanted to be in the back too, so I was fighting for last place.  Some (ahem, Teamdicky) were there to “not really race”, so I ran with them in the back.  Here’s the campsite — we ran around the perimeter to start the race…

The first 7 laps were slow and hot.  I started to wonder why the heck I thought I could do this.  My heart raced, and I tried to drink a lot of Hammer Heed and gel to ward off cramps.  I started thinking there was no way I could do 24 hours of this.  How the heck had I done 12 hours last year?  Although those laps hurt pretty badly, I stuck to my plans to take a break after every 3rd lap.  After a while, my heartrate started to come down.  My shoulders were beginning to hurt, but Brian was rubbing them during each break, which really helped a LOT.  The Heed was mixed a little strong, so I craved water and started drinking more straight water.

Here I am early in the race — slow and steady…

As the sun started to set, I braced myself for depression.  Much to my surprise and delight, I was energized by the darkness.  I was happy to be out of the heat.  My body began to fall into a groove where I didn’t have to think about pedaling anymore.  It’s like everything went into automatic.  I moved from drinking mostly water with some Heed to drinking some Perpetuem (and mostly water).  I had a hard time eating any solid food, so I stayed away from it.  I was feeling good — even energetic.

At 10:30 pm, I had done 9 1/2 laps.  I came across a guy on the trail walking his bike with a small flashlight strapped to his helmet.  His regular light had died and that’s all he had left.  I stopped to help.  I had an extra back-up halogen in my pack which I gave him so he could finish his lap and get his teammates out on the trail.  We fiddled around with the light for quite a while to get it onto his helmet and get it working.  He thanked me profusely and we were on our way.  That’s why I bring a back-up, right?

I got down to the campsite and waited for him to meet me there.  By the time we got there, I realized I didn’t have enough battery left in my HID light to go out for another lap.  My back-up halogen that I had just loaned out was dimming, and my other battery for the HID wasn’t done charging.  So I waited.  Impatiently.  For an hour and 20 minutes.  I watched my other solo female comptetitors pass my tent.  I tapped my feet.  I talked to Beerrun.  I sighed in frustration.

Finally, at 12:30 am, I was back on the trail and very ready to make up some time.  Halfway through my 10th lap, I heard this horrible hissing noise.  I had just gone off the trail to let a faster racer pass and I ran over a small tree stump.  Surely that didn’t cause a flat.  I tried to convince myself that the tire was just low on air.  I filled it using what was left in my current CO2 canister.  It lasted about 50 feet and was flat again.  I changed the tube.  I blew out my other CO2 by not fully attaching it to the pump.  Luckily, a nice guy handed me his hand pump.  I tried to fix it using that, but was getting nowhere fast.  Taylor Sullivan stopped to help.  Thanks, Taylor!  Finally, my tire was fixed after an embarrassing 25 minutes of fumbling around in the dark.  I realized shortly after Taylor took off that we hadn’t put enough air in the tire.  I fumbled some more until a nice girl from Raleigh (I’ve raced against her in XC before) gave me another CO2.  A quick burst, and I was back in business.  I was still riding well, my legs moving in the “zone” on automatic pilot.  My shoulders finally quit hurting, but my crotch was starting to feel the effects of a bunch of hours in the saddle.  The saddle sores were beginning.  They weren’t too bad to begin with, though, and were more tolerable after a liberal dose of Assos (minty-fresh!).  During this lap, I encountered the much sought-after alien abduction.  Dirt Rag magazine caught a picture of me coming through…

The next lap (11) was great.  Toward the end of the lap, I decided I was starting to get hungry.  I stopped at the pits and grabbed some fruit and I’m not sure what else.  I immediately felt nauseous.  I sat at the pits for about 15 minutes, and finally decided that I was too cold to sit there sweating in the dark, so I started riding again thinking I’d warm up and the nausea would pass.  It didn’t.  My 12th lap was pure hell.  I walked much of it and stood there with my head down on my handlebars for a very long time.  I must have stood at the top of the hill near the midway point for 15 minutes.  Everyone who passed offered words of encouragement.  I wasn’t the only one experiencing this, apparently.  I couldn’t ride.  The motion of the headlight made me feel sicker.  Bouncing around made me sicker.  I’d ride for a while and then hug a tree for a while.  I didn’t think I could physically make it out.  I figured I’d still be out on the trail when the race was over at noon.  I’ve never felt quite like that before.  I think throwing up would have been a welcome option, but it wasn’t happening.  There wasn’t enough in my stomach.

That lap took me an hour and a half to complete.  As I was approaching the final climb, the trail went near the lake and I realized the sun was coming up when I saw the deep purple/pink reflection in the lake.  Oh, thank GOD.  That alone picked up my spirits tremendously.  When I got back to the pit area, I sat in my chair for another hour and a half trying to find my stomach.  When I realized I was craving a sausage-egg-and-cheese biscuit, I realized my nausea was gone and I was just plain starving.  Brian had some lunchmeat which I ate and that made me feel much better. 

I had 4 1/2 hours left to race.  I didn’t know where I stood, nor did I really care.  I figured I was getting slammed.  I just wanted to finish the race.  With the exception of the nausea, I felt really good about how I’d come through the previous 19 hours.  I had been riding pretty strong before, and the sunrise reinvigorated me.  I was determined to meet my goal of 15 laps. 

During my 13th lap, I met up with two of the other solo females.  They too had experienced some bad nausea.  I also found out that Dave B. had bowed out around 10 pm after 10 laps with nausea and vomiting.  It was nice to know I wasn’t alone.  As I rode with the other ladies, we talked about the upcoming post-race pizza.  Man, what an incentive!  Pizza never sounded so good to me.

My 14th lap seemed to fly by.  I was climbing the last climb when Chris W. passed me, patted me on the back and said, “You’re doing awesome!  Keep it up!”.  I actually got a little choked up when he said that.  This whole time, I expected that I would cry out of frustration during the night.  That never happened, and here I was about to cry with joy and accomplishment!  Shortly thereafter, Teamdicky passes me on his SS (the Meatplow) wearing nothing but pajama pants.  That’s not something I expected to see.

After lap 14, I stopped in the pits to wait for Brian to come off the hill from taking pictures.  I had plenty of time for a 15th lap, but not enough for 16.  This was the time to break out the “team kit”.  I raced my last lap in the “team kit”, while B wore his matching kit.  It was really fun and an entertaining way to finish out my race.

I ended up 6th (out of 6 solo females), with 15 laps and about 97 miles.  I would have been 23rd out of 40 solo males, though.   

After a couple of pieces of pizza, I collapsed in my pit area and didn’t have the energy to go over to the awards ceremony.   Brian graciously tore down our campsite and packed the car while I laid in the middle of track.  We left the venue and stopped at Burger King so I could have a cheesburger.  I was REALLY hungry.  I still wanted a sausage/egg/cheese biscuit, but it was too late in the day for that.  Brian drove home while I slept.  Once home, I took a shower and collapsed in the bed around 7:00 pm and didn’t wake up until 9:00 am (at which point I drove in my pj’s to McDonald’s for a sausage/egg/cheese biscuit).

I’m already planning for the next one.  I’ll know to have back-ups to my back-up lights and batteries.  I’ll carry extra CO2.  I’ll take in more calories and follow my original nutrition plans (which I failed to do, which is why I think I had the nausea).  I figure the lights cost me 2 laps total, the flat cost me 1/2 lap, and the nausea cost me 2 laps.  Realistically, I could have done 19 or 20 laps at a very slow pace if I had had no “issues”.  Next year….. Next year….

Bottom line, I’m stronger than I thought I was.  My body was able to take the riding.  My emotions didn’t fail.  It was really surreal to have my body go into auto-mode.  That’s never happened to me before.  It gives me a new confidence in both my physical and mental abilities to perservere.

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.

After a good pre-ride on Saturday, the trails at Devil’s Ridge in Sanford, NC were in great shape.  There had been some rain earlier in the week, but the trails were mostly dry.

The race begins by riding through the moto-cross track.  Lots of big MX jumps and rollers, then into the woods, for a roughly 5-mile long trail.  It’s not too technical, and not too hilly.  It is tight in spots, but there is nothing really notable.  For you locals, it’s like Renaissance, but with better “flow”.

The morning of the race, the weather was perfect.  A little chilly, not damp.  The sport race was first.  This is good, considering my “gift of gab” (see Clemson race report).  No time to waste here.  Plus, I think it’s easier to fuel for an early race.  I’m looking around, and there aren’t too many other women around before the race.  There is another race on the same day in Clemson as part of the larger SERC series.  I think that’s where everyone else was.  I only see one other Sport woman hanging around, and she’s in the younger 19-29 class.

At the line, my suspicions were right.  It was just me and Anina — the younger racer.  They started us with the Clydesdales.  One guy (Batman — he always wears a Batman jersey his son picked out) says, “oh great — now I’ll finally be passed by the ENTIRE women’s class!”  We all chuckled.  The guy who owns the venue is a MX guy, and is used to having a bunch of motors revving on the starting line, because there is no verbal “GO” to start the race.  He just raises a flag.  This threw me off the first time I raced here, but this time I knew what to expect.  When he raised the flag, we were off.  I was having a good time.  I made motorcycle noises as I led out, ahead of most of the Clydesdales.  I guess they have more inertia to overcome, but can maintain more momentum, because it didn’t take long for them to all pass me in the MX course.  Maybe I need to work on better motorcycle noises.

Since I was the only one in my class, I can’t say I was really “racing”.  I had a bunch of fun, though.  I tried to keep the Clyde (Batman) in my sights who was convinced that we would pass him.  We had three laps to do.  At the end of the first lap, I caught him, right at the finish line.  He slows and tries to get me to pass, while telling me he’s about to puke.  The place was not a good place to pass, so I tell him I’ll pass him around the next corner, and THEN he can puke. 

I’m not sure what happened, but he sped up, didn’t puke, and we kept riding.  For the second lap, I kinda forgot that it was a race at all.  My mind wandered all over the place and I just rode.  On the third lap, I saw Batman again, so I tried to catch him.  That’s when I started to remember that it was a race afterall, even if I was only racing myself.  I booked it through the third lap.  In the field I saw the front of the Sport men’s class approaching quickly, about to lap me (that usually happens earlier in this race).  They have 4 laps to my 3 for this race.  There was a group of 3 all together, with about 3/4 mile left in the race.  When they caught me in the last section of singletrack, I pulled over, stopped, let them go by, and cheered them on.  Races that close are exciting, and I didn’t want to mess them up, especially when I knew I would get “1st place” in my race regardless.

All-in-all, it was a fun day.  I never caught Batman again.  He left me when I stopped for the other guys.  I got a huge plaque with a picture of a racer on it (“Hey!  That’s not me!”).  It was the same one they had on the plaques last year.  Devil’s Ridge is well-known for their good swag.  In addition to the huge plaque, I got two Kenda tires (my current favorites!), some grips, and another pint glass.  I could open a bar with all the pint glasses I’ve won from racing!

We have a couple of weeks off from racing, then Spartanburg Stumpjump, then comes the BURN 24-hour race.  Oh yeah, that’s coming up….. now I’m nervous again….

Like many of our other races lately, it rained the Friday before the race — hard.  We had planned to leave from Boiling Springs early Saturday to pre-ride and register, but it was still raining steadily Saturday.  We didn’t leave until after noon.  When we arrived at the trails, it was still pretty muddy, so we went ahead and registered for the race and decided not to pre-ride.  The girl who registered us assured us that it was the same course as last year.  Still, it made me a little nervous not to pre-ride, if only just to remind myself of the trail, and sections to watch out for.  Oh well.

Instead of pre-riding, and since we couldn’t check into the hotel yet, and since it wasn’t really time to eat again (hehe), we went and wandered around the greater-Clemson, SC area.  We walked along the edge of campus, near all the bars and t-shirt shops.  We went by the athletic fields, where a fraternity-type softball tournament was going on.  It reminded me of my days at Ga Tech.  I played on a couple of Greek softball teams — my sorority’s team (we sucked) and a “Beer-league” coed team.  We were REALLY good, considering the amount of beer that was drank during the games.  I think it’s because we were heavily loaded with normal A-league guys who also had “trained” for the beer-league.  We won the CHAMPIONSHIP!!  Ah, the memories.

mmmm.  Beast Light.

So anyway, on to the race report.  (As exciting as Beast light really is…)

Sunday we got to the trails by 8:15.  My race wasn’t until 10:30, and Brian’s was at 12:30.  We watched the beginners’ race start, and from there, the morning gets a little fuzzy for me.  I really can’t remember what I did from about 8:45 until 10:00.  Brian says I was running my mouth.  I guess he’s right.  I have a tendency to socialize.  But, while I was socializing, I wasn’t fueling, hydrating, warming up or getting my bike ready.  At 10:05, I realized what time it was.  Oh crap.  I grab my bottle of Hammer Heed, start drinking.  I drank half the bottle, jumped on the bike and started warming up by riding up and down the fire road.  Brian handed me my Hammer Bar at the top of the hill at 10:25.  I ate half of it, and put the other half in my rear jersey pocket.  I headed for the starting line.  Hmmm, this isn’t starting out well at all.

Lined up, there were 5 of us in the Sport 30-39 group.  Ready, GO!  The race starts (and ends) with a 3/4 mile long steep fire-road climb.  It will sap your energy very quickly.  Since our class does two laps, I’ll be climbing this hill three times.  At the start, I can’t seem to get into a gear that I like.  I’m spinning, no, I’m mashing.  Shoot.  What am I doing?  I settle in as we start up the hill.  I realize my inability to quit gabbing and my lack of preparation have left my legs feeling like tinker toys as we get to the steeper part of the hill.  I have nothing.  I watch most of the group pedal up the hill ahead of me.  Halfway up, Brian is standing on the sidelines cheering.  I look over and say, “I’m just not feeling this one today.” 

Into the woods, I’m ahead of one other racer, and I can just barely see the others ahead.  We ride through the singletrack together.  This is her “home” trail, and I’m afraid I’m holding her up.  I am sketchy on the trail, because I don’t remember it from last year (should have pre-ridden!), and it’s a little damp and a little slick.  She insists that she doesn’t want to pass, and is just pacing me, so I continue on. 

At the creek crossing, we catch Madonna, who has messed up her line in the crossing and is getting back on her bike.  She gets in line with us, and I make some comment about not really having any lungs, so if they want to pass, just let me know.  Also, if they just want to pace, let me know and I’ll “up” the pace.  I must have upped the pace, anyway, because next thing I know, it’s just me and Madonna, with the other rider nowhere in sight.

As Madonna and I ride together, we start chatting.  She’s not really into this race either, since they didn’t arrive at the venue until 10:20.  She said something about how fun it was riding together, and that we should do it more often.  I said, “yeah, except you’re always WAY ahead of me!” 

As we continued riding, (I don’t really consider what we were doing “racing”), I become acutely aware of a very prominent headache.  I keep drinking water and taking some Hammer Gel, but nothing helps.  As we near the end of our first lap, we run into Madonna’s husband checking out the singletrack before his race starts.  He rides the big hill with us, and that gives Madonna a little more motivation to speed up, and I never saw her after that.

As I continue to ride, I am more and more bothered by this headache.  Going into my second lap, I decide not to worry too much about racing.  These trails are fun to ride (except for the huge fire road climb), and I decide just to ride it out and have fun.  I haven’t seen the other racer for quite some time, so I know I’m not last.  As I begin to relax and just ride, my headache gets slightly better.  That’s how I rode the entire second lap — just riding.  Enjoying the trail.

I finished 4th out of 5.  It was a big difference from last year’s race.  I was ELEVEN FULL MINUTES SLOWER this year from last year.  To be fair, last year I had a “trail angel” to help me.  A “Clydesdale-class” racer who had a mechanical issue decided to ride out the race rather than DNF, and he rode behind me for my entire second lap.  He helped me catch and pass the leader of my race  (I still ended up second, since she passed me on the last climb).  Every time I slowed down, he would let me know.  He didn’t let me slack off at all.  I wish I had him with me at all my races!

Anyway, even though I was fourth, I got a pretty good prize bag, with some Cane Creek socks, lube, bottle cage (which I needed) and some other stuff.  Looking back, I think my headache must have been from either low blood sugar or dehydration.  I’m guessing blood sugar, since I didn’t ride long enough for dehydration to really set in.  Lesson learned.  Don’t run your mouth.

I’ve been a little preoccupied in the last few days (I can’t imagine why…).  I finally finished the very long race report from last week at Tsali.  Here it is:

Tsali has been one of those races that I’ve deemed an “A” level XC race for me for the last couple of years.  It’s not because I like it, and it’s not because it’s my favorite course.  It’s one of the largest races in the Southeast, and it’s part of three different series (Cane Creek, SERC and AMBC).  A TON of people show up, and competition is usually pretty stiff; with racers from throughout the southeast.  It’s a relatively long course for the Sport racers (just shy of 20 miles), but given the relatively fast speeds, the duration is roughly the same as the other regional races I do.  It’s considered a “roadie” course - smooth and not technical. Nothing against roadies; I sure as heck know I couldn’t hang in a road race; but let’s face it - they aren’t the best when it comes to roots, rocks, and sketchy turns.  Tsali has very few of these.  The only real advantage the mountain bikers have here is the narrow singletrack that snakes along by the lake, a couple of creek crossings and other very short technical sections.  Otherwise, it’s a hammerfest.

Just like last year, the preride on Saturday was muddy after a heavy thunderstorm Friday night.  The usual enormous mud holes were there - the ones that are muddy and deep even during a drought.  On top of that, much of the “Right Loop” was messy and slick.

By Sunday morning, the trail had dried up fairly well.  The huge mud holes were still there, but they’re ALWAYS there.  (grrrr…).  The Beginners went off at 9:30, so we went to watch their start.  That’s always entertaining.  There are guys in full team race kits standing next to other guys in sweatpants and sweatshirts.  It’s not too hard to tell the sandbaggers from the newbies.  The Juniors’ start was the most entertaining.  There was some pushing and shoving about 30 feet after the start line which led to a huge pileup, with handlebars caught in wheels, spare tubes tangled around seatposts, and angry, yelling kids. 

Our race was supposed to start at 11:30, so after my food routine, I started warming up around 11:00.  A lot of good that did.  I was messing with my rear derailleur, since it was skipping a bit.  I got it worked out during my warm-up, but I was anxious to see how it would do on the trail, under a real load.  I pulled up to the start line around 11:25.  There was a HUGE group of women standing there.  Due to the huge numbers of sport riders and the fact that the women were the last sport group to start, we didn’t actually start our race until about 12:00.  So much for the warm-up.

At the line, they separated out the 19-29 and the 30+ women.  They didn’t have a 40+ like the other races I do.  There were 27 30+ class women and 14 in the 19-29 class.  They moved the 19-29 gals up about 20 feet, but then started us all together.  That doesn’t seem fair to me, but whatever.  They scored us all together, but separated us out by age group for the Cane Creek standings.  Just starting with 40 racers is hard, but it’s even harder when the hole shot is highly coveted and you have 14 people with a head start…

At the start, I got a pretty good position in front of most of the 30+ riders, and fell into the middle of the 19-29 pack going up the gravel road.  It was very fast, as racers all want to be first to the singletrack.  I entered the singletrack about 12th or 13th overall, and quickly passed a couple of riders who sprinted to the hole shot and then lost their speed once they got in the narrow, winding trail (roadies…).  I was keeping pace with the front runners and feeling good. Then….. I hit one of those big deep mudholes, which happened to be at the bottom of a wide uphill.  I went into the mud and slowed dramatically to keep from sinking my front wheel into the abyss, came out and tried to downshift to my little chainring for the climb.  It wouldn’t shift. It just stuck.  My front derailleur/chain locked up to the point that I couldn’t pedal forward, I couldn’t pedal backward, and I’m stalled, off the bike, running up the hill trying to get the pedals to turn with my hand.  About 8 or 9 girls all passed me as I ran up the hill.  One (Theresa) even asked if I was ok, and did I need anything?  Nope - just fine.  Thanks, though.  Racing with good sports is enjoyable.

I spent the rest of the race trying to catch up.  I passed several of the girls that had passed me on the hill.  Others also passed me along the way, though, so I had no clue where I was overall.  I’d keep pace with a racer until I could pass, and then I’d hammer to catch the next racer.  Overall, getting by wasn’t an issue.  Only once did I get stuck behind a girl who was fast on the straightaways but would grab handfuls of brakes going into every turn or every root.  That got pretty frustrating.  I kept saying, “on your left”, and would try to pass, only to have her speed up.  Finally, the two girls who were able to pass her earlier were steadily getting further ahead.  I said, “Don’t let them get a gap on us”, trying to get her to keep the speed up.  She just said, “Fine - just pass me” and pulled over to let me by.  I never saw her again after that. 

Once I got past her, I managed to catch up to and eventually pass the next two racers.  I caught the first one in the last 3.5 mile section along a relatively open section of singletrack.  I caught the next one at the steep, rutted climb in the last section of the race.  We were all off the bikes walking, so we maintained our positions at the top of the steepest part.  I was re-mounting as the lead rider in the group was trying to get going.  I gave her a little push to get going, and we continued up the long hill together.  At the top of the hill, I passed her and began pushing the big ring for the rest of the race.  There was no real climbing left and I wanted to put some more time on those two and possibly catch anyone else that might be within reach.

I never caught anyone else, and finished what I felt had been a strong race.  I was hoping to match or beat last year’s place.  Once they finally posted results for the women’s class, I had to count down the sheet, since we were all grouped together (both age classes on one page, differentiated by color codes).  I knew I was 17th overall, and 11th out of my age class.  I must have counted wrong, because when I was able to look at the results online later, I found out I was actually 9th in my class.  Whoo hoo!  Top ten out of 27 in the class - better than I had hoped for.  Last year I was 13th out of 20, so I’m progressing.

The next race is Clemson.  I did well there last year - 30 seconds out of 1st, and actually spent some time in the lead.  Hopefully I can match last year’s effort.  I imagine there will be more competition this year (only 4 in my class last year), so I just hope to beat my own time.

Youth Unlimited (YU) is a group home for at-risk youth in Sophia, NC, just outside of High Point.  It is an old farm, with several open fields and a bunch of wooded areas on 155 acres.  You would think there wouldn’t be any mountains there, but it is definitely a “rolling-hills” kind of area, similar to and close to (almost part of) the Uwharries.  The trails were built over the last 6 years primarily by the youth living there, the staff and other local resources.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, since the trails are normally closed to the public to protect the privacy of the clientele. 

We arrived at the trails around noon on Saturday for the preride.  As we’re driving down the long gravel road to the complex, I’m getting nervous.  There are definitely some steep hills and rocks here!  There is a nice (large) creek running through the middle of the land.  From the driveway, you can see trails diving up and down the hills and across the creek.

Once we got going on the trails, I knew this would be a fun race.  The first half of the course is all short steep climbs.  Plenty of granny gear grunts, and several fun rock gardens, quick turns and roots.  It seems like it’s either all up or down.  There’s really nowhere to take a break or catch your breath.

After you cross the creek, the trail levels out a little, with some flowy sections and several large log pyramids.  The trail winds around a bit, comes in and out of the woods a few times, and then turns up another large hill.  At this point, the trail splits.  The beginner trail goes to the left and the rest goes right.  This section is called “Stag”.

Stag begins with a sharp turn to the left and then a very steep climb to the top.  It’s not a short climb, and I don’t actually know anyone who made it to the top without walking.  They said they had to build it that way because it’s very close to the property line.  At the top, you can catch some good breezes.  From there, it’s seven very steep, sharp switchbacks to the bottom.  I only rode the first few during the preride.  They were very loose and sketchy.

After Stag, the trail heads back across the creek, along the main field where we parked, dives down another fun hill and straight up the other side and around the field again to the finish.  Overall, this is the most technical trail we’ve raced in the last few years.

So, Sunday’s race was hot.  Madonna was there again, but she didn’t preride and was depending on me to tell her what to expect.  Off the starting line, I was second into the singletrack behind a 40+ woman, and in front of Madonna, with the rest following.  I yelled back to Madonna that I didn’t want her right behind me because I didn’t want to hold her up.  She responds with, “I’ll just follow you for the first lap to learn the course, then I’ll pass.”  I stayed ahead of her for the first ~4 miles, missed a downshift in a quick-turning rooted climb, and let her by.  I stayed behind her from there, calling out all the upcoming obstacles (aren’t I nice?).  Madonna kept asking if we were getting close to Stag, and I kept saying, “You’ll know it when you see it.” At one point, I could see Beth von I. behind us, so I said, let’s lose her.  We did.  Sometimes it’s nice to be working together with your teammates!

Then we hit Stag. I yell, “THIS IS IT!”  By halfway up the hill, we were both walking.  At the top, I jump back on, ride the short flat part and start down the switchbacks.  The downhill is steep, and you can see people on the switchbacks below.  All I saw was Madonna’s head traversing back and forth.  Oh my gosh, she’s riding it.  I rode the first four switchbacks, hit the really loose steep one, and bailed.  Of course, this is where the photographer was.  DOH.  I walked it to the bottom.  I finished the first lap a couple of seconds behind.

At the beginning of the second lap, I started to fade.  Madonna put a bigger gap on me and I struggled through the climbs.  At one point, an expert warming up passed me and reminded me that everyone else probably felt as bad as I did.  I passed John Harvey sitting on the side of the trail.  He says, “My strategy has changed.  It WAS to go fast.  Now, I just want to finish the race”.  I could relate.

Once I realized that I was fading back because I was bonking, I got back to my senses and started downing the Hammergel in the flask I had on my stem.  Within just a few minutes, I felt much better and I picked up the pace.  I started gaining on Madonna.  I caught her when we hit “Stag” again.  Again, we both walked up the steep hill, and again she rode down the whole thing while I only did the first four of seven switchbacks.  I yell, “you’re my hero!”

From then until the end of the race, I could see her, but I couldn’t catch her.  She finished first, about two minutes ahead, and I was second.  It was another great race for the Divas, since Cathi had already gotten first place in the beginner’s race earlier.

This was by far one of the most fun XC races I’ve done.  The course is a blast.  It’s challenging, both technically and physically.  I left all I had on the trail. 

Next week’s Tsali race will be a drastic change from YU - smooth, fast, and flowy.  It’s a “roadie course”, with very little technical challenge.  It’s also the biggest non-NMBS race in the series, with huge groups on the starting line.   Spinning, anyone?

Brian got a picture from the start of the Uwharrie race.  They made us line up according to our age groups, so our group (30-39) was behind the 19-29 group.  Then, they had us all start together.  You can see Madonna and me right behind the younger gals.  I passed two of them (the one in the blue and then another one of the pink girls).  There were three of them (pink jerseys) in that group.  Here we are:

There were more pictures taken by a professional photographer, but I can’t link directly to them.  Here is the link for the 1500 professional pictures, and here is the page for the race results. 

Here’s my HRM graph from the race.  The absolute altitude numbers are messed up, but I think the “delta” is right.  The hill profile is right, anyway.  Notice I hit my highest HR during the two times I was stopped and running to get back on the bike.  Stressed, I guess.

It was Dirt Diva night tonight at Per4mance Training.  It was pretty fun.  We rode the “Central Park” course and it quickly turned into a race.  For a lot of the girls, it was their first time there.  Patty kicked my butt, but at least I was second!  Good thing Madonna wasn’t in my group!  There were two groups of 7.  I’m pretty whooped right now.

This afternoon was pretty productive.  We got a bunch of stuff done on the inspection front at work, and then I called Jerry to ask about what fork oil to use since my Talas has been leaking for a few months.  I had new Enduro seals to install, but hadn’t gotten around to it.  Well, I ended up leaving work at 3:30, was in his garage with my bike by 5, and had new fork seals by 6.  I don’t think I had very much oil left in it.  (as I feared).  I’m glad he helped me, it was harder than I thought.  Also, I have a feeling I’m going to need every bit of the Talas for Youth Unlimited this weekend.  I’d hate to go into a steep switchback with a bottomed-out fork…

The Cane Creek Series has begun the last two years with the race at Uwharrie in late March.  It was my first Sport-class race, and my first NORBA race two years ago.  I was so excited back then that I could “hang”.  What I meant at that time was, Yay, I’m not last.  OK, so I beat one girl that year, only after I ran over her leg (accidentally).  Last year, the race was on Easter, so the turnout was very low.  I got second place out of three.  The first place girl was WAY ahead, and third place was WAY behind, so I really didn’t push myself very hard.

This year, there were a whole FOUR women in my Sport age class.  But, there were others in the other age ranges (a total of 9 Sport Women, I think), and they started us all together a minute behind the Sport Men age group classes, and ahead of the SS men and clydesdales.  So, we were in the middle.  It was a much bigger group than I’m used to seeing out on the trail.  Usually they start the women in the back of the wave and you don’t see too many others.

Off the starting line, the group quickly separated into two.  I was toward the rear of lead group and we quickly pulled away from the lag group.  Madonna was right ahead of me, with several girls on the “pink” team ahead of her.  I yell, “go Madonna!” as she starts passing other girls and I try to stay with them.  I passed a couple, they slowed a bit, but the fastest three (including Madonna) took off ahead of me.

At this point in the write-up, you need to click where it says “READ MORE”, Melanie…

 

I ended up riding all of the rest of the race with men.  Most of the SS guys passed me, as well as some of the Clydes.  I passed a bunch of the age-group Sport Men.  I’m amazed at the differences of speed within all of these groups.  Some of those clydes could really move, and some of the Sport guys were practically crawling.  At one point, I was trading places with a clyde.  He would pass me on all the downhills on the Supertree side and I would pass him on the climbs and then eventually leave him in the technical parts of the Keyauwee loop.  The first half of the race was on Supertree, a fairly smooth, wide trail with a little bit of climbing, but nothing major.  The second half is rocky, semi-technical, with steeper climbing and downhills.  It is mostly technical singletrack with about a mile of gravel road climb in the middle.

A couple of frustrating things happened in this race. In one sidehill-climb-technical section a guy was stopped in the middle of the trail putting his chain back on.  I yelled as I approached, “riders up!”  I had just passed about 4 guys and wanted to stay ahead of them.  Well, this guy just looks at me, as his front wheel turns and totally blocks the trail.  Off the side of the hill I go, sliding down the leaves, off the bike.  My gu flask falls out, as my flask holder breaks.  I grab my bike and start yelling, “You NEED to get off the trail if you stop! You’ve gotta MOVE!”  I can’t get back on my bike on the hill, meanwhile, the four guys behind me have all had to stop for this guy and are walking.  I ran up the hill and got back on the bike, apologizing to the guys behind me.  “No problem” one guy says.  I offered to let them by, but they said to go ahead.  I was pretty shaken, and at one point I was going through a rock garden when I hit a rock with my foot, came unclipped and brushed a tree with the end of the handlebar.  I had to tell myself to calm down at this point.  From then on, I just hung on and enjoyed the rocky downhill until the big creek crossing.  It’s times like these that I really appreciate my Titus Switchblade.

I knew there would be some trouble when I got to the big creek crossing with the big log before it and I saw four guys walking over the log and in the creek.  I had enough room to ride, if they would let me.  I knew I could at least do the log.  I yelled, “I’m RIDING this!” hoping they’d let me.  I got over the log — just barely.  The guy at the log barely got out of the way in time.  I started to stall on the back side of the log and almost endoed.  I did a pretty cool front-wheelie, though.  Too bad I didn’t mean to, and it scared me to death!  I made it over the log, looked ahead for the line through the creek and took it, yelling, “riding! riding! riding!” the whole time.  Unfortunately, that’s right about the time that Scott T was trying to get up the bank on the other side on his SS.  I stalled at the opposite bank and had to put a foot down.  Oooh.  Wet, cold feet suck. I really didn’t mean to yell or be mean,  I just wanted to make it across.  So, I hoofed it up the bank to a relatively flat spot on the technical climb.  All the guys were walking it.  Of course, a bunch of those guys were riding SS, so I couldn’t blame them for walking that one.  I used the granny gear.  One guy was stopped on the side of the trail grabbing his cramping calf muscle.  Ouch. I got a couple of cheers for riding it to the top.  That made me feel pretty good.  I think Scott was right behind me and I think he rode at least the top part of that climb, too.

Once we got to the gravel road at the top of the climb, Scott pulled away up the gravel climb and I settled into a decent spin, trying to hold onto the guy in front of me.  I knew there was 1 mile of gravel climbing, another steep singletrack climb with good views of the mountains, and then it was a fast, rocky technical downhill to the finish line.  Whoo hoo!

I came through the finish line and could hear Madonna cheering.  She finished in 1st place, Sport 30-39 two minutes ahead of me.  The third place woman (Theresa) finished two minutes behind me.  Fourth place was two minutes behind her.  What a great race!

After our Sport race, Patty Smith went on to battle it out with Leah W in the Expert/Pro races.  Although Leah ended up ahead of Patty, they were in different groupings, so Patty got first for Pro/Expert.  And, the surprise of the day, Cathi M. showed up to race her FIRST race in the Beginner class!  We gave her some pointers in the morning and her race took off at 1:30.  She won the Beginner class by a fairly wide margin.  Way to go, Cathi!  It was a DIVA SWEEP!

Brian raced his first NORBA Expert race.  Two laps in, he was solidly in the middle of the group.  Unfortunately, some shifting issues and the longer distance and pace took their toll on his thighs.  He cramped pretty badly and had to get off the bike to massage the cramps, eat a snack and walk the bike.  He hung in there for a good two laps, though.  Next time….

Next week, Youth Unlimited.  A new course.  Technical.  Climbing.  Should be interesting…