Wednesday, July 16, 2003 :: Race Report - DT
Well it looks like my days of riding 4 + days a week are gone. With the addition of a new puppy to the family, there comes a whole new set of responsibilities. You can check out some pics of Buster here. Anyway, other than a quick 1 mile ride this past weekend, the last time I rode was when I did the Wednesdays @ Wakefield race. The race was at 6:00 PM and I was completely unprepared. I left my checkbook at home, so I couldn't pay the $15 entry fee. I also left my waterbottles and camelback at home, so no water on a 91 degree day that was VA humid. Jessie was nice enough to sponsor me and pay my way (Thanks Jessie!). I signed up for the Singlespeed class, of which there was 19 people! I was ready to go about 2 minutes before the race started. We all headed down to the starting point and lined up...I lined up near the back, wouldn't want to hold anyone up, ha.
The whistle blew and we were off. The first lap is different from the next two because of the starting point. It starts out on a dirt fire road to spread the group out and then heads up a loose gravel incline fire road that puts you out on a flat gravel road leading to the power station. The loose gravel incline was tough when just starting out, a lot of slipping going on, but I made it to the top without too many issues. Once at the power station, we duck into some of Wakefield's newer singletrack. Some fast twisty stuff that leads into a small creek crossing and back out to the dirt fire road area. Then we turn off back to the singletrack in the woods and cut over to the creek side trail. Here we do a little loop and return on the access road. Up until now, the race course has been pretty easy and a fast pace has been set by the leader.
Now we hit the tougher area of Wakefield. We turn left off the access road and head straight up steep singletrack hill. I actually pass someone on this hill! Then we go to and fro, up and down, over and over until we are back at the top of the hill. Then we head down to the power lines and loop back out to the top of the hill. From here it's a nice descent, creek crossing, and into the woods we go. This singletrack tends to get muddy, but was ok. Lots of exposed roots and pretty curvy with a big creek crossing that goes immediately into an uphill climb with a tight switchback. At the top of the climb your back on the fire road that leads to the starting/finishing point. As I come barreling into the finish area I hit my brakes full on almost pulling an endo (my back brakes don't work nearly as good as my front). Before I take a minute to get some water, I was ahead of 2 people, but after water only ahead of one. Done with water and I'm back on course. Well what I thought was the course...
Starting the second lap I went back to where we started, which means I missed the right turn where I should have really been going that cut off the starting area. I got passed here and went into last. The second lap was a long struggle for me. I actually had to stop because I felt dizzy from the lack of water. I had stopped sweating and figured "hey, this is when you take a break". So I did. Finished my second lap and actually took a while to get water, which made a hugh difference in my third lap. My third lap was something like 4 minutes better than my second.
On my third lap I was batteling a gearie most of the time, passed him near the end, but was never able to catch up with any of the singlespeeders. The guy ahead of me came in about a minute before I did. I think with more riding under my belt and more preparedness (like having water), I would have done a lot better, but those are the breaks.
As it was, the course was really great, a good mixture of flats/hills/downhills with plenty of technical sections. My first lap was quite good as it was in the 16 minute range, my other two laps were in the 25 and 21 minute range. To give you an idea of how fast the leader was, his first lap was under 11 minutes! So with the new puppy, I'm pretty much out of Wednesday night races, BUT I am still going to compete in the Cranky Monkey Series this Sunday out at Fountainhead. If you have never ridden Fountainhead, it's a great trail, but it will kick your ass! Especially when my last race was the last time I rode, so much for training...
DT
posted by DT at 11:50:52 AM
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