Minuteman Road Club

Just starting to come out of my post race stupor, so now I can recount what happened:

Checked out the course on Saturday with Andy, rode with a couple guys, one guy had most of the course on his phone app. Could barely stay awake when I got home, felt liked I was drugged, fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 watching some old Hitchcock movie.

Got up next day, got stuff ready, went to Starbuck knocked down 3 shots of espresso, still sleepy, and drove to the race half awake half asleep.

Beautiful day, sunny, not too hot, did some warm-ups on and off the course. Bump into Bill Turner who was racing the 40-49 Cat 1 on a full ridged bike, he paid the price later.

Our field was 20 pre-reg plus day of, getting close to 30 riders! This is Paul Curly’s club race so he got a lot of 50+ buddies to do this with him, he wanted the win.

Practicing my ABC (always be calm) mantra at the line looking at all the talent:

Chris Borello (Curley’s team mate)
Joseph Rano (Curley’s team mate))
Robert Bisson (Curley’s team mate))
Paul Curley (nuff said)
Gary Musgrove (Norba National Champion)
Andrew Chambers (Root 66 points leader for the last 3 years)
John "the champ" Mosher (says it all)

I was determined to have a good, smart race, regardless. Gun goes off and the drag race begins. Short section on pavement, dump into the single-track and at this point it feels like a road race, everyone is pace-lining. Some d_ _k rides too close to my rear wheel and takes me out, lose 7-10 places and I’m back in the groove.

I pass many people, some in my category, some not, hard to keep track. I find my rhythm and pin my effort at or near LT for most of the race. Course was fast and fun, lots of interesting single track to blast at speed, couple of tough short climbs and 1 hike a bike climb near the end of each lap

Deb was in the feed zone handing out exactly what I needed (we did 3 laps for 21.7 miles).

Was having a little digestion/nausea issue during the last lap, wasn’t sure what cause it. Ran out of water/hydration mix with 1/2 lap to go. Think I should have taken a salt tablet.

I think my last lap was my fastest, did the hike a bike hill near the end, descended the single track and sprinted to the line for a strong finish, although I thought I was going heave.

Results were late coming out, had to leave, will post back once Root 66 puts them up on their website.

Some pluses:

I typically have a lower back issue right in the beginning of all my races, so bad that I can’t put out the effort I need, and lose position and focus
I never disconnected mentally or physically, felt like I was always “on”, no let down
Race distance didn’t wear me out – must be the long training rides I've been doing.

Next race: The Weeping Willow, Ipswich MA - May 20th.

I had a fairly good start but could only hold onto my position for about a half of lap. My legs felt good but by the end of the second lap the rigid niner had taken its toll on the rest of my body. A nice long climb in the middle of the course would have helped things. Instead the fast, rooted single track got a little violent at times. Like Disco I did not stick around for the results. There was no need.

Must be a mistake in the results, they say I won the race, that's impossible, still waiting for the Root 66 official results

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OBRht-R-ubU/T ... d+guys.JPG
That's was posted by someone who was there via a camera phone.

Michael, quick...take the win while you have it.

Bill: http://www.sram.com/rockshox

disco

Your race recap makes mountain bike racing sound like fun! So much more compelling than road racing. Nice work

Jimmy E: It is more fun the RR! I have raced both and I can say that for me MTB racing is most fun I've had in competitive cycling. The atmosphere at the races is more relaxed, typically held at a State Park, less ego, more friendly competitors. Just suits me better. What better then to spend your race day in the woods, carving single track, taking in nature, dropping the hammer on the competition when you can.

You should try it! Do you have a mountain bike?

Haven't officially tried cross yet, but I hear it's fun too. The cross starts at the end of the MTB season and I'm always a bit burnt out on competing and training by then. One day....

When the heck are they going to post results! I thought I would wait to see how I did relative to the pack before posting but can't wait any longer. It was good to get some course feedback from Michael and Bill before the race. It was a spectacular day to race - sunny and dry but cool. We had a pretty good pack of Sport Masters and it included Andy (last name?) from MRC who I had not met before. I started near the back since I did not line up early but I was not going to go for anything up front anyways. This cost me some time early but probably it balanced out by keeping me fresh longer and not too burnt in the first few miles. Getting onto the single track there is not much opportunity to move up in the train.

Right away I was amazed at how dusty it was being behind in the dry sandy conditions. I also learned quickly that it is challenging to be right on someone's wheel and still see what is happening below you with roots and rocks. At the first smaller technical hills I passed some riders and that felt good. For all the riders near me we hiked the last two steep hills each lap and my cross racing in the fall helped here since most riders were slowly pushing their bikes and I just shouldered and soldiered past them. Andy and I rode pretty close for much of the race but he finished ahead of me. Even though there were no team tactics it felt good to be near a rider flying the MRC colors.

The second lap was much more open and I got passed by a few riders and passed others, mostly I think from other age categories. Someone who finished behind me said he kept closing on me but I pulled away with every downhill so that was nice to hear. The Rocky Mountain Vertex hardtail carbon 29er was sweet in its first race - fast and light and plenty forgiving for this course which really had very little technical challenge and was very fast. I am very curious to see where I finished up - I know I was not last nor on the podium but that is about it. Definitely looking forward to more mtb racing this season.

Oh yeah - as with cross I had my obligatory crash - threading through some tight trees I hit a rut and went over the bars. Fortunately not at speed and only slight body damage and no obvious bike damage.

Gumbo: Bike Reg just put them up (Root 66 still hasn't posted):
http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2012/04/ ... llenge.asp

Thanks Michael - so I finished 17 out of 36 (with 2 DNFs) and I am pleased with that - leaves plenty of room for improvement but I was right in the middle of the pack. Probably will race next at Weeping Willow. EFTA still needs to send me a member number so I can register.