Green Mtn Verge weekend

[onegeardoug]

Smudger and I carpooled and camped at the venue, which turned out to be a lot wetter and muddier than virtually everyone expected. We drove up Saturday morning, and got there in time to pre-ride before the 4/5 race. The course was typical for Green Mtn, but with all the rain, it was slick and muddy. It seemed like within 20 minutes of getting out of the car, virtually everything I brought with me was covered in mud.

With a series of late summer vacations and long-weekends with the family, I feel like my best fitness was over a month ago, so my expectations were modest for this weekend. "Get a few Verge points, and don't suck too bad." Day 1, I got a 3rd row call-up, despite having no Verge points from last year. I expected to start much farther back, so this was a pleasant surprise. The start was uphill and fast, and I slotted into the fray in about 20th, I'd guess. The course was muddy and slick, but the new Cannondale SuperX performed flawlessly. The disc brakes were money, and without the canti's to collect mud and create drag, it felt as good at the end of the race as it did at the beginning. The Vittoria tubeless "Grifo-imitation" tires also served me well. I raced well, stayed upright, and passed a few people here and there. After what seemed like only a lap and a half, I looked up for the lap cards and saw "1" and heard the bell. (I think we had done 2.5 laps at this point, but I must have been sleep-walking through the race.) I still had some gas in the tank, so I dug a little deeper and managed to pass 2 guys on the bell lap. I came across the line thinking I would be top 25, maybe top 20. Much to my surprise, I was 15th.

Thanks to my result on Saturday, I got a second row call-up on Sunday. The course was much drier, but still had a few mud bogs. The worst one was 200m from the start line, at the low point between the main venue and the far grassy field. Then, the course twists around in the field, and there's a tight chicane that would really bottle up followed by another mud pit back into the venue-side of the course. Then a forced run-up with 4 stairs that were REALLY tall. I lined up on the right in the second row and knew that I really wanted a good start to get through these early obstacles without getting bottlenecked in the crowd. Whistle, clip-in, sprint. Everyone started drifting left to crowd into the single hard-packed path that was the best route through the mud bog. With virtually no one willing to stay right and get dirty, I continued to drill it and barreled through the mud. 250m into the race, covered in mud, I slotted in behind the leaders into 5th place! I stayed within myself through the field, gave up one spot before the run-up, but basically had "clean air" for the first half lap. A small, but significant victory! I bled spots for the next few laps as guys with better fitness, but not so good starts caught and overtook me. By the time we got to 2 to go, I was sitting around 12th or 13th and then 4 guys went by me, basically all together. I slotted onto the back of this group and stayed in contact. Coming around for the bell, again I had a bit left in the tank, so I turned on the afterburners up the hill and passed all 4 of them. One of them stayed on my wheel, as I reeled in John Tarbox just after the steep double whoops climb. We stayed in that order for about another half a lap. After the run-up with a minute or so left and a bit of a climb, I made my move on John. He accelerated and held the inside line, forcing me to go wide around the turn. I didn't have enough in the tank to get around. Crap. Then the CCB guy attacked me and took John's wheel. Double-crap! I slotted in behind him and hoped for an opportunity. It didn't come. We rounded the final turn and sprinted for the line, but it was over and I got 14th. At the time, I thought I would be a few spots better, but as I played the numbers back in head afterwards, I realized that I had given up more spots than I had thought during the race.

In hind-sight, I should have attacked John more aggressively and with everything I had. There was only a twisty descent, where I could have rested for the final up-hill sprint. I attacked hard, but I didn't go "all in". I'm a little disappointed with that.

So, my fitness isn't as bad as I thought, especially my "end of the race" fitness. Passing people on the bell lap is VERY gratifying. The new bike worked exceptionally well. My only regret is that I don't have SRAM shifters on my road bike, so I still have to think about how to shift properly.