Another year has started for the 2012 MTB season! Like last year the first race of the season for me was Bonbender which is always a rough way to start the season.
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| Great Job Chris!!! Great event yet again... Also love the helmet!! |
Did the 6hr duo open, with Craig Hoppe.
In the words of
SC, BoneBender is on a mans course, and like him, I prefer woman's courses!!
The Good; I am definitely a stronger racer than last year! At least on a fitness standpoint. Thanks,
PTC!
The Bad; So is every other rider!
The Ugly: My technical skills.. Monday I felt like I was hit by a truck! In reality it was hitting the deck 2 1/2 times, and playing pinball off every rock, root and tree out there..
Race started on a pavement/double-track/field start rather than the the run, which everyone I am sure appreciated. I started up front, but still behind the heavy hitters I knew had huge engines,
Elwell,
G,
JP, etc...
By the time we actually hit the single-track I had settled in between teammates Roger and Micha, only about 20 seconds(ish) behind those stupid fast dudes mentioned earlier. This is exactly the time the carnage of what I call the first lap started.
I held onto Rogers wheel for about as long as I could but I was all over the place. Tire pressure too high, technical skills too low..
This first lap was slick as can be, all the rain made the roots and rocks like they had grease on them. About the time I got into a good groove, I would go through a horrible time just keeping my bike rubber side down.
The entire lap consisted of me hammering to catch back up to someone then screwing up a technical section and repeat. I also had to put some CO2 in my back tire at one point (passed by couple dudes), chain fell off and I had to adjust my guide to get it back on (passed by more dudes), then my handlebars were rotating down and had to stop to tighten them up (passed by even more dudes). Ended up the lap and about crapped my pants to see I had just put in a 1:20+ lap...
Not the best start to a season!
Second lap, Hoppe came in and handed off the wristband/timing chip that put us in a good position. The second lap went much better than the first. The course started drying off and you could start riding more stuff. I knew we were in the top 5 at this point, but not exactly sure where. I also knew that it was a tight race. About 1/3 of the way through JP came by like I knew he would, I let him go by never to be seen again. Once you hit the aid station you could pretty much hammer it. I motored on pretty will until St. Louis (sorry I forgot your name) came up on me. Damn, that dude just made up a couple of minutes on me!!
Once we hit the last couple of climbs to get out I gave it a good little effort and got away from him a little bit. I'll be damn if that was going to be a pill I was going to swallow for him to pass me or be sitting on my wheel at the end of the lap.
Last lap and I knew it was close. While I was waiting for Hoppe, saw first go off... Then Tony in second... Then some dudes I had not seen all day go off in third!! I took off about 100 yards behind him... St. Louis was still waiting and I had no idea how far behind he was going to be..
Once we hit about 2 miles into the singletrack I had caught up with third place but yet again my stellar bike handling skills screwed me and I went through a section like a monkey riding a unicycle and I lost him..
I was cramping like crazy at this point, I was a little too overconfident in my fitness and did not take in as much fluids as I should have the first lap and was paying for it now..
I actually got in the groove of some of the technical sections later this lap and basically pedaled just hard enough to go as fast as I could without my legs completely seizing up on me. I met up with Mark Cole and followed him for a couple of miles. Finally the endourlites kicked in a bit and started to feel a bit better.. Mark let me by and I just hammered it home, figuring the best I can do now is hold on to 4th, I am sure St. Louis is not far behind me.
Came to the very last climb out of the woods and Ill be damned if I did not catch back up with 3rd. I got right up on him and he was just going to let me by until he saw my number. I stopped and asked him what he wanted to do about our little situation we had developed. I could see he was mentally and physically about at his tipping point. He hesitated to contemplate what I had said to him and just kind of stood there. So I just took off and ran the rest of the hill, did my best CX mount and headed to the finish like for 3rd... Bruised and beat up but still had gas in the tank and had a blast!! That was a good race, I love the competition..
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| BradBob! Lookin lean this year.. CAT 2 for LIFE!! |
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| Hoppe finishing up a lap with his new CDale full suspension. |
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| "The kids", getting faster every day. |
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| Roger Killing it! |
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| The Man, The Legend, The Hippy! |
