Corporate Hippy

I know I’m late in posting my weekly post (I’m shooting for Thursday/Friday) – but I have good reason.  I was up near Manistee from Thursday to Sunday for vacation/Lumberjack 100 .  No, I did not race the Lumberjack 100.  I did, however, ride a lap of the “outer loop” – which is the 17 mile stretch of singletrack of the 25 mile Lumberjack lap.  I came away from the outer loop with an ugly bruise on my chin, a sore and bloody knee and several other bruises that I kept finding throughout the weekend.

I’d had a spectacular endo and kind of took my bike with me – I’m pretty sure all of my bruises are from the bike.  I landed on my back with the bike on top of me.  But, I think I was due.  Its been a long time since I’ve had my bell rung like that and in a very sick and twisted sort of way, it was kind of fun.

But what I REALLY want to say is – congratulations to all my Lumberjack peeps!

Mr. Jon Heft finished 1 hour and 18 minutes faster than last year and rode strong all day.  He finished hard at 9 hours and 30 seconds.

This was Erik’s second attempt at Lumberjack after a rough time last year.  He trained hard for this race and it paid off with a 12 hour and 30 minute finish time.

Steve Dale’s wife & son turned up in the tent before he came in from lap 3.  I think it was exactly the motivation he needed to finish the race.  He and our new teammate by proxy, Denis rode lap 4 together and pulled each other through.  They finished in 10 hours, 44 minutes.

Denis, by the way, had a nasty crash 2 weeks ago rode this race with broke 3 ribs.

Denis is a friend of our California Trails-Edge contingent, Pat.  Pat moved from Brighton to Santa Cruz a couple of years ago and forgot what humidity is like   He had some pretty bad leg cramps that pulled him out of the race after 83 miles.  He dug deep for that last 8 mile loop to try and give it one last shot.

Steve Steinberg finished his first Lumberjack crossing the finish line with his son Brent at 10 hours, 15 minutes.

Rick Bowling is fantastic.  At 56, he’s only been racing a couple of years and he finished this thing like a champ in 12 hours, 21 minutes.

Rob Ritzenhein gets mad props for attempting this beast in the first fucking place.  You da man who’s gonna beat this thing next year.

Mike Campbell finished his first attempt in all his baby-shower glory and a finish time of 9 hours and 42 minutes.  Soupy rides a beautiful pink Bianchi PUSS like I used to have (sadly, his team kit is baby blue – hence, baby shower).  Rocking the trail on a 26″ SS.

Steve Kinley tearing it up again.  Steve had a rough run last year and had to pull out after 2 laps.  I think this year, he might have even smiled while finishing in 9 hours and 28 minutes.

Robert Herriman pulled off a spectacular 9th place finish after starting in last place.  His seatpost clamp busted just as he hit the dirt and he had to turn back to his car to replace the post.  He passed ~230 people on his first lap and worked his way up to the top 10.  Fucking Awesome.  He finished in 7 hours and 48 minutes.  And, I don’t doubt for a second that he thanked every one of those people he passed.  Robert is stand-up.

I shoved Hammer Gel and Endurolytes at Chris Goddard until he finished his first Single Speed Lumberjack in 4th place.  Before the race I asked what he was shooting for as a lap time.  He said if all went well, he was shooting for 2 hours.  Let me tell you, Chris is consistent.  All of his laps were within minutes of 2 hours.  He finished in 8 hours, 6 minutes.

Danielle Musto is bad ass.  Our tent was next to theirs and I really enjoied watching her come through the pits.  I really admire Danielle because she seems to be a such great advoate for women mountain bike racers.  She’s tough, but friendly and is always encouraging to newer or slower riders.  So, I totally apologize for staring in a fan-girl sort of way *blush*.

She came into the pits after lap 2, jossled, shaken and bloody.  There were no bandaids, there was no hesitation – she swapped camelbacks, ate some gels while Scott refilled her pockets with fresh ones, and she was on her way.  Danielle finished 3rd at 8 hours, 46 minutes.

Sometimes I toy with the idea of trying to do this race.  Sometimes I think I’m just crazy to ever even consider it.  One lap of the 17 mile loop was all I could manage at one time this weekend.  I can’t really comprehend the enormity of doing 4 full laps when I can barely comprehend doing 1 full lap.  I think I might work toward doing 2 full laps this time next year and go from there.

biking hippy

This time last year, Ray’s Mountain Bike Park held a women only day at the park.  It was on a Friday and my friend Kristi was planning on going.  She and I went down together on Friday, stayed overnight and the boys came down to meet us on Saturday.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to go this year because of the MMBA annual meeting on Sunday – in Lansing this year.  But, when we were at Ray’s a few weeks ago, Nick suggested I go just for the Friday-women-only part.  For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to me.  Kristi was game, and so I took the day off work and we hit the road at 7:30 am yesterday.  A great way to spend my birthday, I say.

I just can’t seem to express how great this place is.  And to be able to go there on a day when its not open to the public (read: really crowded) is just so fantastic.  And then, to have awesome women instructors in every section is the best birthday present I could have asked for.  I had a great time .. for a little while ..

Before lunch, I was working on the rock garden in the beginner room and after a clean run through, I went for a little more speed on my second run.  Well, I lost my line and as I was falling, I put my foot down .. and my ankle twisted .. then my knee twisted .. and then the whole leg collapsed underneath me ..

Years ago, I sprained my knee while downhill skiing .. I don’t think it ever fully recovered ..

So, I was laying on the rocks, my leg collapsed underneath me, and my bike on top of me – I was kind of still “strattling” the bike – with my left leg underneath me, and my right leg still over the bike.  I was stuck.  And as I was trying to straighten my left leg, I felt exactly the same (although MUCH less intense) as when I was laying on that ski hill .. I was pretty sure my day was done at that point ..

So, we hung out for lunch and swag and Kristi went out to ride some more .. I was gonna use my fancy camera and grab some video .. I was heading into the intermediate area when I saw a group of women looking concerned over a women who had fallen.  It was Kristi.  She’d gotten caught with no momentum at the end of a line and as her bike was slowly-coming-to-a-screaching-hault, she had somehow managed to twist her ankle – one that she had sprained badly in September or October.  So, she hobbled back to the table where our stuff was, and we decided it was time to call it a day

Regardless – it was a fantastic day.  I got to spend ~30-45 minutes in the pump track (its usually too crowded to go near the pump track there) .. and I worked on a line in the intermediate room that I was scared of – and totally cleaned it 3 times in a row.  I cleaned the rock garden in the beginner room on my first shot (also usually too crowded to try).  I met some fantastic women, and there were quite a few women back from last year – which was really cool.

I absolutely, highly recommend this event – its already scheduled for the same weekend next year!  Nina and Dirt Rag put on a really great event and all of the women are so energetic, patient and supportive.  It is really a welcoming environment for women of ANY level.  Fantastic!  Happy Birthday to ME!

And, the knee will be allright.  With some ice and ibuprophen, I was pretty mobile as long as I was careful – walking is fine, but I have to be very careful to not twist or turn.  Stairs and downhills are tough because its very wobbly and doesn’t want to take the weight of me by itself.  But – it was no problem driving home (We took the pickup – manual transmission – clutch – heh).   Hopefully I’ll still be able to spin on the trainer …

All in all – a great way to turn 34!

Like, groove on this, man, biking hippy, corporate hippy, life hippy

I have been quiet lately, because I’ve been working on this:

biking hippy, life hippy Rays, RaysMTB

This year, Nick and I finally made it out to the New Years Day ride that The Sherp hosts annually from the shop.  Thanks to Nick’s great planning, we were mostly packed and ready to go the next day, so we were out the door even earlier than necessary on Thursday morning.

It was pretty cold and really windy, but 21 of us braved the weather and celebrate the start of a new year (or surviving the old one) and we rolled around on our bikes for a couple of hours, with a coffee shop stop in Northville to round it all out.  It was really a great way to start out the new year, and it felt great to be out on the bike, getting some fresh air!

We both had to work on Friday and generally turned into hermits when we got home.  It was a really nice, really mellow pizza and movie night.

Saturday, Jon had organized a dog-friendly hike at Stony.  Jon (& Graham), Mike (& Louie), Kristi & Erik (& Peppe) and Nick & me (& Chilli) walked some snowy and somewhat icy singletrack on what turned out to be a really beautiful day!  When we were hanging out on top of Mount Sheldon, Pete and Lloyd came riding up the doubletrack – brave soldiers that they are.

The hike was followed up by burgers at the Shamrock in Utica – my favorite end to any outdoor activity!

And today marked the beginning of serious indoor biking.  We’re finally situated in the basement with bikes and rowing machine, and today was the first spin at home (we’ve been to Mike’s for spinning a few times though).   At some point this week, I need to investigate our gym – its kind of a long story, but the old, roached out gym that we belonged to went out of business and there’s a new gym in its place that’s much cleaner looking and probably has nicer equipment.  We’re still paying for the membership, I guess the new place bought the members too, so I’d like to check it out and see if its a place I might actually go, or cancel the membership.  I’d love it if they’ve got enough working treadmills that I could count on having one at 6:00 am every day.

I generally hate the idea of “new years resolutions” because – if you’re serious about change, you shouldn’t wait until new years to do it ..but.. since I’ve reached a new perspective on life and exercise right before new years, I will say that in 2009, I plan on exercising at least 60 minutes every day, 6 days per week.  I already know I *can* do it, the question is, *will* I do it?

biking hippy, life hippy

History of a racing headcase

Most of my friends and loved ones are well aware that I become a total nutjob in the face of competition. A few years ago, I actually had to stop racing because it was making me completely crazy every time I got on a bicycle. Endurance “races” never seemed like races to me, so I never really took them very seriously and always had fun. Its only been this year that I’ve poked my toe back into the lake that is the XC Mountain Bike Race. In June, I did the Hanson Hills CPS race. I only had to do 1 lap, since I was doing sport/beg SS and it was a fantastic lap. One of my best ever racing experiences. I was not fast, nor was I strong, but damnit, I pushed and pushed and pushed and didn’t give up, and I really had fun.

I also pushed hard and raced hard during my 2 laps of the Tree Farm for the relay in August – and had fun.

So, I was excited about the Maybury CPS Time Trial that was this past weekend. We’ve been getting out on the bikes a lot more lately and I was feeling strong and confident. Maybury is a tough trail, but I know it well, and it was to be only 1 lap since its a time trial. I’d even posted on the interwebs that I would be racing. I was committed.

Self-inflicted doom

It started on Friday. Mike had been in Mexico all week and we all wanted to ride when he got home. It was a gorgeous night and Nick and I were both out of work early enough to make it Mike’s house for a good long ride. We rode from Mike’s place out to stony – taking the long long climb into the park off of the CRT so that we could easily stop by the Skills Park and check out the happenings. After playing around there for a bit, we took the paved path to the MTB trailhead, rode in, did the pines and headed back to Troy for a total of 26+ miles. Not super long by most people’s standards, but for little old me, on my dinky-geared singlespeed (32/19 on a 29er), chasing Mike and Nick (who were having a man-war), it was a solid high-intensity ride.

Even higher intensity on the way home, as it was getting dark and I didn’t want to loose contact with the boys while on the road. And honestly? I pretty much knew that I was doing harm for the next day’s race, but its not often that I feel THAT good on a ride, THAT strong and THAT confident. I was having so much fun pushing myself and keeping up, that I just didn’t even want to back off.

Unfortunately, when we got back to Mikes, I completely spaced on the Recoverite. Instead, we went inside and I had 2 large glasses of gatorade and a handful of peanut M&Ms. It was well after 9:00 when we finally got around to eating dinner. It was 10:00 before I started gathering merchandise and packing the Jeep for the next day.

I bet it was close to 1am before we went to bed. I was up before 7 and out the door before 8.

Nerves of Paper

I was nervous from the minute I woke up. My nerves get so bad before races that I just can’t swallow food. Its not that I get nauseous or anything like that, but its more like my throat closes up and will not swallow anything that’s not liquid. I sucked down a non-fat latte on the way out to Maybury, but couldn’t even think about a pastry or anything of that nature. I figured that at least, the milk in the latte would give me something. Heh.

I managed to distract myself for awhile with setting up the merchandise tables and tent, but not enough of a distraction to actually eat some food. In retrospect, there were some things I could (should) have done. I will think about those next time and call it lesson learned.

Bloody Humidity

As I was sitting on the couch Saturday morning, checking email and whatnot, I noticed that sweat was just dripping off of my neck. Seven o’clock in the morning and I was already sweating. Nice. And in case you’re wondering? No, it didn’t cool off as the day went on. I’m pretty sure it was 93* and remarkably humid when it was time for me to start my race. There are really no words in the dictionary to describe how badly I react to heat and humidity. My body (and mind) just wants to shut down.

In order to prepare for a race in such humidity, you’d think I’d have some gatorade, maybe plan on having an extra bottle of water with me for when the first one ran out? Maybe I’d even be smart enough to have gatorade AND water with me on the trail to help with hydration? yeah .. this goes back to nerves of paper and not being able to think clearly before these things. I did manage to have a HammerGel about 20 minutes before my start time, and had another in my pocket in case of extreme emergency – but I only brought one bottle of water with me. The likelihood of me actually eating that gel was low, because I wouldn’t have had enough water to wash it down with (Hammer products make my mouth and lips really really sticky, and that makes me really really frustrated when I can’t wash it away).

One bottle of water is hardly enough to get me through a warmup on a day like this, let alone a 9 mile time trail. By mile 3, I was already being extra careful when drinking, just to make sure that I would have SOME water left at the end. I was out of water before I was out of the woods.

I’m giving her all she’s got captain!

I had no power. None. My legs did not want to carry me anywhere. I was .86 of a mile into the race before I had to walk my first climb (note: I’ve successfully cleared every climb on this trail on my SS many, many times.. its a tough trail, but not so tough that climbs need to be walked – even by me). On that climb, I was passed by the only other woman in the Singlespeed class as she rode right by me. She’d started 30 seconds behind me. I was already in last place. I just had nothing to give.

I rode when I could and walked when I needed to. I walked a lot. Too much. More than I EVER remember walking at Maybury. I wanted to stop. I thought about turning around at mile .86 and saying “woops, I made a mistake” … But, I’d paid $35 just a couple of hours prior, and the whole lap was less than 9 miles .. so I figured I’d just keep going and see what happened. I mean, I HAD to get warmed up sooner or later, right?

The highlight

The trail was in really rough shape – it was so dry that there were trenches everywhere and babyhead rocks rolling all around .. I’d had trouble holding a good line for most of the first 1/2 of the trail. But when I got to the “new” section, things started to flow well for me, I wasn’t fast, but I was holding good lines and carrying momentum better than I had been.

The absolute best part of the trail comes right after that new section – its a long flowy downhill that goes on for like 1/2 mile. Toward the end of this awesome downhill is a little rock drop that always makes me go “woo hoo”. Through this section, I’d finally found my groove, and I was rocking. A fast guy came up behind me and mumbled something that I couldn’t understand. I was finally smiling and just didn’t want to give up my momentum, so I made him wait until there was a bit of a straight away. Had I known it was the hermitmann, I might have hugged the side of the trail a bit to let him by .. sorry Rob! About 10 seconds after he passed me, Bill Clikeman came flying by with my teammate Alan hot on his tale. Rob ended up scoring 2nd, so I don’t think I slowed him down too much.

That downhill section was the absolute highlight of my race. It reminded me why I ride, and why I race. It made me smile and added another notch on my “love this bike” scale.

The best part about racing is crossing the finish line

No matter how good or bad a race is, the absolute best part is crossing the finish line. Its even better when you’re friends are all there and no one is tearing down the finishing chute while they’re waiting for you to finish

I finished DFL in the Sport/Beginner SS class – the other woman finished nearly 20 minutes ahead of me and was only one place higher. The competition in this class was brutal.

It was so hot that day that even after changing out of my sweaty bike clothes, drinking boatloads of water, and sitting in the shade, my heartrate never really slowed down to normal. It slowed some after I finished, but I just wasn’t able to cool down enough to be comfortable. We packed up the merchandise as soon as the last class of riders started coming across the finish line and hung out just long enough to win some HEED in the swag giveaway.

Kudos

The Metro South Chapter of the MMBA did a fantastic job with this event. There were no real hiccups that I know of (other than the fast guys eating all the food before the sport guys were finished) and everyone seemed to have a great time.  You guys are awesome!

biking hippy

My Jabber, originally uploaded by inasnit.

On my way to a new blinglespeed

biking hippy

I can’t remember the last time we rode our bikes 3 days in a row. Its been a long time, I know that much. Somehow, we managed to have an unbelievably beautiful July4 weekend and we took advantage of it!

We didn’t make the annual Trails Edge July 4 Potowotami Trail Group ride since there has been such bad storms in that area over the past week, and we weren’t sure what the trail condistions would be like, we decided to save some gas and ride closer to home. PLRA was almost as good since we only rode there once last year and nonce so far this year. We had a mini-trals edge ride with Sherpa, Mike and Kim. It was only my second time riding PLRA on a SS and my first time ever on a 29er SS. I really like it on both counts. Even though I was in misery from being sorrily out of shape, Kim and I had a good time trailing off the back. It was a beautiful day and a good ride. Followed up with Mexican food with the Sherp and it was a good day.

Saturday we lounged around for awhile and eventually made our way out to Stony. I had a rough rough ride on Saturday. I was tired and frustrated and could hardly make most of the climbs. I walked some parts that I never walk, but I just couldn’t get the legs to move. It was hot and I was dehydrated. We called it quits after a lap and a little bit of double track. Blech. Sucky ride for me.

I wanted to redeem myself today, so we drove out to Bald Mtn and parked on Harmon Rd. Took the dirt roads over to Addison for a lap, checked out the new section (gonna be sweet!) and talked with Pauly for a few and then finished the lap. From there we headed back toward Bald Mtn and cut in to the trail at the boat launch. I had a blast riding the north loop, but was starting to feel the effort by the end. A quick stop at the jeep for some ice cold water and a hammer gel, we headed out onto the south loop. Ugh, the south loop has some climbs and I was just about at my limit. It was a long few miles (like, 3) and I was miserable and whiney the whole time. Ok .. I had some fun on the sweet fricken downhills on the south loop, but there were a few of those long shallow climbing sections that I hate so much too .. Regardless, I was glad I did it, even if all I did was bitch and whine. It was one of the few occasions where we did exactly what we set out to do, and didn’t cop-out early. Success.

While we didn’t make the minimum 20 mile ride requirement for dessert at Ermas (just short at ~9.6), we did make the minimum 10 mile ride requirement for Dairy Queen

biking hippy 29er, bald_mountain, singlespeed

Well, that was a fast and furious month. How about a quick recap?

Dirt, Sweat and Gears: 4 day weekend, mountain biking road trip, great travel adventure with the scurrs, a fantastic 12 hour race, new bike lust (LOVE).

Island Lake Bike Demo: A full day of bikes, MMBA tent duties, and Trails Edge schmoozing. Followed by a late-night change control for me at work and a rainy work day at Stony Creek

Stony Creek Skills Park: Workdays every weekend – Friday/Sat/Sun. I haven’t been to all of the workdays, but I’ve been to most of the Saturday workdays. I’m the lunch lady.

12 Hours of Addison Oaks: Nick did the 6 hour race, I hung out in the tent and did support. We shared a tent with Shari, Steve and Ryan who were all also racing the 6 hour. Robin and I supported them, but it was really quite mellow since no one seemed really in the mood to race. Shari and Steve stopped early for different reasons. Kevin even showed up for awhile and kept me company. Of course, Sunday we were out working at Stony again.

Memorial Day Weekend: Saturday was a “BIG” workday at Stony. We set up the chapter tent and cooked a feast for lunch. American Cycle and Fitness came out around lunch time with some demo bikes and cold beverages

Sunday, Nick dug a trench in the backyard and buried conduit between the house and the garage – future plans include running electric, ethernet and an air line through the 2 pipes in the ground. While Nick worked on the backyard, I did some serious kitchen cleaning – walls, corners, etc.. it was pretty gross in there.

Monday, we went to Livonia for a Trails Edge team ride of the Ghetto Loop – out sherpa’s backyard. I was smart and asked MIke to bring the Bandersnatch home for me to ride that day. I was sure glad I did. Super fun ride! After that, we hung out at Mike & Abby’s for awhile for BBQ, but it was really hot and humid, and we were wrecked, so we headed home and spent the last few hours of our long weekend chilling on the couch.

That brings us to this past weekend: Taco dinner for Alex’s birthday on Friday, crazy running around on Saturday – Lowes, GFS, Stony to cook lunch, Royal Oak to pick up merchandise, unpack jeep, repack jeep with merchandse. Sunday – left the house at 7:00am to drive to Grayling for the Hanson Hills CPS race. Nick and I both raced Sport SS and had a great time. Hanson is a great course, and was super fun on the Single Speed! I’m glad we only had to do one lap though – I don’t know if I could have finished a second before dark

There’s plenty more details to toss in there .. but I just don’t have the attention span right now .. and, I’m hungry!

biking hippy bandersnatch, CPS, dirt_sweat_gears, DSG, vassago

Nick, Alex, Mike and I rode Bloomer tonight.  Nick and I rode Bloomer with the RCMB bike club group on Tuesday and had so much fun we wanted to go back for more. Bloomer is one of those places that’s tough to navigate – the park is huge and there’s trails everywhere and no signs anywhere.

So, on Tuesday I rode the Bandersnatch one last time before I had to give it back to the shop.  Tonight I rode the Redline (moncog 29er) after chaging to an easier gear and shorter crank arms.  I’m pretty sure I’ve decided that the 29er works for me.  I had so much fun riding tonight – even when my ass was puckering into my throat on the upper ridge trail – that I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time.  Tuesday was the same way.  I’m more inspired to ride my bike than I ever have been before.

Time to start planning my Bandersnatch.  The hardest part is going to be – selling the Bianchi.  I need to sell the Bianchi to pay for my kick ass wheelset.  Man .. that’s going to be tough though.  Of all the 26″ bikes I’ve owned, the Bianchi is by far my favorite and most cherished.  That bike took me to a new mountain bike world.  She is beautiful, sexy and crazy fun to ride.  She taught me to love, LOVE mountain biking.  She taught me to ride until I puke.  She taught me to not give up at the first sight of pain or suffering.  She taught me to enjoy the suffering.

I think I’ll put her back together for one last ride before I put her on the market – just to be sure

biking hippy 29er, bandersnatch, Bianchi Puss, BloomerPark, mountain_bike, Redline Monocog, vassago

Its 8:50 on Thursday morning and we’re about 30 – 40 miles from the exit where we’re supposed to meet Shari and Robin at 9:00.  I decide its time to give them a call.  When I grab my phone, I see that I’d missed a call just 2 minutes prior, from Shari.

You know you’re traveling with the right people when you call to tell them you’re going to be late, and they cheer loudly upon hearing the news.  Not only were they also running late – they were only a few miles further along than we were.  Apparently, we were all so excited to go on vacation that we forgot it was a weekday – forgot about rush hour entirely.  uh .. oops

We’d decided earlier in the week to make a stop in Nashville on the way down for an exclusive, one-night-only, This American Life event.  We made it there in perfect time for a good dinner before the show.  The whole thing was worth the detour.

We finally reached our hotel in Fayetteville and decided that we didn’t need to get moving too early the next day since the SSUSA part of the race didn’t get started until noon – there was no real rush to get there since we were just going to be spectators anyway.  Sometime around 10:00 on Friday, we made our way to Rachel’s – a very greasy restaurant next door to the hotel.  They had a breakfast buffet with all of your southern breakfast favorites – we couldn’t resist.  The biscuits were fabulous

We got to the venue a little before noon, found a spot to set up our tent for the next day, picked up our registration packets and watched the start of the SSUSA race.  In true singlespeeder fashion, there were costumes and beer chugging.

The SSUSA race was broken into 3 stages – a trail ride, a jeep road climb, and a gladiator style duel.  We missed the 3rd stage since we wanted to get a ride in before the rain came.  We were lucky enough to take our time on the ride and miss the rain entirely.  In fact, it didn’t start raining until after we’d eaten dinner and settled back in at that hotel.

This was the first time I rode the Bandersnatch since I’d swapped out the cranks, switched handlebars, changed stem and added the Ergon grips.  I was delighted with how well everything fit together.

So, the course was tough – the first 4.5 miles or so had the longest of the climbs – long and rocky.  But once we made our way to the “top”, the course changed character to more short, steep, technical climbs.  Rocks everywhere – big flat ones, round babyhead ones, pointy square ones.  Have I mentioned how much I really love riding over rocks?  Really.  I do.  And riding over rocks on a steel 29er?  Well, lets just say that I’ve jumped ship and my bike woes might just be over.

After our ride, we decided against the $10 pasta dinner and took the recommendation of the hotel receptionist to have steaks at “The Barn”.  And boy did we have steaks!

We decided on a 7:15 start to head to the race course on Saturday.  Included with our entry was a free pancake breakfast and there’s just NO WAY I’m going to pass up free pancakes.  It rained all night long, but stopped as we were loading up the Jeep on Saturday morning.  We’d already decided that Robin was going first, but now we realized that it was a good decision since he was riding a SS and had the lefty fork – bikes out preriding the course that morning were coming back crazy mud covered.

Robin’s lap was long.  He’s a fast dude, but it took him nearly 2 hours to finish his lap.  We watched as racers ran through the finish area carrying bikes with broken derailures hangers and covered in big thick heavy mud.  Robin offered to do a second lap while it dried up, but Shari was geared up and ready to do.  We decided to meet her at “the top” to hand of a water bottle if she needed.  When she got there, she was mud-free and smiling.  She was having a good ride, and she was having fun.

Nick took the 3rd lap and made great time.  We waited for him toward the end of the lap at the “whoop de doo” section for a photo op.  When he came through the section, he had his jersey unzipped as far as it would go – the sun was out and it was HUMID in those woods.  Nick finished his lap in about an hour and a half.

My lap started off slow, but I was making great time in the first section where all the climbing was.  I walked my fair share, but I rode as much as I could (and more than I’d expected).  I made it to the “top”, kind of expecting to see the crew up there, but was feeling good, so I didn’t mind when they weren’t.  The next 3 miles were brutal though.  That’s where all the short, steep, rocky climbs are.  And that’s when my bike started to get a little flaky.  I think it had to do with the chain being long enough for the old crankset – but when I was in the top 2 cogs of my cassette and put too much pressure on the cranks (as in – climbing a steep hill full of rocks), my chain would drop all the way to the small cog, making a horrible noise and causing me to swear loudly.  I found myself walking much more than I did on Friday, but it worked out as most of the time I was being passed by a pro rider anyway.

I was surprised when I didn’t see the crew at the “whoop de doo” section – I thought for sure I’d see them there.  But as I rode by, I figured they were kicking back, eating BBQ – and I couldn’t blame them.  Imagine my surprise when there was no one in our tent when I rode by at the finish.  After exiting the shoot and coming back around to the tent, though, Robin was there getting ready to ride.

“When did you get back?” he asked.

“I just got in, right now”

“Well, call Nick – they’ve been at the whoop de doos waiting for you!” he responded.

I told him the course was in perfect shape and it seemed he couldn’t get on his bike fast enough.  He was excited about getting in a good lap.

I decided to walk over to the whoop de doos, since it wasn’t far from our tent site and it would be fun to see the looks on their faces when I came walking up – I wasn’t dissapointed.  They said they waited for me at the top for a long time before they realized that I must have already come through.  Being in this for nothing but fun, no one was really paying attention to the clock, and I think there was a trip to the fried pies vendor that got things confused.  I understood completely – we were on vacation!

Robin’s second lap came in around an hour and twenty some minutes.  He came in smiling and ready to be done for the day.  We quickly moved on to the free BBQ dinner portion of the race.  And let me tell you what – it was wonderful.

post script – I have more to tell about the festival itself, the weekend, the pros, etc.. but I’ve blathered on enough for one post.  I also intended on posting more pictures but am fighting with a wordpress/theme issue an its not been going well.  One day, I hope to put all of my pictures up on my smugmug account, and make an imovie of our weekend.  Today is not that day.

biking hippy bandersnatch, Dirt Sweat and Gears, DSG, mountain_bike, SSUSA, vassago