RR: first race of the season

Ooh, that first one of the season always involves some pain. And lung
nuggets. I was also a little concerned I'd still be tired from my 75
Mile road ride on Tuesday (preparation for next weekend's century). We
did laps a three Mile circuit. My class (Sport) did three and Expert did
four.
There was a good showing of pretty much all locals from both ends of the
valley as far as I could tell. Sport had to line up three deep at the
start. I considered riding my SS but when I heard about the flat
sections involved I decided to go with gears. I hung with the lead pack
for about half of the first lap and they eventually dropped me on the
final climb. For much of the second lap I was all alone, somewhere
between the lead group and everyone else. I often find myself here, not
quite fast enough to be a contender for the win, but ahead of much of
the field.
I tend to descend faster than people who climb at a similar speed so
there was some jockeying for position when the two track climb funneled
into a singletrack descent. On the first lap I got stuck in a tight
group that really slowed things down and made it dusty. Subsequent laps
spread things out a little more. One rider and I were pretty well
matched and yo-yo'd for the last two laps. He'd reel me in on the
biggest climb, and then I'd catch him on the DH, and pass him as we came
off the singletrack back at the start/finish area (which was a crowd
pleaser). That was fun.
On the final lap the same guy caught me and passed me a little earlier
than before. I knew I'd have to fight hard to keep up and tried, but he
slowly pulled away giving himself a couple hundred yards on me by the
top. I put it in the big ring as I rolled over the summit and started
gaining that back on the flat two track and singletrack DH. When I came
to a short steep climb between two DH sections, I saw him mis-shift and
then get chain suck. He got it worked out with me maybe 50 Yards behind
him. That gave me the chance to catch him on the fast DH (with big
waterbars - wee!) singletrack back to the bottom. So I was right on his
wheel as we turned from singletrack to dirt road and I took the inside
line, cranked hard and just beat him across the line.
It wasn't winning, but it was fun.
Then we went to a local pizza place for free Fat Tire beer, pizza, and a
raffle. I ended up being 8th out of maybe 20 riders, which isn't bad,
but I think I can do better. I got a water bottle, lube, a smoothie gift
certificate, and a gym gift certificate (what will I do with /that/?).
All in all a good night and everyone was really nice, encouraging, and
not too competitive. My friend Jeff won Expert which would be no easy
feat. Next week is the hill climb and I think I'm going to single speed
it. It's a hill I ride frequently on the SS and it should be interesting.

Matt

MattB wrote:

Then we went to a local pizza place for free Fat Tire beer, pizza, and a
raffle. I ended up being 8th out of maybe 20 riders,

Damn, Sport is getting tough. 20 years ago you would have been at the
front of the Experts.

Greg
--
The ticket******* Tax Tracker:
http://www.ticketmastersucks.org/tracker.html

Dethink to survive - Mclusky

G.T. wrote:
MattB wrote:


Then we went to a local pizza place for free Fat Tire beer, pizza, and
a raffle. I ended up being 8th out of maybe 20 riders,


Damn, Sport is getting tough. 20 years ago you would have been at the
front of the Experts.

Greg

I think if I was somewhere other than here I'd be on the Sport podium
and doing ok in Expert but it's a tough crowd here. Expert has several
local pros. Dave Wiens (who was there but didn't race last night - his
wife and former Olympian, Susan D passed me on the first lap after
starting a minute behind, saying nice things as she flew by) does them
every now and then - and usually crushes everyone by minutes.

I feel like I had a good ride and I had fun, so that's the key.

Matt

On May 11, 11:09 am, MattB wrote:
I feel like I had a good ride and I had fun, so that's the key.


With that pack of animals out there, one must be content to just have
fun. Looking at any races in CO throughout the Summer, the lead dogs
in almost every category are from your 'hood.

JD

MattB wrote:
G.T. wrote:
MattB wrote:


Then we went to a local pizza place for free Fat Tire beer, pizza,
and a raffle. I ended up being 8th out of maybe 20 riders,


Damn, Sport is getting tough. 20 years ago you would have been at
the front of the Experts.

Greg

I think if I was somewhere other than here I'd be on the Sport podium
and doing ok in Expert but it's a tough crowd here. Expert has several
local pros. Dave Wiens (who was there but didn't race last night - his
wife and former Olympian, Susan D passed me on the first lap after
starting a minute behind, saying nice things as she flew by) does them
every now and then - and usually crushes everyone by minutes.

I feel like I had a good ride and I had fun, so that's the key.

At the end of today's coastal ride with a buddy, we merged with a woman
rider who had just climbed Torrey Pines outer (long grind) while we had just
done the inner (steeper but then a flat recovery stretch). I tried to hang
with her but she pulled away. Later at a light she said she'd done a
/20-mile run/ this morning, and so just went out for an "easy ride" in the
afternoon. She's a Cat 2 racer (whatever that is), just a hair shy of Cat
1. Triathlete, marathoner, whole ball of wax.

Good news is she's in pharmaceutical sales and top two drugs are an
anti-hypertensive and a cholesterol. When I bragged that I got 'em both, I
don't think she was impressed... (Sigh.)

Kicker, of course, was that she was a complete babe...prolly 20 years my
junior.

Wonder if she sells anti-depressants?!? Double sigh.

Bill "I need a nap" S.

On May 11, 11:00 am, MattB wrote:
Ooh, that first one of the season always involves some pain. And lung
nuggets. I was also a little concerned I'd still be tired from my 75
Mile road ride on Tuesday (preparation for next weekend's century). We
did laps a three Mile circuit. My class (Sport) did three and Expert did
four.
There was a good showing of pretty much all locals from both ends of the
valley as far as I could tell. Sport had to line up three deep at the
start. I considered riding my SS but when I heard about the flat
sections involved I decided to go with gears. I hung with the lead pack
for about half of the first lap and they eventually dropped me on the
final climb. For much of the second lap I was all alone, somewhere
between the lead group and everyone else. I often find myself here, not
quite fast enough to be a contender for the win, but ahead of much of
the field.
I tend to descend faster than people who climb at a similar speed so
there was some jockeying for position when the two track climb funneled
into a singletrack descent. On the first lap I got stuck in a tight
group that really slowed things down and made it dusty. Subsequent laps
spread things out a little more. One rider and I were pretty well
matched and yo-yo'd for the last two laps. He'd reel me in on the
biggest climb, and then I'd catch him on the DH, and pass him as we came
off the singletrack back at the start/finish area (which was a crowd
pleaser). That was fun.
On the final lap the same guy caught me and passed me a little earlier
than before. I knew I'd have to fight hard to keep up and tried, but he
slowly pulled away giving himself a couple hundred yards on me by the
top. I put it in the big ring as I rolled over the summit and started
gaining that back on the flat two track and singletrack DH. When I came
to a short steep climb between two DH sections, I saw him mis-shift and
then get chain suck. He got it worked out with me maybe 50 Yards behind
him. That gave me the chance to catch him on the fast DH (with big
waterbars - wee!) singletrack back to the bottom. So I was right on his
wheel as we turned from singletrack to dirt road and I took the inside
line, ed hard and just beat him across the line.
It wasn't winning, but it was fun.
Then we went to a local pizza place for free Fat Tire beer, pizza, and a
raffle. I ended up being 8th out of maybe 20 riders, which isn't bad,
but I think I can do better. I got a water bottle, lube, a smoothie gift
certificate, and a gym gift certificate (what will I do with /that/?).
All in all a good night and everyone was really nice, encouraging, and
not too competitive. My friend Jeff won Expert which would be no easy
feat. Next week is the hill climb and I think I'm going to single speed
it. It's a hill I ride frequently on the SS and it should be interesting.

Matt

Very exciting, Matt. I got tired reading it. Getting stuck behind a
slow, dusty group sucks. But making it up on dh is cool. On our close
in course, called Barking Spider, always the first race of the
season, I came upon a group dismounting and cluttering up the trail
at the start of this short, ugly hill. Since I ride there, I knew how
to use momentum and juju to clean it, so a ways back I yelled, "out of
the way, please! I can ride this!" and the out of towners politely
parted...then I got stuck behind a slow husband and wife team on the
singletrack and lost lots of time... but that's ok, because like my
friend Terry says, I'm slow on purpose. Really.

CDB