The weather folks were calling for severe thunderstorms Wednesday night, but most of it hit the north part of Charlotte. No rain cancellation of Wednesday nights race. I wasn't feeling to great that day and was sort of hoping for the rain, but a big part of me still wanted to race.
I set my Trek Superfly 100 up really soft suspension wise. I've been doing some top secret testing at the Naylor compound lately. Trying lots of different suspension settings and air pressures. I really like the set up I had Wednesday night. The Superfly pedals so good that I figured I would use all the suspension travel and let it eat up the rough trail scattered with momentum robbing roots. Bike felt dialed.
I lined up again in the front row for the start, but this time I didn't go all out to get right up front. I even let one guy snake in front of me right before the singletrack. After the dust settled I was in 7th place and we were lined up wheel to wheel. I made sure there were no gaps between me and the guy in 1st place - if someone dropped off and the leaders gapped us I was going to have to make a move. Everyone in front of me kept up with the pace, which seemed a little on the slow side actually. There were 2 guys behind me for a while on my wheel and then we gapped them. There is a lot of tight twisty singletrack for the first 3 miles and there are not any good areas to pass. The course finally opens up onto a steep long gravel fireroad climb. I find myself right behind the entire Bikesource entourage.
I hear Donald, one of the Bikesource team guys say "let's go boys" to the other two and he takes off. I try to follow, but he went right between them and they decide non-team members don't get that option and close me off. Without even slowing down I just veer left hard, put my helmet thru some tree limbs and blaze by both guys in one move. I had so much momentum that I caught Donald immediatly and just yell "on your left" as I hold the throttle down. I know that there is a nice downhill coming up so figure I can start working a gap there. Unfortunately for me there is a lapper from another class in front of me and he wants to race me even though he is probably in last place in his class. He holds me up enough that the bikesource guys are back on me. Donald is behind me now and he is yelling at the guy in front of me for holding us all up. I finally find a corner where the guy starts running wide and I tuck it inside him and it sets me up perfectly for the next turn going in the opposite direction. Pinned, I rail both turns and stand on the gas up the next climb. I end up dropping everyone pretty good in that section. This 2-3 milesis my favorite part of the course. Fun and flowy singletrack, where you need to know how to corner fast, and with enough climbs to seperate the men from the boys.
Towards the end of lap one I start catching the guy in third place. When I say catching, I mean he is in sight now(maybe 5-8 seconds ahead). This is good as now I will have a rabbit to chase. Once the 3rd place guy notices that I'm coming he wastes no time in doing intervals to create some distance. It works too, he pulls away and then while he recovers I reel him back in. It finally proves to much for me though as my legs start wearing down. Halfway thru lap 2 and he is out of sight now. I did the first lap in 29 minutes - which is very good for Reni, but I faded some on the second lap. Ended up with a 31 and change for lap 2. At least I was hitting it hard enough not to get chased from behind. I end up in 4th place out of about 20 guys. Happy with it overall, but I'm going to have to find a way to dig deep at the end of the race and not fade if I wanna see the podium (top 3) this season. I think it's coming soon as I always get progressively faster as race season continues. Maybe some energy gel halfway thru would help? We'll see.
Next race is this Sunday in Columbia, SC at the Southern Classic Harbison Race at the River. Never ridden there before and it's going to be part of the SC state championship, so the field should be stacked. Top 5 is the goal - I'll tell you all about it in a couple days.
No comments:
Post a Comment