Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Thursday, June 19, 2003

Windridge

An update regarding my latest foray into the world of mountain biking. Last weekend I raced on a course that ran on a farm (the Windridge Farm, I guess) outside of Newnan. The race wasn't as well organized as the others in the GAP series but the course was a butt-kicker. I mean, I haven't seen that many roots since the 70's mini-series. Add to that lots of rocks, downhill switchbacks and stiffling heat and humidity and what you get is one hell of a hard event. The heat was so bad that a lot of the Sport riders were throwing up out on the course from cramping, both in the their legs and in their stomachs.

I got there a little late so I ended up having to line up near the back of the smallish field. As is usually the case, this was a big disadvantage as we got into the first technical section. I ended up behind a couple of crashes and a couple of guys who didn't want to yield the trail. By the time I got around them I was frustrated and well behind the leaders. THe good side of this was that I hadn't gone out too hard and made myself sick. The plan had been to go easy for the first half a lap or so and see how I was doing but not when sitting in the back. Still, though I was feeling pretty good in terms of my form so I decided to open things up a bit and see if I couldn't place in the top ten. Before long I started catching guys from the lead group one at a time. I'd ride up behind them, sit in and rest a few minutes and then pass and drop them. As the course smoothed out a bit I found a rhythm and picked up speed and before i knew it I was on the leader's wheel. Then we hit the climb. It was a three tier stairstep climb that pushed me down into the little ring. Still, I was able to spin up and pass four guys (three from the earlier 19-29 group) without any problem. As I rode by, one guy said, "Wow!" Not something you hear too often and it really gave me a lot of morale for the second lap. I came through the start/finish line, grabbed the water bottle from my wife, cleaned my drivetrain, drank and cooled off the melon. I was leading, I felt strong and I was climbing better than anyone. It looked good.

As I started into the second lap I hit the really technical section and after about a mile I noticed my front tire getting soft. Oh no! After two quick crashes I took the bike off the course and changed the front tube. About five guys passed me but I wasn't too worried, just frustrated. I finished the change and got going again. I passed a couple and then all of the sudden, Pssssttt. I was done. No more spare tubes. DNF. Argh! Oh well, my form was good and I rode solid and I even learned something about weighting the bike in technical sections.

This weekend is a road race in Union City and then its back to the dirt in Gainesville, GA. Hopefully I'll have the mechanical stuff sorted out by then.

Thanks for reading.

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