CCCX#5 - First MTB race of the year
(ham'n it up for the camera)
CCCX#5 - Toro Park
March 31st, 2007
Expert 19-34
Results 3/7
Ok, so I've been a roadie all year. I've got 6 road races\crits under my belt. I've been trying to ride my mtb at least once a week to keep my mtb skills honed. Well the proof is in the pudding as they say and wow I proved that although I have some roadie fitness, it doesn't necessarily transfer to mountain biking fitness.
First off I gotta say that the CCCX boys (Keith, Rod, Dave and Crew) put on quite a nice race. The new course absolutely rocks. Climbs, killer singletrack descending and that cool little techie section at the end with the rocks and the big root. This is mountain biking as it should be.
3900 feet of climbing was enough to induce some nice hamstring cramps in the 5th and final lap.
This was also the first race in the Team Wrong Way Fox Cup Series. After seeing all the familiar faces it really made me miss the mountain biking scene and all the usual suspects. Road racing itself is a lot of fun, but the scene it self is seriously lacking the comraderie of the mountain biking scene.
Any who, I showed up with just enough time to do one recon. lap and warm up on the trainer for about 15 minutes. As I'm standing around waiting for the start I realized I'd ridden a bit too hard on my recon. lap when the lactic acid started pooling in my quads and my legs felt like dead tree trunks. Crap, not the way you want your legs to feel when the race starts with a climb and when you're starting with the Pros and Semi-pros...dooh!
And they're off....like bats out hell. I click in and stand to pedal, oh that kinda hurts, so I sit and spin, dang it that's not fast enough. So I stand again and try to stay with the group. Since we started on the road it seriously felt like a road race. I jockeyed for a couple spots and then when it got steep I start rolling backwards. I ended up close to the back of the pack, if not at the back and started spinning like a muthafucka, meanwhile coaxing my legs gently to warm the hell up!
Up the steep part of the climb and into the false flat, rollling section. I'm trying to pick up places where I can, but mostly I'm just getting passed by the 35+ guys that started in back of us. For crying out loud, even the SSers are passing me. Finally, we get to the descent and I'm spinning thru the singletrack, trying to recover my legs. I pass a few people on the flat upper section before you hit the final descent.
I come thru and my legs are starting to feel a bit better. I focus on spinning a high cadence. I feel better. We hit the climb the second time and I spin up it a bit easier than the first time. I hit the rolling stuff and start getting excited as I'm battling it out with people for a few spots. Then a singlespeeder comes buy and i'm like screw this spinning crap, so I through it in the big ring and figure I'll put my damn roadie fitness to work. As soon as I did this, I dust the SS guy and start making headway towards catching other folks. I reasoned that if I kept spinning the big gear at a high cadence, at least 80, that I wouldn't shift down. And so it went and so I started catching more and more people and putting a gap on them.
Finally in the last lap, I hit the climb and my right hamstring tense, I massage it. And drop into the little ring. Then as I'm massaging the right hammy, the left start tweaking out. At this point I'm yelling in pain and reminding myself to breath and spin, breath and spin. Whew....the cramps subside. I'm at the top of the climb and somebody is breathing down my neck. I slam into the big ring and get the hell out of there.
Again I'm on the rolling climb and I'm picking up more spots. Up in the distance I can the Anastasio's green Bicycle Trip jeresy. I settle into an easier gear and set my sights on him. I am closing in as we get to the little exposed, sandy climb, I shoot around him. He's not done yet, he latches on to my wheel and I can't shake him. We come up on a couple runners as we near the sandy section of the climb and I accelerate to block him from passing me. We are 50 ft from the top and he jumps me. I stand to accelerate nothing. I gotta recover. I sit, I spin and catch his wheel.
Ana's now in front of me on the descent, so I'm content just to keep up with him. We hit the final strech, once more thru the rock garden-tree root section and I stand and sprint with everything I have left. I see he cross the finish line ahead of me. I feel good. I rallyed back form a bad start. First mtb race of the year, with lots of climbing to boot. I need to start climbing more. Man oh man I need to start climbing more.
I spin down, thank Ana for the motivation and then we head back to meet up with the group for a recovery drink and a "recovery" drink. It was great to see my TWW crew, some of my 'cross mates from Altezza40, some other old faces and of course the Velo Bella-icious ladies.
Group shot - Altezza40, Velo Bella, TWW!
Thank you all for the cheering. When your HR is maxed out and you're slobbering all over yourself it very motivating to hear your friends and team mates cheering you on. It makes a huge difference. Thanks!
Next up, SOC Road Race, SOC MTB race. Then the following weekend, Wente RR, NVDC wham-bam-combo.
Thanks for reading!
CCCX#5 - Toro Park
March 31st, 2007
Expert 19-34
Results 3/7
Ok, so I've been a roadie all year. I've got 6 road races\crits under my belt. I've been trying to ride my mtb at least once a week to keep my mtb skills honed. Well the proof is in the pudding as they say and wow I proved that although I have some roadie fitness, it doesn't necessarily transfer to mountain biking fitness.
First off I gotta say that the CCCX boys (Keith, Rod, Dave and Crew) put on quite a nice race. The new course absolutely rocks. Climbs, killer singletrack descending and that cool little techie section at the end with the rocks and the big root. This is mountain biking as it should be.
3900 feet of climbing was enough to induce some nice hamstring cramps in the 5th and final lap.
This was also the first race in the Team Wrong Way Fox Cup Series. After seeing all the familiar faces it really made me miss the mountain biking scene and all the usual suspects. Road racing itself is a lot of fun, but the scene it self is seriously lacking the comraderie of the mountain biking scene.
Any who, I showed up with just enough time to do one recon. lap and warm up on the trainer for about 15 minutes. As I'm standing around waiting for the start I realized I'd ridden a bit too hard on my recon. lap when the lactic acid started pooling in my quads and my legs felt like dead tree trunks. Crap, not the way you want your legs to feel when the race starts with a climb and when you're starting with the Pros and Semi-pros...dooh!
And they're off....like bats out hell. I click in and stand to pedal, oh that kinda hurts, so I sit and spin, dang it that's not fast enough. So I stand again and try to stay with the group. Since we started on the road it seriously felt like a road race. I jockeyed for a couple spots and then when it got steep I start rolling backwards. I ended up close to the back of the pack, if not at the back and started spinning like a muthafucka, meanwhile coaxing my legs gently to warm the hell up!
Up the steep part of the climb and into the false flat, rollling section. I'm trying to pick up places where I can, but mostly I'm just getting passed by the 35+ guys that started in back of us. For crying out loud, even the SSers are passing me. Finally, we get to the descent and I'm spinning thru the singletrack, trying to recover my legs. I pass a few people on the flat upper section before you hit the final descent.
I come thru and my legs are starting to feel a bit better. I focus on spinning a high cadence. I feel better. We hit the climb the second time and I spin up it a bit easier than the first time. I hit the rolling stuff and start getting excited as I'm battling it out with people for a few spots. Then a singlespeeder comes buy and i'm like screw this spinning crap, so I through it in the big ring and figure I'll put my damn roadie fitness to work. As soon as I did this, I dust the SS guy and start making headway towards catching other folks. I reasoned that if I kept spinning the big gear at a high cadence, at least 80, that I wouldn't shift down. And so it went and so I started catching more and more people and putting a gap on them.
Finally in the last lap, I hit the climb and my right hamstring tense, I massage it. And drop into the little ring. Then as I'm massaging the right hammy, the left start tweaking out. At this point I'm yelling in pain and reminding myself to breath and spin, breath and spin. Whew....the cramps subside. I'm at the top of the climb and somebody is breathing down my neck. I slam into the big ring and get the hell out of there.
Again I'm on the rolling climb and I'm picking up more spots. Up in the distance I can the Anastasio's green Bicycle Trip jeresy. I settle into an easier gear and set my sights on him. I am closing in as we get to the little exposed, sandy climb, I shoot around him. He's not done yet, he latches on to my wheel and I can't shake him. We come up on a couple runners as we near the sandy section of the climb and I accelerate to block him from passing me. We are 50 ft from the top and he jumps me. I stand to accelerate nothing. I gotta recover. I sit, I spin and catch his wheel.
Ana's now in front of me on the descent, so I'm content just to keep up with him. We hit the final strech, once more thru the rock garden-tree root section and I stand and sprint with everything I have left. I see he cross the finish line ahead of me. I feel good. I rallyed back form a bad start. First mtb race of the year, with lots of climbing to boot. I need to start climbing more. Man oh man I need to start climbing more.
I spin down, thank Ana for the motivation and then we head back to meet up with the group for a recovery drink and a "recovery" drink. It was great to see my TWW crew, some of my 'cross mates from Altezza40, some other old faces and of course the Velo Bella-icious ladies.
Group shot - Altezza40, Velo Bella, TWW!
Thank you all for the cheering. When your HR is maxed out and you're slobbering all over yourself it very motivating to hear your friends and team mates cheering you on. It makes a huge difference. Thanks!
Next up, SOC Road Race, SOC MTB race. Then the following weekend, Wente RR, NVDC wham-bam-combo.
Thanks for reading!
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