Rob and I made the trip to Minden, WV for the ACE Adventure Bike Fest. We did this race last year and thought the course was awesome and were excited to go again this year. We got on the road early around 5:30 am. This is way too early for me to get up but figured Rob was driving, and I could catch some Z's on the way down.
The trip took about 4-1/2 hours and we were pretty happy when we finally got there. After I got registered I looked around and it seemed like there was a good turnout of about 100 racers. After a short warm up it was 11:00 and time to get started. The start was fast and the lead changed several times. About 25 minutes into the race there was a group of 5 of us that had a nice gap on the rest of the field.
Then Nick Waite and Gunnar got away from Rob and me. Rob caught up to Gunnar and left me behind. Andy Weidrich was close to me the entire time. When we were getting close to the end of the first lap I caught a glimpse of Rob. I was able to catch up and pass him before the first lap ended. I was by myself for what seemed like a long time. Then I saw Gunnar up ahead on a short road section. After working hard I finally bridged up to him and road his wheel for a little bit. Then Andy caught both of us and the three of us rode together for a bit. I fell back from them when we got back into some single track and never caught back up.
We had a great time and the trails were awesome... lots of rocks and some technical downhills. I wish we had more time after the race because all the racers got free passes for the water park at the ACE Adventure Center. It looked like a good time but we wanted to get on the road.
Thanks to Jeff ( the guy works on the trails) and everyone from ACE Adventure for the great race.
Check out http://www.iplayoutside.som/ and http://www.aceraft.com/ for more details
Here's the men's top five list
#1 Nick Waite
#2 Andy Weidrich
#3 Gunnar Shogren
#4 Justin Pokrivka
#5 Rob Spreng
Don't forget this weekend is the Subaru 24-Hour Champion Challenge at 7 Springs. See you there!
Justin
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I didn't do any races last weekend and it felt strange not making plans to race. This was the first time in 8 weeks that I didn't race on the weekend. But the break was nice and it gave me a chance to catch up on a few things and do some longer rides. I actually got a chance to ride with Ruth for a change. She always likes to go do some practice on the rocks so we went up to Moraine on Saturday for a few hours. It was a blast and the trails were in great shape and the new trail is getting ridden in pretty well.
Ruth doesn't agree with my advice for riding in the rocks. It's simple: go faster because the faster you go the less time you'll spend on the rocks. So the less time you spend on the rocks the smaller the chance of wrecking on the rocks. Maybe someday she'll see it my way.
Sunday I was finally able to hook up with Scott Root and we made the trip to Kennerdell. I've ridden several times before but this was going to be Scott's first time. I know the way around up there OK but have trouble putting it all together. We were out for about 2 hours when we ran into some friends and I was glad that we did. They took us on some new trails and I think that the next time I go there I'll be able to put great loop together.
We did some sections twice but Scott and me rode for about 4 hours and got over 35 miles in. There was even some stuff that we didn't get a chance to ride. But it was a great day for a long ride. Something else that made this weekend even better was I managed to stay upright the entire time. I plan on heading down to the Ace Adventure Center for WVMBA race on Sunday.
Justin
Ruth doesn't agree with my advice for riding in the rocks. It's simple: go faster because the faster you go the less time you'll spend on the rocks. So the less time you spend on the rocks the smaller the chance of wrecking on the rocks. Maybe someday she'll see it my way.
Sunday I was finally able to hook up with Scott Root and we made the trip to Kennerdell. I've ridden several times before but this was going to be Scott's first time. I know the way around up there OK but have trouble putting it all together. We were out for about 2 hours when we ran into some friends and I was glad that we did. They took us on some new trails and I think that the next time I go there I'll be able to put great loop together.
We did some sections twice but Scott and me rode for about 4 hours and got over 35 miles in. There was even some stuff that we didn't get a chance to ride. But it was a great day for a long ride. Something else that made this weekend even better was I managed to stay upright the entire time. I plan on heading down to the Ace Adventure Center for WVMBA race on Sunday.
Justin
Monday, August 11, 2008
Kinzua Classic
I decided to go up to Warren, PA for the Kinzua Classic. Jake and Scott Root made the trip, the race started at 9:00 on Sunday so we figured it would be best to get a Hotel in Warren. We left my house around 7:30 on Saturday and started out. The ride was pretty boring until we got to Tionesta when a deer ran out in front of us. The truck and everyone except the deer was OK, just a small dent in the bumper.
We checked in to the motel around 10:30 and watched some of the Olympics. Then we found out how much Scott knows about swimming. Everyone already knows how fast Scott is on a bike but Scott used to be fast in the water and still holds records at his high school. Figured that 6:30 would be a good time to get up so we would have time for breakfast. Then it was off to the race.
It seems no matter how early you plan to get a race you're always pressed for time. The three of us decided to do the long race-two laps, about 60 miles. After a short warm up it was time to go. I always like to know who the fast guys are. But of the forty people here the only two I knew for sure were fast was Steve Cummings and Jared Babik. The race started up a long climb about 2-1/2 miles but it wasn't too steep. I'm not sure what Jake was thinking but he was up in the front taking long pulls. I found out later that he regretted this poor decision. The pace was fast but not super hard then about 20 minutes in I started feeling the urge that I had to pee. I hoped that it would go away but it didn't. I was scared to pull over because it hard to catch back up to the pelaton. But at about 45 minutes in I couldn't stand it any longer. So I pulled over and went then worked very hard for the 5 minutes to bridge but finally caught on. It seems every race has a point at which the pace picks up.
So I knew it was going to happen just didn't know when and where. It finally came at about a hour into the race when we hit a steep climb. I somehow manged to stay in a group of about 15 riders. Then a few minutes later we were at the end of the first lap. Only 30 more miles to go, the pace stayed about the same and I figured the race would be won on the steep climb. I knew it was getting close and there were two groups of two riders that had a little gap on the field. Then someone attacked and I figured why not go with them. We started up the climb before the big one and he fell off. I decided to try and bridge up to the next group and finally did. Then a group of 3 caught us and they were flying and I manged to go with them. There was 5 of us and I knew the end was close. But it was then when I found out that there another climb and it was going to be an up hill finish. I stayed on for as long as I could then with about a ¼ mile to go there was one more attack and I didn't have anything left. But finished 5th overall and about 30 seconds back. Scott finished 6th in his age group and Jake had a rough day but still finished. It was a long race and after 2:40 of racing I was glad to be done. I want to thank all of the volunteers and organizers for the great event which benefits Warren County Family Services.
Here's the top 5 for the 60 miler:
#1 Steve Cummings
#2 Jared Bakek
#3 James Doan
#4 John Rowley
#5 Justin Pokrivka
You can find the full results at http://www.kinzuaclassic.com/ or at http://www.runhigh.com/
Justin
Friday, August 8, 2008
Trek XO1
Just got a Trek XO1 cross bike. I chose this bike for a couple of reasons. It seemed to be a great value with all Shimano 105, and I needed one with rim brakes because I bought it primarily to race it. The only things I swapped out were the seat and seat post for now. Had it out for a little spin and my first impression is good.
After I get some miles on it I'll give a lot more detailed review. Not sure what's up for the weekend, nobody will commit. There's the Black Bear race in Charleston, WV and the Kinzua Classic. The only person that gave me a definite answer was Ruth. She's heading up to 7-Springs to get ready for the 24 hour race and going to Roaring Run on the other day. No matter where I go there'll be plenty of fun to be had.
Justin
Monday, August 4, 2008
Mountaineer Stage Race
I went to Philippi WV for the Mountaineer Stage race over the weekend. I was trying to find someone to ride share with but couldn't get anyone to commit for both days. But on Friday night I got a hold of Ben Stephens and we decided to drive down both days together.
I was really excited about this event, it was going to be my first stage race. Saturday morning was the TT and it was my first TT race. When we got to the start I got to check out some really impressive TT bikes first hand. These are some pretty amazing bikes when you look at them up close. After a good warm up it was my time to go. I felt good and tried to ride aero and was happy with how I rode. But after seeing the results I finished in 7th place and Ben was 4th. But we both were more concerned about the time gap of 4 plus minutes. I'll need to invest in some aero bars, and do a little more practicing for the next TT.
We figured that with some of the free time that we had between the TT and the crit we would use it to drive Sunday's road race course. It's seemed like there would be a lot of climbing but looked to be fun and fast. When we were done we headed up to the college where the crit was going to take place. We just tried to relax and stay out of the sun. Then at about 3:30 we started to get ready for the crit. There was going to be 3 prems and they were going 3 deep for the time bonuses on the prems. There were also some time bonuses for the top five finishers. I wanted to at least get a few seconds if possible. I figured that the finishing time bonuses would be hard to get because a lot of people showed up that weren't at the TT.
I went a little to early for the first one and ended up 4th . But got a second and first on the other two. The last one came at a heavy price because it came with only 2 laps left and I ended up 6th in the end and just missed the last time bonus. On the ride home Ben and me figured that if we wanted to to well in the overall standing that we would have to attack early during the road race on Sunday. Just before I went to bed the overall standings were up and Ben was in 4th, 4 minutes back and I was in 6th, 5 minutes back.
I met Ben and Jake at 7:00 in Greentree and we were on our way. We were pretty happy to have Jake with us because he's a strong rider and we would need his help for our early attack. We got started up a nice long climb and there was a group of about 8 people that got away from the field. The three of us tried to break away but didn't have much luck. Finally we got a good gap but it didn't last too long. Somewhere near mile 11 we had a little encounter with a dog but luckily the motorcycle that was leading us out was able to hold it off until we got around it. Then we hit one of the bigger climbs and about halfway up I attacked and nobody came with me. So I had a decision to make go for it on my own or fall back into the pack?
I went for it on my own knowing that this would be my only chance to move up in the overall standings. I kept the group out of site until mile 25 then Jacob T, the overall leader, was starting to bridge the gap. I wasn't too glad to see him because he was one of the people I was trying to make some time on. But I was happy to have someone to work with because the climbing was over and it was going to be harder to stay away from the attacking pack. They got close once but we were able to work together and hold them off. Even though I drove the course yesterday, I didn't know how much further we had to go. I was glad that Jacob had a better memory than me because we could see a small hill coming up and he said that's the last one. And then it was about 1.5 miles down hill though the covered bridge on to the finish on Main street. We came out of the bridge together and I was able to beat him in the sprint for the victory.
The next thing was to see how soon the pack would finish. It seemed like about a minute so I knew it was going to be just a matter of seconds that would decide the over all standing. The next person to cross the finish line was Ben. After cooling down and waiting to see the overall standing, I was very happy to see that I moved up to 3rd in the overall standings. I was hoping for a top 5 in the overall standings. It was disappointing when Jake rolled in because he suffered from a flat.
Thanks to West Virginia University Cycling and Thad Kelly for a well organized event. Check out http://www.wvucycling.com/ for complete results.
This weekend we might make the trip to Charleston WV for the the Black Bear race. This a really fun course and was once called “The Scariest Mountain Bike Race in the World”. I've done this race in the past and it's a tough race but wasn't too scary.
Justin
I was really excited about this event, it was going to be my first stage race. Saturday morning was the TT and it was my first TT race. When we got to the start I got to check out some really impressive TT bikes first hand. These are some pretty amazing bikes when you look at them up close. After a good warm up it was my time to go. I felt good and tried to ride aero and was happy with how I rode. But after seeing the results I finished in 7th place and Ben was 4th. But we both were more concerned about the time gap of 4 plus minutes. I'll need to invest in some aero bars, and do a little more practicing for the next TT.
We figured that with some of the free time that we had between the TT and the crit we would use it to drive Sunday's road race course. It's seemed like there would be a lot of climbing but looked to be fun and fast. When we were done we headed up to the college where the crit was going to take place. We just tried to relax and stay out of the sun. Then at about 3:30 we started to get ready for the crit. There was going to be 3 prems and they were going 3 deep for the time bonuses on the prems. There were also some time bonuses for the top five finishers. I wanted to at least get a few seconds if possible. I figured that the finishing time bonuses would be hard to get because a lot of people showed up that weren't at the TT.
I went a little to early for the first one and ended up 4th . But got a second and first on the other two. The last one came at a heavy price because it came with only 2 laps left and I ended up 6th in the end and just missed the last time bonus. On the ride home Ben and me figured that if we wanted to to well in the overall standing that we would have to attack early during the road race on Sunday. Just before I went to bed the overall standings were up and Ben was in 4th, 4 minutes back and I was in 6th, 5 minutes back.
I met Ben and Jake at 7:00 in Greentree and we were on our way. We were pretty happy to have Jake with us because he's a strong rider and we would need his help for our early attack. We got started up a nice long climb and there was a group of about 8 people that got away from the field. The three of us tried to break away but didn't have much luck. Finally we got a good gap but it didn't last too long. Somewhere near mile 11 we had a little encounter with a dog but luckily the motorcycle that was leading us out was able to hold it off until we got around it. Then we hit one of the bigger climbs and about halfway up I attacked and nobody came with me. So I had a decision to make go for it on my own or fall back into the pack?
I went for it on my own knowing that this would be my only chance to move up in the overall standings. I kept the group out of site until mile 25 then Jacob T, the overall leader, was starting to bridge the gap. I wasn't too glad to see him because he was one of the people I was trying to make some time on. But I was happy to have someone to work with because the climbing was over and it was going to be harder to stay away from the attacking pack. They got close once but we were able to work together and hold them off. Even though I drove the course yesterday, I didn't know how much further we had to go. I was glad that Jacob had a better memory than me because we could see a small hill coming up and he said that's the last one. And then it was about 1.5 miles down hill though the covered bridge on to the finish on Main street. We came out of the bridge together and I was able to beat him in the sprint for the victory.
The next thing was to see how soon the pack would finish. It seemed like about a minute so I knew it was going to be just a matter of seconds that would decide the over all standing. The next person to cross the finish line was Ben. After cooling down and waiting to see the overall standing, I was very happy to see that I moved up to 3rd in the overall standings. I was hoping for a top 5 in the overall standings. It was disappointing when Jake rolled in because he suffered from a flat.
Thanks to West Virginia University Cycling and Thad Kelly for a well organized event. Check out http://www.wvucycling.com/ for complete results.
This weekend we might make the trip to Charleston WV for the the Black Bear race. This a really fun course and was once called “The Scariest Mountain Bike Race in the World”. I've done this race in the past and it's a tough race but wasn't too scary.
Justin
It's that time of year
It seems like it's far away but it's really not. What am I talking about? Cyclocross season......it starts in late September and early October but now is the time to start getting ready. I've got a lot to do between now and then. First, I need to get a crossbike then start working on dismounts and some bike handling skills. I decided that after having such a blast racing at the crits, I want to try to extend my season by doing cross racing this year.
I've done it in the past and but had gotten out of it and want to give it another go. The bad thing is that I sold my crossbike. But the good news is that I'm getting a new one (thank you Geo Bush for the stimulus check) it's always fun getting something new. One of the problems I'm facing is which one? Thanks to being financially handicapped it narrows the choices down some and availability makes the field even smaller.
I thought of buying a frame and building one up with some old and some new parts, but after doing the math there's not much of a savings. I have it narrowed down to three the Redline Pro, Trek X02, and the Specialized Comp double. I liked the Lemond Poprad but none are available in my size. I'm sure that I'll be happy with whatever I decide because their all great bikes.
Next thing I'm working on is trying find someone to share a ride with down to the Mountaineer Stage race this weekend. Seems like there's a lot of other stuff going on but I'm sure I'll be able to find someone.
Justin
I've done it in the past and but had gotten out of it and want to give it another go. The bad thing is that I sold my crossbike. But the good news is that I'm getting a new one (thank you Geo Bush for the stimulus check) it's always fun getting something new. One of the problems I'm facing is which one? Thanks to being financially handicapped it narrows the choices down some and availability makes the field even smaller.
I thought of buying a frame and building one up with some old and some new parts, but after doing the math there's not much of a savings. I have it narrowed down to three the Redline Pro, Trek X02, and the Specialized Comp double. I liked the Lemond Poprad but none are available in my size. I'm sure that I'll be happy with whatever I decide because their all great bikes.
Next thing I'm working on is trying find someone to share a ride with down to the Mountaineer Stage race this weekend. Seems like there's a lot of other stuff going on but I'm sure I'll be able to find someone.
Justin
Wilderness 101
Wilderness 101
Just wanted to say hi and start telling you about some of my adventures and what I've been up this year. I'll start with last weekend and work in some of the older stuff from the spring later. This weekend we made the trip out to Colburn PA near State College for the Wilderness 101.
There was four of us that set out Friday afternoon that included Ruth, Jake, and Steevo. The trip out was pretty uneventful except for finding out how fast a Ford F350 diesel can go.
We got to Colburn park around 6:00 got our compound set up, talked to some familiar faces and headed out to do a short ride. After the ride we made some dinner and started talking about tomorrow. This is when I found out that is was going to be Jake's first MTB ever. I met Jake last fall on one of Barry's Friday night rides and then ran into him at some road races earlier this spring. I felt kind of bad because I was the one who talked him into doing this race, I know Jakes a really strong rider but it's had to prepare someone for what there're going to encounter in a 100 mile MTB race.
Saturday morning came fast with wake up call at 5:15 after struggling to get out of my sleeping bag I finally made it out of the tent around 6:00. Headed over to get breakfast and some coffee. Then came back and started to get ready for today's adventure. I made it up to the start line by 7:00 and seen allot of famliar fast faces the group of 250 plus racers. Like Chris Eatough, Jeff Schalk, Harlan Price, Brandon Draugelis, Gerry Pflug, Gunner Shogren and some of the WVMBA racers just to name a few. This was going to be my third time and this race and my biggest goal was to finish in under 8 hours and finish feeling strong. I was really excited about doing the race this year because I felt pretty confident that I could achieve my goals.
Because I've done this race before I thought I new what to expect but that turned out to be wrong. In the past the race starts off fast but not crazy fast like in shorter XC races. But this year about 8 of the big guns just took off up the first climb and just put a big gap and never look back. I managed to get in a group of 10 people and we got away for the field but had no chance of catching the leaders. After about 55 minutes we came to the first aid station and this where the pace always picks up a little bit because it's the first bit of off road trails. The only thing that really changed between aid station one and two was sometimes you were in group with 3 and other times there would be 7 people but they were all the same faces.
I rolled in to aid station 2 with Gerry, and Wes Schempf. I made a quick stop just to get some liquids and headed out first. I seen Gerry asking for a pump and figured he was having some trouble. I knew there was a big climb coming and my plan was to get started up it before they did and when they caught up to me I could stick to there wheels. But after I got going I was surprised that the person that caught up with me first was Andy Gorski. So we took turns pulling up the hill and finally got to some sweet down hill single track. Then it was back to climbing again this is were everything changed for me. About 2/3 of the way up the climb I cracked and started to cramp a little and fell back from Andy's wheel. Then Steevo caught me and we finally reached the top and of the climb together. I was able to put some time on Steevo on the down hill but it didn't really help much because he past me few miles later.
I finally got to aid station 3 and was feeling pretty bad but was happy because I was well ahead of schedule to finish in under 8 hours. After having several glasses of Coke and filling up on water I grabbed a PBJ sandwich and headed out. I knew that there was a long single track climb coming up and felt a little better. So just geared down and started spinning up the climb. I was feeling better maybe it was the Coke or getting out of the sun a little bit. I felt like I had a nice pace going but I found out soon that wasn't the case, because I heard someone behind me and it turned out to be Gerry Pflug. This is how I found out that my pace was allot slower than I thought it was. It was also about the point that I realized the huge mistake I made. Thursday I decided to put bar ends on my handle bars. I have a love hate relationship with bar ends. I love them for climbing and they help with fatigue because of the different positioning. The hate I have is I feel confined on the bars and lose a little bit of confidence in the technical sections and always worry about snagging them on a tree. But the biggest problem with them today was after I put them on I didn't ride my bike. When I wrapped my thumbs around the bars my thumbs would hit the shift levers and constantly change gears on the long descents. I figured that I had two choices one stop and adjust it or two deal with it I went with number two.
When I got to number four I was very excited because couldn't wait to get some more Cokes. But to my disappointment there was none there but was promised that #5 had some. I also knew there was only 25 miles left and from what I could remember I only had 3 big climbs left and some sweet singletrack. Plus I still thought I could reach my goal of under 8 hours. I made it up the climb feeling OK and figured that the long rocky descent would pose no problems but I was wrong again. This is when I realized my second mistake that I should have stopped and adjusted my shiftiers. But after the descent when I was in the rolling singletrack and I had another surprise. I ran into some friends of my Gunner, Benji and Chris McGill I like these guys but wasn't to happy to them right now. This was the lowest point of the day not because they caught and past me like I was standing still. But because I felt really bad both mentally and physically.
I made it to #5 and was happy to get there and as promised they had Coke. I knew that there's was only 12 more miles that included some rail trail a big climb the fisherman trail and one last stretch of rail trail. After about 15 small cups of Coke I thought I was ready but that quickly changed. I was happy to get to the first rail trail section but my ass wasn't as happy as the rest of me. Then after the rail trail I started up the last and final climb I was glad to know that is was only 3 mikes long. After about 5 minutes of climbing is when I was wishing I was back on the rail trail.This was when it finally hit me that I wasn't going to make more than my goal of 8 hours. But finally I made it to the top and was treated to a long gravel descent. Then on to the fisherman's which is just short piece of very technical singletrack. I think it all ridable but after 8 hours and 96 miles of riding I wasn't too interested in trying it today. So I hiked though and made it to the final section of rail trail crossed the bridge went through the tunnel and onto the last mile of road. After eight hours and eighteen minutes it was finally over. I finished 16th in the men's open and there was 5 really fast SS that got in before me so that made me 21st in the overall standings. It always feels good to finish but today it felt really good. I headed down to the stream to cool down and relax for a bit. Then off to get some of the great food and too hear about some the crazy things that happened out there.
Here's how our group ended up Steevo had a great race and finished 11th, the ever fast and reliable Scotty Root got another 1st place in the master class. Jake finished in just under 9-1/2 hours not to bad for your first MTB I'm glad too that he still talking to me. Ruth finished in about 13 hours a little off her pace from last year. Next time you see her besure to ask her about her first rattlesnake encounter.
I would also like to say thanks to Chris Scott and staff for the awsome job they did of organiizing this great event also for keeping everyone safe and keeping our bellies full.
Men's top five list Jeff Schalk, Chris Eatough, Harlan Price, Christian Tanguy, Chris Beck
Women's top five Cheryl Sornson, Michelle Stopper, Carey Lowery, Karen Potter,Betsy Shogren
Be sure to check out http://www.mntouring.com/ for more coverage and to see some of the other great events Chris puts on.
Justin
Posted by Justin at 6:29 PM 0 comments
Just wanted to say hi and start telling you about some of my adventures and what I've been up this year. I'll start with last weekend and work in some of the older stuff from the spring later. This weekend we made the trip out to Colburn PA near State College for the Wilderness 101.
There was four of us that set out Friday afternoon that included Ruth, Jake, and Steevo. The trip out was pretty uneventful except for finding out how fast a Ford F350 diesel can go.
We got to Colburn park around 6:00 got our compound set up, talked to some familiar faces and headed out to do a short ride. After the ride we made some dinner and started talking about tomorrow. This is when I found out that is was going to be Jake's first MTB ever. I met Jake last fall on one of Barry's Friday night rides and then ran into him at some road races earlier this spring. I felt kind of bad because I was the one who talked him into doing this race, I know Jakes a really strong rider but it's had to prepare someone for what there're going to encounter in a 100 mile MTB race.
Saturday morning came fast with wake up call at 5:15 after struggling to get out of my sleeping bag I finally made it out of the tent around 6:00. Headed over to get breakfast and some coffee. Then came back and started to get ready for today's adventure. I made it up to the start line by 7:00 and seen allot of famliar fast faces the group of 250 plus racers. Like Chris Eatough, Jeff Schalk, Harlan Price, Brandon Draugelis, Gerry Pflug, Gunner Shogren and some of the WVMBA racers just to name a few. This was going to be my third time and this race and my biggest goal was to finish in under 8 hours and finish feeling strong. I was really excited about doing the race this year because I felt pretty confident that I could achieve my goals.
Because I've done this race before I thought I new what to expect but that turned out to be wrong. In the past the race starts off fast but not crazy fast like in shorter XC races. But this year about 8 of the big guns just took off up the first climb and just put a big gap and never look back. I managed to get in a group of 10 people and we got away for the field but had no chance of catching the leaders. After about 55 minutes we came to the first aid station and this where the pace always picks up a little bit because it's the first bit of off road trails. The only thing that really changed between aid station one and two was sometimes you were in group with 3 and other times there would be 7 people but they were all the same faces.
I rolled in to aid station 2 with Gerry, and Wes Schempf. I made a quick stop just to get some liquids and headed out first. I seen Gerry asking for a pump and figured he was having some trouble. I knew there was a big climb coming and my plan was to get started up it before they did and when they caught up to me I could stick to there wheels. But after I got going I was surprised that the person that caught up with me first was Andy Gorski. So we took turns pulling up the hill and finally got to some sweet down hill single track. Then it was back to climbing again this is were everything changed for me. About 2/3 of the way up the climb I cracked and started to cramp a little and fell back from Andy's wheel. Then Steevo caught me and we finally reached the top and of the climb together. I was able to put some time on Steevo on the down hill but it didn't really help much because he past me few miles later.
I finally got to aid station 3 and was feeling pretty bad but was happy because I was well ahead of schedule to finish in under 8 hours. After having several glasses of Coke and filling up on water I grabbed a PBJ sandwich and headed out. I knew that there was a long single track climb coming up and felt a little better. So just geared down and started spinning up the climb. I was feeling better maybe it was the Coke or getting out of the sun a little bit. I felt like I had a nice pace going but I found out soon that wasn't the case, because I heard someone behind me and it turned out to be Gerry Pflug. This is how I found out that my pace was allot slower than I thought it was. It was also about the point that I realized the huge mistake I made. Thursday I decided to put bar ends on my handle bars. I have a love hate relationship with bar ends. I love them for climbing and they help with fatigue because of the different positioning. The hate I have is I feel confined on the bars and lose a little bit of confidence in the technical sections and always worry about snagging them on a tree. But the biggest problem with them today was after I put them on I didn't ride my bike. When I wrapped my thumbs around the bars my thumbs would hit the shift levers and constantly change gears on the long descents. I figured that I had two choices one stop and adjust it or two deal with it I went with number two.
When I got to number four I was very excited because couldn't wait to get some more Cokes. But to my disappointment there was none there but was promised that #5 had some. I also knew there was only 25 miles left and from what I could remember I only had 3 big climbs left and some sweet singletrack. Plus I still thought I could reach my goal of under 8 hours. I made it up the climb feeling OK and figured that the long rocky descent would pose no problems but I was wrong again. This is when I realized my second mistake that I should have stopped and adjusted my shiftiers. But after the descent when I was in the rolling singletrack and I had another surprise. I ran into some friends of my Gunner, Benji and Chris McGill I like these guys but wasn't to happy to them right now. This was the lowest point of the day not because they caught and past me like I was standing still. But because I felt really bad both mentally and physically.
I made it to #5 and was happy to get there and as promised they had Coke. I knew that there's was only 12 more miles that included some rail trail a big climb the fisherman trail and one last stretch of rail trail. After about 15 small cups of Coke I thought I was ready but that quickly changed. I was happy to get to the first rail trail section but my ass wasn't as happy as the rest of me. Then after the rail trail I started up the last and final climb I was glad to know that is was only 3 mikes long. After about 5 minutes of climbing is when I was wishing I was back on the rail trail.This was when it finally hit me that I wasn't going to make more than my goal of 8 hours. But finally I made it to the top and was treated to a long gravel descent. Then on to the fisherman's which is just short piece of very technical singletrack. I think it all ridable but after 8 hours and 96 miles of riding I wasn't too interested in trying it today. So I hiked though and made it to the final section of rail trail crossed the bridge went through the tunnel and onto the last mile of road. After eight hours and eighteen minutes it was finally over. I finished 16th in the men's open and there was 5 really fast SS that got in before me so that made me 21st in the overall standings. It always feels good to finish but today it felt really good. I headed down to the stream to cool down and relax for a bit. Then off to get some of the great food and too hear about some the crazy things that happened out there.
Here's how our group ended up Steevo had a great race and finished 11th, the ever fast and reliable Scotty Root got another 1st place in the master class. Jake finished in just under 9-1/2 hours not to bad for your first MTB I'm glad too that he still talking to me. Ruth finished in about 13 hours a little off her pace from last year. Next time you see her besure to ask her about her first rattlesnake encounter.
I would also like to say thanks to Chris Scott and staff for the awsome job they did of organiizing this great event also for keeping everyone safe and keeping our bellies full.
Men's top five list Jeff Schalk, Chris Eatough, Harlan Price, Christian Tanguy, Chris Beck
Women's top five Cheryl Sornson, Michelle Stopper, Carey Lowery, Karen Potter,Betsy Shogren
Be sure to check out http://www.mntouring.com/ for more coverage and to see some of the other great events Chris puts on.
Justin
Posted by Justin at 6:29 PM 0 comments
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