Coyote Ugly

I should have taken James Harmon's words to heart when I asked about Coyote Hill's mtb course: BRUTAL.

Headed up early with (40-49) Root 66 series leader Brian Cantele and his wife Andi for what would be a 3+ hour drive. We dropped off Andi and her trusted Giant in the neighborhood of Walpole, VT for her (what would be) 5 hour slog to the race in 20+mph headwinds. She gets the tough (wo)man award for the day.

Arriving at the race venue, I soon realized what Brian meant by terrible accommodations. It's bascially a narrow pitched dirt road that you just park on the side of. Warming up, my legs felt like cement pistons and I was thinking that this was going to be a sufferfest. At the start, I saw some familiar faces from the previous 2 races I've done.

I'm still getting the hang of this whole mtb race thing. It seems I can't get my effort dialed in just right. My miles being primarily aerobic on the road, I suppose going anaerobic repeatedly over a nearly 2 hour period is going to take some getting used to. In essence it's a glorified cross race. Being a notoriously slow starter, the first mile or so was tailored more to my strengths. The deal was they sent you through a field that kicked up and out onto a dirt road. The dirt road nagged on for another kilometer or so at a solid 15% grade. Near the top, it shot you into some fast swoopy singletrack which provided for ample recovery. They had started us 30's with the singlespeeders and I was wishing CB2 was there for "carrotting". I got into the woods about mid-pack which is significantly better than my previous starts. I seem to get this anxiety thing through the techy stuff when someone who is better than me starts breathing down my neck. So being the (too) nice of a guy I am, I usually let them pass when it opens up. I know, I know...

After the swoopy descent, we were back to a climbin' in the form of a techy, rocky kicker that was pushing 20+% gradient. I was thinking that this was going to be a whole lot of "fun" on the ensuing laps. The singletrack after this point just got progressively more technical. I kept the usual suspects in my sights with Robbie Carmen and Kerry Robair just ahead and Craig Kennedy a few seconds further up. Kerry ended up flatting or something on a rock garden in the first lap and I had to dismount and run by him. There were several small brook crossings and myriad roots to traverse. My feelings about roots became eerily reminiscent of my feelings about rocks toward the end of hiking Mt. Washington. This course was far and away the most technical to date. I would give this course a solid 8.5/10 whereas Winsted is maybe a 6.

I picked off Robbie in the feedzone after semi-attacking in the field. (Sorry if that was against mtb etiquette, Rob.) I began to find my legs on the beginning of the 2nd lap and absolutely cooked the dirt road climb before the singletrack. I think I picked off 3-4 riders here including Craig. I hit the singletrack descent as fast as I could in order to "disappear" but keeping in mind that "I still have to go to work on Monday". It's interesting to note here how much slower the better technical riders get when they're tired. Rode the 2nd lap primarily by myself until someone was coming up hard. I didn't look back but I was thinking that it had to be a junior as the way he was railing the rocky root descents, he wasn't thinking about tomorrow. I let him pass and paced off him for another 10 minutes or so until he disappeared.

The deep mud sections were getting worse and I dismounted and ran for probably 2 minutes each of the last two laps. I started to think that a little running maybe a couple times a week would be beneficial for times like these, especially when my calves felt they were being blowtorched. My 2nd and 3rd laps were faster than my first which again is indicative of my pathetically slow starts. I felt like I was maintaining speed much better "over the roots and through the woods" and braking much less. I ended up in 6th about 7 minutes down to the winner after being (again) misinformed that I was 4th. Oh well, the elusive podium will have to wait. If only three guys ahead of me had untimely mechanicals...

All in all, it was another positive mtb race experience. I feel like my tech skills are coming along nicely particularly on a course as tough as Coyote Hill. Brian won again despite being (finally) pushed a little on the final lap. James represented well in the Pros finishing 4th. After feeling like I fought an hour and 45 min. MMA match, I sit here with battered body wondering how James did 4 laps of that course on a single speed with zero suspension. Crazy.

Giro

What an interesting Giro it's been. I like how the promoter likes to push the envelope, particularly with the stage of the strade bianche that Cadel won and today's nasty hillclimb time trial up Kronplatz. No hiding there, just straight watts per kilogram my friends. I guess I like the unpredictability of stage outcomes with the stage where 50 some odd guys got away and gapped many of the favorites by close to 15 minutes. This last week will be beyond epic. I'm getting tired just thinking of it. I can't imagine how those guys are feeling some 2+ weeks into it. I'm really rooting for Cadel or as an outside shot, Sastre. I'm still waiting for this bump in form that you usually see from him.

Tough ride tonight, 50 miles, 3700' climbing, 18 mph avg. Felt pretty strong on the climbs despite mtb race Sunday and spirited hike with Em up Mt. Alander yesterday. Creaking bottom bracket needs to be attended to asap. I'm thinking tomorrow would be a good day off, maybe I'll mow the lawn. Probably encountered the biggest douche ever in the 4 years I've been riding. Hanging out the window, I get:

"Nice tights, asshole. Do you suck his dick?" (referring to Mark who I was riding with)

It really goes beyond my commenting but I'm still some 3 hours later looking for the humor in that one. I will say that if that were my kid I'd be thoroughly embarrassed.

Old school "training" and racing...

Or shall I say, down to. I've dropped ~8# over the last 3 weeks, currently a svelter 152 and change. Definitely feeling faster on the climbs. I've started riding my CX rig with a large water bottle weighing ~.3kg about a month and a half ago. I've since graduated to a smaller bottle half-filled with sand at ~.5kg and finally about a week ago, a full bottle weighing a full kilo. To tell you the truth, I don't really know it's there, probably because I've lost more bodyweight than I've put back on the bike with "training bottle". The bike with "training bottle" and full large water bottle weighs over 22# and pedaling this thing around has without a doubt made me significantly stronger. To check my progress, I did my first real fitness test early last week on my unloaded cross bike on a nearby climb that rises ~400 ft. over one mile. I was surprised to see that I was within 3 seconds of my PR despite riding my unloaded CX bike at ~18.5# and my bw at the time was 154.5. Last year, when I set the PR, I was on my sub 14# Cervelo and my bw was 148. If my math is right, I'm producing roughly 7% more power than last year. It might actually be more than that if you factor in differences in frame performance (Giant TCX is a tad more noodly than the R3SL), drivetrain drag, and tire width (23 vs. 25). Whatever the case, I believe I'm onto something here and I highly recommend trying it, even if it means getting dropped from time to time. But hey, you've got nothing to lose: If I hang on the climbs, you get them thinking, damn, he's got a kilo of sand. Or if I happen to get dropped, well, you should drop me.

Speaking of Cervelos, I went up to Hot Tubes last Friday to pick up Black Betty. Toby did an outstanding job. Now all I need to do is buy new shifters, brakes and other miscellaneous parts. In the meantime, my buddy Brian has upgraded to a 29er so it was an opportune time to buy his Titus Racer X. The bike is multiple steps up from my Specialized Epic Comp. It weighed in at a scant 23.5# the other day with Stan's ZTR race wheels. I'm extremely happy with ride quality, as it climbs and descends like a missile. Now I just have to catch up to it. So yeah, due to some prodding from the Cycleworx crew or Cyclejerks as Brian calls us, and SS guru CB2, I've entered the world of mtb racing. I did my first race at Winding Trails (what better place I guess) as a Cat 2 and finished 2nd. Probably would have been victorious had I not entered singletrack DFL (30+ in field) and been taken out by a number of riders. Oh well, scored a nice pump and got to hang with infamous hilljunkie.

Upgraded to Cat 1 due to additional "prodding" from Brian. Would have been nice to actually win a race in Cat 2, but I guess I'd rather finish mid-pack against better competition. We headed up to Orchard Assault, with Cat 1 mtb license in hand, and no bottle holder to speak of. I believe the latter is what led to my undoing. I had one large water bottle and drank roughly 2/3 of it over a 2 hour period. It was relentless climbing with some swoopy singletrack. I think I had over 4000' over 18 miles. It was 7 laps of a 2.6 mile loop or so. I guess that's what you have to do when you only have a few acres to lay out a course. They lined all the Cat1s up together, the gun goes off and Brian was pretty much instantly gone. I am notorious for ridiculously slow starts but I managed to be middle of the pack and probably burnt too many matches in the first couple of laps on the climbs passing people. My hydration, or lack thereof, started to take its toll in the 6th lap as I resorted to having to granny this section that was probably pushing 25% gradient. My last lap was progressively worse and I got passed by 2 or 3 guys. I was glad it was over as my back felt like someone jammed a pitchfork in it. I crossed the line 9th out of nearly 30 starters. Not bad for first Cat1 race despite imploding in last 1/3 of race. Brian finished 8 minutes or so ahead of me despite numerous stops for mechanicals. James won his first Pro race while Josh rounded out the podium. On the bright side, at least I have strong riders to chase after (well for a couple of minutes anyway) in order to get faster.

Winsted Woods was yesterday. The course is literally in my backyard. I've probably done a dozen or so laps of the course over the last month so I knew the lines pretty well. Hey, due to mediocre tech skills, I need all the help I can get. Lining up, the 30-39s had I think 15 guys. Of course, going into the woods, who's in last place? Yep, me. I figured it would be a 2 hour effort so there'd be plenty of time to pick people off on the climbs. Besides, I'm down to an even svelter 151 so I'm feeling better when the grade pitches upward. (If only I could drop another 15# I'd be down in CB2 territory.) So I work my way up the field and I'm probably mid-pack when CB2 comes by halfway through 2nd lap. I gladly gave him a clear lane as to not impede his progress. The countdown was on when Brian would come steaming by and sure enough, maybe a minute or so later he came upon me. On the upper ridge of the course, he pulled me through the traffic, yelling encouragement. How he's talking at all I could not figure out. I guess when you're an anaerobic animal you don't need much O2 to supply power to the wheels. I probably picked off 4-5 guys during Brian's "tow". I crested the top of the rocky climb not far off him and I was glad to take a cup of water from the guy up there in order to rinse the vomit back down my esophagus that was slowly creeping up. I kept Brian in sight for another minute or so and then on another kicker he was gone, as he passed maybe 6 guys, including CB2. My last 2 laps were unceremonious. In retrospect (I know, I know) I probably could have ridden them harder. I caught and passed a few 19-29s and they misinformed me that I was in the lead. I rode tempo the remainder of the lap. I honestly could have done another lap if I had to which leads me to believe that I didn't go as hard as I should have. (This was definitely NOT the case at Orchard Assault.) I'm thinking that the new water bottle holder had something to do with it. I wish I had ridden harder though, as I was only 30 seconds or so from the podium. Oh well, I'll be there next year. James finished just off the podium with Josh in 7th despite numerous mechanical issues. That's a mental victory in itself. Brian blasted the 40+ field to smithereens and the venerable CB2 was victorious in the SS. Everyone came over the new house for post-race refueling. Sorry about the burnt veggie burgers, Charlie and Josh! I'd like to thank the lovely Em for cheering me on (as usual) and Kevin and Kara (with child) for their support as well.