Cranky Monkey #3, 8/24/2008

My training plan for the 3rd race in the Cranky Monkey series ran thusly: work 12 hour days and don't train for 5 weeks, and do a ride at Gambrill the day before. It worked out better than I would have thought. Why, I don't know.

Prior to the start, race director Jim Harmon told us, "It's a really smooth course, you're gonna love it!" Maybe he hadn't ridden it, or rode it on a 5 inch trail bike, because while a good bit of it was pretty smooth, the descents beat the crap out of me with the rigid fork. The spokes were crying in pain, ping! pang! in time to my own grunts and bursts of profanity as I used what little skills I had in an attempt to keep a light grip, arms relaxed, and let the bike move beneath me as well as I could. Thank goodness for big, fat, high-volume tires and tubeless conversions that let me ride with less than 20 PSI of pressure. Slowly I'm learning to ride quickly with a rigid fork and not feel like tenderized meat afterward, and I definitely noticed an improvement this race over where I started several months ago, but my shoulders and neck were still tight and sore for two days.

Atypically, I got to the race venue an hour early, despite it being an hour and 20 minute drive; time enough that I didn't have to rush, and was even able to do a little 5 minute warm up. Not that it helped any, but I was conforming to tradition and conventional wisdom. Lined up at the start, the siren went off, and after some gravel and pavement I got on the trail about half-way back (possibly further) in the pack. As usual I didn't feel like going into oxygen debt right at the start. My legs had no snap in them anyway, and I was somewhat regretting the ride the day before, when I'd felt so fantastic, but I kept a fairly decent pace and tried not to use up too much of my reserves muscling up the steep climbs, of which there were far too many more than I remembered.

I started feeling better on the second lap.  Well enough that was able to continue passing people, some in my own class, and keep my pace up.  Well enough that my second lap was only a few seconds off the time of the first one.  As happens in many mountain bike races, after a while I was pretty much keeping myself company, occasionally passing someone.  One guy on a geared bike who should have been in the expert instead of the sport class did pass me on the second lap, but other than that the only people I saw were the ones I passed.  Uneventful, really, that second lap; but fun, and painful, and wonderful.  I somehow ended up in 4th place out of 15 for the second race in a row.  It was a good feeling, and satisfying.

Eight racers in DCMTB jerseys showed up Sunday. Tom, Mike Scardaville, Matt, and Eric battled in the expert class that's become so fast, and Tris battled back problems in sport women. Lynne crushed the rest of the expert women, as usual. If she gets any faster someone is going to sign her up for a pro team. She also finished 1st in the points series total. Other series total top finishers: Tris finished 4th in sport women, Tom Vaughn 4th in expert men 35+, and myself 4th in singlespeed. Six podium appearances Sunday. Way to go DCMTB!

Cranky Monkey #2 - 2008

I decided after the first lap of Cranky Monkey #2 at Fountainhead Park in Virginia that the trail there isn't such a great singlespeed race course. Especially riding fully rigid and having your teeth rattle about in your head. The whole thing is just roots, direction changes and short, steep hills, with very little chance to stay in the saddle and pedal, and taken all together it worked to minimize the advantages of riding a singlespeed. Having said that, it was still a lot of fun to race today.

8 AM this morning found me wolfing down a bowl of hot cereal, then racing down to the car to put a pair of cleats on a brand spanking new pair of biking shoes, to go with a new style of pedals (Crank Brothers) that I had ridden for the first time the day before. I was hoping everything held together, as I'd also installed a new bottom bracket to go with the pedals. At 8:08 AM I was on the road, and after an hour and a half drive I arrived with not much more than 20 minutes to put shoes on, hit the porta-john, get my race packet (thanks for getting that for me Mike!), get everything together, and make it to the line for the 10 am start. No warm up and cold legs is not how I would normally want to start a race, but what the hell, I could warm up during the 2 mile road start. I was on the front line for the start, and a few guys went off quick, spinning like mad. I have a pretty fast spin, but without warming up I just wasn't feeling too spinny. After the first mile (is it really 2 miles?) I was near the rear of the class of 15 or 16 riders, but was able to make it to mid-pack in the second mile, and was positioned about where I wanted to be going into the woods. Although, after going fast on the road, a few of the guys in front of me were slowing me up on the trail. Whatever, I had determined not to blow myself up in the first few miles, choosing instead to keep a good steady pace and let the engine warm up for a bit.

My legs were feeling good for most of the race, and as the first lap wore on I passed 4 or 5 singlespeeders, until by the end of it I was somehow in 4th place. I didn't know it at the time though -- I thought I was somewhere in the top third but didn't realize how far up I'd gone. I managed to pass Jonathan Seibold somewhere near the end of the first lap as well, before passing one more guy. During the second lap Seibold recovered from going out too hard and about a third of the way into it I looked back to see where people were and there he was, chasing me down. "Damn. Okay, I can't let up. I have to keep on pushing hard, see if I can hold onto this position until the end." For most of the rest of the lap I was looking back periodically. Sometimes I wouldn't see anyone, and then there he'd be, and I'd think, "Damn, he's closing on me." That lap seemed like a long one, with me and my sore back trying to hold onto our gains. As I came to each hill I'd think, "This race is going to be decided on the hills. I have to gas it and give it all I've got." Surprisingly, my legs always felt strong, and even on the steepest hills that were near impossible on a singlespeed I was able to jump off and run up the rest of the way. I can't remember ever having that kind of fitness. Up the last of the hills I pushed hard and kept pressure on the pedals, and was finally able to make some distance on Seibold, but he pushed me to give it my all that whole lap. I didn't know it, but I must have been closing in on third place, as I finished only 24 seconds behind.

So, I got to stand on the podium and collected a 4th place finish pint glass. Sweet! There was a bit of a mix up with the scoring, as originally I didn't even show up in the singlespeed class at all. Several of the guys let me know this, and I was able to straighten it out with the scorer. Apparently they had recorded my number as 386, but the number they gave me was 286. There weren't a whole lot of DCMTB/City Bikes jerseys there today, I think a total of 7 altogether, but we had 5 people on the podium. Tris Newbury took 4th in women's sport, Joel Gwadz dominated the clydesdales to take 1st, Tom Vaughn battled the expert vets to get 5th (and that's a hard class to race in to be sure!), Lynne Oliver stepped on the gas for her third lap in the women's expert class to soundly beat the woman she trailed for two laps, and I held a steady pace to wind up 4th in the singlespeed class. Great job everyone!