4th Time's a Charm. O-Cup

I'm not making excuses... but 2 things.

1. Gears woulda helped hugely. SS in a geared category, probably not smart, but whatever. I love my bike somuch. HTFU is probably the answer here.. the SS category is epic man. I'd get destroyed. Looking back though I coulda dropped my gearing down a bit, and just climbed a bit slower, and descended a bit quicker. Woulda easily made up time..... looking back I can even see places I coulda been faster.

2. Need to believe in my legs a bit more, they deliver when I don't think they will.

After a calm and relaxed ride in Durham on Saturday... which included a pretty good amount of technical log overs and some rockbed. I found myself seeking out things to practice on during the ride. The causal air of my own "derp" riding came to a screeching halt when my pedal hit a hidden stump and my headset decided to punch me about 2" away from my dangly parts. The rest of the ride was actually really good. Relaxed but attentive and focused.

There was a pretty severe hill in there that I got to climb. Really technical. I could spend all day on that thing learning it. I'm glad I powered it out on my first try... it proved that sitting slowly on a hill is actually more detrimental to a single speeder then anything. I need speed/momentum in the hills, and usually all I get is some room right before them which is enough for a couple of cranks. Otherwise I'm grinding out in power mode.... this causes issues as most of the time as I get trapped on a hill and grind to the top. I'm not gassed, but my body is in a weird place where downs get slower cause I'm overly cautious trying to let my legs and lungs recover from the onslaught of what I figure is the equivalent of doing squats for 2 minutes straight.

Results

I came 14th out of 24 riders. In beginner. I am not super fast. I am not slow either.. on the otherhand.... if you match out speed and times for the podium guys, and go look around at other standings... well you get the picture. I would have placed mid pack for a Try an O-Cup.... which would have been like 5th.... but whatever, I had an awesome race... simply because of the finish... and I'll explain why yesterday was AWESOME.. though I'm definitely not racing beginner next year. I'll move to a proper category so I lose with pride.

RACE.....RRRRRRRRREPORT:

Line up and I crack jokes with some people. I'm the ONLY guy on a SS in the pack. There are many chuckles, and questions as to why I would do this to myself. I'm unsure as to how to answer them. I know its hard. But I don't want to come off like I'm sort of awesome rider or anything... I just say that I enjoy riding my bike, and its fun. More chuckles. I fire off my 3 speed joke about biking, walking, and pass me a beer. One guy tells me I'm his hero, another guy tells me I'm crazy when he see's I ride with a rigid front fork.

<opinion> Apparently Single Speeding is some level of masochism that I was unaware of. I did understand that it was harder, and I DO NOT SEARCH OUT any sort of kudos or anything about it, but people somehow respect single speeders just on what I guess is difficulty. It IS hard. Yes, but I chose to ride it not for the ooh's and ahhs of self inflicted difficulty. I ride it cause I'm TERRIBLE, and it makes my ride easier not managing gears, and suspension, and whatever. I get tunnel vision when I ride... having 1 gear means that when I need power, I move my legs, when I need to stop, I use my brakes. I appreciate encouragement on the course though, don't get me wrong, I am not ungrateful for the "GO CLDYE SINGLESPEEDER, YOU EFFIN ROCK* as someone yelled at me yesterday, THAT fuels me. But by no means am I searching for it. So I appreciate it when I'm racing</opinion>

AAND we're off.

AAAND its a hill first thing. FFFFFFFUUUUU. Naturally, I'm all pumped up and having no clue how to race, I power up this hill like a boss. I am IN FIRST PLACE. FIRST MOFUGGIN PLACE. I have dominated everyone up this hill. I look like a boss, I rode that hill like a BAWWS... I ride the single track, nobody can pass me as I take up a lot of room. I get to the first double track down. Guess who's not a boss anymore... THIS GUY. No matter how I spin, guys with gears are faster then me on downs :( Back into single track, I count at least 7 guys who pass me at this point. I'm also realizing that I'm redlining myself... and have been for the last 5 minutes. Not good.

Into the next climb on single track and I'm starting to get tunnel vision. I'm holding technical together well, but small mistakes are being made just due to the lack of oxygen. I calm myself down on the next section of double track and coast down it, giving my legs and lungs a break. I come out of the tunnel vision and into a pretty fun down. At this point I've counted about 10 guys past me. I catch them in the hills on their granny, but it works against me. They're slow and they can power out in their crazy gear ratio. I on the otherhand need lots of room to keep momentum up, and find myself torquing through these sections. I slide on a root, and its game over. I have to let another 4 guys by me on granny while I haul my bike to the top.


I go down the other side, and hit a slick section. Front tire gives a bit of a slide and I recover. Guy behind me says "Nice recovery man, I thought you were down". I say thanks.

I keep on going on, getting to some shattered stone down, and navigate it at a pretty good clip. Bike feels put together but I feel every single bump.... at this point, I want gears and a full suspension bike. I don't hate my bike, but those guys are milking this section by bombing the shiat out of it.

At this point I realize I'm getting angry. The last guy to pass me is a skinnier guy, probably 150 or so full suspension fully geared, race gear and all. I tell myself, you're going to keep with him, and you're going to beat him. I get into the last part of single track, its got a short down in it, with a pretty fun drop. I lose 0 speed here, and power up the last hill. I realize I have better hill legs then him as he's grannied up and spinning. I almost collide with him while powering up the hill. Into the recovery and lane section, people are cheering us through, and I pound some Gatorade.

Lap 2.

Start hill again. This time I crank to the top, but take a bit of time to do it so I don't trash myself.. I'm still on guyface's tire though. Though at this juncture an new challenger appears. He's right behind me. On the downs I can hear him, but on the double track he's not passing. I offer to let him by, but he says.. and I QUOTE THIS SHIT " No, you're good through the technical sections, I'm just stealing your lines".. Well eff me someone's borrowing MY lines. That's comedy... I suck.

I continue to ride well and this time I'm not red lining myself, but rather keeping at a good pace and keeping up to my frienemy who's bombing the flats, but getting caught in the hills.... all of which this time, I stand and deliver on. I'm actually warm now, and performance is there. Starting races cold is really dumb... like super dumb. My downs are actually much crisper this time through the twisty stuff. No "whoops" or "HOOOAHH" sections. I bomb through that rock section picking a good line, and all drops are ridden well. I cannot let this guy get too ahead of me. Lap 2 is my lap, it is slower then lap 1, but its stronger and I'm not off my bike at all.

Guyface behind me makes his move. He blows by me on some doubletrack.. I feel bad for him, he dives on the next section of single track :( It wasn't a hard fall but I get away from him a large distance before he's back up and biking.

I start to plan. This race is no longer vs 23 other people.. My fitness *Read: HAHAHAHAHAHA (tears)* takes over and I am biking well, so I drift to planning where I'm going to make my move. I plan it for the last part of the race, through that single track section with the down and small jump / drop. It has a very short but steep hill I'm going to power up, and time it to get right on his ass as we crest into the final sprint. We enter into the final section, and he's looking behind, he knows its on now, he's heard me behind him the entire race, hell I probably talked about the plan out loud for all I know, cause now he's riding hard.

750m left......

Into the sandy down and its on. I pedal my ass off, chose to go no brakes. I hit the down with him right in front, he brakes a bit, I ride the side and drop into it gaining some momentum.. We spin into the hill, and I start to hear the clicking of his gears.

Ever hear a drill Sgt yell at someone? Ever watch full metal jacket? Yeah, that right now is my brain. " YOU WILL GET UP THIS EFFING HILL AT SPEED, OR YOU WILL QUIT BIKING RIGHT NOW. I'M SURPRISED YOU EVEN MADE IT THIS FAR YOU FAT BASTARD, YOU GOING TO CLIMB THIS HILL LIKE A MAN AND BEAT THIS GUY, OR YOU'RE GONNA QUIT OUT BECAUSE YOU ARE A PANSY BOY. IT MEANS NOTHING RIGHT NOW TO ANYONE ELSE, BUT IF YOU LOSE THIS FIGHT I WILL NOT LET YOU LIVE THIS DOWN"

I have never, ever, ever hit a hill this hard. Remember, I suck hard and I have been close to red line this entire race cause I have no idea about energy conservation... But no, not this hill, not this time. I rickroll this hill like I'm possessed. I am standing, I am leg pressing trucks, and I EXPLODE over the crest and air my bike out. I hit the ground and I have passed him right at the spot I said I would. SPINNING like its going out of style, I never look back. I spin so hard, I cannot effing see what is beside me so it doesn't matter. 100M left, and I am into the grass and around a corner, still spinning. A EvoCycle rider yells out " GET GOIN MIRO, HE'S ON YOUR TIRE"

I hear Chico yelling and the crowd actually cheering the both of us as we're racing like its tour de frances final stretch. Its entertainment if anything. I am literally growling and grunting my ass off the entire stretch.

I beat him. By 3 seconds. He was coming for me at the end there in a bigger gear and I could hear him doing the same.

First place finish? No. But that finish in and of itself was epic to me.

That finish in and of itself is something I would say will keep me coming back to racing over and over.

I may never podium, but I'm having way more fun being in shape and looking better every week then the podium guys are getting puny medals.... a finish like that, is just an example of what I would have missed had I not started this quest.

Too awesome... too too awesome.

14th place baby. But it felt SO good... not because I finished... but because I actually planned something other then finishing. I planned a final sprint and a rank improvement. It wasn't a question about finishing.. but one of strategy... and this makes me so giddy.