It was a race I was looking forward to since last year. I was fairly close to riding it in 2010, but just didn't figure I had the endurance to do it yet. But its a race in my home town, *Welland.. close enough*, and I used to bum around there when I was a kid on my BMX. Of course things are very different now, but riding by the old flour mill was nostalgic enough, and seeing the canal again was a good reminder of crashing my BMX into trees and how much fun it was back then.
Meaghan and I packed up for a weekend at my grandmothers. I knew it was going to be tough to eat right the day before the race. I kept the incredibly good home cooked food to a minimum. It was hard, grandma always has enough food to feed an army, and its always my favorite sausages / polenta / chicken / potatoes etc. Its also as much as you can eat. I opted for salads and picking away at the better food. We were having a BBQ the next day, and I figured I'd reward myself with a couple of steaks after the race as a recovery food.
I slept alright. I don't usually sleep well the night before a race but what can you do? There was a 4-5am storm that came rolling through spilling a bunch of rain down. I figured this was a bad sign. I had heard that the course was fairly technical, and rain would just make everything slick. I got up and out at 8am. Small puddles here and there, but everything looked to be drying up. Though the humidity became a concern. Walking to my car I got a bit of a dose of how the rest of the day would be.
I got down to the City Tavern and signed in. Only 5 Singlespeed entrants. I knew of 2 of them. I figured knowing the caliber of riders on SS's. I had no choice but to resign myself to last or near bottom of my division. I could only place through mechanical failures. I don't wish those on anyone, they're demoralizing and expensive.. I would know. I'm sporting new cranks :(
I sat and talked to Frosti from MTBR for a while before heading out to the starting line. I never got to speak with him after that but I hope his race went fine.
I rode around for a good 30 min or so to warm up. I watched the kids race leave and then went looking for a hill to try a few times.
After my first hill, my rear brake started making some weird noise. Its then I realized I didn't pack any tools with me. So quickly back to my car, grab my park tools, air, etc. Fix the rear brake, and head off.
I got trolled hard by the event organizers. I started in Wave 1. I thought that was comedy. As I pulled into the lanes for the waves. I looked around and saw all 4 other SS riders. The other riders there were pretty skinny guys and looked pretty fit. At this point, my goal was completion in under 2H and not to get passed by any 2nd wave riders. I think I outweighed the entire first wave by 3lbs if you put them all on a scale together.
Horn sounded, and everyone in my wave is gone. I'm geared way to tall to keep up with them without spinning out. I am in front of one rider, and I catch another on the first hill. I don't manage to get in front of them, and my first section of single track is slow. I'm better at technical then they are as I almost run him over twice as I fly over logs and a few rock gardens. My turns for my first lap are pretty dominant, and I'm not on my brake as often as I usually am. I flow pretty well for a while and I finally pass the rider in front, and pull away in the next climb / single track section.
There was a section.. I think it was called mud lake. It was just a single track grind through an area. It wasn't boring by any means but it just seemed to go on forever. The first section of the track prior to this was pretty good. I redlined quite a bit trying to attack hills that I wasn't ready for. I did well making sure I got up them.
The one thing I noticed, is that it was rare to find a flat area... also there were rocks, and logs and roots and a whole world of tech everywhere. If you weren't paying attention, pedal strikes would wake you up pretty quickly. If pedal strikes didn't get you, it was rock garden.
Honestly it was just fun the entire way.
After the long section of straight single track the last section of the first lap *and also second* was a couple of grueling short power climbs and one entire single track section where it was just all rocks. It was kinda fun riding through it as it made clinking sounds like breaking plates would.
Around this time I ran out of water in my first water bottle. I got up and over a hill, and into the feed zone for part 2. I was handed a gatorade bottle. Cap wasn't on. I had to pound it within the first KM of my second lap. This proved to be my downfall of the day. The first part of the second lap was all open area so the sun was directly on me for a good 20 minutes, and it was all in what looked like a quarry. Just rocks radiating heat off them. Felt like I was in an oven. What was worse was that there was no real flat area. It was just hill after small hill, after small hill, after big rock, after small hill, after rock garden.. etc.
The final 4KM were brutal. I needed water, and I wanted to get off my bike so badly. The early signs of cramping also started to make everything seem harder then it actually was. I still had a smile on my face, but inside I was a hurting unit.
My family was there, so I had to at least finish strong, so I managed to spin pretty hard to the finish line. I was done though. I was off the bike and on the ground.
It was nice to have my family there. Seeing Meaghan and Anna at the start of my second lap was a huge mood lifter for me, and I really attacked the first part of the second lap hard. It was also nice to see them at the end of the entire thing as well.
I packed up the bike, stayed for the prizes and podium with my cousin, and then went back to my grandmothers for steak/beer/etc.
Couple of things:
1. No water makes your mind go senile. I saw a bottle on the ground, I considered seeing if it had anything in it... I also considered stopping by the canal.... yeesh.
2. Once you get to a certain point of dehydration, your legs are going to start to cramp. For the last 3k of the race my legs threatened to cramp, but never did full out. I could feel it in my quads, and every bump or log over seemed to irritate it into threatening me more. Never a full out cramp, but you could feel it in the shadow so to speak.
3. I need to get a proper hydration pack for XC racing. I have one, but its a massive all mountain style pack which ends up being like 20lbs once full of water and gear.
4. Apart from above. This was a very strong race for me. I never stopped moving forward, and I think I only ended up walking hills at the end when I was out of water.
Bike damage:
There were a lot of DNF's . The Kona held up very well. The only issue I have right now is that my front tire is YET AGAIN out of true, and as a bonus prize, my front tire no longer holds air. Needs some Stans, and a trip to the truing stand. Apart from that, it felt really good, and the lower air pressures really helped my grip in the rough stuff.
Final time was 2:05:30 on the bike. Properly hydrated I probably could have dropped that down to sub 2 hour. I was passed only by some of the faster riders in Wave 2, but it was rare. For 1 lappers, I coulda been in contention. But I wanted the second lap so I raced with the best they had there, and I'm better for doing it :)
Can't wait for this race again in 2012.
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