We headed west on Friday morning. Made a quick stop at our weekend house and then headed toward Bass River to get our packets and go for a ride. The house was pretty nice for a 20's themed place, but hope you don't want use a tv or a microwave. The trip over to the start area was not too long. We decided to ride the loop at the end of the race since it was about the right distance. After the long road climb and gravel road section, we hit the trails. It was a pretty fun loop with plenty of rocks and switch backs to keep you on your toes. After we finished the loop, we headed up the start hill to where it drops in to the trail section. I was definitely second guessing my 32x19 gearing choice, but I was going to stick with it.
Check in looked like it was set up pretty good. There was pre-filled out forms to be signed, but the line was pretty long. It didn't really take that long to get through, but it seemed slower than what I thought it would be since it seemed like all the info was prepped and ready. Everything seemed really organized so I am not sure why it didn't go as smooth as it could have. Then we headed back toward the house and got some all you can eat catfish dinner at Rich's Famous Burgers. We were a little disappointed when the said they didn't server beer, especially since they had a big Bud Light sign on the building. The food was really good, but I ate more than I should have, but that didn't stop us from going across the street for some ice cream. I rolled myself back to the house and got things ready for the next morning.
Race morning went pretty good. I didn't sleep too bad, got up on time and actually had my stuff ready to go mostly on time. We headed over to the start/finish area and found a place to park. Parking seemed a little expensive at $10 per person, so much for car pooling. We found a good parking spot and started to get ready and made sure to get my Rocket Red in me. I was going to ride around and warm up, but it was getting late on time, or well for what it was supposed to. I was thinking that it looked like there was a lot of people missing for the 650 racers. Eventually the group got bigger and when 8:30 came around, things got going. I really did have time to warm up a little more, but too late now.
The race starts with a 4 mile road/gravel road climb. I tried to just keep a good pace and not go too crazy just yet. There were a few sections that were more flat and harder for me to keep my pace up. I saw the Bohanon & Brinker Wood N Wave train roll by and I jumped on their wheels. This helped me keep a faster pace on this section. I expected some traffic when we hit the trail section, but it was not backed up at that point. The flow was going pretty good for a little while, but it didn't really take too long before the conga line was formed. It seemed that there were a lot of people that could climb the road pretty fast that had trouble with technical sections on the trail.
I tried to just stay a patient as I could and make passes when it worked out. This went on for longer than I wanted it to. I did make a couple passes that took a little more effort, but I think most of them were pretty clean. I had one point where I passed 3 or 4 riders and then the guys who were still in front of me ended up really slowing down. This had the group I just passed stopping and having to get off. I felt bad that it happened and I'm sure seemed like my fault, but it really was out of my control. A little farther down the trail I made another big pass around 4 guys or so and then had clear trail ahead for a while. I really tried to be patient and not make any dumb passes. I knew it was a long race and I figured I was not going to be the fastest out there, but being stuck with my poor choice of riding a singlespeed bike it was really hurting to go some of the other riders pace. The big passes hurt my legs, but in the end I think it was worth the efforts.
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| Photo credit: Janzow Photography |
I went past the first rest stop, the whiskey stop and then the second rest stop. My legs were hurting a lot more then I wanted them to. They were feeling like I could eventually get some cramps, but I just kept pushing forward. I was not going XC pace, but I felt like I was on the gas. I was drinking plenty of CarboRocket 333 and trying to also eat some Honey Stinger gummies. I guess I was hydrated enough since I actually had to stop to pee. I didn't want to, but could not wait anymore.
This first loop went pretty good. I found myself leap frogging with Lovins, Brinker and Bohanon several times. I was still riding well and felt like I was moving forward in the pack. I decided not to stop at the first couple rest stops because I felt like I was "racing". I really didn't need the food or water and figured I would stop at a later one. It turns out that I never really did see another good rest stop. I stopped when we exited the trail and hit the next road about 34 miles in. There was a water truck there and I topped off one of my bottles. I had more CarboRocket in my pocket to put in my bottle, but for some reason I didn't get it out there. I didn't want to stop too long and get passed by all the people I just passed and one of them was a SS racer, so I always try harder to keep them behind me. I was also thinking there would be another good rest stop not too far down the trail.
This road section was not so much fun. Here I was happy with my bigger gear choice and would have taken more. I was trying to keep spinning as fast as I could with out blowing my legs up. There was another rider riding with me, but not fast enough to pull. He kept on my wheel more. I was so happy when Lovins came rolling up on us as I was hoping he would. I jumped on his wheel and off we went. I was just hoping his pace was not more than I could hold. There were a couple times I thought I would get dropped, but somehow I did the spin coast shuffle well enough to hold his wheel.
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| Photo credit: Moflo Photography |
As we hit the trail he pulled over to let me go in front. Not 50 yards in to the trail I hear him slide out on a corner. I sit up a second to make sure he is good and the other guy said that he said he was fine and just slid out. So, I felt bad that he pulled me down the road and I just left him there, but I really hoped he was good. Apparently he was since he caught me and passed me somewhere in this trail section. The 3 sisters must have slowed me down. I was hurting pretty good in this section, but still moving forward, but just a little slower. I did see a glimpse of him when he his an open field section near the start area, but I could no longer hold it and had to stop once again to pee let him go.
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| Photo credit: Janzow Photography |
I looked at my computer somewhere along here and did some fuzzy math that had me thinking I could break the 5 hour mark. I was not sure how much time my computer stopped or exactly how far I had to go. Not too much later I was climbing up that long road climb. I kind of hoped I would catch him here, but I never did see him. The legs were really feeling it at this point and I was ready to be done. I went slower than I wanted on the gravel road section at the top of the climb, but I knew the trail section had some hard parts and I needed to save some energy for that part. I kept thinking that the SS guy behind me was going to show up, but thankfully he never did. I rode this last trail section better than I thought I would. It was harder than the pre-ride, but that is to be expected when I already had 40+ miles in the legs. I am happy to say that I cleared the big rock step up even with the tired legs.
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| It was really 52 miles. Not sure why I was short on mileage |
I rolled in to the finish chute with my last little bit of adrenaline and pulled a pretty solid wheelie to the finish line. Someone was taking pictures, but I have not seen them posted anywhere yet. I ended up with a time of 5:05, 12th place SS and under 1 min behind Lovins. With all the vendors at the finish line, I had a beer in my hand with in 2 min of crossing the line. I really have nothing to be upset about with this finish. I came here thinking 5.5 hours would be my finishing time and was really not feeling like I was riding strong enough to expect much more than that. But, I always do.
Here is a little video that Brinker did about the race. You can see Bob at the start and Lovins by the whisky hand up.
Even though I am happy with my time I do wish I could have broke 5 hours. This was one of the biggest SS fields that I have raced in and even with that, I really wished I could have been top 10. I was not too far away and was less than 20 min from top 5. I know I only have myself to blame for not being better prepared and should be happy to have rode as well as I did ride. After getting home and cleaning up the bike I found a big hole in my back tire that easily could have ruined my day. I am very happy that my TruckerCo did a good job of keeping me riding and not even knowing what I should have been worried about. I guess 5:05 doesn't sound too bad then.
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| TruckerCo for the save!! |
After getting cleaned up a little, we went back to the finish area to get some more beer and wait for Bob to finish. We had a lot better luck finding beer than we did finding Bob. After checking with the finish line group and drinking several beers, there was finally a missed call from Bob. Turns out he was not so lucky with the rocks and took a digger. We went to pick him up and the nice person who waited with him. This event changed our plans for the rest of the night and we headed back to the house. We got unloaded and went out to get some more food. The rest of the night was hanging out laughing and trying to numb the pain. Good times overall despite the not so good crash.
This was a great race. I can definitely see myself going back, maybe even next year. One thing I would like to change is to actually stay at Bass River. We missed out on the free breakfast Saturday and Sunday morning and one heck of a party Saturday night. We still had a good time and our house was nice, but I think that staying on site would just make it even more fun. Guess I will see if next year happens.
For a 25% discount on your first order from CarboRocket, use code: racing_ricky
These pictures are from a park right across the street from our house.
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