Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

Wirth cross race wrap up, part 2

Umm…that was way hard.

I am not going to criticize the course because I have all the respect in the world for race promoters. Plus I am a totally positive person and I am all about being positive and shit like that.

What I will say is that there is a reason I don’t do mountain bike races.

I decided that I would take things a bit easier at the start today and see if I could avoid cracking half way through the race. Mission kinda accomplished. I did not get gassed later into the race due to my start, but I did get totally gassed.

Course was generally fast with a number of 180 degree turns that required nearly a full stop to transverse. Downhill from the finish line to a hard right that you could take at speed if you had the right line. A speed section followed that set up to a tricky corner that you could again take fast if you had the right line. I screwed up this corner every lap. First barrier section was on a climb and I got bogged down just about every lap. Over the hill and down the rough single track descent to a hard right turn requiring a near full stop. Up and down rollers to a 180 turn. A hard left that could be taken at speed if you had the right tire pressure to keep your wheel from washing out. Lefts and rights to the next barrier section where the huge crowd hung out. Past the barrier was a hard right again requiring nearly a full stop. Into the twisty wooded single track section that claimed many souls and bikes. Out of the woods and into the open field with more hard turns and 180’s then back through the finish line.

Four negatives for me today:

1) Two stiff links in my chain were discovered during my warm up and it was too late to get back to the car and use the chain lube that I forgot to bring anyway. I wasted tonz of energy babying the bike around the course. I could not put a lot of force on the cranks as the chain would skip. Later in the race the chain really started to seize up and was hopping around all over the place. Early in the race I thought about bagging things but decided that I might as well keep riding and get the workout in. I am finding that it is more difficult to talk myself into quitting now than it was when I was younger. Something to do with knowing the specter of death could show up on my doorstep at any time now that I am 40+ so I may as well keep the cranks turning for as long as I can. You young kids can continue to drop out of races for a few years yet, no worries.

2) I pushed a bit too hard in the wooded turny section and ran off the course. Stick LaVick was behind me and Jimmer was behind him. They both went by me like a freight train and I could not get back on. So I just had to slug it out for a while until I could bring back Jimmer, but Stick was gone for good.

3) I hit that tree past the half way point in the race with my left shoulder and hip. It hurt but I didn’t worry about myself, I worried more about the tree because I hit it so hard I probably knocked it off its roots. Poor tree. I decided before my first race last week that I was not going to let minor problems during the race blow my concentration. These races are too short and hard to let something stupid ruin it. So I just let a skipping and decking a tree just roll right off my back. That tree will never forget today though, I am sure of that. Probably will have some kind of affected growth ring now from the severe impact. Ray the forester could study the rings years from now and identify the date of impact. Movin’ on now…

4) It was hot, like almost 80 degrees. I don’t carry water with me because it’s a cross race for chrissake and I don’t take water during the race generally because you don’t really need water for a 60 minute effort…unless it’s 80 degrees. 45 minutes into the race I was totally dehydrated and cramping. My form went to hell and the last two laps could only be described as hell on smurf. I don’t know which smurf…maybe Papa Smurf.

5) My #2 ride off the trail ripped my handlebar tape so now I have to re-wrap my bars. Jeebus I hate working on my bike.

OK, so 5 negatives. To balance it out I have 5 positives:

1) Short sleeve jersey. All my skinsuits are long sleeve so I went with short sleeve jersey in the heat and it was totally awesome. Numerous folks thought I bailed on the skinsuit after Homme’s comments last week. Wrong. Everyone should know by now that I don’t give a crap what anyone else thinks, I do what I want. If I want to ride around and look like a fat Belgian blueberry than that is what I am going to do. I just didn’t feel like it today so I went s/s jersey. F-ing rad huh?

2) The crowd at the back barrier was totally awesome. My form was getting worse with each lap and I was riding slower and slower but all those spectator tots were always there with a cheer for me. Thanks to all who came and bothered to notice that I happened to be rolling around with the fast guys. Except the guy on the first lap that yelled that my form was sloppy…you can f-off dude. First lap? That was my best form of the whole race!

3) Meow muffins in my car at the finish! One dozen+ muffins with no frosting, just as I ordered! F-ing more rad than a short sleeve jersey!

4) Doug Swanson and I shot the crap in the parking lot before the start of the race. Doug is a great guy in person. Not that he isn’t a great guy on line, just kind of short and direct to the point. But in person he’s warm and gregarious and quick with a laugh. F-ing rad huh?

5) Super Rookie has big plans for the future and I was excited to hear about it. I am not going to say anything more than that other than it sounds f-ing rad.

6) Baba was at the big 180 degree coaching me with my turn technique and keeping me updated regarding my progress in the race. It was nice to look forward to his help and words of encouragement each lap. Thanks Baba.

7) Other than the chain skip the bike worked fantastic. I was totally comfortable, despite my total and complete lack of MTB skilz, laying off the brakes and letting the bike ride down the rutty and bumpy descent on the backside of the course. F-ing rad.

There you have it, I guess 7 positives. Two more positives than negatives.

My left quad is hurting again but it’s not terrible.

OK, I am getting kind of bored with writing this post so I will leave it at that.

See you next week at the race I decide to show up at.