SERC #6 – GSC makeup - Clemson
Two Sundays ago was the Clemson SERC#6 race which was also the GSC makeup race. I needed the makeup since I skipped GSC#4 at Heritage Park. Not a whole lot to say about this race… and without sounding too bitter, this is how the race went down… It was the worst I've felt in a race all year. It may have been a combination of lack of fitness, my sausage biscuit having an argument with me, and the fact that my brakes were 40% on 100% of the time. Pissed... I had my bike overhauled and ended up with new bottom bracket, chain ring, cassette, chain and brake pads. When I pick up the bike from the shop the wheels barely moved and I was told that the new pads would work out after a couple miles. After the race my front wheel was marginally better but my back wheel would still only spin a few rotations before coming to a hard stop. No wonder it felt like I was dragging a weight behind me. I just couldn't get any momentum for some reason... Finished the race in 7th place and looking for revenge.
I have to remind myself to preride the course! Again I raced a course I've never seen. Had a decent start and at the bottom of the first descent I completely missed the hard left inside the tree. I end up off the trail while the entire field passed me. In my condition I couldn't have stayed in the front group anyway, but playing catch up from the beginning is not the ideal way to spend efforts.
GSC #6 – Eatonton - Rock Hawk
This Sunday’s race had our wave of categories taking off at 11:30am which was a welcomed change from the 9:30am start times. However, instead of sleeping in we stayed true to our bros and car pool partners and left Atlanta at 7am (that was the plan anyway). Adrian was racing with the base wave at 9:30… We met up at A&P and a brief series of comedies began. Between loading up 5 people’s gear into 2 separate cars and a last minute wakeup call for ARon, just getting out of town was a challenge. We finally make it out of the city limits around 7:50 and we get Adrian to his start with only a couple minutes to spare – he went on to a strong finish with 5th place.
It was really nice to have the time to eat and get a full warm up before the next wave of races started. Unfortunately I once again did not get to pre-ride the course, but from talking with other riders it was explained to me that the course was really fast – except for where it was really slow. Huh? I even heard it explained as a true yin/yang course. What? So the course was a ~9 mile loop and we would do 2 laps. About half of the course was open undulating double track where big ring mashing was the protocol. The other half of the course was horrible single track that had been created within the past few weeks. It was like they had raked a trail between every tree possible and over rocky off camber climbs and descents. Not my favorite course but there is really great potential out there for some excellent trails.
We line up and there are two rows of riders in my class. I knew the start was going to be fast and within about 50’ we were funneled into a narrow paved path and then there was an initial 3’ drop off of the pavement onto gravel and then dirt. I had been watching all of the other cats start and waited for some carnage at the drop but it appeared to run pretty clean. I was still nervous about how I would find it in traffic... The whistle blows and we are sprinting toward the drop (no problem!) and the first section of extremely narrow and twisty single track. I’m 4th into the single track and we are all in a tight pack. We come out to the first double track climb and we are all still in a pack. A couple guys make their first move and I follow. I end up riding second wheel for the next couple of miles… I look back and notice that we are somehow alone. This part of the course was really fast but with many off camber and loose turns. I was trying to stay with 1st place and we were both in the big ring and standing up to get over the short climbs and then nailing it on the downhills. We make it to the next section of single track and he starts to drop me. At this point we are mixing it up with the riders from the previous cats and once in the single track it was very hard to make passes. I ended up off the bike 3 times on this lap due to slipping out on the new unpacked trail or just looking ahead for a passing lane and being out of control on the rocks below. The first lap is finally over and I figure that there is no reeling in 1st place (this is the same guy that has won the past 3 races) so I need to recover some to finish strong and ride cleaner on the 2nd lap.
This lap was much like the first and when I get to the new single track section I realize that I’ve been caught by the 3rd place rider who I had not seen since around mile 4. This was not good news because I was feeling it… A huge challenge for me on this course was having the fitness to ride all out on the open sections and then still be able to handle the highly technical and slow moving sections. All of my muscles were spent and moving the bike through the rocks and holding the line was getting harder and harder. Everytime the 3rd place guy would get within a few feet of me I would have to dig and pull away some. I was just hoping that I could make it last… we get to the last 500 yards of trail and a singlespeeder crashes about 20’ in front of me and as he’s getting up and about to get on his bike in middle of the trail, I’m yelling at him “heads up – we’re coming hard and we can’t stop”. Well – I had to nearly stop or run right into him…. Now 3rd place is only a couple inches off of my rear tire and I knew that he was setting up for a sprint to the finish line. We pop out of the woods and the last obstacle is a 1’ step-up from the dirt to the pavement and then ~30 yards to the finish line. I decide that I need to get into a taller gear for the sprint and as I’m trying to change gears and not stop pedaling – I completely mistimed the step up and had a pedal strike on the pavement which nearly sent me face down. I’m trying to get clipped back in while I get passed and then it was too late for a true sprint. The announcer and the spectators around the finish all give a collective “oohhh aahhh hhhahaa”. The announcer took pleasure in saying “oh – the pleasure of a win and the agony of a defeat” (I was the defeated). I rode 2nd and finished 3rd. Oh well… I was happy with my effort knowing that I couldn’t have done anymore, but I was disappointed in myself for making that last mistake costing my position.
a photo montage of the GSC race:
*the start - i'm nervous and already paranoid.
*sitting up and looking for a passing lane.
*struggling a bit.
*done.
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