Fool's Gold '08

Flashback one year ~ Fool's Gold '07 was my first bike race... I had been riding mountain bikes off and on since high school but never felt the need to be competitive. Mountain biking for me was an excuse to get out of town and play in the woods... observe nature, have fun with friends and do something healthy. Most of my rides were compromised by hangovers and the need for rest stops. I signed up for FG'07 with a group of friends that I had been riding a good amount with. We were riding nearly every weekend and we just wanted to see how far we would get on the 52 mile Bull/Jake Mountain course (this is one of our favorite trail systems). We camped at the top of the mountain and barely made it down to watch the field of riders moving up the first gravel road climb. We were late - but who cares... I'm just in it to finish. It was over 80deg as we mount the bikes at 7AM for the start. The temps quickly rose to over 95 and I struggled through most of the day. Roughly 6 hours and 20 minutes later I surprised myself when I finished the race and actually did ok at 18th place overall (out of ~80 riders). It felt so great to be finished and to think of all of the suffering and how my body was able to overcome and perform. The experiences of camping and the friends and the beer afterwards were all heightened because of the race... I wanted more events like this... I think I'll do more races... and I did this year. I believe I did 12 mountain bike races this year and I actually wish I was at the Black Bear Rampage this weekend for some more.

FOOL'S GOLD '08:

I had been looking forward to this race all year. After doing the entire Georgia State Championship series and some 12 hour / 24 hour team events I was ready for an endurance race. All of the races I had done up to this point in the year were basically just long sprints. Give me 50 miles and all day and let me just have some fun. I was also curious how my time would compare this year with last year's first effort. My goal was to improve by at least 20 minute and finish at sub-6 hours.

I took a half day off work on Friday and we went up to Dahlonega to find a prime camping spot. We arrived around 3PM and the spots were filling up and racers were getting registered and comfortable. We wanted to go have some fun while we waited on the rest of our crew to come in from Atlanta that evening. We rode up the mountain to a swimming hole we had found over the previous year. The water was freezing and I was getting demolished by mosquitoes. We decided to explore down stream but didn't bother putting shoes on... then... I stepped on something painful. I lifted up my foot and found a squirming yellowjacket. He got me right between the toes and my foot was swelling immediately. The plan was to get the rest of the crew set up once they arrive and then head into town for some dinner... By the time we left for dinner my left foot was about twice the size of my right. We made a poor choice and ate dinner at a horrible Italian spot right across the street from another Italian restaurant that we later heard great things about. We still had fun though. On the way back to camp we found a CVS and I scored some benadril and ointment for my throbbing and huge foot. Seriously - any time someone looked at my foot they would laugh. It looked like a cartoon foot and I was getting worried.

The benadril helped me sleep and I woke up at 5:45AM feeling good - but my foot was still huge. I grabbed some breakfast and got ready. I do the best I can to strap my left shoe on and ride over to the start line. It was dark and almost chilly. The weather was going to be perfect for the race, especially compared with last year. The high for the day was 80ish! Also - we found out that the course was rerouted a bit to get the mileage exactly 50 miles - and the section eliminated was the toughest from the previous year. There were some useless horse trails used last year that were completely rutted and stair stepped and un-rideable. I was glad to hear about the weather and course, but now I had to adjust my goal of sub-6hrs. What should I shoot for... maybe 5 hours and 30 minutes? That's a 50 minute improvement - no way!

We line up at 6:50 for the 7AM start and there is a ton of people. Apparently this race had blown up and we now had ~300 racers! The whistle blows and we are off... the first 12 - 13 miles of the course are a gravel road climb with the first 5 miles being straight up and getting steeper along the way. Groups begin to form and I'm not satisfied with the pace. I move up the mountain and find a group of 3 to ride with. They were pushing it and on some sections we could still see the lead group that was about 12 deep. I didn't want to climb too fast and not be able to hang for the final 40 miles, but I didn't want to sit back and wished I had ridden harder either. I was tough to gauge considering I had not done any long rides or endurance events all year. We keep pushing and start to absorb some of the guys who could not hang with the lead group and we also get passed by a few folks. I was still feeling ok and felt even better knowing that there was probably only 15 or so racers ahead. AH!!! It is only 5 miles into the 50 mile course - I can't start thinking about that!! So... I calm down and just enjoy the ride.

I skip the first SAG stop and fly down the other side of that 12 miles of elevation gain. It was super sketchy with loose gravel and a smoke screen from the riders ahead. I'm trying to keep my tires on the ground when I hear someone next to me giving a "yo A! looking good!!" what the hell?? who would ride up next to me on this crazy 30+mph frightening descent? it was none other than the same dude who beat me at every GSC race - Robert! He nailed it and took off through the dust to catch the leaders. I reach the first section of singletrack and was loving it. This race was going to be fun!

I knew that I had about 10 miles before the next rest stop and my bottles were doing ok. I thought I could also skip this stop, but my bladder didn't agree. I'll spare you the details, but I held on till SAG2 so I could empty the bladder and top off my bottles in one stop. The volunteers were throwing a party and offered PBR and cookies - I settled for water and a cookie for now. I head back to the trails and they just kept getting sweeter and sweeter. I was seriously loving it! I finish off this 15 mile loop section and come across SAG3, which by design was also SAG2. They are still partying and I turn down another beer. I make a new bottle and stuff my pockets because I don't want to stop again until the finish. I leave and I'm feeling great still. I'm pacing myself and wondering if I should begin to push it a bit more.

Not sure what else to say - except that I was loving it! Still loving it! One thing that was a bit strange was that I kept having to reach down and tighten my left shoe. I was wondering what was going on but was having too much fun to care if my shoe was falling apart... then I realized that the swelling in my foot was going down. I had totally forgotten about my big throbbing foot!

I skip past SAG4 and head into the final section of the course. I try to increase my pace and realize that I had actually been working a bit... I felt like I could maintain this pace all day, but when I would try to accelerate it would hurt. I passed a few people and wondered how far up the trail that lead group was. Could I break into the top 10?? I had been riding back and forth all day with a Dedicated Athlete rider and he was ahead of me as we dipping back into some twisty singletrack. He crashed right in front of me and told me to go around - something about needing to chill for a minute.

This was a super fun section of trail that must have been the bypass of the horse trails from the previous year. I pass the waterfall and come out onto the last section of doubletrack before the creek crossing and final descent into the finish line. As soon as I come out of the singletrack there is a group of horses coming right for me. The trail was tight and I didn't want to spook them... I make it past the first 3 and then the 4th horse completely falls down right next to me. We spooked the hell out of each other and I felt terrible about it. The horse right behind him spun around and I thought he was about to kick me in the throat. This was ugly and I wasn't sure what to do. I slid through and hoped for the best. I cross the final creek, bomb down the gravel road we had climbed at 7AM and then take the finish re-route over some trees and through the camp. I finish at 4 hours and 42 minutes and just in time to get slapped across the ass by Ritchie. An improvement of ~1.5 hours and 12th place overall. I honestly wanted to ride more... this is the fun stuff!

Full results:
http://www.55nineperformance.com/Results_2008.htm

This guy took some amazing photos throughout the weekend:
http://pa.photoshelter.com/package-show/P0000lfSaqD5aWI8

Me... http://pa.photoshelter.com/img-show/I0000g8Y2hRUgIIA

GSC WRAP UP

i knew this was going to happen at some point. i let a couple weeks slide and then all of a sudden the 'season' is over and i didn't do a race report for the final 3 races.

where did i leave off?? the Georgia State Championship series ended with a race at Fort Mountain on July 20th and then the finale at the 'Pig Trails' in Macon on August 3rd. these courses were near opposites but both great races.

GSC #7 - Chatsworth, GA - Fort Mountain:

A ~6 mile course where we would do 3 laps. Not sure why I bother explaining every time, but I once again showed up late and didn't get a chance for a pre-ride. This time I barely even got to start. The racers were on the line while I was signing in. I paid and ran over to line up and the guys were giving me a hard time. Some of them are used to watching me fly off the trail on the first lap due to surprises. They asked if I had a chance to look at the finish - I hadn't... They explained that the end of the lap was a downhill that looked like a downhill ski run and followed the straight down power lines.

The whistle blows and I think there were 15 or 16 of us for my group. I try to mash for position at the start and come unclipped from my pedal. I'm trying to get clipped back in as the group pulls away from me - only 30 feet into the race and I'm dead last! We make it to the singletrack and it goes straight up! The group turns into single file and starts climbing - me still in the very back. The rider in 9th or 10th position falls on the climb and we are stuck waiting for him to get up and clear the trail. The lead group pulls away and we get going again. The course opened up after the first mile for some doubletrack and I was able to make some passes. I was really loving this course! It was up and down and tough. I felt good and figured that since I had a bad start and the lead group got away instantly I would just enjoy the ride and work for a top 10 and hope for a 5th or 6th. I was going back and forth with a couple guys I had raced all series and we were pushing each other really hard.... After some great rolling grunt climbs and rocks and fast sections, I hit a tough rock garden about 50 meters long which is followed by a straight up switchback and more climbing. The climb was rocky and long and when I reach the top and the clearing I notice the power lines above. We turn right and drop off the side of the mountain for the final descent of the lap. It was crazy fast and hard to keep the tires on the ground. About half way down I'm hearing cheering and heckling from the announcer... from the bottom of the descent you could watch the entire thing. What a great place to watch the race! Lap 1 was over and I now knew the course and had 2 more to go.

The 2nd and 3rd laps were super fun and from what I remember, I was still having fun with it even though there were some painful sections. Until maybe half way into the 3rd lap I was still fighting for what I assumed was about 5th place with a Dedicated Athlete rider. We had exchanged positions a few times at this point. I finally pull away from him on a climb and I didn't see him again. My 3rd time up the long ending climb and I'm anticipating the downhill on the other side and then the cold beer. I'm climbing and come up on a racer. He is nearly falling off his bike. He tells me as I pass him that he "couldn't hold me off any longer... enjoy second place". I thought he was messing with me so I gasped back... "seriously!?" I crest the climb and fly down the otherside while being heckled some more. I cross the finish line and right then my rear tire blows out. Yes! and great timing! Results are posted and the guy wasn't kidding after all. Finished 2nd and loved it. Possibly my favorite course of the series.



GSC #8 - Macon, GA - Pig Trail:

We had a couple extra hours before this race due to an 11:30AM start. Of course that meant more time in bed rather than leaving early and considering any pre-ride - and temps around 90 degrees at the start. From what I had heard, this was a wide open, flat and fast course. It was a ~8 mile course and we would race for 3 laps. Most of the course was super fast where standing up and mashing in the big ring was the only way to keep up.

I had a good start and was having a pretty good race at about 5 miles in. Too early to get comfortable! I was in 3rd (i believe there were 17 at the start) and did not see anyone in front or behind me. Then.... the course had some new re-routes that were tight, steep and rooty. I am clearly not good at mixing the two styles - wide open speed then tight, technical and slower. It's not the first time I had run into this problem. I hear some riders catching up and as I push harder I get more clumsy. On a particularly tight and rooty switchback I went into in the entirely wrong gear and when I attempt to quickly gear down my bike has some ridiculous chain suck. I tried to back it out but nothing was helping. I could either move another inch and risk snapping my chain or jump off the bike and use my fingers to relieve my chain. As soon as I dismount I am passed by 2 racers. I never saw them again and I was trying to catch up. I did actually see them through the trees a couple times but I think they were further up the trail than it seemed due to number of turns in the trail.



I'm still riding as fast as I know how and I believe that I am holding onto 5th place after my mechanical. I actually have to dismount at least five more times for the chainsuck issue... I think it had a lot to do with the dry and dirty conditions and a stiff link. My chain was in bad need of lube. About half way through the 3rd lap I am passed by a guy with 8xx (eight hundred and something) on his calf. I sit on his wheel for a short bit and decide to let him go since he wasn't in my category (my cat was always in the 700s). After the race I find out that there were several racers in my category that were given the wrong number! The guy that I let go was racing against me - I ended up in 6th for the race. Bummer.

I had secure a 2nd place overall for the Georgia State Championship Series!! The race was followed by a dinner and banquet where palques and tons of prizes were given out.

Final Standings




I really enjoyed the GSC series and learned a lot about my racing. The promoters, racers, and friends were all great and made this summer one of my best ever. I said earlier that I wouldn't commit to the entire series next season. I will probably race a handfull and will try to avoid getting into the points chase. I may move up to the Expert category and race for top 10 finishes rather than the podium. The difference between Sport and Expert seems to be maintaning the race pace for an additional lap. I'll need to find more endurance before next spring!

**to catch up i will have to put out a report for Fool's Gold '08 and FM.24.08. click the linkys for some scoop (think DREADNOK).

The only race I have remaining on my 'schedule' is next weekend's Festival of Speed down at Dick Lane Velodrome. The pro races should be really exciting with some big names coming to town.