ready or not?

i'm about as ready as i'm going to be. Snake08 version 2.0 is tomorrow. i rode hard last weekend. i recovered. i spent a freezing night at the velodrome. unfortunately that was cut a little short since i left any base layer at home and lost feeling in my fingers and toes... i even spent some time spinning the 'wheels' while it was raining outside. iPod is charged. my bike is clean and dialed in (i hope).

with all of the details leading up to race day covered (like a true amature), now i need to worry about the actual race. good thing i have a strategy... i've never worn a heart monitor, i don't wear a watch and my bike isn't fitted with a computer or GPS. so, this is my master plan... my goals... same as they ever were...

1- Ride hard.
2- Always be working to pass someone.
3- Improve on previous time.

goals 1 and 2 will be up to me and my riding style and effort. goal 3 is a little harder to quantify until it's too late. since the only technology i'll be toting on the trail is my iPod it will have to serve as my coach. thats why i came up with this:


**click to enlarge

this is the same playlist used for Snake08 version 1. all i really remember which may help me set a pace is that i was on a long forest service road climb when Les Savy Fav - Pots and Pans came on. i remember yelling along with "NO NO NO" & "THIS TOUR IS A TEST" just to take my mind off of the climb. so... i will need to be finished with that climb before that song comes on to know that i'm faster than my previous pace. unfortunately that is right before the mid point of the course so i don't have pace setting landmarks for the second half... i need to finish the course before TV on The Radio!

now it's time to stuff my belly with some tasty carbos...

**feel free to copy this playlist. it may make you faster, happier or maybe even sad. i have no idea... i just snagged some songs off of some of my favorite albums i was into last year and shuffled them.

Snake '08 - Version 1.0

This is a time trial series where they take the best time of three attempts. There is a 17 mile and a 34 mile option. The trail is so tough that they expect you to have serious mechanical problems for at least one of the attempts I guess. This is the only 5 star difficulty trail in GA (according to Kurt's book). I registered for the 17 mile option which puts me onto the back 17 of the 34 (the ‘impossible’ half).

I had never ridden the Pinhoti before and from what I had been hearing, the trail was impossible. I wasn’t intimidated by the trail, but I was a little intimidated by the 250 bikers there. Everyone looked really tough…

So – I went out really hard with three goals in mind.

1- Ride as hard as possible until I get to the ‘impossible’ parts. Make up time where it’s possible.
2- Always have a rider in sight and work on passing them. We were let out of the gate ~1 minute from each other.
3- Finish before my 2.5 hour playlist.

The ride was fast in sections and very technically difficult. I’d pay money to watch someone clean a couple of those climbs. I ended up with 2 crashes, 2 hikes and several dabs.

Result – I did not get passed. I passed probably 40 riders. I finished with 9 songs left on my playlist.

http://www.nwgasorba.org/Snake2008/Snake08_JanuaryResults.htm

Now I have to go back for Snake2 and 3 in Feb and March to try to improve my time and defend my standing. So far I’m the only rider that has broken the 2 hour mark. I’m fully expecting some competition from some unfortunate riders who may have been dealing with a series of mechanicals.

This is what a sub-2hour effort on the Pinhoti looks like:
(**it's not pretty**)



I should mention that I rode up to Dalton with three of my ‘bros’. My accountibilibros… We have ridden a ton of miles together over the past year and have watched each other improve. We each have our own style but somehow we always finish a trail at the same time… [Example: We rode in the Fool’s Gold 50 mile event (http://55nine.blogspot.com/2007/08/fools-gold-100-50-mountain-bike-race.html ) last summer and after 6 hours of riding we finished within 10 minutes of each other.] We are shooting for taking spots 1-4 once the series is said and done… after January we are sitting in 1,2,4,and 14. Aaron had three flats in Snake1, so we expect to see him up top next month if he can keep his bike healthy.