the end of the week was good, friday went quickly and felt productive for a change. we made pasta friday night - paired with pinot noir. leftovers were good saturday at work. pasta - not the wine. as usual, sam got stuck with working on my bike (and darcy's this time) at the last minute. after work we loaded up and headed to greensboro to stay with our good buddy evan mcintosh. we took turns filling up bottles, catching up on the latest news, and went to bed, prepping to wake up an hour 'early.'
sunday we wake up, tyler made eggs, coffee and waffles for us. wooohooo! load up the car - drive to danville. packet pickup. change. start warming up.... the 6hour race was supposed to start at 9:30 and our race was scheduled for 10:01 (cat1 19-29) and darcy was 10:15 (cat3 w's). eventually we got started around 10:55 or something and i'm not sure when darcy finally rolled.
for the first race of the season (and since june 20th last summer) once i got on the line most of my nerves calmed down. 3, 2, 1 -GO! 5 pedal strokes. CRASH!!
someone went down, grab your brakes, go to the left, through the rocks, head down, hammer. twisty windy singletrack. great. a few pro's pass me that got caught in the mess. no problem - have fun guys. go go go.
their trail in danville is very fun. for a 'race course' its actually somewhat difficult. there are a few roots running diagonally in off camber corners, a very few muddy spots, and a handful of very steep hills. i was surprised at how well the 34t chainring worked for me. i made it up all of the steep hills. for two laps. until my legs started cramping...
my plan for food involved sports drink while warming up, sportlegs and a gu at 10:00, then two gels on the bike and plain water. that proved to be a bad idea. with the extra time spent warming up/riding in circles the sports drink must have worn off, and by the time james wittwer passed me (early 2nd lap i think) and i was feeling leg cramps i was disappointed, but well, he's young and fit, and has a cool looking new bike. chase dickens caught on and we rode together for a while - giving each other a much need push over the top of a couple hills. he was apparently having mechanical issues, that explains why he was back riding at my pace for a while. he eventually turned the afterburners on and left me. i slowed for the heed/water stop on the 2nd and 3rd lap hoping to replenish some much needed electrolytes. it helped a little, on my third lap i was able to grab a bottle going through, then i caught on with some 30+ guys and we took turns passing each other as leg cramps allowed.
i don't think any 19-29 riders passed me on the third lap, and i'm not sure when andrew devierscott passed. maybe he was in front from the line/crash/start. the entire 2nd/3rd lap, while suffering i kept thinking to myself that zeb might be catching up, he was wearing appstate NOT magic cycles, but imagining him in the magic cycles kit kept my legs turning. i did not want that pass to happen. the third lap went by and i was happy to cross the line. finished. most of the 3rd lap i spent looking for gels, bottles, bloks - anything other racers might have dropped that included cramp-fighting electrolytes. after the race some other people admitted they'd been doing the same. makes me feel less sketchy. results. they use a result system like at massanuttan (george willets i think).
i guess i finished 11th. thankfully there were more than 11 racers - but i did not stay to see official results. after the race, i sought after cold water and endurox, dry fresh clothes, and food.
thankfully the checkered pig BBQ was one of the big sponsors and darcy and i got our lunches and went to work. we hung out for a while with james, andrew, and zeb then over to see evan, tyler, and dan hemp who were all competing in the 6hour race. after some goodbye's we headed to wilkes - arriving in perfect time to have some La Fortuna #8:
arguably the best part of the weekend. i have leftover tacos for lunch and a few days to get ready for hobby park XC coming sunday march 20th. thanks for reading. more photos next time. jg
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