I met up with James and JD the Friday night leading into the XC race the next morning. James brought out his home away from home. I don't think I can thank James enough for letting me crash in his trailer. Tent camping would have sucked bad since the temps dropped to just above freezing at night. This year would mark the first time that I would be racing the Long Course at ISC. The course is quite a "challenge" hence the challenge during spring in Idyllwild. The 30 mile long course consists of steep and technical terrain with tons of flowy singletrack thrown in. There's also a nice and steep pavement climb that must be 15% grade or more as the penultimate before the reward of descending for about 8 miles to the finish line. Race time was 9:30am and what started out as a very chilly morning, turned into perfect temps as the race started.
As for the start, I settled more towards the back of the pack which was a mistake on my part. I really didn't treat this race as a race. I was really more out there for the pure enjoyment of the ride with a little bit of competition thrown in. With that being said, I was held up by some slower riders on the initial "Tunnel of Love" climb. Riders dabbed here and there which led to dismounts with hiking. Once things started to get spaced out, I was able to focus on my own race. I still didn't feel completely warmed up or strong once to the Keen Camp climb. I need to work on my warm-ups better, but then again, my mentality was not in the race. Things were going well and I caught up to pro female Mafia rider Kathy Sherwin on the techy climb back out to what I believe is Hurkey Creek Rd. She made some of the tech stuff look really easy and was pedaling strong. We spoke a few words of encouragement to each other and then I put in some harder efforts. I wasn't looking forward to the pavement wall but soon enough I found myself climbing it. The last time I pedaled this monster of a climb was back in September. Matt and I decided to ride the ISC Long course as a victory lap for our 24 hour race efforts. Read about that here. I remember struggling up that in my then Blur with a 24X27 granny gear. I actually couldn't pedal the whole thing. I was afraid I would be doing the same thing with my 32X34 granny on my Tallboy. To my surprise, I cleaned the whole thing and it didn't seem as hard as the first time around. It was on this climb that I could actually see Nick. He seemed so close, but in reality was some distance away. Everyone was just crawling up. Tim Z helped me push through the pain with words of encouragement. That guy truly is the Terminator...the terminator of pain that is. Once I crested the top, it was time for the real fun to begin. However, I was lacking that shake and bake confidence I normally have. On the rear wheel, I just put on a Fast Track LK tire for the first time. I didn't know what to expect of it, so I was overly cautious initially on the twists and turns. I really didn't start to enjoy and feel the benefits of the tire until I got to Exfoliator. The tire became more impressive as I pushed it harder. I kept gaining more confidence in leaning the bike over more. It didn't bite as well as the Captain, but pretty darn close. When it did break loose, it was in such a controlled manner that I was having a blast with some 2 wheel slides and drifting around corners. I caught up to Allison after the Tunnel of Love and just before the pavement back into the park grounds. She was killing it of course and cruising to her Pro Women's XC victory. There wasn't much more to go so put in one more last hard effort to the finish. I finished with a time of 2:54:19. This was good enough for 4th place. Overall, the time is good, but I know I could have done better. I still felt like I had quite a bit left in the tank. My head has just not been in the racing mentality lately. Maybe it's mid-season burnout? Maybe I thought I needed to conserve my energy for the TT and Super D the following day? Who knows, but I decided to consume a frosty cold Blue Moon with Nick post race. :-)
Keen Camp Climb
Allison makes a splash with me close behind.
Almost home.
The next morning we had to be on the shuttle from the campgrounds to the TT course at 7am. It was damn frigid at this time and I knew it would warm up once the sun started to come out. The TT was postponed from 8am to 8:30am, so I was able to pre-ride the 3 mile course with everyone else. The course was 95% singletrack with tight, twisty turns as well as some techy features thrown in here and then. It really was a cool little TT course. Some of the direction arrows were hard to see during the pre-ride and I was hoping that wouldn't be a problem come the start of the race. Well, my tunnel vision on top of the hard to see arrows ruined my race. Although, I still won my AG, I didn't have a very good time in my opinion. I went off the course 3 times! Each time I went off, I became more frustrated and less focused trying to make up time that was lost. I do think I made up some time on the final stretch of road to the finish line thanks to the Justin Mann cheering section. :-) To make matters worse, my ego was hurt a bit when my buddy James beat me by about 20 seconds. He really did put in a great effort in for the TT. As much as I didn't like being beat by my pupil, I was proud of him. Of course, I would be out to seek revenge on the Super D!
Once back to the campground, the ranger was being an ass. We were pretty much forced to pack up our stuff and leave our campsite hoping to make the shuttle to the Super D course. We didn't make the shuttle, but due to the overwhelming number of participants (122) for the Super D, there wasn't enough room for the one shuttle. The shuttle would be coming back for a 2nd pickup. I threw back another Blue Moon in true DH fashion while waiting for the shuttle to arrive. For those that don't know what Super D is, please check out this link for more info. Once we were dropped off, I pedaled to the starting gate to find out I made it just in time for my seeded slot. Just as soon as I arrived, I took off from the starting gate in a flash. I was railing every turn I could and taking more risks than I normally would. The bike was feeling great and I felt even better. This event is all about speed and keeping that speed up for as long as possible. Brake as late as possible while maintaining as much speed as possible through the turns. I made a couple of mistakes running wide which broke some of the flow, but I was able to focus and get back into the rhythm. Exfoliator was blur to me. I don't think I have ever shredded so quickly down that trail. It was such an adrenaline rushing riding on the edge of my skills and beyond my comfort level. I thought the bike was just going to slide right off the trail at times, but to my amazement it bit even harder the faster I went. Speed was my friend for this event. I knew I had a good time going as I caught up to my minute man with about a mile to go. He was surprised to see me and put in a harder effort of pedaling. He stayed just in front of me until the finish line where I finished a bike length behind. My time came in as a 16:03 which put me 2nd out of 26 participants in my AG. I was really bummed I didn't get first. I lost by 10 seconds. I think my time was off by about 8 seconds. According to the time sheets, they had me finishing 52 seconds quicker than my minute man. I don't know how that is possible when he finished just ahead of me with maybe a bike lengths between us. Oh well, the Super D was by far my favorite event of the weekend and it happened to be my best performance. I was happy that I redeemed myself from the TT. And for those that care (I do...hehe), I pretty much owned James on the Super D by a minute and 22 seconds. :-)
With the stage race over, I won the overall for my AG. Nothing special really since I was only racing against one other person in my AG. I hope next year they make some changes to the stage race. It shouldn't be broken down by AG at least for the CAT1 racers. Make the overall open with a bigger purse and cash prizes that go 3 deep for CAT1 while CAT2/3 receive awards. Also, instead of doing a cumulative time of all 3 events, they should award points. That way, the overall wouldn't be so heavily weighed on the XC race. I already can't wait for this event next year. Next race up is the Santa Barbara Bike Festival at Elings Park the first weekend of June. The Big Bear shootout that was scheduled for next weekend has been cancelled due to snow of all things.
Congrats to all the competitors and thanks to Katie and team at Idyllwild Cycling for putting on such a great event!
TT win!
This joker beat me at Super D? Flashbacks of the Sea Otter doughboy.
Lonely podium for the overall.
2 comments:
Look at all those podium shots! You da man dude.
Nice work Jason, but watch out next year. I've started my training with the flat bill, beer drinking, pony tail wearing, 215lb Super D champ and next year I'll be gunning for you!
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