April 30, 2015

  • Ridgeline Rampage

    So, I find myself at the Ridgeline Rampage mtb race. Seems that I said something to one of my co-worker cycling buddies about doing this one and to my surprize he was more gung-ho about this than I expected. Long story short, here I am!

    I don't think I have done a less than 40 mile Mtb race in a long time, maybe 15 years or so. it's a much different beast than the typical endurance stuff and requires riding at a much higher intensity. Make no mistake about it, I have no asperations of being on the podium or anything, but I can still "hear the cry of the warrior" and I still want to do my best.
    IMG_4978-L
    I do have motivation this year or I at least need to justify the purchase of my 2011 Cannondale Scalpel Ulitimate. This was a bad-ass bike in 2011 and can more than hold it's own and I am excited to see what it can do in battle. Granted I haven't even ridden the thing that much, except to dial it in, but my initial impressions of the bike is that it is flippin fast. Anyway, back to my story.

    I car pool down with Jon and Paul and we enjoy a nice conversation on the way down to Caslte Rock. On the way down we stop a the Mc Donalds for a bathroom break and Paul grabs himself a purple unicorn Mojo for his bike. This is so old school and I doubt whether many of the racers will appreciate that nice touch which paul tie-wrapped to his bike.

    So we arrive and pay our money and the get back to the car to make ourselves ready. I was feeling pretty good, not nervous or anything, like in the old dayz when I would have expected to be top 5. After a bit of sandwich and filling my pockets with Power Gels I head to the start area with Paul and John so we can warm up. We kinda split up for the warmup since everyone needs to do what they need to do to get ready.

    It's a good crowd which is started in waves, segredated by age groups. The 50 plus group is only about 21 riders so I am feeling good about this and won't have to push to hard to get around too many riders if the worst case should happen and I get caught behind too many slow riders.

    Finnally the gun goes off and we are charging down the road. I was going pretty hard and I was thinking, Why are we going so hard?. Well, low and behold I look at the front of the pack and see my carpool buddy Paul at the front and charging hard. I am near the back of the back and thinking that I can't and don't want to hold this pace so I just back off and let a few riders go by. At least the start is on pavement which goes up a bike path climb which gives riders plenty of time to find their position. I must admit I am somewhat surprised how fast and fit these guys are, but then I remember that most of these guys race all the time. I see John go by me too and I think I find myself near the back of the pack. It's a long race so I am not concerned.

    I am at last onto some single track and some rather large guy passes me. Oh Well, I'll just settle in. I am thinking that I may be able to real peolpe in since my bike tire preasure is setup for the trail and I should be able to settle in. After a mile or so I do go by that last guy who passed me as well as a few other from the 40+ group that we straggling. After a few miles I am feeling pretty good and I can still see the leaders with Paul still at the front. OK I'm not too far back so this is good. I am definately caught up in the excitement of the race and I am pushing pretty hard. I want to keep the pack in sight for motivation. My HR is in the high 160.. 170 and I don't know how long I can keep this up but for now I will just go with it.

    I complete a 1/2 lap and we pass thru the start finish area as the course comes through this area twice per lap. For some reason I though i was covering more distance than I though and I was motivated to keep pushing. On one of the big climbs I catch a lot of riders and pass a couple of them including John! OK I can't be doing to bad. I finish that lap and motor on passing a few folks and getting passed by some of the speeders from the group which started behind me. I complete another pass through the start/finish area and for the 1st time check my Garmin and see that I have only done 11.6 miles or so. At this point I came to the realization that I can't keep tihs pace for another 20 miles so I back off a bit.

    The course is really twisty with loose sandy soil and the bike is loving the climbs but I am descending with a lot of caution as the front end is plowing in the corners. The fork is too stiff and it's not allowing me to rail the corners as I would like. I find I can't hold the wheel of many riders I am chasing and I know if I were on the my Trek YSL or Yeti 575 that this would not have been my issue. So, I make the best of it and try to figure this bike out but I know I am loosing lots of time on the descents. This is not a technical course, but if the ground weren't so loose then I'd be much faster in and out of the corners.

    On one of the climbs after about 14 miles or so. John passes me and for the next few miles we exchange spots as we make room for other faster riders. I can feel my lack of intensity training and I am unable to stay with John one one of the climbs. I try and remember to take eat some Power Gels and I think that keeps me going at a decent clip. I am happy I choose my small Camel bak instead of the big one or Water bottes, as the lack of weight and conveinence is nice!.

    At some point I see Paul with maybe a lap to go and I pass him. He gives me a nice push as I go by as jesture of encouragement. I pedal on thinking that I might just be able to finsh ahead of Paul which would be cool! I am catching a bunch of riders every so often and gettimg passed by some of the fast juniors.

    With about 7 miles to go I am chasing this guy who sees me and takes off! I am hoping I can catch him, but he's really strong and pulling away from me. I hit this little whoop and I hear my rear tire rub the frame but I don't think much of it but the tire is feeling a bit loose. I look back on one of the climbs and I see Paul to my surprise and he is gaining on me big time. It's only about 5 miles to go so I am hoping I can hold him off. My bike is seeming pretty slow and I realize I am getting a flat rear tire. Ugh. It's only 2 miles or so from the finish and I am crawling along trying to keep weight off the rear wheel. Alas, Paul catches me with a woman right behind him and I just pull over and let them go. I nurse the bike to the finsh, getting passed by a couple of others on the way.

    I ended up finishing 13th out of 21 or so. Not too bad considering. Paul got 12th. John was like 10th or so, but he had 4 mechanicals and would have done much better. My right lower back was kinda stiff after the race but I was so happy to be done. I took a look at my tire and it looks like I must have burped some air somewhere(s) on the course. I pumped it up afterwards and the tire held air. Hmm next, time I'll have to put in more air. I need to also get that fork dialed in before next time. All in all a good time was had! Maybe I'll do the next race in the series in 2 weeks.