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I hope you weigh like 250 lbs!
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Sep 21, 2020 00:19
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 06:23 |
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Posting in Jamal's thread since I did my first XC race this past weekend. I was planning on doing some XC race series and other stuff last year but life happened and I didn't do it. Saw this local race come up just after I finished putting together a new bike and also saw someone I knew was signed up, so talked with him and he encouraged me to sign up for the 40+ expert group. Generally I'm a strong rider with decent handling skills but people around here (SF Bay Area) are strong as hell so I was a bit nervous about not having experience with that. But, also pretty much why I was doing it. Of course a little less than 2 weeks before the race COVID hits our household, but I was lucky enough to "barely get it". Extremely slight line on test results, no symptoms except a slight headache that came and went, no change in HR stats, and tested negative after 4 days. It messed with my preparation a bit though and I'd have liked to do that a bit different, but oh well, very lucky all things considered and that it had no noticeable impact on my cardiovascular system (I was pretty careful to monitor that when riding again to make sure things looked fine and to take some easy days before stressing myself). The race was the Stafford Lake Rattler XC race, up in Novato near (and including) the bike park up there. Most of the race was really along some trails in the disc golf course up there that aren't normally rideable, and it was basically lots of punchy and steep climbs with some decent singletrack bits and janky hiking trail switchbacks, then some bike park flow trail stuff. I pre-rode the course the day before and am glad I did, just to know how it went and where some issues were. Probably went a bit too hard on the pre-ride but maybe helped get my legs ready too...I dunno, without a chance at a real taper and prep I was winging it at this point. Expert/Pro started at 11am but got there around 9 to have time to warm up and not feel rushed. Had a donut for pre-race food and since it was relatively short-ish (4 laps of 4.2 miles) I just went with one bottle with Scratch Superfuel in it. At 10:45 we lined up, I was feeling a bit nervous about the start but watched the pro group and under 18 groups go off a bit ahead of us and their sprint start didn't look that bad so I just focused on holding my position when we got the go. Was maybe 100 yards along a dirt road until hitting a steep uphill with an "A" line that went straight up and a B line that was longer and went around and up. Right away people botched the climb, someone swerved in front of me and cut me off so I had to run the rest of the initial climb, shoulda maybe taken the B line. Following that was a narrow slog of a climb along the hillside and any worries I had about my bike handling were dispelled there with watching people have difficulties navigating that. One guy managed to fall over the only rock along the side of the trail, and I think when I got past him (can't actually remember if I passed people to get around him or not) I was behind one person I could tell was slower than me but we actually put a small gap on the group. After a short downhill I was able to get out in front of him on a longish flat dirt road section and then pushed up the next longer climb pretty hard. The track doubled back and wound back and forth through a field so I could see I had increased the gap some so I just kept at it through the next couple of ups and downs and into the long drag of a climb that came after, then hit the switchback-ish downhill pretty good but being cautious enough to not overcook anything. One guy who was a bit behind me I saw take a pretty good crash on the one slightly technical rocky section as I was coming around a switchback and could look up the trail. By that point I basically had gapped the group behind me and never saw them as a whole again anywhere close to threatening me. I caught one other guy on the bike park climb and flow trail on the first lap but was riding alone at that point. I passed at least one other person (maybe a few more) but laps 2 and 3 I had one guy hanging around behind me, not gaining time but I couldn't lose him either. The group ahead of me was pretty well gone and I wasn't catching them and I think it's fair to say they were all pretty much stronger than me in general so I'm not sad about how my positioning at the beginning started out. Unfortunately by the 4th lap my legs were starting to go and I couldn't hold off the guy behind me. He caught me at the end of the long climb and stuck behind me on the downhill and I let him pass on the flat after that. With just the bike park flow trail stuff remaining and no one threatening me from behind anymore I mostly cruised the last bit at a moderate pace as I knew I didn't have the legs to catch the guy anymore. I guess I should say that for a hour and a half race my HR averaged 175 and overall it was pretty brutal, but also fun in that "I'm racing" and "this is cool even if it hurts" and "this is definitely type 2 fun". I rolled in at 8th in the 40+ group that I think was 25-26 people, and if you include the small group of 19-39 (I think there was only 5 or 6) then I was 9th (the second place in 19-39 finished a minute and change behind me, 1st place was like 10 drat minutes ahead of me, hah). For my first actual race pretty happy overall. My biggest worries were how I'd handle the start and dealing with positioning and it ended up pretty much being a non factor, but I can see it being more aggressive in other races as well. I think I got exactly the finishing position I deserved as the people in front of me were stronger and the people who finished behind me I was stronger than and I didn't screw myself over getting dropped from the lead group or something because of bad decisions at the start...I wasn't going to hang with them anyways I think. Maybe next time I'll be more aggressive at trying to stay up at the front and try to hang on if I can but we'll see. I wish I could have held off the guy who passed me on the last lap but legs just didn't have it. I also need to really do some body work to mitigate some back pain that came up from constantly going hard. By lap 4 it probably robbed me of some energy and power as well, so that's a task for the winter. My buddy finished 16th and though it wasn't really his kind of race I was happy to have done well in comparison since he has more racing experience and I know he's pretty strong in general (probably does far better in races that aren't just punchy climbs). So, was fun, still kinda stoked. There's a XC series that goes on around some of the Sierra foothills towns that I'm going to try to do next year (the ones that I bailed on this year) and will probably keep an eye out for some other stuff. Couple of pics  
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Nov 15, 2023 04:25
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