Race Smarter NOT Harder: Sagebrush Safari 4/2/06
Meatheads don’t always finish well even in mountain biking. And for the most part, I have raced like a meathead, relying purely on my brute strength. Evolving to become a better racer means I need to take in account other factors. It was my goal for the first “real” race of the season to build a strategy that suited my other racing talents. For the 24 mile course with significant amounts of paved climbs, awesome carved out downhills and a perfect high-60 degree sunny day, I was up for the smart challenge.
Pre-riding the race course was definitely my first smart move. Going into the race, I knew what to expect on the course and where I needed to push myself, pace myself and where the nice view was to stop and have a picnic. The race started out much like a road race. The cool part about this year’s race season is that most of the gals I raced with last year also upgraded to Pro too: Christie, Teri, Mandy, and Chrissy. So we cruised off the start line with a fairly large group of women. It was a short fast section of single track to the first pavement hill climb.
Knowing the hill climb was going to be sustained, I decided to park my wheel behind one of the fast Pro chicks, Tomarra of the Trek team, and let her pull me along. Drafting is
one of the finer techniques I have been able to carry over from road racing. I guess I was not stealthy enough because she decided to play with me. She pulled off to the side a little bit and slowed down to “adjust her shoes.” Then she took off like a shot and I missed the opportunity to get back on her wheel. At least I was able to draft a little more than half way up the hill before I hit more dirt, saving valuable energy.
Once I hit the fun swooping single track I kicked it into gear. You see, climbing is a good way to stomp out aggression and feel like you have accomplished something because you are sweating and your muscles are talking back. But going downhill wicked fast is what puts a smile on my face. My teammate, Chrissy Bono, was right there with me. I was pedaling out of the turns, hanging it out just enough so that I was not on the verge of wrecking. It was so exhilarating. We even caught and passed some scrawny girls who had zipped up the hill, but they did not have the strength to hold their wheels over the bumps on the downhill.
After picking off some of the competition, it was time to teach some of the men on the course a lesson. We easily passed a bunch of men only to be recaptured on the next dirt climb. Really, it was a hike-a-bike hill and I decided to put my meathead hat back on and muscle it up and over some rocks. Needless to say, I did not get far and I even fell over on my side trying to get off my bike to push it up the hill. My pride was hurt as the hairy-legs scrambled up the hill past me. I was breathing so hard trying to get air into my lungs that I thought I was going to crack a rib. Chrissy played it smarter and was elegantly off the front.
Fortunately, another downhill adventure was close at hand. Once I found the downhill fire road at the end of the single track, I jumped into my biggest gear and paced myself back up to Chrissy. I caught her just before the entrance of the infamous Mt. Pinos climb. In previous races, this climb has been a dirt fire road, now it is paved. It twists and turns for over a couple of miles. Once you think you have arrived at top you come around the bend to see that you have only made it part of the way. It is quite the mind game. Riding with Chrissy made it much more enjoyable. We cheered each other on as we passed the “hero” racers who were stretched out straight as boards cramped on the side of the road or others who were walking their bikes because they did not drink enough water or eat enough during the ride. The only thing that kept me going on the climb other than my hubby cheering me on, was meeting up with more awesome descents.
Finally, we turned off to make one of the last fun roller coaster free falls. The top portion was a little tricky. For the climb I had turned my rear shock off and now I was clumsily searching for it in my post-climb delirium. It is not a good idea to reach down underneath my top tube to flip the switch while maintaining high speeds. I bounced all over the place taking the most treacherous lines. I clanged my pedals so hard on rocks that my feet were shot right off the pedals. Poor Chrissy has a hard tail bike and suffered from following my scenic routes.
At the bottom of the descent there was one last paved climb. I looked back and Chrissy was no where in sight. Figuring I was about 15 minutes from the finish line I decided to use everything I had left on the climb. Initially, I thought my legs were feeling fresh. Then I banked a turn during a short descent in the middle of the climb and stuck out my right knee……I found out quickly that my right quad was full of trolls twisting knots into my muscles. I rode out the cramp reasoning that stopping would only intensify the rigor mortis.
It was a smart move. I recovered by the last fast and fun descent. I passed a tandem – now those folks are crazy. Here is a picture of one that was in the race, not the one I passed, but image being the back rider and going downhill? It is like sending a big Mac truck down a hill without brakes. After the tandem, I passed several other guys who were unusually polite about letting me pass them and flew to the finish line for 3rd place!
Making the podium on the first mountain bike race of the season feels awesome. It is definitely a confidence boost for the upcoming races.
Pre-riding the race course was definitely my first smart move. Going into the race, I knew what to expect on the course and where I needed to push myself, pace myself and where the nice view was to stop and have a picnic. The race started out much like a road race. The cool part about this year’s race season is that most of the gals I raced with last year also upgraded to Pro too: Christie, Teri, Mandy, and Chrissy. So we cruised off the start line with a fairly large group of women. It was a short fast section of single track to the first pavement hill climb.
Knowing the hill climb was going to be sustained, I decided to park my wheel behind one of the fast Pro chicks, Tomarra of the Trek team, and let her pull me along. Drafting is
one of the finer techniques I have been able to carry over from road racing. I guess I was not stealthy enough because she decided to play with me. She pulled off to the side a little bit and slowed down to “adjust her shoes.” Then she took off like a shot and I missed the opportunity to get back on her wheel. At least I was able to draft a little more than half way up the hill before I hit more dirt, saving valuable energy.Once I hit the fun swooping single track I kicked it into gear. You see, climbing is a good way to stomp out aggression and feel like you have accomplished something because you are sweating and your muscles are talking back. But going downhill wicked fast is what puts a smile on my face. My teammate, Chrissy Bono, was right there with me. I was pedaling out of the turns, hanging it out just enough so that I was not on the verge of wrecking. It was so exhilarating. We even caught and passed some scrawny girls who had zipped up the hill, but they did not have the strength to hold their wheels over the bumps on the downhill.
After picking off some of the competition, it was time to teach some of the men on the course a lesson. We easily passed a bunch of men only to be recaptured on the next dirt climb. Really, it was a hike-a-bike hill and I decided to put my meathead hat back on and muscle it up and over some rocks. Needless to say, I did not get far and I even fell over on my side trying to get off my bike to push it up the hill. My pride was hurt as the hairy-legs scrambled up the hill past me. I was breathing so hard trying to get air into my lungs that I thought I was going to crack a rib. Chrissy played it smarter and was elegantly off the front.
Fortunately, another downhill adventure was close at hand. Once I found the downhill fire road at the end of the single track, I jumped into my biggest gear and paced myself back up to Chrissy. I caught her just before the entrance of the infamous Mt. Pinos climb. In previous races, this climb has been a dirt fire road, now it is paved. It twists and turns for over a couple of miles. Once you think you have arrived at top you come around the bend to see that you have only made it part of the way. It is quite the mind game. Riding with Chrissy made it much more enjoyable. We cheered each other on as we passed the “hero” racers who were stretched out straight as boards cramped on the side of the road or others who were walking their bikes because they did not drink enough water or eat enough during the ride. The only thing that kept me going on the climb other than my hubby cheering me on, was meeting up with more awesome descents.
Finally, we turned off to make one of the last fun roller coaster free falls. The top portion was a little tricky. For the climb I had turned my rear shock off and now I was clumsily searching for it in my post-climb delirium. It is not a good idea to reach down underneath my top tube to flip the switch while maintaining high speeds. I bounced all over the place taking the most treacherous lines. I clanged my pedals so hard on rocks that my feet were shot right off the pedals. Poor Chrissy has a hard tail bike and suffered from following my scenic routes.
At the bottom of the descent there was one last paved climb. I looked back and Chrissy was no where in sight. Figuring I was about 15 minutes from the finish line I decided to use everything I had left on the climb. Initially, I thought my legs were feeling fresh. Then I banked a turn during a short descent in the middle of the climb and stuck out my right knee……I found out quickly that my right quad was full of trolls twisting knots into my muscles. I rode out the cramp reasoning that stopping would only intensify the rigor mortis.
It was a smart move. I recovered by the last fast and fun descent. I passed a tandem – now those folks are crazy. Here is a picture of one that was in the race, not the one I passed, but image being the back rider and going downhill? It is like sending a big Mac truck down a hill without brakes. After the tandem, I passed several other guys who were unusually polite about letting me pass them and flew to the finish line for 3rd place!
Making the podium on the first mountain bike race of the season feels awesome. It is definitely a confidence boost for the upcoming races.
posted by Meggan @ 1:38 AM
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