2TG Dirt Crit #5, 13th - Time to cut my losses.

 I was talking to one of my buddies before signing up to do some of the dirt crits and remember saying I was a little bit nervous about racing on a CX bike and getting hurt, especially something that would prevent me from racing CX. Three weeks in a row of crashing and I'm starting to notice a trend. Last night particularly sucked with rash covering the left side of my body and some deeper cuts on my knee, hip and forearm. Crashing into glass sucks. I remember some crashes when I raced on the road but in 10 years of mountain bike racing I can only remember one crash with this kind of carnage at Rhett's Run in 2010, which was a complete and utter mud fest. 

Race start was civilized and I was committed to trying to leave a little gap on the group of 7 or 8 so I  wouldn't burn as many matches getting brake checked in and out of turns. The dust was brutal from back there though and when we hit the flat riser on the back of the course the gap was opening up a little but I stayed patient and kept my pace. I think I was passed up by one or two in the field, had two riders dangling 10-15 seconds followed by Sandnop. I hit the left hander into the glass and went down hard; bars twisted and headset loosened but otherwise didn't think it was too bad. I got passed by the two chasing riders and jumped on. I could see Sandknop coming up behind me but recovered, for the most part, and kept going.  

I think Sandknop passed me like a banshee in the field but I didn't have the juice to hang. Going into the left hander I was concentrated on picking a different line and my front wheel washed out again but luckily I was able to dab and stay upright. Confidence as definitely shaken but I was still in the mix so pushed on.

Other than practically stopping before the left hand turn every lap the rest of the race was fairly uneventful, fortunately. Sandknop charged and caught the second big chase group  which was pretty fun to watch. I was able to maintain about the same gap of 30 seconds until the last lap when they started going after each other. 

I think the only logical solution is to dismantle my tubeless set up while I'm still in pain to avoid making the same mistake 4 weeks in a row.

2TG Dirt Crit # 4, 17th

                                          ***awesome shots from RainbowMarks last night!

After the race last night I was trying to recall if I ever started a race DFL and remembered one instance. It was my hardcore endurance racing year of 2007, doing lots of 3 , 6 and 12's with the ultimate goal to set a new course record of 10 laps at the Burnin'. I lapped a few fields and set some course records along the way but failed at the Burnin' when a flat and poor planning ruined the day early on.  Too many eggs in one basket for twelve hour racing  so while back East with my family at Thanksgiving I  declared I was going to train for XC  and come back to  race Expert Nationals at Mount Snow the next year if they all would go. I succeeded at that goal. Anyway, in 2007 I went up to Wisconsin to race their big endurance series, the WEMS, and since it was early in my season I opted for the 6 hr. Long story short, I got lost in the woods warming up, missed my start by 10 minutes, clawed my way back through a huge field of tight single-track where it was tough to pass and came in second, by less than 10 minutes. 

I'll admit after being torched the week before I put training aside and did a mini taper because I wanted to see how I could do if I felt fresh. I was feeling great. I really don't know what happened  but about 7 seconds into the bunch start sprint for the first corner I hit the deck pretty hard and fortunately didn't take anyone down or get ran over. I picked my shit up, knocked my bars and shifters back in place and jumped on the back of a 57 person train. It was pretty tough to pass, especially without the grassy section and generally the people in the back of the pack would accelerate or go with full NASCAR blocking techniques if you tried. As I got closer to the faster guys this was less of an issue, may be a trend. Oh well, I rode pretty clean and had great power when gaps opened up, but never really got a chance to run the ponies because of the traffic.  I worked my way up to 17th and am pleased I stuck with it and that  it felt "easy," hopefully a sign that my body is responding to the intensity work of the first few races, which I haven't done any of in training, if you can call it that. Really just enjoying everything about being on a bike again!

Loving everything about this series. Going to be bummed when it's over but the smell of sweet embro is just around the corner!

2TG Dirt Crit #3, 12th

 Big field. Lots of old Mesa friends coming out for a little reunion. Party like atmosphere. Might be the most enjoyable series I've attended. I might go as far as saying more fun than cross? Mike needs a gigantic cooler of ice cold brews at the finish to come close.

Faster and more aggressive start than last week. Oddly it felt like I was going dramatically slower this week but all my dorky power/ physio metrics say it was almost identical. I felt like a spawned out salmon drifting back down stream occasionally getting beached on shore and having to flop back in, all the while getting passed by those fueled by the hopes of fulfilling their destiny upstream... something like that anyway.

Little jockeying for the first half of the race but was able to maintain my position. Around lap 4 before the left hander up the glass block section my front wheel washed out my already twinging calves did not like trying to dab to stay up and went down anyway. Lap or two later I had passed Petey and a Gateway rider and had a 20-30 sec gap sitting inside the top 10 at that point, and went down harder in the same corner.  This time my left calf really didn't like it and I got passed up by the Gateway rider. At least there was some blood for posterity's sake. 

Not long after Greg Sandknop and some dude named Lars (that naturally must be a bad mofo) passed me and I was feeling pretty good sitting on their wheels with two to go. They we're riding super smooth and I wasn't juicing the pickle with my ooh face on coming out of every turn. I thought if I stayed with them to the grass I could make my move and possibly even catch the Gateway guy who was dangling 10 seconds ahead. Then that left hander came up again and I went down... That was that. Was able to hold off the charge but didn't close in on Greg and Lars. 

Still happy with the result given the talent and field of 70!!!!

2TG Dirt Crit # 2, 7th.

 

Wow. Can't recall ever be so pleased about a top-ten finish. Been riding a fraction of what I used to ride since I bought my bike in November, but feeling good, enjoying it and motivated. Last night was the first riding I've done with any intensity and it felt good, which was not which I was expecting. The last dirt crit racing I had done was my first season of racing in 2003 at Castlewood when I won the sport class series.  That course was all gas and no flow and I never really enjoyed it that much. The Valley Park course is just a blast. Great flow, technical at speed and a great track. The beer at the finish is a nice touch. 

My race was somewhat uneventful and pretty much finished where I started. My goal was a top 15 finish but I didn't want to get bottlenecked so I jump in with the lead pack, passed one rider on lap 2 or so and never looked back. I had one encounter with a tree that jumped out at me and hit my shoulder and one wash out where I ended up in the dirt with crooked hoods but fortunately recovered from both. I had a chase group that was yo yoyoing a ways back and went through a funk on laps 4/5 but managed to finish my last 3 laps consistently and close on the group with Bob in front of me a bit. I'm going to try to maintain my base/tempo riding and resist the urge to get all amped up for these but hopefully they provide a nice spring board to cross season.