Tsali Knobscorcher Mountainbike Race

This is going to be awesome!! Using a little bit of "Headstrong" tactics.

Debbie and I were talking last night, and decided that the Tsali Knobscorcher mountainbike race on Sunday was the hardest one we’ve raced in quite a few years. I can’t speak for Deb, though I know she suffered too, but this is the race from my perspective.

The yellow wave was scheduled to line up at the start line at 11:30am, and by then, the early morning cold was gone, and it had warmed up to a comfortable race temperature.

Proudly Headstrong. Out here to kick some...

There's the start-line hiccup with the Kenda girl. I didn't just make it up!

There were 21 Cat 1 women and 2 Pro women on the start line, which is a pretty big field for a mountainbike race. Deb found a great spot in the front, right behind the line, and I nudged my front wheel up behind her, between her and one of the pro-women. As the race started, the Kenda girl next to me overbalanced and steered into me, forcing me to put my foot down, and lose precious ground. We had about a 300 yard gravel road climb into the single-track, and it was important to find a good place unless you wanted to fight for position in the trails.

Fighting like crazy for a good spot.

I fought like crazy to gain some spots in those first 300 yards, and entered the trails with a group of girls who were going a little slower than I wanted to be riding. I could see Deb ahead chasing the pro’s and a handful of other cat 1’s. I decided that I felt great, despite the effort of that first climb, and I started turning the pedals harder, passing about 4 women in my category and a few guys from the wave in front. I red-lined for almost 50 minutes, and eventually caught up to Debbie. I still wasn’t feeling too bad, but now we started hitting some gnarly climbs, and I could feel the effects of the first hour of effort. I dropped back a little on the first climb, a technical hard left, and a couple of guys from the wave behind us got in front of me.

Deb railing a corner after the first lap.

Starting to feel a bit stretched at this point.

By the time the second climb came, Deb was further ahead, and I thought I might be in a bit of trouble. I recovered for all of about a minute, and continued to push. For the next hour, I could see Deb about a hundred yards ahead, then two hundred and then I couldn’t see her anymore. A cat 1 girl passed me, which didn’t make me happy, but I was about maxed out at that stage. A short while later I passed the same girl again; she had stopped because of a mechanical issue, and while I never wish mechanicals or falls on anyone, I was glad to be again behind my team mate.

At two hours, the bottom fell out. Bonking is one thing, but I felt awful. I had enough fluids – it was calories I was badly in need of. The Powerbar Endurance mix in my Camelback was definitely keeping me hydrated, but I had planned badly. When you are racing mountainbikes, it’s not always an easy thing to reach into your jersey pocket, grab a bar of some sort, open it and eat it. You have just a few seconds every so often to take your hands off the bars, before you run the risk of losing control and crashing. I got mad at myself for not going to get the “liquid food” I’d been wanting to try for weeks, and that I’d put so much into training for this race, and the stupid small matter of a complete lack of glycogen was standing in the way of me and the podium!

For the next 45 minutes, I dragged myself around that course, not caring when another three girls from my category passed me (that should NOT have happened!!) – all I was thinking about was the chocolate soy milk in the cooler in the car.

Very relieved to cross the finish-line. Wish my face knew!

Deb just as relieved, but looking good.

I was elated to see the finish line, though my face certainly didn’t show it. The final results are posted, and Debbie Gillespie came in 6^th and I came in 9^th in the cat 1 division. Not bad out of a field of 21, and a huge improvement on last year’s result.

Stuff I learned from this race:

1. I’ve got to figure out the food thing

2. My coach, Dan Shelby, rocks

3. My team-mate, Debbie Gillespie, rocks

4. I cannot hold a red-line pace for almost 3 hours

5. I have to learn to temper my race aggression and pace myself (patience, patience, patience!)

6. I really like chocolate soy milk!

Giselle was subjected to moaning and wailing and gnashing of teeth when I saw her at the YMCA on Monday night. I complained bitterly how I’d bonked, and that of course that was the ONLY thing in the way of me overtaking those Pro-women, you know! Last night at SC-TAC, which I didn’t ride because I’m still trying to figure out who’s legs are attached to my body, she showed up with a possible solution. Hilarious! Thanks Giselle!!

Ban the Bonk!

Something Giselle touched on in her previous blog made me think about "racing" in a race, and now that I’ve been doing crits, road races and mountainbike races for quite some time, I believe that mountainbike racers race, from start to finish, holding nothing back. The only limitation is the amount of pain you can stand. And that race hurt like crazy.

Deb and I are racing on Sunday in Columbia. This is the first mtb race in the SC State Champ series. Oh boy.