Monday, October 5, 2009

Dekalb

pic by sandy henry
This picture explains pretty much how my race went at the Dekalb/Hopkins park race. Follow the wheel, carve the turns, SPRINT, follow the wheel, pass, SPRINT, carve the turn...
The race started off with the customary "shit start". Around the first couple of turns where things were starting to settle in I looked back to see exactly how far back I was. Of course I was at the absolute ass end of the field as there was literally no one behind me. This really pissed me off and I rode the next two laps passing and passing hard. Riders who I knew had no business being in front of me were passed and repassed at every opportunity.
The legs felt awesome. On the flat long straight aways I would shift into the big chainring and sprint hard. I would pass riders, then get a little sloppy in a turn and they would pass me again. This went on for the first two laps until those guys started to fade. Starting all the way back in a pack of about fifty halfway through Erica(I think) shouted "40th place!". This gave me the extra incentive to ride even harder. As traffic spaced out I really started hitting a good rythm. My turns started to get cleaner and cleaner. Fully aware that I had matches to burn I started firing them.
The middle of the race was the second wave of attacks/hard digs. I passed my teammate Tim, then some random dudes. Up next was Soupy, a skilled rider who I knew could defeat me in the technical bits. Luckily there were not too many of those so I was able to pass him. Up next was Dave, I could tell that Dave was not riding as well as he could, so I rode his wheel for a little bit to catch my breath and moved on to the next wheel. Checking riders off like a grocery list I started moving into the thirties in field position.
Fully warmed up to this point I had an idea of where I could pass and make up time. My turns were getting cleaner and cleaner each lap. Noting where other riders where hitting their brakes to turn, I would do the opposite and try to hit it hard then mini-sprint out of the corners. Having a bike that is not so light and being under 6 feet in height the barriers felt taller and my bike heavier each lap. I was however getting some really clean remounts. A nice improvement that I noticed was that after clearing the barrier I was only taking one step before jumping back on the bike.
Coming around with two laps to go I had settled in with two other riders. A guy in a kit that said embrocation on it and an Iron Cycles rider. I followed their wheels closely. Other guys had simply faded but these two were always just out of my reach. A slight sense of desperation, anticipation, and some competitive courage fueled the last two laps. The embro' guy and iron cycles rider were not riding too aggressively, at top of the climb up to the baseball field I passed the iron cycles rider who did not seem to eager to fight me for the spot. I could not see anybody in front of the embro rider so he was going to be my man to beat.
My legs felt strong but I was a little apprehensive. I really did not know how much I had in me, even though my body was doing everything that I asked it to do. Staying close to the embro rider I had noticed that he was not taking some of the turns too well. On the tight off camber turn in between two trees(before the barriers on the singletrack) he hit the brakes too hard and slid out. I was able to go around him. I looked back, he was not too quick on his feet so I hit the gas hard. Through the woods and over the barriers I felt a second wind. Ahead of me I saw paolo from XXX. Unfortunately I ran out of course to pass him. I have no doubt in my mind that if I had another lap that I would have passed him and caught up to teammate Chris.
Finally after a long time things clicked at Dekalb. My form is great and my mind was right there along with it. At the Dan Ryan woods I'm going to show up with good legs, good mind, and hopefully a much better knowledge of how much I've got in the tank. My placing might not have been an A+ but my performance sure was.
A+ for effort
B- for execution

2 comments:

Ben said...

great report! It is a great feeling when things start to click. The turns are so important, go, wide, then to the apex of the corner, and on the pedals back wide to the tape and power out of the corner. Good luck this weekend, keep that tire planted on the climb!

pmyers said...

Embro guy says hi. Nice race.

“I had noticed that he was not taking some of the turns too well”
I’m so sorry I took any of the turns well. Having just bridged up to you and Iron Cycles rider I quickly noticed that the two of you gapped me on every power section. But, I closed the gaps on the turns. So, once I got in front of you I made sure that every turn was bad. My goal was to push you into the fence, make you brake, make you check up and change your line on every single turn. Once I made a mistake you just powered past me. Very nice.