DAS Racing: Lungs Open? Massasoit...

The weather on Sunday was magnanimous after last week's Cat 1 soaker. MAGNANIMOUS!
It was sunny, cool, dry... all the things you want for a fast race in a place with a lot of roots. The course was perfect, and even the sandy sections were packed enough that high speed could be maintained throughout. We had a blast! There were some good things and some bad things, but overall, lessons were learned, and we can't wait for the next race!

Here are the results...

Dan Biscup:

"Its a public service announcment!:

Yip, yip, yip, what does that mean?! So I am a fast rider… or so I thought! I have to hand it to the CAT1 field, they are ridiculously fast! I got to the race with just enough time to pedal up and down the road onetime and get in line. Needless to say my first lap was my warm-up. My race started in a pace line for the first half lap, I ultimately fell off the back expecting to “real them in” somewhere in the middle of lap2. Lap2 came and went, there was no reeling. 40+ and single speed pro peeps proceed to pass me and I was in the void, alone, franticly peddling. At some point I started singing TV commercial songs. The oddest thing was I was riding fast, so fast that I could hardly keep my bike on the trail, pushing as hard as I could! I finished 4th from the bottom, 2 DNFs and probably a guy that had a worse day then me! I will say from what I could see on the results board the whole category came in within 10 minutes of each other, I was not too far back on this long of a race. I am a mountain biker and truly enjoy riding no matter what the results are. There are lame people out there that yell stuff from way behind you (like 4 turns back) to break your concentration so you will slow down and they can catch up and pass. To me this is absolutely bad sportsmanship. If you feel that you need to yell “yip, yip, yip” for 10 minutes while you finally catch-up and pass, you are in the wrong sport."

Liz A:

"The women’s Pro/Open field has been pretty stacked this season. There are some smoking fast veteran racers as well as some girls who have made the switch from road and cross over to mountain biking. It’s intimidating. Honestly though, I’m happy to race against them. I might be coming in at the back of the pack (ok, it’s DFL), but I’m not that far off the back. This race was fast and furious, and right now, I just don’t have it. I can get myself up to a pretty steady speed of fast, but that’s it. There’s no top end that I can dig into at this point. It’s early though.

So, my start was really good. I got into the woods fast, but I only held myself up there for the first mile before the rest of the girls pulled away. Less than halfway through the first lap, I ran into Jena Greaser with a mechanical. I found out later that her carbon fiber frame basically fell apart, but when I saw her, it reminded me that I never put any tools in my pockets. Oops. Glad nothing happened. Somewhere during lap 2, Susan Lynch (Cat 1 35+) passed me. I was hoping to hold her off longer than that, but no such luck. She’s an animal. A little later in lap 3, I saw her kit ahead of me and got excited, but it was one of the men who had started ahead of me. I crashed on the final lap and bounced myself up quickly - I can’t even use that as an excuse for a poor time. Luckily, none of the other Cat 1 women caught me, but I am willing to bet their times weren’t far behind.

Overall, it was a really fun race, and if anything, it was just what I needed as far as training goes. I’ve been avoiding road training (mostly due to time constraints), but it’s clearly time to get my slow butt out on the pavement once in awhile."

Tracy:

"On the start line I am thinking it will be important to get out in front right away because as soon as you hit the woods you are bombarded with single track, roots, bridges and more roots. This isn’t what actually happened but, that was my thought process anyway. At least I wasn’t last entering the woods I would say I was probably mid pack. I luckily was able to pass a few girls and was ahead of a crash that took my fellow team mate and friend out of the race :( Glad she didn’t get hurt; the bike is easier to repair. I am glad that I did get to pre-ride this course and found that helped me out a lot. Overall I liked the course it had some technical areas but, it was fast. Other randomness; Mountain bike courses are not really spectator friendly and that is okay, because I don’t feel so bad when I drop the F bomb. Luckily I don’t drop the F bomb to often. Okay knee pads, yes I wear them and without knee socks they are very noticeable in pictures. O well, good thing that all the kool kids wear them. Hahahah and yes I think I am still recovering from the amount of dust I inhaled during that race."

John Y:

"Frustrating result yesterday due to chain skipping on the rear and dropping off the front. Oh yeah, lost my hydration 1/2 hour in. Turns out my rear wheel was cocked in the frame (thanks to Le Velo for noticing!)and trashed front chainrings. I think I may switch back to singlespeed until the Specialized Gods smile upon me. I felt great, I loved the course, I was hanging with some good guys pushing past my comfort zone (a good thing) and not making mistakes but when your on your limit keeping up and stop dead several times, you're not catching back up. One of these days I'll put together a race more indicative of my potential."

John H:

"Race recap.... I thought this course was way more fun than hop brook; it was way more technical and fun to ride. My first lap, I rode every obstacle - less that last hill - but on my second lap, I found myself running when I had to to conserve some energy, I was fading fast. Fuelled by my disappointing finish at hop brook, I hit the weight bench harder, hit the trails harder and longer, and integrated some road rides into my weeks. I was happy with my results (not DFL) - mainly because it showed my hard work is paying off. As always, I found that just about every fellow mountain biker was really nice. All in all, I'm smiling knowing I crossed the line with nothing left and surpassed the goal I had set for this race. To the rest of the DAS team, thanks for helping me train and steering me in the proper direction."

Liz B:

"I chose the wrong time to try to pass another racer less than 2 miles in. We both went down. She was able to get up, but my handlebars were twisted and I couldn't untwist them because the brakes were stuck in the carbon. DNF.

I'm focusing on the things I learned from the experience. It's all part of racing."

(Sidenote... for those of you out there reading this blog, this is NOT part of racing. If someone is ready to pass, and they have initiated a polite motion to do so, you should let them pass. This is especially true if they are faster than you, in another racing category, or you are riding really sloppy in front of them.)

Crystal:

"Let me just say, it's a really good thing pant suits are now acceptable for women to wear in corporate America...My legs look like I was thrown off a 3 story building! Even with 5 laps of the course under my belt this year, I struggled to stay upright during the race. I even managed to face plant while off my bike. I've realized my fitness is too far ahead of my technical skills at this point, as my body's race pace ≠ the speed at which I can keep my bike under control. Guess that's why most people learn to mountain bike before racing mountain bikes, but then again I've always been a little backwards!"