Tuesday, April 30, 2013

SSAP 2013 aka Singlespeed-A-Palooza; aka The Social Gala of the 2013 Season

aka Singlespeed-A-Palooza; aka The Social Gala of the 2013 Season

Nothing but singlespeeds
With an eclectic group of racers from some of our favorite local teams (Expo Wheelman, NBX, and Bikeman), DAS racers Donnie D and Liz A headed out Saturday afternoon to Montgomery, NY for a 9 am start at Dark Horse Cycles' Singlespeed-A-Palooza.  Jesse, Melissa, and Alby were perfect accomplices for this road trip, and the entire experience was a gut-busting good time.  

This being Donnie's first race in awhile, he was excited to be back at it.  Here's how the race went for him:  

"As I shaved my face to make some chops I pondered the last time I raced singlespeed, The best I could come up with was Sea Otter around 04’. This time however it would be the first time riding a 29er and the first time riding my new Kona Unit.  Since I was not going to break any records I chose to race it stock right out of the box. I built her up on Friday, threw on some King Cages, a Topeak bag with essentials and called it good. I also thought it was a long time since I loaded up into a car with fellow racers and drove more than a couple hours to camp. 


The line for the beer
"My goal was to not come in last and hang on to my friend Oliver’s wheel as long as possible. On the trip over there were some similarities to previous mentioned trips but this time things were different as well.  For starters I’m way less serious about racing now so my mind was not filled with things like tire choice, tire pressure, sleep, the start, etc. I did however focus on staying hydrated, so I popped open another first for me, a Heady Topper Double IPA from VT. 

"We arrived at the host shop, Dark Horse Cycles, and set up camp on the property. My set up was easy, Thermarest and bag under the stars. I knew that nutrition and hydration was the only way I was going to survive this race, so I immediately started eating and drinking water as soon as I woke. 

"The beginning of the race was typical - complete with a pile up which I narrowly avoided. I was careful not to blow up and settled in on the climb.  Oliver made quick work of the field and moved to the front. Myself I stayed back to keep an eye on the competition. As the race developed I was most impressed with the trail system, fast flowing well designed, perfect for a singlespeed. 

"By mile 10 I was getting used to the bike and the 29 inch wheels.  I was most impressed with the traction I was getting in the corners. The bike was smooth over the tech sections and ran flawlessly. By mile 15 at the water feed I thought for a second about skipping it but came to my senses.  I dumped my half full bottles and grabbed one full one with Heed. I watched with no reaction 6 or so riders go by. I chugged 2 beers and off I went. Total down time 2 minutes. Back in the saddle and 10 miles to go my legs definitely started to feel the work that had been done. 

"I settled in again and ticked off the miles; with no computer and no idea when or where the end was, I took my last GU and hoped for the best. It turned out it was not far, and it was over. Yup just like that it was over. Post race beers, food and good times were had by all. Overall I had a great time with some cool peeps. Oliver came in first and I came in several positions after him. See you at the next race where I’ll be the one letting you pass and chugging beers."

Alby King of Bikeman with our group cooler


Here is Liz's account of the race (taken word for word from her blog, so if you've already read that, skip ahead):

"The race started out on a dirt road which was ideal because if you know anything about singlespeeds, you'll know that one gear means it takes awhile to create a decent gap in a crowd of over one-hundred. The open women started with the open men, and the sport men, fat bikes, and sport women were staggered at two minute intervals behind us.  When the start was called, it was a mad scrabble of clipping in and furiously spinning because much of the first section of road was a descent.  As the dust began to clear and the lead group of men started to pull away, I could see that the road was changing to an incline; I could also see one of the other women that I was up against.  As the incline leveled off, we were all going pretty steady, and it wasn't until the next incline that I decided to try to make a move past her.  I'd intended to go all out in the beginning so I could put some distance and some humans between myself and the other girls before we hit the woods; this seemed to work because I never saw another woman racing during the entire 24 miles.  I didn't know it until I saw her come through, but Melissa was just a couple minutes behind me and was trying to chase me down the entire way as she was catching glimpses of me throughout the race.  
NBX's Melissa and Expo Wheelmen's Jesse


"During most of the race, I was riding with one guy who seemed to be pretty well matched to my pace (after a good chunk of the race, we finally introduced ourselves), and it wasn't until I started popping on a couple of climbs towards the middle-end that I really encouraged him to just go on past me.  I still managed to keep him in sight the rest of the way and somehow got my mojo back after only a few tough little climbs.  Having no idea where I stood the entire race, it was tough to know what I should be doing or where I should be putting out effort.  I never bothered to throw a GPS on the bike, and I've never ridden there before. Also, I don't wear a heart-rate monitor, so my only measure of capacity was the way my legs felt on hard efforts and the time it took for me to recover after one of those efforts. Aside from the fact that I just kept telling myself to go harder, I had no way of knowing where I stood except that I was keeping a good enough pace for people to tell me, "I think you're the first woman rider."  Every time I heard that, I was like, "Cool, but where are they!?" It's tough not knowing!  Fortunately, I did a good job of whispering sweet nothings into my own ears during the race; that's the benefit of being your own coach - you can bring your coach with you during your race, and they won't leave your side (and if they do, there are ways to push the demons out and bring the coach back).  I told myself that I had it in my legs to go hard, and when I felt like my legs were done, I told myself to eat a GU and GO HARDER!  It worked.  In the last section of downhill, one of the open men (who had gotten held up with a flat tire at some point in the race) came up behind me and told me that we were almost done.  I think he said something like, "this is the last section... let it roll and have fun."  And so I did!  I rolled through the timing tent in just under two hours which is probably the fastest I've ever finished a 20+ mile race. 
First ever podium beer buzz 

Why does this picture matter?  Because this is what your pocket might look like after a race-full of mechanicals.
"As it turns out, I was the first woman, and Melissa finished less than two minutes behind me as the second woman.  We were stoked to be on the podium together, and Dark Horse Cycles hooked us up with some hefty prizes - cash, limited edition budweisers, and really unique trophies.  A lot of our buddies did well too.  Alby King finished in eighth (men's open), Donnie D in 15th (men's sport NJ and first race in a long time), and Jesse finished the race after having 3 flats, a bottle-cage debacle, and two beers to take the edge off.  Our friendOliver finished first in his category (sport men NJ)." 




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