DAS Racing: June 2013

With gallons of rain getting dumped on New England and the threat of a very muddy race course, many racers chose to stay home on Sunday June 9th rather than destroy their bikes with grit and grime. The only DAS racer to drive up to Henniker NH for the MTB Festival at Pat's Peak was myself (Liz A), and while I enjoyed the heck out of that course, I think many people made a good decision to stay out of the woods.

I decided to ride part of the course before the start to see what I had ahead of me. I think I made it about 1.5 miles before I cut out of the woods and back down the mountain. In that short distance, I'd already coated my drivetrain in gunk, washed out in a mudpit onto my side, and gotten off to walk through unrideable muddy climb sections. Knowing that I'd be doing enough of that come race time, I thought it best to cut my losses. My biggest concern was the descent because I knew how technical it was and how wet it could be on the driest day.

courtesy of Pat's Peak

The only other pro/open racer was Hattie Freye (super fast and wicked good tech rider from Maine), and the Cat 1 women had a whopping total of 3 racers. I took the hole shot, and Hattie and I set out for our 3 laps racing within sight of one another for a couple of miles. I was a complete mess on that first lap - walking sections that I could have easily been riding, but I managed to pull ahead with all of the climbing. I threw that all away when I got to the downhill. I was walking way too many sections that I should have been riding, and with less than a mile to go to the start/finish area, Hattie had caught and gone by me. Our friendly exchange included me telling her to go ahead by me and her telling me she was sure I'd pass her back on the climbs. Mentally, I was completely enraged at myself for undoing all of the work I'd done on that first lap.

Over the next two laps, I not only regained the lead, but I pushed myself hard enough to gain 4 and a half minutes over Hattie. It all came down to getting out of my own head and just riding my damn bike. The downhill was just as awesome as I remembered it being and not nearly as difficult as I was making it out to be... I just had to put a little bit of trust in my bike (cautious trust... it was slippery out there). It was a well-earned win. It feels good knowing that my fitness has improved enough to be able to gain back lost time and then some. I'm looking forward to the next few races!

photo by M. Domnarski - Cat 1 and 2 staging

Better late than never with this team update.

Sunday June 2 was a hot day for racing, but that didn't stop the DAS ladies from lining up for what is almost always a very muddy race at Domnarski Farm. The course starts on race promoter Matt Domnarski's family farm and winds its way into local forest areas on rocky fire-roads and through sections of singletrack that inevitably include water crossings on narrow wobbly bridges. This is the sort of course that requires handling skills, climbing agility, and the opportunity to pre-ride it a couple of days before the race so that you know where the deep parts of the puddles are. If you aren't careful, you could go for a swim in any number of mud-holes mid-race.

The beginner (cat 3) racers enjoyed an abbreviated race loop that avoided some of the more technical sections of the course and cut out about 5 miles while the sport and expert/elite racers (cat 2 and 1 respectively) raced on a 10 mile course - cat 2 doing 1 lap and cat 1 doing 2. Both Tracy and Liz lined up to do 2 laps on the 10 mile course. Knowing that it was going to be a hot day, everyone was talking about going out easy to avoid overheating.

Here's how the race went for Tracy:

So glad I decided to race!

I have been having second thoughts about racing and honestly sometimes getting on the bike is often a chore. Of course after I am on the bike I am having fun, but getting there has been more difficult this season. I certainly have not been training like I was last year, when I would schedule everything; my entire season was planned out. Don’t get me wrong, I have still been training and riding; I am just not as methodical about it. Anyway, I'm so glad I raced Domnarski’s farm; I really enjoy this course. It has a lot of climbing, plenty of mud, some technical areas, and some power sections. Each lap has over 1200 feet of climbing and doing 2 laps yeah, that’s a workout.

photo by M. Domnarski

Considering the humid weather I decided not to wear my knee brace, this being the first time riding my mtb without it, I was a little bit nervous. The knee brace tends to slide down my leg in the warm weather and I did not want to chance throwing it in the woods to be lost forever. I took precautions however, I kinisiotaped the heck out my knee and wore my trusty old knee pads. This actually felt pretty good, oh yeah, mental block overcome.

At the start I lined up with the rest of the Cat 1 women in the back as usual; I need to work on my positioning. This course starts right off climbing and climbing and more climbing... then we hit some atv/jeep trails where it is hammer time. In the middle of these trails however, are some very large and deep mud puddles, some of these puddles could swallow a bike and a rider. I fortunately did not get submerged in muddy water like some but got just wet enough to cool off. Then I think we headed into the woods for some technicalish (that’s not a real word, but you know what I mean) single track. Then you guessed it - more climbing, I believe we are at 5 mile by now. After this climb a bit more single track and on to climb up the power lines, here we are out in the sun but, we get a nice breeze. After the power lines it is the bridge of reasonable absurdity and then the hill where the tree of death is, since I am technically inept I walk these areas. Then we are home free with jeep/atv roads and descents. I think my chronological order of the course is correct, but I could be wrong. Anyhow, it is a great course and I am glad I raced; I felt good & had fun.

Liz's take on the race:

I lined up with only two other women, but that meant nothing as far as competition goes because both of those women are fast and skilled racers: Joanne Grogan and Ellen Noble. Knowing that Ellen had won the Winding Trails race earlier in the season against a bunch of fast gals, I figured that if I could keep her in my sight, I'd be doing well. At the start, I ended up in 3rd position, and Ellen was gradually pulling away from Joanne and I, so as soon as we hit double track, I made a pass (accidentally poking poor Joanne with my bar end - sorry!) and took off after Ellen. I kept her in site through the climb, and on towards the start of singletrack. That's where I lost site of her - either due to the nature of the trail or due to the my taking it easy in the heat.

The first lap went by uneventfully. I came through for the second lap knowing that I was only about a minute down from Ellen, and set off after her on a mission to catch up. As I came to "halfway hill," I noticed another rider just ahead on the climb and quickly recognized Ellen's pink socks. I was immediately pumped and had to mentally check myself because I didn't want my excitement to cause me to do something stupid. Well, as luck would have it, I was hammering the tiny section of singletrack that precedes the heinous power-line climb when I slammed my rear wheel into a log or something near it and burped half of the air out of my rear tire. I didn't realize I'd lost air until I'd completed the climb (I'm pretty sure it was leaking air all the way up), and then I had to make the decision whether I should stop and air up or keep going and hope for the best. At this point, I'd gained some serious ground and I was right on Ellen's tail. Here's the dilemma: I had my CO2 pump in the bag under my saddle. Getting that out would have been a debacle in itself never mind getting air into my tire without getting flustered. So I did what any silly fool would do, and I rode that wiggly tire for the remaining few miles. I managed to keep up with Ellen, and I was actually ready to pass her a couple of times, but I was nervous about that tire, so on some of the more burly descents, I kindly told her to take the lead.

photo by M. Domnarski - Sprint Finish

It's tough to say what would have happened if I'd put air in that tire, but what did happen is this: I was right on her rear wheel through the final descent. As we came into the finishing stretch, we both sprinted to the finish, and I was left in her dust on my squishy tire finishing one second behind her. It was an awesome finish - fun and friendly competition on a fun and challenging course!

Tracy ended up taking 4th in women's cat 1 35+, and Liz crossed the line in 2nd place for the Pro/Cat 1 Open Women. Here're the official results.