My 2007 season is officially over. My body and attitude have changed since last Sunday’s Ironman GNCC and I’ve been hitting the Halloween candy pretty hard. That will all go away in time but for a short while I’ll let myself indulge in stuff I normally steer clear of.
The race weekend was a great first test for what Joe and I will likely experience next year when we try to do the entire GNCC season. While Joe was unable to ride in Indiana because of his knee injury so he was there helping me with race stops and talking to some of the people and companies that are helping us next year.
It rained for nearly the entire 5 hours it took us to drive down from Madison, WI so we expected the parking/camping to be messy. We didn’t expect to see the local farmers towing RVs and race rigs into the muddy lot but they were. The van is especially pathetic in even the smallest amount of slick terrain so we opted to stay at the local KOA campground for the weekend instead of getting pulled in and out of the parking lot.
On Saturday we stood in line with hundreds of quad race fans while the skies tried to clear and the temps started to come up. The ground was soaked so the racing would be messy and fun to watch. The forecast was for warmer temps, wind and sun so I was optimistic about Sunday’s bike course being a bit more rideable than Saturday’s quagmire.
When we got in, Joe went to talk to Tom Webb and Shane Nalley over at Suzuki and I headed for the woods to walk the course. I wasn’t going to take the time to walk all 11 or 12 miles but I wanted to see the opening miles so I knew what to expect during the first few minutes of my race.
The mud for the quads was tolerable but it might have been tough for me on a bike. The quads were tearing up the course pretty badly but at least they were helping it dry out.
On the drive down I checked my notes from this race last year. The hills were challenging for me and since I haven’t made much of an effort to practice hills like that since last year, the hills in this year’s course again made an impression on me. In the opening four miles of the lap I found three hills that were bound to cause me problems during the race. It’s not so much that I can’t do them but more that someone else can’t do them and they knock me down or block the trail. There’s also the fact that I get tired as the race goes on so I potentially start to make more and more mistakes. Getting hung up on one of these hills would cost a lot of time and energy.
This section was like a superhighway for the quads. By Sunday afternoon both directions of this section were 100% whoops.
Race day came and we attempted to get the van into the muddy field parking lot. I managed to get stuck right away and went to flag down a tractor for help. Joe took the reigns and got the van out while I was away. The van has 320,000 miles on it so I tend not to stress it out too much – it is my ride home and my primary vehicle, after all. It’s best I not know how Joe got the van out of the mud and into our parking spot.
The weather was super and the mud turned to grippy, predictable fun. Row 9 is where I lined up in the 30+A group. I know Chuck Garetson is 38 and I’m 39 so I suspect I was the oldest guy in my wave.
I didn’t feel like I was under pressure heading into turn 1 but Joe thought I was nearly pinched off. I was mixing it up with the front runners heading into 2 and comfortably sitting 4th when we hit the first single track. From there race flow happened.
The pace slowed some from the unfamiliarity of the terrain and limited passing opportunities. I started looking past the guy in front of me to get a measure of what was coming but was happy to stay put for a while. Chuck was behind me somewhere so he might be charging to get to the front, or maybe he had a problem and I’d never see him. The trail in the woods had grippy dirt with scattered slippy roots and rocks. The front four of us cleared off the rest of the group; I couldn’t hear anyone behind me. We rocket up the first hill; it was easier than I expected. Into the first river crossing and I chose not to follow anyone. I wanted to keep clear of other rider’s mistakes and learn to read my own best line. I didn’t have any trouble but two of front guys got a gap and I started to hear a bike from behind. It was Chuck. He passed me and I jumped on his wheel. We reeled in the guy in front of us and both slipped by then upped the pace. Chuck faltered at the top of the next hill and I got by. I was in 3rd and optimistic about the day. Then I struggled with a tight, soft section and Chuck snuck back by me. Thirty minutes into the race and lap one was complete. I was in 4th and 20 second behind Garetson.
On lap 2 my drink system came undone and leaked sugary fluid down my pants and into my boots. It was surprisingly cold and the fluid made my pants slick on my seat. In one of the river sections I splashed my own left hand and it got cold. The water in the river was chilly and the 30mph corn field crossings made it worse. I had a difficult time feeling the clutch. I contemplated stopping to change gloves but that would be silly. I was bound to get wet again and it would cost too much time to make the swap.
Joe realized my drink system failed and prepped some small water bottles for me. Thanks – that made the race easy. I stopped for gas and goggles on the start of lap 4. I shouldn’t have given up the goggles I started in because they still had tear offs and it took time to make the change. Note to self on that one. That same lap I followed a lapped rider too closely up a steep hill and made a mistake that cost me 2 minutes. I had to turn my bike around, ride back down, find a place to turn around and charge the hill again. This situation was the one I dreaded before the race. Luckily I only had to do it one time during the race.
The 2 laps to go board was shown to me at the scoring tent. Right after that Charlie Mullins blasted by. He was ripping it up – totally on the boil. I thought he was leading but later learned that David Knight was leading at that point in the race. Everyone says Knight is the master at passing lappers. I didn’t even see him go by he was so good. The rest of the front runners started catching me too. Jason Raines got past me in a tight woods section that made me feel like a squid. He made a perfectly straight line out of what I was ducking and swerving through. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed someone else’s description.
Last lap and I’m still in 4th, I think. My drink system problems are long behind me, my hand is still cold but it’s manageable, my bike is running well but is a tad lean and catches me off guard every so often. In the last creek crossing I take a familiar line that lets me wheelie off the bank into the water. But unlike in previous laps there’s a rock that takes out my front wheel and immediately puts me on my side. I leap up to see that the bike is still running and panic. I have to get it upright before it sucks water and ends my day. When I lift it the rear wheel grounds out and stalls the bike. About the same time that happens I cough up a lung full of water. I didn’t realize that I had submarined into the creek and taken on fluids. I laughed out loud at my situation. The bike fired up straight away and I tip-toed across the rest of the creek. Now I was really cold but had to get going; I didn’t know how close 5th place was behind me.
In the closing 5-6 minutes of the lap I caught a guy that was just barely slower than me. I wanted to keep up whatever pace I could still muster so I looked for a way past. I got by in an open section and focused on the last few minutes of trail ahead of me. But he got by me again and made me think there was something going on. I dug deep and put in a last mile charge that helped me get past and put some time on the guy.
The marquee at the finish said I was 4th in class but several minutes back on 3rd. Chuck had worked his way up to 2nd. I wished I could have kept pace with him but it wasn’t to be this day. It ended up that the guy I was doing battle with had gotten by me either when I faltered on the hill or when I swam in the creek. He must have known we were in the same class and put up a fight. I was the dumb newby that had no clue.
In all, I learned a ton. The drink system can’t fail. Keep your hands dry. Don’t take on goggles if you don’t need to. Gain from studying the pro’s lines, technique and speed. Look for that silly colored patch on the back of everyone’s helmet – the guy that just passed me might have just taken a position away. Don’t follow. Don’t follow. Don’t follow.
I had a great time in Crawfordsville and hope that the 2008 GNCC season offers as many challenging situations. As Joe said, the season has just ended but I’m looking forward to 2008 already!
That’s me in the middle on the Suzuki. J Dub hasn’t come to the line yet.
