End of a long season today. Luckily we are only 5 hours from home. I’m pretty tired and ready for some down time, in the big picture of things. Didn’t realize that until half way through the race today, but it’s true.
Did the normal course recon during the morning race. Spent sometime watching the AM guys go up and down some hills that I figured would be giving me fits during my race so at least I could get a feel for pace and problem spots.
I made a carb adjustment and ate some lunch and got a little behind my normal routine and had to hustle to the start. The weather shaped up nicely so sitting on the line for 20 minutes before the start was easy. Imagine that – I was late to the start and I still sat on the line for 20 minutes. Eleven guys on the 30+ Vet A row with Phil Smith way to my left and Scott Summers way to my right. I was thinking 3rd was within reach although I didn’t recognize most of the guys on my row. No way of knowing how fast they were before the race.
Joe found an ancient Coke bottle crate that we both used as our starting block. The plan was that after I took off, Liz (Joe’s wife) would run it back for Joe to use. That thing was magic. I launched a near perfect start and got the holeshot – second race in a row. Summers passed me just as we entered the woods and Smith got by a few turns later.
I diced with three other guys in my class for the first few laps. It was super fun riding with other guys that were my speed and looking to do well in the race. That hasn’t happened at all this year until today.
Something was up with my fork. I noticed it on the starting line when I was able to leverage my weight over the front end before the race started. Just for fun I compressed the fork but it was sticking or pumped up. Bad news. I’ve since realized I was just too lax on service and maintenance. I needed to get it back to Factory Connection weeks ago but never made the effort. My bad. So for the first half of the race I had to learn what the front end of the bike would do and what it wouldn’t. It rode differently enough that I felt uneasy; I’m sure it slowed me down.
Two laps in and I was in 3rd but at least one other guy in my class was right behind me. He was on a 250F and I was hoping he would have to stop for fuel and I also hoped my quick drop can was faster than his would be. I’ll never know what his set up was but in the end I didn’t make up any time on him and we rode together for a long time, usually me trailing him.
There’s a hill at the Ironman GNCC that has my number. I’ve struggled up that thing in both of the other times I’ve raced at Crawfordsville and I did it again this year, right when it mattered most. There isn’t much of a run at the hill and most of the topsoil has long been roosted off and the stony base doesn’t offer up much grip. On top of that there are ledges that are just big enough to get you airborne and kill momentum. It was one of those ledges that was my undoing. I squided out and end up sideways on the hill, engine dead and my co-racer buddy leaving me in the dust.
I had to go back down and take the slow, easy route around the hill. Although I wasn’t beating up on the guy I had been racing against, I was hoping to somehow take advantage of a mistake he made or out last him in the closing laps. But with my downtime that all went out the window.
Come to think of it, when I came around that next lap and learned I was 5th in class was when I started thinking about the season ending. I was tired and ready to call it a year.
I fought the best I could but it was hard to overcome the fatigue and my bad fork. I closed within 15 seconds of the 4th place guy but that was it. I finished 5th.
Aside from the anxiety related to that hill, I thoroughly enjoyed the course. The dirt was super, the creek crossings (notoriously frequent at the Ironman) were mellow and the corn field sections weren’t too bad. The corn fields have given me fits in other years and probably pained me earlier this year at other GNCC races but today I had a good time ripping across the field and railing the bermed turns.
Aside from my hill issue, I had no stalls or major falls. I have a bruise on the back of my leg from something but no harm done. My hands and arms ache but that’s because I’m old.
I did fall over one time while entering a creek. The bank was pretty steep so the fast guys were launching in and the slow guys were skidding in. Both techniques made a deep rut that caught me by surprise and tipped me over while I was skidding in. My leg got pinned by the bike and I had no way of getting tipped back up with out help. There was an 8 year old boy standing with his dad next to where I fell and I panicked and demanded they pick me up. The worried look on the boy’s face said it all. He wanted to do what he was told but couldn’t reach me and his dad was holding him back, I suspect because it was a dangerous situation for the boy and he wasn’t really going to be able to do much for me anyhow. The dad did eventually reach over and pull on my bar enough for me to get my leg out and right myself. I thanked them but regretted the way I spoke to that boy for the rest of the race. I saw him again in the same spot on another pass through there and wanted to say I was sorry but didn’t.
After the race Joe and I loaded the van Liz went and found a tractor to help us get out of the parking lot. We all meet just as the van doors shut and got a yank out. Dreamy.
We did it. Joe and I did the GNCC series. We missed a few but we did the majority of the season. That was our goal more than a year ago when we schemed up this whacky plan of ours and we just pulled it off. We are 30 miles from home late on a Sunday night while I write this news. It will be good to get home and be able to say that we went GNCC racing. Whew.
