Bob at VCHSS Cross Trails race 10-16-2011
It was a beautiful day in Cartersville, VA. I headed out before dawn since it’s a 3-1/2 hour trip. Arrived with plenty of time to spare (for a change).
The layout of this course was interesting. There’s an infield area where the course is marked off with tape. When you enter it coming from the woods, you hit a flat straightaway for maybe a hundred yards or so, then a very muddy 180 hairpin, back up about 75 yards, through the scoring tent, then out through a large piece of storm drain pipe, down a bit and then over some truck tires endurocross-style, back around and then over the pipe, around a large, fast sweeper, through a couple more mud puddles and finally up a big hill and into the woods. (couple of vids here and here)
In other words, plenty of opportunity to be either a complete hero or total dork in front of a pretty large crowd of spectators.
The start was dead engine, front tire over a log with 30-second intervals between classes, so it went quick.
My plan was to hang back and tail the back end of my class for the first lap and then start actually racing come lap 2. I hadn’t competed in 11 months and needed to get my racing legs back under me before mixing it up with other riders.
Starting flag went up and we were gone. I got a great start, somewhere in the top 5 or 6. This 300 is a beast off the line; there was plenty of throttle left if I needed it. BUT, I backed it off because up front was not where I needed or wanted to be at this point of the race. I let several of the faster guys by, but realized that waiting for the rest of the pack – who were in no apparent hurry to get past me – wouldn’t do. I picked the pace back up and got into the woods somewhere mid-pack.
Once in the woods, it got nasty, quick. Almost immediately we were in some super tight, rutted, rooty, rocky and worn-out single track that had obviously seen more than its share of races. The massive bottleneck that followed took probably a couple of miles to clear, but I was able to make a few passes for position as riders in front of me went down or tried shortcuts that didn’t quite pan out.
Once the bottleneck cleared, I was in with a pack of about 8 or 9 riders and settling into a decent pace. However, this is when I began to realize a couple of things – a) my front suspension was still awful, and b) this may have been the wrong race at which to to try and stage a ‘comeback’.
Ooops…..
Anyway, catching and passing this group in front of me wasn’t too difficult, staying in front of them was. The front end of my bike was skating all over the place; no sooner would I get the last of this pack behind me than the front wheel would either deflect off a root or pop out of a rut in the middle of a turn and down I’d go…and right back by me they went. This pattern would repeat itself several times over the first lap and a half.
Lap 2 was more of the same. I was getting beat up pretty bad, triceps and shoulders felt like rubber and I had fallen way off the lead pace. Finally, near the end of the 2nd lap and tired of hitting the ground and fighting – rather than riding – the KTM, I’d had enough. Pulled off to the side of the course, took a few minutes to adjust the forks (slowed the rebound a bit to help it stick better in the corners), take a B-I-G pull from the Camelbak, and then got back to it.
The third lap was better. Decent actually; I’d gotten my second wind, and along with it, a better feel for how to get around this course. My speed was better, I was smoother, but the forks were still killing me. I was getting tired.
About 3/4 of the way through this decent-but-relatively-uneventful lap I came upon a rider who was off their bike at the side of the course and yelling like crazy for some help. Typically, when a down rider calls out for help from another passing rider, it’s because of something major – broken bone, medical emergency, etc… so of course, I stopped. What was this persons emergency? Their bike was stuck on a root and they couldn’t get it off by themself. Yes, I was a little irritated, but I’m nothing if not chivalrous…..
Anyway, back on the bike, I finished off the lap and took the checkers 17th in class (out of 22).
I was a little disappointed in both my finish and overall performance in this race, but as my wife reminded me, I was off the bike completely for nearly 9 months and hadn’t raced in 11, so all in all I really didn’t have much to complain about. She’s right, of course, but the competitor in me just can’t swallow a 17th place finish. Ah well, I’ll have another shot at it in two weeks when we race Birch Creek on October 30th.
The best part of the day? The big, greasy, gooey cheeseburger I allowed myself after the race. Screw the diet….for today, anyway. 🙂
There was a bit of good news to be found though once the lap times were posted. On my last lap I was shown as 9th fastest in class. But, remembering that I stopped and helped that stuck rider, which easily took a minute if not more, and which when factored in means I was running a solid top-5 time for the last lap. Yes sir, I’ll take that.
The forks were in pieces on my workbench within an hour after arriving home and unloading the truck. The problem still continues to be massive stiction from these crap seals (they’re red, triple-lip style, which makes them either All Balls or MSR) someone else installed, so I sprung for a set of the new SKF seals that everyone’s raving about and should have them by the weekend. If these don’t do it, I’m gonna bite the bullet (and break out the checkbook) and send the whole suspension out to Trail Tricks in Ca for a full rebuild and revalve.
-Bob