I Should Start Getting Ready

One of my favorite races is coming up this weekend:

Yes, the 2013 Catawba Riverfront Classic is this Sunday.  No matter what I have going on, I’ve always made sure to enter this one.  After all, I am the 2009 Clydesdale Champion and all that (whatever the hell that’s worth.)  And, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to add to my tiny little trophy/medal collection.

That’s not what it’s all about though.  I race for fun, and like I keep saying, cross country racing just hasn’t been all that fun for me lately.  This year, the Riverfront Classic is the NC State Championship race, and while I’ve finished second in the state for the past two years, that’s not enough motivation either.  I guess I’m still undecided, but I’ll know a little more as the race gets closer.  Probably like the last minute.

I’ll be there either way, because the race is also a fundraiser for our local club, the Tarheel Trailblazers.  I’ll be there to volunteer with all things race-related, and even if I do decide to race that won’t change.  I have a chance to do a fun ride in the mountains on Saturday, and I damn sure don’t want to forgo that just so I can race.

It’s not like I’m guaranteed to get a trophy anyway.

In other news, I’m already starting to make preparations for another race.  My big road trip to Minnesota this summer for Single Speed USA is starting to come together, since I’ve already acquired my accommodations for the week.

Yup.  I got a camper shell put on my truck da udda day, and I’ll be sleeping in that bitch.  Last year in Vermont I stayed in a local motel, and I found out later that the real fun happened at the campground.  Plus, this will save me a few bucks so I can drink more beer (and share with the rest of the Drunk Cyclist crew.)

Now I just gotta work on my travel plans.

And yeah, I guess I’ll decide what to do for the Riverfront Classic on Friday.

Small Improvement

Sunday’s 2012 Catawba Riverfront Classic wasn’t so bad, even though my back still wasn’t right and I was nervous as hell.  Well, I wasn’t really nervous I guess.  I felt like I was under a lot of pressure to do well on the only “home trail” in this series, especially since I knew it oh so well. 

I’ve been riding my single speed out there quite a bit, and this would be the first time in a long time with gears.  I had no idea what to expect, especially when one of my “competitors” asked me about my stragety.

“Are you gonna take it easy or go out as fast as you can?”

I told him I would probably stick with my usual race tactics, which is go out full on and tire myself out about a mile in, spending the rest of the race recovering.  I was serious, I guess.

When we finally took off, I pedaled my ass of to get up front.  I entered the the trail in third place, and kept pushing.  I was going so fast in the beginning that Lunchbox had a hard time getting a clear shot of me with the camera.

I stayed with the leaders, and surprisingly I wasn’t getting tired at all.  I watched as the two guys in front of me played it safe on the technical stuff on the first section.  I felt right at home on it, which was probably because of my home trail advantage.  Fourth place was right behind me though, and I made a crucial mistake on my choice of line and got passed.  I stayed right with him though, and I knew for sure I could keep that pace for the rest of the race.

We finished the first section, and I started speeding up a bit.  Not being used to gears, I was riding my bike like it was a single speed.  I mashed up the climbs in a much harder gear than I had to.

 

Slowly, the three guys in front of me started pulling away while I took a minute to recover from the climbs.  I still had them in my sights though, and I knew that if I turned it on I could get back in the mix.  The good news was no one behind me in my class posed an immediate threat.

I eventually recovered, and settled into a comfortable pace.  Every time I went through a section of switchbacks, I kept catching glimpses of the guys up front.  I sped up a little, careful not to burn myself out.  About halfway through, I saw that I had about a three minute gap to make up.  We had gone through most of the really difficult stuff though, so I knew I would have to really work it to catch back up.  I was still feeling pretty good at least.

I got near the end, and I shifted into the biggest gear I had and mashed away.  I crossed the finish line as fast as I could, and figured I was in fourth place still.  I guess I was okay with that, until some people started telling me otherwise.

“You got third!  Congrats!”

Wait, what?  I knew I never passed anyone again, so the only way I would’ve been in third was if someone DNF’d.  I checked the results, and saw that I was indeed listed in third place.

I still didn’t believe it, so I asked the guy that I thought was in front of me.  He said he finished in third, and that there must have been some kind of mix up.  We both talked to the promoter, and the results were corrected.  I didn’t want to get on the podium due to a mistake, so I was happy. 

However, someone else did get on the podium out there.

Yep, Little Miss Sunshine put the hammer down and got herself a second place finish.  I’m really proud of her.

I learned something out there, and it had nothing to do with racing.  I brought a stash of hoppy beverages, and a shitty bottle opener nearly thwarted my plan to drink it.  I ended up having to improvise, and I learned that Crank Brothers pedals make a pretty good beer opening device.

It was a long day, but a fun one.  I got there early, raced, and volunteered my time the rest of the day.  Little Miss Sunshine and I provided first aid support for the event, and I ended up having to extract one of the riders from the middle of the trail after he crashed pretty hard.  He will live though.  After the race, it was time to tear everything down.

We got the hell outta there and headed to our favorite watering hole so I could keep building my beer list.

If I took my beer drinking as seriously as my bike racing, I would always get on the podium.

“Back” To Racing

That’s not me, but that’s what I’m going through right now.  As you may remember, almost two weeks ago I hurt my back at the beginning of a race.  Things haven’t gotten any better.  In fact, at one point during this week I was much, much worse.

I’ve been stretching, applying heat/ice, and generally trying to take it easy, but to no avail.  I’ve even cut back on the riding a bit too.  It’s not even halfway through the season and I’m all tore up like a trailer park after a tornado. 

Damn it.

This weekend though, it’s time for me to get back to racing.  Even though I’m not really in any kind of condition to race, I can’t really miss this one.  I mean, it’s pretty much in my backyard.

Up next is the 2012 Catawba Riverfront Classic here in Charlotte, and I pretty much have to go.  It’s a huge fundraiser for our local club, the Tarheel Trailblazers.  Also, this is the race I won back in 2009.  I haven’t even been on the podium there since, and with my current bout with back pain I’m not sure if I will this year either.

I got a really sweet trophy that year at least.

It’s a pretty fun race, and probably the best course in the whole Southern Classic Series.  The mileage is much less than the other races in the series, so if I can stand the pain I plan to hammer all the way from start to finish.  I’ve ridden there quite a bit over the last few months on my single speed, so a ride there with my geared bike should be a lot of fun if I survive.

I'm working on getting my back right though.  Drinking beer to keep the pain away doesn't help when I’m at work, and I can’t ride “race speed” when I drink on the bike.

I really should start taking better care of myself.

It sucks getting old.

Racin’ With The Big Boys

Yesterday’s Clydesdale category race at the 2010 Catawba Riverfront Classic wasn’t an automatic trip to the podium to me (not like I thought it would be anyway.) Even though I won this event last year, I soon learned that a repeat would be very difficult. Sure, I’m a much better rider this year, but the competition was a helluva lot better too. As one of the guys in my class put it, “I looked around and saw all of these Ivan Drago-looking guys.” He was right, since it definitely wasn’t a bunch of portly fellers lined up to work off the vast quantities of beer they had consumed.


After a thorough warm-up, I took my spot on the start line, next to an old high school chum of mine, Hop. He basically said he would just try to keep me in his sights the whole time, hoping that would give him a pretty decent finish. I was just happy to have someone push me to my limits the whole race. I would later discover that I needed this more than I thought.


When the race started, everyone took off pretty fast. I had trouble clipping in with my right foot, so I watched as the pack took off ahead of me in the grassy field. Once I got clipped in, I mashed as hard as I could to catch the leaders. Two guys in team kits (real professional Clydesdales I guess) were out front, but they hesitated. It almost seemed like they were content with leading into the woods, and not pushing it. I wasn’t having that, so I snaked by them for the holeshot.



As I hit the trail, I took off at full bore. These guys were gonna have to fight to take away my lead. As we progressed through the first loop in the trail, we quickly came up on the junior riders. I managed to get around two of them pretty quickly, but the next one was all over the trail. I shouted out words of encouragement to them, but I also let them know I wanted to pass. As I went around to the right, one of those Professional Clydesdales in his fancy team kit decided to run the little kid into me when he passed on his left. I picked it up to keep the kid from crashing into me, then Mr. Professional decided to try to take me out and tried to introduce me to a tree. I gave him a few choice words, and watched as he sped away. He didn’t care, since his fancy team probably required him to get a win. I’m glad my team kinda sucks, since there is no pressure like that for us.


I held onto second place for a while, but these guys were hanging on. After a long downhill section and a big climb, I was started to feel the effects of too much beer the day before. Two more guys passed me by, but I stuck to them like glue. The podium was still in my sight, since I was currently in fourth place. I hung on as long as I could, but all of those team kits gave them a lot more energy and recovery powers. Even though I was maintaining a pretty decent pace, I lost another place. I was currently in sixth place, but my pal Hop was right behind me.


We rode together for quite a while, but I lost him somewhere after that. I never let up though, since I knew he would be back. I needed him back there though, since that was the best way for me to make myself go faster. As the end of the trail was near, I saw him again. I shifted into the big ring (one reason why I like gears so much) and let it fly. I rode in at a breakneck pace, and finished at a respectable 6th place. I know, it’s not first like last year, but I actually shaved ten minutes off of my time (and I was only six minutes off of the winner.) I guess this can be considered improvement, especially since there were a few Professionals in our class. The rest of the class was filled with regular over-200 pound guys, so we at least were competitive wth each other. There’s always next year. At least I was bleeding B-43, or maybe I just used a cheap sticker.



As for the event, it was great. This particular race was a fundraiser for our local club, the Tarheel Trailblazers, and it was cool to see so many of our club members out there to volunteer. I stuck around after my race to help, and I even heard that local racing legend and worldwide blog celebrity, Dicky learned how do do some race registration from B-43’s own Little Miss Sunshine. Look at everybody, working together.