Mullet Classic race report

Results

Race data- none because I forgot to charge my Garmin... DOH!

Following The Dakota 5-0 race I spent the next week vacationing with my family through the Black Hills. If you've never been there, its an awesome place to experience natures beauty at some of her best. Basically, I did nothing but site see, relax, hang with my ladies, and eat and drink everything in site for the better part of a week. I'd already used up my ride time for the pre-riding and racing so checking out more singeltrack by bike wasn't in the cards. In any case, all this adds up to a great recipe for going from peak racer geek fitness to touring pace rider pretty quick. Having a season that starts in February and goes through October makes for some pretty hard fought battles to keep up fitness towards the end of the season. I was fighting the downhill slide as much as anyone at this point feeling the drag of the long season.

As The Mullet Classic drew closer and registration opened, I had an interesting choice to make. I could sign up for my usual singlespeed class and race for IMBCS points and prizes or I could take on the marathon class and race for pride and $$$. Considering I wasn't eligible for the overall class win in the IMBCS and that I'd been training for and performing well over longer distances this year, I thought the possibility to earn some cash was a better fit for me. Of course, I also tried to push back the fact that I DNF'ed this same race after a scant 3.5 laps last year. I was ready for some redemption though and figured this would be a good opportunity.

Lake Ahquabi isn't what I would call a good singlespeed course in the fact that while it has climbing and descending, its wide open double track with a lot of flat and fast sections. I was having a pretty hard time wrapping my head around what gear to run here given all the variables. The weekend before the race, a few of us met for a pre-ride of the course. I stuck on 34x19 gearing figuring I'd be able to spin it fast enough on the flats and still fall back to a comfortable climbing pace as the laps wore on. After a race pace lap at 30 minutes, I felt pretty good with my choice and decided to stick with it for race day.

I tried resurrecting my training the couple weeks before the race with some longer solid efforts to mimic the time I'd be on the bike. The weather was cooperating perfectly and before I knew it, we were onto race day. As with previous years, this race had the biggest turnout of the year for any of our local MTB races with over 150 in attendance. I'd been watching the pre-registrants in my class all week and knew most of the names and who I should probably try to mark as the faster guys. Same as last year, the race drew a few strong roadies in addition to the usual dirt riders being that this course is much less about technical skill versus what we usually race on. As we lined up, I took a look around and noted only 1 other singlespeed in the marathon class. He was running a massive gear from the looks of it (I later found out it was 36x16). I wondered how long he'd be able to push it.

Bruce let us go at 11:45 to give us a 15 minute head start over the main field who would be headed off in waves starting at high noon. We had a nice pack take off and were pretty bunched up as we came through the opening tree section and headed back to the lake. Only a quarter mile into the race and the other singlespeed guy had already opened a lead and was out of site around the first bend. Not knowing him and seeing the gear he'd be pushing on the hills, I thought he'd eventually tire and come back to us. I marked Jerome who won this class last year and watched him shakily navigate through the first few corners since he's a roadie with some questionable handling skills. I was leading a train of 2 or 3 guys as we got back to the steep climb at the tail of the lake. I hit the climb hard and cleaned it while the guys behind me shifted down to make it up. At the top, I'd opened a small gap so I kept on the gas knowing there was a technical downhill right ahead. At the bottom of the downhill, I couldn't hear or feel anyone chasing me.

Starting the pain train on lap 1:

I put my skills and endurance training into action. I kept the pace high without going into the red zone and focused on riding fast and clean. As lap 1 wound to an end I was still on my own. Having come through the start finish in under 30 minutes for the lap, I was only 10 minutes or less behind some of the category racers that started at noon. I started catching and passing them pretty quickly into lap 2. As I got to the hilly section near the end of the lap I started hitting bigger crowds of riders. I got pretty aggressive in my passing and pushed my way into a couple spots where there really wasn't an opening for me, but being where I was in the race, I couldn't back down and being on a singlespeed as well, I couldn't afford to slow down and wait to get up the hills either.

Coming through the fast downhills of this section I sat back down and suddenly felt my seat pop and collapse under me. My carbon railed seat had finally given up the ghost. I'd heard it make a louder than usual pop earlier on lap 2, but tried not to think about it until this happened. I was only a 1/2 mile or so from the finish which included some climbing, so it wasn't too hard to get back to the finish, but what would I do once I got there? As luck would have it, I spotted Greg Rasmussen and Tom Anderson cheering people on at the start/finish area. I rolled through yelling at Tom that I needed the seat off his bike. I knew he'd just gotten the titanium railed version of the seat I was riding and had his bike on the car. I feel bad that I didn't ask him, but more demanded in the heat of battle. Luckily, he's a great guy and ran to get the needed parts as Greg and I started tearing off my now broken seat. Tom cam back with both post and seat so we just installed that versus switching out the seats. It took a couple shots, but we got the height pretty close and I took off on lap 3 after losing an unknown number of spots.

I was in full chase mode now, but I knew I had a long ways to go as well. I went back to riding fast and clean, but the adrenaline rush was spiking me into the redline as well now. The next couple of laps are pretty much a blur, but I would see racers ahead and work on reeling them in as quickly as possible. I wasn't sure who was in my class at this point, but I wanted as many people behind me as possible. Near the end of lap 4 I passed another racer in my class. He thought he was in 3rd or 4th spot at the time so I knew I was gaining some ground.

At the end of lap 4, my second mishap of the day happened. I came flying down the meadow above the start/finish area into a nasty little dip section that runs you across the corner of the parking lot. As I hit the drop, my left foot came unclipped and I found myself horrifyingly loose on top of the bike coming hard into a compression area. My foot slammed the ground, my body compressed, and my jewels took the brunt of the impact on top of the seat. I managed to stay up on my wheels and kind of surfed to a stop across the pavement. An apparently horrified onlooker came running over and asked what she could do for me. I was gasping for breathe and trying to clear the stars out of my vision when another friend also asked what he could do. There wasn't much left for me to do or say, so I got back on my bike and starting pedaling again. It definitely took the wind out of me, but I wasn't throwing in the towel. In the meantime, the rider behind me had gotten back by and now I was chasing him again.

I caught and passed him again on lap 5 and I also came across Kent Carlson who was cramping pretty hard by the looks of it. At that point I was pretty sure I was in 3rd spot with Jerome and Eric still out in front by an unknown margin. I was cramping by this point too, but I kept pushing on as hard as I could. The hills were really starting to take it out of me though. As I started lap 6 I couldn't see anyone ahead or behind me. I buried it as much as possible this lap thinking I would be done at the end and if I could see someone, I'd try to chase them down. As I cleared the dam for the last time, I still couldn't see anyone so I knew catching up would be pretty much impossible. I backed it down at this point to save myself from the cramps that were now dominating my focus. I rolled to the end of the lap without seeing another person and gratefully was told it was after 3 so my riding time was done. I found out later that Jerome was forced to quit at the end of lap 5 due to a broken chain, so I ended up 2nd behind a super strong Eric Brunt on the other singlespeed who came over from Nebraska to lay the smack down.

All in all, I had a great race and executed my plan very well. Short of the seat and ball issues, it was about a perfect race. I don't think I could have gotten 1st given how strong Eric was riding, but I definitely felt like I had the legs and stamina for where I placed especially given the issues I had.

Photo credit- Steve Fuller

IMBCS #8 Mullet Classic race report

The last IMBCS race of the season fell in October which mostly would put a period on a rather long seeming season for me. I'd like to say I finally found my groove by the end of the season, but that wouldn't be reality.

IMBCS #8 at Ahquabi State park was renamed the Mullet Classic for this year. The course was roughly the same as previous years with the addition of some very freshly cut "singletrack" areas. I use the term singletrack loosely because I'm not exactly sure what that stuff was other than soul sucking, soft, and alternately rough as all get out. The race called for an expert class length of 5 laps roughly equaling 40 miles and making this our own local version of the famed Fat Tire 40 held in Chequamegon, WI. The race was semi mass start but broken up in waves to give a little space for the 150+ racers at this years event. Turnout was spectacular to say the least.

The experts lined up to start first. We sat around for a couple minutes contemplating the pain about to be bestowed upon as with a fast, hilly, and rough course laid out.

The whistle blew and we were off like a shot. I actually felt pretty decent at the start of the race, which hasn't been the case for most of the season. We hit the first few climbs with some fast flats in between and I let the fast guys go as my legs were still warming up. I was going to try to roll this race like last year and slowly up my effort over each lap since that led me to a win previously. As I got about halfway into the lap, I started catching the tail end of the lead group and passed a few guys. Soon enough I was sitting roughly in 4th overall. Barring a major catastrophe, there wasn't any way I'd catch the front 3 as all are in another league from me in regards to strength and speed. I kept pushing and realized I was going too hard to sustain that level of effort, so I backed it down just a shade.

The new and extremely rough sections followed up by a series of painful climbs right before the finish had me a little ragged by the time 1 lap was down. Lap 2 found me backing it down even more, but I was still maintaining a pretty good pace and holding position within 1 or 2 places. Unfortunately, I could feel things all ready starting to unravel a bit. I kept on it and finished out the lap and hit lap 3. I started to feel that wall creeping up on lap 3 and by the time I hit the finish line at the end of the lap, I knew it was pretty much over. I'd lost a couple more spots and was barely turning the pedals over. By the time I got halfway into the lap, I was spent and decided to pull the plug. It was another DNF for me. I'm not sure what was going on, but the fun factor was completely gone and all I wanted was to be off the bike and resting/recouping. Definitely not a proud moment for me, but its about how the season has gone overall.

Overall, this is a great race and one I'll be back to try and conquer again next year, but I just didn't have it on that day. Due to dogged determination, I managed to finish 4th in the expert series points this year, but the really doesn't reflect the quality of my racing. I felt like I survived in most races and even gave up in two rather than actually racing them like last year. The step from sport to expert class racing was more than I trained for this year. I still couldn't have made it through without help from Rasmussen Bike Shop as my main sponsor. Additional support from Ergon Grips and their killer product definitely kept my hands in good shape this year even if the rest of my body failed a few different times.

Ahquabi pictures

All photos stolen from Angy (thanks!) Here are some great shots from this weekend.

Towards the middle of lap 1 finding my groove:

Chasing Alread down the blacktop hill on lap 1:

Focus is good:

My current favorite race shot of me. The fire was definitely there:

Laying it all out on the final hill climb. I love seeing the elevation drop down to the lake:

Happy to be done:

Keith hammering home.

Gritting through the finish line:

IMBCS #7 Mob the Quab

The 7th race of the season for the IMBCS and 2nd year at Lake Ahquabi promised to be another fun race. A few tweaks to last years course would ensure that we'd all get our fill of climbing on this fast double track course. One tweak was a mass start of all classes at noon rather than the typical staggered start. The other main change was the start/finish area being moved to the main lodge with a final lap only hill climb to the finish line guaranteed to leave you gasping for air.

With a large turnout of people and a mass start, the doubletrack start was packed with people. A few people hollered for me to make my way forward in the starting grid which was pretty cool as I had been slotted about halfway back. Now I found myself somewhere in the top 10-20 starters. We were off and dumped straight onto the first section of grass with an off comber left hander. More than a few people went down last year on the grassy off camber sections so I was pretty cautious running through here, but still started passing a few people. Only a few tenths of a mile into the race, we hit our first climb which was grassy and rough. I put a few more people behind me as I kept a steady pace up the climb trying to get my legs warmed up.

Descending the back of the hill I was on the tail of a few more people and starting passing again as the trail flattened out. Only a mile or two into the race and the pack had started to string out pretty well in front of me with the experts leaving us in the dust for the most part. My legs were feeling pretty good at this point and I kept my output pretty steady. Slowly I rolled up on a couple of single speeders in the form of Sedore and Allread who were putting out a pretty good effort on a not quite single speed friendly course. I figured the strength of these two would be good to mark and stayed on their wheels for half of the first lap.

As we hit the final hilly section before the screaming blacktop descent Sedore gapped off the back leaving Jason and I to work together. I was feeling pretty good at this point and took the lead going into lap two. Jason gapped off as well at this point and I was pretty much alone from then on. I think I may have passed another person or two on this lap, but I mostly concentrated on bringing my effort up slightly from lap 1 without putting myself into the red yet. I knew there had to be some guys chasing me down and wasn't going to give in without a fight if I had a choice.

Lap two was down and I was well hydrated and not feeling the heat to any real extent yet. I knew the climbs on lap 3 would be getting tougher for everyone so I planned on hitting them as hard as I could and turn the screws a bit tighter overall for this lap. Towards the end of lap 2 I could start seeing another rider in front of me, but didn't catch him until the first climb of lap 3. I reeled him mostly in on the climb and then completed the pass after the descent. He stayed on my wheel for a fair amount of time, but I gapped him on the next climb as I was still feeling pretty fresh at that point.

As we crossed the dam for the last time, I had one more ride in my sites. As we worked through the campsite, I caught up to Chris Maharry and tailed him through the next section or two. He let me by and then stayed on my wheel. Determined to put on a show for him I slid my front tire out going down a grassy off camber section. I guess I forgot my lesson from last year! Luckily I was able to gather it back under me and only shaved a little speed off in the process. Chris gave the proper atta boy for making the save and off we went. I began to think he might be permanently attached to my wheel as he tailed me through most of the 3rd lap. I even managed one more front tire wash out as we turned at the bottom of the railroad tie climb. I gathered it back up one final time and motored on without further incident.

I hit the blacktop climb for the final time and did the same as the previous laps where I dieseled up the climb without standing. I finally dropped my follower and never looked back. With the end of the race closing in, I couldn't see anyone in front of me and it looked relatively clear behind me from what I'd see earlier in the lap. Knowing there were still plenty of chasers, I kept my pace up on the hills and looked forward to one more flier down the blacktop before hitting the finish climb. Amazingly I stayed alone and out in front as I rolled to the base of the climb to the finish. I powered my way up to a hearty round of clapping and cheering from all the spectators and a few fellow racers.

After I caught my breath for a second I looked around to only see 2 other racers at the finish. That surely couldn't be right. I was pretty sure I was riding a top 10 or maybe even top 5 race, but not near the podium. Sure enough, I was 3rd overall across the line and with the other two being a single speeder and in the 45+ category, I snagged my first win in the sport open class. I was about beside myself happiness as it sank in. I managed to play all of my strengths just right and execute the plan I had in my head to perfection. What a great day for Rassy's as the team ended up with a large contingent of guys in black taking wins and placing during the race.

IMBCS #7 Lake Ahquabi "Mob the Quab"

Sunday rolled around too damn early as I was still trying to recoup from a bit of a late night at the Knoxville Nationals. Actually, it was a really early night for that particular venue considering I was home and in bed by 12:30. In any case, Sunday was forecast to be a near perfect day for a race. A high of around 80, sunny, and perfect. For once the forecasters were right. It was a perfect day for a race.

I loaded my plethora of gear as I prefer to go prepared for anything rather than nothing. I rolled in and was signed up and ready for my pre-ride by 10:45. I got just a bit of flack signing up for the beginner's class again. I was really torn about what to sign up for as I wanted to ride more than a lap, but at the same time I wasn't ready to step up to the big kid's table and ride with the sport guys. I'm sure I could have held my own and finished just fine, but the reality is, I'm a beginner, so why not enjoy the only time I'll ever be classed as such. I headed out with my buddy Keith for the pre-ride.

Almost as soon as the pedals started turning, I knew it was going to be a struggle to get any kind of power out of my legs. Granted, I hadn't chased down an gels or anything other than a Clif bar for breakfast, but still, a severe lack of training does not make a bike racer. As Keith rode pretty effortlessly along, I bungeed back and forth keeping contact with him, but working a little harder than I wanted to just to keep up. There were a couple new climbs that we hadn't done on the Wednesday ride since the course hadn't been marked and a section of ups and downs in the last mile that were surely going to suck some power out of you right at the end. The best addition though was the screaming asphalt downhill at the very end that shot you out towards the finish line near 30 mph.

The pre-ride was done, the other classes were off and one of our group of beginners (2 ladies and 3 guys) made a bet for the first person to pass a sport rider would earn themselves a quick $5. Then we were off 2 minutes down from the sport riders and 7 minutes behind the experts. I hit the trail in 3rd place just trying to keep my head in the game early and not go out too hard. The leader was new to strictly mountain biking, but was an adventure racer. He had some strength and speed on the flat easy terrain, but myself and Kurt passed him pretty handily on the first rough downhill. The downhills were definitely rough as evidenced by the amount of water bottles distributed along the side of the trail.

A couple miles into the lap I slowly passed Kurt and he latched onto my wheel as I'd been riding his since the start. Considering he beat me last week, I was wondering if I'd have enough gas to stay in front. I slowly eked out a gap on the second big climb of the day which was a steep gravel and shale covered climb that was fun for at least one lap. I kept pushing my pace since I knew he wasn't far behind and tried to stay mindful of my heart rate. While I didn't spend as much time above 190 this race as in Boone, I still kept it hovering in the mid 180's for the entire lap.

The double track was nice and flowy allowing for passing with ease. A simple "on your left" was really all that was needed to pass people. Only one slight miscue found me digging myself out of the bushes. Strangely enough, it was on an easy spot. I went to cross a gravel wash at the bottom of the railroad tie hill and my front tire washed out sending me through the boundary tape and into the bushes. I jumped back up trying not to lose much time, but now I was at the bottom of a hill with no momentum so only one thing to do and that was run up the hill. I used to think I would be faster running some spots than riding, but now I'm not quite so sure as it really sucked running that hill. Now we hit the quick hitting ups and downs on the course as we'd climb part way up the hill before descending almost to lake level before turning right back up. A few of these and then we climbed to the top of the park to hit the screaming descent on the asphalt trail that was almost as rough as the doubletrack. I let out a big whoop all the way down the hill as I was having a blast and crossed the line first in the beginner's category.

While I was happy with the result, I got just a minor bit of flack for running as a beginner after all was said and done. I guess as Brian said, I may have taken to it like a duck to water, but in all the fact is, I've been riding bikes for a year and a half, and mountain bikes for 8 months. Now I'm not sure if it smarted that they got passed by a beginner that had a 2 minute start deficit (hey it was easy for me to go all out since I only had 1 lap to run) or what, but it's not like I'm out there scoring money for placing in the beginners class. Shoot, at Boone we didn't even have prizes, but I still had a great time. We all have to start somewhere, but I guess I don't see what's so wrong with keeping myself in check for a couple races and gaining some more skills so I don't run into issues when I move up. Personally, I'd rather not fall off my bike and hold someone else up or worse yet, have someone get hurt because of a bad move on my part.

What do you in the blog reading world think? Should I stay beginner for another race or two (all that's left if I can even make it to the races) or should I move up to sport now just to say I did it?

Ahquabi pre-ride

Hopefully I'm not giving away any trade secrets for the upcoming race weekend, but Brian and I went down to pre-ride the trails at Ahquabi last night. He had ridden down there a number of times so I let him be my indian scout. Add in that work was dragging me down and I needed to turn some pedals in anger and all was good.

We didn't hit the course until close to 7 and since there were no markings really up yet, we just had the base description to go by on figuring out where the course might go. Since we parked up top, we got to hit a wickedly fun little descent that has railroad ties laid across it to form "steps". It's also covered with fine gravel and a wash down one side to add some interest. Once we hit the bottom loop around the lake it was awesome wide double track with small little rollers up and down. Across the first bridge is a nice little steep power climb that isn't too technical other than just being steep. I rolled slowly up it the first lap and didn't have too many issues. There are a couple mudholes of no real concern on the back part of the course. Just enough to flip some stuff up on you at speed. On the back side there are a couple of really fun little descents as well. Once we got to the campground, we weren't sure where the trail was going to go as there is supposed to be some looping around the catch basins. We rode that area, but nothing of much consequence was up there.

For the second lap I wanted to up the pace and see what kind of flow I could get going. The wide paths really inspire some fast riding, but there are a few turns that you could easily get in over your head due to various washes and sandy spots. about the most technical thing you have to worry about is washes and ruts sporadically spread through the course. Other than that it's a fast fast track. Sure, it's not true singletrack in the middle of the woods, but it's definitely fun in it's own way.

There are a couple miscellaneous climbs that could be thrown in depending on the final routing, but still nothing like what I experienced on the beginner portion of Boone. Unless it happens to rain which would change things up pretty good, I'd hope for expert at 4 laps, sport 3 laps, and 2 laps for us beginners. Hopefully I'll see a few of you on Sunday.