In its typical fashion, the February edition was brutally cold and sloppy. Heavy rains in the week leading up to race day made me change my mind from resting and attempting a fast time to continuing a build week and treating the race as another day of training. I knew I would be tired, but my goal was to stay warm and have a healthy mix of type 1 and 2 fun.
I wore ALL the layers for the 21 degree start, including my finger/hand saving SealSkinz electric gloves. Although bulky, they kept my hands happy for the first half; I switched to HandUp Colder gloves and chemical inserts for the second half. Although shifting/braking wasn't an issue with the SealSkinz, they were too bulky to pull nutrition out of my pockets, so I opted just to shotgun two gels at the start and rely on Skratch hydration for calories and fluids.
The 2 mile gravel road lead-in to the climb was full of huge mud-holes, most of which had no ride arounds. I managed to stay dry by tip-toeing around or riding slowly along the edge. It probably cost me a few minutes, but I was happily warm and dry. Fortunately the 2 added sections of the temporary Dry Creek bridge made for a dry crossing; that was probably the most swollen I have seen Dry Creek.
Climbing up John's Mountain double track and on to the single track, I could feel the past week's strength training ... ouch. Granny gear kept my legs' whining to a minimum. Fortunately most of this section was frozen. After crossing pocket road, the mud games began. Pretty much, after the short initial climb, the next 2 miles were under water. And I managed to submerge my left foot in the creek crossing.
The Horn Mountain climb felt a mile longer; what a grind! My derailleur froze, but luckily I had the three easiest gears to use. Lord, those 3 kickers to the tippy top hurt! I sailed down into the Snake Creek Gap parking lot and took my time swapping out gloves, sucking down 2 more gels, and ditching my CamelBak for a bottle.
The sun was out and the temps had risen into the 30's. I never knew the 30's could feel so warm. I ground my way up the Mill Creek climb and enjoyed the ridge riding. It was finally warm enough that I tempted fate and used my dropper for the first time on the Swamp Creek descent. Past memories of dropper issues in sub-freezing temperatures led me to stiff post the first 17. It worked and popped back up when I asked ... whew!
The creek crossings were super deep, but I was glad to have reconned them last month. Knowing the smoothest and shallowest lines kept me from submerging my feet, again. The climb up to the final section of single track was not as bad as I expected.
The final 8 miles of trail was its usual brutal self: my favorite part! Although slow going, I was in my happy place rock-crawling through the gardens. I believe the rocks (and roots) are growing! On the final tricky climb in the last half-mile or so, I was at the top when I ran out of gas and could not push over the final pedal stroke. I tried to unclip, couldn't, and ended up going down off the trail a few feet. Turtling around in the rocks, with my bike on top of me, it took me a few seconds to free my foot from the pedal.
Fortunately my bike never hit the ground; I took the full force of the impact. Both the bike and my body were ok; just a bruised ego. I was able to recover enough to clean the "gunsight pass" section and then cruise down to the finish.
I finished in 4:46:08. My second slowest time, but I did not mind. I achieved my goals today: finishing with a smile. And with fingers crossed that March will be its typical self: warm and fast!
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| That smile is genuine! Is Ray checking for a motor? |
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