Night Train 6 (of12) Hour Race Report

Leading up to the Marji Gesick 100 in September, I decided to do the Night Train 6 Hour race at Fontana Village this past weekend.  With afternoon weather conditions potentially calling for severe storms, I didn't want to travel all that way and the race to be called.  So, I signed up for the 12 hour, which started at 10am, and planned to race for 6 hours (The 6 hour event started at 4pm)

Nicely deteriorating, algae covered bridge at the bottom of Turkey Shoot.

I've raced SERC races on this course and knew it would have some challenging techy bits that would be similar to what is coming up at the MG100.  I was also trying out some new nutrition:  peanut butter filled dates.  I am normally a Skratch and gel girl, but wanting to see how a bit of protein and fat would fuel the engine.  And I had just had my new dropper post installed on the RKT, so I was eager to see how that would be to my advantage on the descents.

True to Pisgah Productions starts, it was raining.  Not enough for me to don my characteristic shower cap, but enough that I decided to carry it with me, if things got worse.  Unfortunately the turn out was low for the 12 hour:  2 four man teams, 1 two man team, 1 solo male, Mike Pierce, and I.

Immediately out of the gate was a steep grunty climb.  Having not pre ridden, I was totally in the wrong gear!  Shifting up about 20 times, I got into granny and made it to the top.  Then through some grassy, energy sapping fields, up another couple grunty double track climbs, and finally onto the Llewellyn Cove Trail, where I could shake the lactic out.

It was raining just enough to make the rocks and roots slicker n snot, but surprisingly the dirt portions of the course were hero dirt.  I was super happy about lowering my seat on the fast, tricky descent. Climbing back out was a series of short, steep ups.  I could clean them all save for the very last half of the last one.  Just enough roots to cause me to spin the rear wheel out and not having the power in the legs to recover from those 1/4 turn pedal turns.

The course was a figure 8, each lap 7 miles with 1100 feet gain.  The second half of the course was on the resort property and was run CW on the Whiting Trail, some double track rocky climbs, and the Piney Ridge, and Turkey Shoot Trails.  This portion was much harder than the first half.

Those double track rocky climbs were like climbing up 10-20% grades on baseball size marbles. Needless to say, I was off the bike in a few spots.  Once again, just not enough power and could not keep a smooth torque.  It might have had something to do with the week of training leading up to the race:  3 gym sessions and 2 interval sessions.

The upper half of the Whiting Trail was littered with roots.  Holy cow, I was all over the place!  By the time I had the lines figured out in the latter half of the race, fatigue was lending a hand in the difficulty of progressing through the trail cleanly.

A short bit of pavement led to the Piney Grove Trail.  And a nice hike a bike up to the top.  Curses you, Eric.  But, of course, it just would not be a Pisgah Productions event, without a bit of pushing. There was a reward at the top: a 1 mile 500 foot descent.  Kinda tricky, with off camber turns on pine straw, sharp switchbacks, and rutted out gully washer sections.

I was able to get in 6 laps.  The first was 52 minutes and the remaining five hovered around 57 minutes.  The thunderstorms never came.  The light rain on laps 1, 3, and 4 allowed for practice in slick conditions (a first this season).  Aside from a yellow jacket sting on the second lap and the usual Pisgah Productions level of suffering, the bike and I came away unscathed.

23.5 pounds of full on fast!

I am truly enjoying the Niner RKT.  At first I was a little concerned with the 10mm less rear travel, but I really don't notice the difference.  I figured out the finicky rear lockout switch and use it alot. Although the dropper post added a bit of weight, the advantage of being able to get the seat out of the way on sketchy descents makes it worthwhile.  The short chainstays make for easier maneuvering around switchbacks and better traction on uphill out of the saddle hammering.  The only issue I am having is a SID RCT3 fork that just doesn't feel right and won't lock out.  I hope to have this issue remedied in the next few weeks.

The Night Train 12/6 Hour Race is a lap race worthy of "the buckle."

Blankets Dirty 30 Race Report

My training plan for this weekend called for an hour at 50 miler race pace on Saturday and 3 hours at L2/L3 on Sunday.  I decided to combine the two efforts somewhat by racing Mountain Goat Adventures XXC race at Blankets Creek on Saturday.  It is always much easier to hit those harder efforts when racing with others as opposed to solitary rides.

The noon start was nice as I could travel down the day of, but how to handle pre race nutrition took some pondering.  I ultimately decided to just eat my breakfast 3 1/2 hours prior and so loaded up with Christopher Bean Coffee when my internal alarm clock went off at 6 am.  That worked well as the pre race jitters held off the lunch time hunger monster.

I used this race to test my bike and nutrition set up.  I decided to go with gears as the Big Frog 65 is just 2 weeks away.  I was also eager to see if my Niner RKT would handle any different/better than my Jet 9 RDO.  I had not raced her since The Snake and had made some minor adjustments since then.  I was also trying out some new nutrition, Torq energy drink and gels.  I had been using these during rides, but had yet to try them out at race pace.

The race was 2 laps of the entire trail system, about 30 miles with 2800 feet of climbing.  Weather was perfect, in the 60's and dry.  This was a low key race for me, but I still was conerned with my performance, as my legs were a little tired from the week of training.

I had a good start and went into the woods in the top 10.  No sooner had I started the first climb on the Van Michael Trail (VMT) when a bug flew into my mouth and down my trachea.  Not exactly what I needed, but after several deep coughs, I was able to dislodge the little fu*ker. It took me a couple miles to get my wind back and in the meantime I was passed by several.  The VMT has the best flow and I tried to recover on the descents.  I was happy to see flat ground again as I exited VMT and hit the connector to the Dwelling Loop.

I had my mojo back and made short work of Dwelling.  Upon entering South Loop, I slowly bridged to Mr. Polka Dot.  I call him that because what I remember of his jersey was a white base with dark dots.  As I got closer and closer, I began hearing this noise emanating from his bike.  I couldn't quite place the source, but it sounded like a bartender shaking a coctail mixer.




When I finally got on his wheel, I could tell that the sound was coming from his saddlebag.  He definitely had way more bag than necessary. And the noise! After 5 minutes I could not take it anymore.  But my legs were heavy and I just did not have the power to pass.  Finally, on the short steep rocky climb, he bumbled and I was able to make the pass.  Once the trail leveled out, I tried to break away, but he was able to hook back on.  OMG THE NOISE!  I took in some more gel, hoping my legs would get the energy needed to break away from him. But oh, no!  He managed to stay right there with me.  We came through the start/finish together and began lap 2.  By now I had been listening to his bag for 10 minutes or so.

I so wanted to tell him about the awesomeness of Backcountry Research's Race Strap, but mostly I just wanted the torture to stop.  It took the WHOLE VMT to finally drop him.  Now the only sound I heard was the whirrr of my I-9 hub ... as it should be.  Now that peace had returned, I started laughing about the whole ordeal.

Soon after I entered Dwelling, my lower back began to ache.  This was surprising since I was on my geared bike; it usually only happens on my SS and only when racing for 5 hours or longer.  It definitely affected my power output.  I found myself standing and stretching on several of the descents.

The South Loop was a blur, not because I was going fast, but because I just wanted to be done.  My back was jacked and it was not fun anymore.  For me, this trail was the most difficult because if it was not tight and twisty, it was rocky and rooty ... hard to find flow.

I finally smelled the barn when I hit Mosquito Flats.  A few minutes later, I rolled across the finish in 2:39, not quite the time I was looking for, but good enough for the W.

I must commend Lisa and Kathleen for the BEST COURSE MARKINGS EVER!  Hi vis pink, at eye level, and plenty of confirmatory flagging beyond each and every turn.  Never once did I have to scrub speed and wonder.

Sharing the podium with the lady who inspired me to do downhill faster, BA Loretta!