This past weekend, we traveled to Hurley, NY, located on the outskirts of Kingston, NY for race #2 in the NYS series. This race venue was 10 minutes past the Williams Lake course (from two weeks ago), so it was nice to have familiar surroundings as we drove in on rt. 209. Good friends, Christina and Tommy, had done course reconnaissance for us the prior week and gave the newly cut Tim Quilty course glowing reviews -- about 4 miles in length, 600+ feet of climbing, many log jams/crossings, and lots of fun single track. Jeff and I were looking forward to finally having a fun, fast race. When I found out that the category 1 women were doing 4 laps, I thought, "This is great....not too long....." I provide this introductory commentary because as one might expect, mother nature has the ability to completely change the race course. The day before the race, it rained most of the day and into the night, leaving the freshly cut course as slick and slimey as a typical Mt. Snow course. The exposed roots were as slick as ice, most of the off-camber log crossings were treacherous, and the lower section had soupy run-through mud.
We did a pre-race warm up with good friend, Paul, and about a mile into the course, I said, "I'm headed back to the start..." My bike was becoming engulfed in mud, I had already slid out once, and just didn't want to beat myself up anymore until the start of the race. Paul and Jeff continued to pre-ride thinking that 4 miles would be a decent warm up. As our starting time neared, there was no sight of Jeff or Paul. Luckily, due to the cat. 2 racers taking longer to complete the race than expected, the start of our race was delayed 1 hour. Some of the cat. 1/pro racers decided not to race while the rest of us, tried to figure out how to cool down, eat, and then prepare again. Paul and Jeff completed one warm-up lap and said, "It's very difficult...just be careful."
At the risk of prolonging the race report, here's how our races played out -- it was a race of attrition by all accounts. For me, it was the longest 16 miles I've ever done as my elapsed time was just shy of 3 hours. I had a good start and once we hit the single track, I became a bit sloppy in the woods and lost a few places. As the race continued, I slowly worked my way from 4th into 3rd, and overcame the next rider only with a mile to go to finish 2nd overall on the day. At one point, I caught the eventual winner, Shasta, and due to nerves and lack of technical skills, I started running into trees, rocks, etc. and started loosing time on her and she flawlessly navigated through the terrain. I found myself riding more and more of the technical sections as the race progressed and found some satisfaction in that, but knowing how close I was to winning, I was disappointed. But, the most important aspect of this experience was that I raced without low back pain. It was the first race since fall '09 where I was not limited in how I moved and negotiated the course. This is significant as I can see clear progress in my rehab progress and can begin to move forward with my training.
At the Williams Lake race, Jeff was unable to finish due to a bent rim, so in some ways, he needed redemption. In the car, I was concerned that he was not feeling well. He's been working a lot of overtime and dealing with some sleep issues, both of which, can affect one's performance on the bike. Jeff's plan for the race was to start towards the back and let the guys take it through the opening single track and then make time on the climbs. Jeff's strategy worked well as he finished in 2nd place. Single speed phenom Brian K. took the overall win about 10 minutes in front of Jeff and Jeff rode his own race. He was waiting for me at the end and seemed very content with his finish.
I was exhausted at the end of my race and just sat in the back of my car eating watermelon. My endurance is good at this time of year, but it was one of those days where I was either constantly being chased or I was the chaser. So, there was no let up in those 3 hours.
Paul, Jeff, and I always share food after races. We are usually limited by what we can eat since most of the race venues are in out-of-the-way spots, so this week, our fare consisted homemade muffins, watermelon, cherries, strawberries, grapes, lemonade, and sandwiches. We have also been enjoying potato chips after races as we both seemingly crave the salt.
We got home late Sunday night due to the later than expected start time, but feel good about how our season is progressing.
Thanks for the great photos again, Christina! Christina got 3rd in the cat. 2 women and our friend, Paul, got 2nd in his age group. Good job!
Next up for the Jeffina -- ProXCT national series race in Wisconsin. Wish us luck.
Together, we are Jeffina. Crankin' out the love, crankin' out the miles for Crankskins.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment