NC State Race Recap

So this past weekend we were a little closer to the creek for our second race of the collegiate season. The race was held near Greenville, NC at the Bicycle Post Trails. The trail system was comprised of about 10 total miles of trail.

We arrived at the trails on friday evening to get in a little preride before the races on Saturday and sunday. Obviously in eastern NC the terrain was relativity flat but looking around at the seemingly endlessly flat tobacco fields was somewhat deceiving. One you entered the woods on the trail there were tons of short steep climbs. The builders without a doubt used every slight elevation change multiple times to create a trail with over 1,000 feet of elevation gain in an otherwise flat area. AFter the ride though I knew this was going to be a long weekend. The trails were to flat to take advatage of my light bike and climbing ability and way to rooty and technical for my rigid fork.

After the ride we headed back to the camp where all the teams were suppose to stay in tents for the weekend. We were promised showers and bathrooms. As we rolled up it was quickly obviouse that this was a immigrant worker camp. The showers were not only water hoses hanging from the wall they had no hot water and were haunted. Thats right I said Haunted.

As Marshall and I sat at the camp alone waiting for the rest of the teams to arrive we could hear voices and laughing but dismissed it. Shortly however I started hearing water running, when we looked we saw the showers had come on by themselves and water was running out the door. After a brief inspection by Marshall with his 9mm we decided it was time to go till the rest of the group got there.

So Saturday morning as we woke up at the haunted immigrant worker camp we headed to the races. The plan was for Marshall to race the first XC race on Saturday morning and then for me to race short track saturday evening and XC sunday morning.

Xc isnt really marshalls specialty but he had a good showing, finishing 12 out of 15. The trail they raced was 8 miles and it took the leaders a little over an hour to finish. That goes to show how technical and "lacking flow" this trail was. As 3PM rolled around it was time for my first ever short track race. I rode the course and felt pretty good about it. There were a few tough sections but there was a long climb and flat though a feild I felt I could make up time on. The rides decided to have a Le Mans start which put me near the rear of the field from the beginning. Honestly I wasnt ready for the intensity that was short track racing. I started as an endurance racer and it took me a while to adjust to the pace that had to be kept during a XC race. I felt that same feeling going from XC to short track. The bar had been raised another knotch and I wasn't prepared. I suffered trying to catch back up after I was dropped early and every lap I would look at the official begging him to tell me "1 lap to go". I was disappointed in my showing finishing 12 out of 16 as I felt that this course suited me the best of any over the weekend.

After the race as we talked to people the consensus was the trail sucked. No one was really enjoying it and there were two or three frantic scrambles to the LBS to find replacments for broken derailers or favors called in to borrow bikes for unfixable damges. On top of that there were countless flat tires and by the end two teams called it quits and headed home before sunday. Ill be honest i discussed the idea with Marshall but as a new team I felt we needed to show our presence at the race even if we were not winning races.

As day two began I was not in the mood to race. Whether it was the horrible sleep I was getting in the tent or the knowledge that I would be beat to death by my bike for the next hour to hour and half with no real shot at doing well I just wasnt mentally prepared. As we started I took my spot near 3/4 of the way back and hung on as long as I could to the feild. They were pushing it on the downhills and as I tried to push it beyond mine and my bikes capabilities I crashed letting most of the feild by.

As I settles in I knew their were two to three riders behind me so honestly I was almost content to just ride it out. It wasnt long however till I caught a glimpse of a Virginia Tech rider and I decided to try and catch up. As I closed the gap I knew I had alot left fitness wise so if I could just hold his wheel on the downhills and tech spots I though I could pass him on the final slight hill climb to the finish. My plan was working well until the rider pulled over and said go on by. I honestly was content to sit on his wheel but I guess he could feel I was faster and it was only a matter of time. I decided to lay the hammer down and put some time between us to wrap this spot up for good.

I knew I had opened a rather large gap as I couldnt see him in any of the switchbacks or flat sections. So I began to settle in again and I caught a glimpse of another rider. I still felt fresh as far as fitness goes but by this point I had beat myself to death on the roots so I couldnt push it much harder. I did however end up closing the gap to were I could see him every time the trail straightened out for 50-100 yards. I didnt know how far i had rode but I knew I had been riding for a bit over an hour which usually is time to rise 10 miles. It was now or never to close the gap so I could sprint for the line with him. As I descended a rooty hill however I felt my chain drop. I didnt want to stop because I felt I was almost there so I tried to pedal backwards and run the chain back on. Bad Idea. Instead of going back on it sucked the chain down past my jump stop where it was near impossible to get out. As i stopped I knew the rider in front was gone but now I was worried about the VT rider. As I pulled and pulled I couldnt get the chain past the jump stop. minutes past and I bent my jump stop back as far as it would go. I finally grabbed the chain and riped as hard as I could cutting a gash in my thumb but freeing the chain. It seemed like I was there for 10 minutes but I would say in reality it was more like two or three. As I crossed the finish line I ended up having about a 5 minute gap still on the VT rider and finished two minutes behind the rider in front of me. Placing 12 out of 16 again.

To be honest I was just happy to have not finished last in either race that weekend with the trail. Dont get me wrong there were parts that were fun and id say it would be a great place to go and ride to play around. However it wasnt a race course for anyone especially me.

This weekend we will be in Boone, NC for Appalachian State's race. Check back next week for the report.