So I did a mountain bike race today for the first time in a while. The short version: It rained the whole time. It was muddy as hell. My legs cramped. It was fun. And it wasn't.
On a whim, I thought I would give a TBF race a try. I had seen them out at Granite Bay a number of times over the years. Although they seemed a bit corporate, and primarily focus on the running/triathlon side of things, I hoped they knew how to run a proper MTB race.
Knowing I was racing, I went on a short ride on my cross bike yesterday. I felt like absolute crap. I hoped that would improve on race day.
Before that could happen, though, I needed was a bike. When I built the Santa Cruz Blur last summer, I scavenged a few parts off my Litespeed. Consequently it had been sitting in a disassembled state for eight months. Knowing the forecast was for rain, I cobbled the old hardtail back together again last night. I rode it up and down the driveway a few times in the darkness, and it felt weird and uncomfortable. I hoped a solid warmup before the race would help my body refamiliarize itself with my old titanium friend.
I was flying during the cyclocross season just a few short months ago. I sat in top three in the 35+ B series for much of the year until the broken ribs ended my season. I guess I still felt fast, so I entered the expert class. This meant three 10-mile laps and 30 miles. No problem, I thought. But when I lined up with all these guys, a few of whom looked like pros, I knew I was in trouble.
After four years of cyclocross and road racing exclusively, just racing on the mountain bike again was cool. It was actually a little surreal. It has only been six years since I raced on a mountain bike, but somehow it felt like much longer as we waited for the start. I was a stranger in a strange land. As we rolled away from the line, however, I clicked into race mode and suddenly I was a mountain bike racer again.
In hindsight, I should have started more conservatively given the circumstances. These guys started fast and I simply followed suit. We hammered out the first lap at a very high pace and I felt OK, but not great. As we rolled through the start/finish, I knew I couldn't do 20 more miles at that pace, so I backed off a bit.
On the second lap, because I wasn't solely focusing on the wheel in front of me, I noticed that the course was pretty cool. I must say, they did a great job of laying it out and marking it. They utilized many of the trails I usually ride but in different ways to make a 10-mile loop. There was a fair amount of climbing, which was my undoing. Hopping on a bike you haven't used in eight months and racing just isn't smart. The climbing position was totally different. It was the climbing that gave me the cramps in my quads. They started about halfway through the second lap, and I fought them through the rest of the race. As long as it was flat, I was cool. I even felt like I had good power at the end. Every rise, though, and my quads were screaming.
The cramping certainly made it less fun. And the endless gritty mud that crunched away on my drivetrain was annoying. Still, it felt good to be back in my element. At my core, I am still a mountain biker first.
I limped through the last lap and finished a disappointing tenth out of 11.
In closing, I discovered that I am probably not an expert-level MTB racer anymore. I should have listened to this guy:
You said it, Harry. I have to acknowledge that my son was born less than three months ago, and that really changes things. I am spending a lot of time with my little human who has already become the center of the universe. I'm likely at the very bottom of my fitness curve after being at the high point last cyclocross season. I will have have to build back up again. Or not.
For much of my life I have identified as a bike racer first. Now my focus has changed to my family, and that's for the better. Obviously. From here on out I am a husband and father who may or may not race a little on the side when time permits. And that's just fine.
As for TBF, they actually ran a pretty tight ship. No complaints.
There are more TBF races coming up. Maybe I do some. Maybe not. We'll see.
Later.
