O'Cup #2 Kelso - Race Review

Hot....

Blaze-ing Hot...

And dusty....not quite this dusty...

but close...

The End.



OK, it wasn't quite that bad.  But it was a hot, dusty day, for this the Kelso O'Cup (O'Cup #2).  Not complaining after the shite winter we had...just saying.

Anyways, there seemed to be a large field of racers attending...Kelso hasn't been in the O'Cup series for some time.  It is a popular place to ride, so I guess this was a popular race.  I got my nutrition ready first thing (4am....yeah I get up too early every dang day).

My race category (Master Sport age 50-54) started at 10am, so I got out to Kelso around 8:30 to prep and warm up.  Rock & Road Cycle Race team graciously invited me to use their pit.

Actually they had a huge group of racers representing.  (And they had beer)....

So, after warming up I get ready in the paddock, have a bite of energy bloks...

Chat with my good friend and arch-nemesis 'serious', who has become way too fast this year (he won our category in the last O'Cup race).  Also in the paddock is Garry.  Garry is a loyal customer of BicycleWorks...he is mostly a tri-athlete, but has also taken on MTB racing this year...very fit, and fast on the bike.  I beat him last O'Cup, but not by much.

The race had us start up a grassy slope, then left through the feed zone...    So eventually SeanOfSuperfly called our category up to the start....and with his cue we were off!!!

Up the grassy slope and through the feedzone and along the grassy 'singletrack' on the side of the hill, and a very rough left curve off the hill onto the gravelly fireroad.  Dust...very dusty.  My goal was to keep serious in sight.  He was up front...so I made several passes along the gravel road to get within the front group of 5 or 6 riders.  Then left and right over a grassy hump...then it was into Tube Hill (F'n Hill, Death Hill, Lose-a-lung Hill...  Kelso is a ski resort in the winter, and the hill we were climbing is the hill the tube riders ride down in ski season....hence the name Tube Hill).  Tube Hill is a looong, steep climb that serpentines (that means twists, y'know, like a snake) its way up the hill....and it was so dry that if you were not careful and gave too much power you would spin out and stall...and the hill grew steeper towards the end; so as you crested the top of Tube Hill, you were redlining....but no respite here.  Immediately upon cresting Tube Hill, the course put you into a steep, twisty doubletrack climb...just about time to puke here.

What the hills do a good job of here, is stringing the racers out, and they did.  As I have mentioned before, I prefer the endurance races over these short, fast races...as such, my recovery time at the top of these climbs is not quite as fast as others who like the short-fast thing.  I got passed by a couple of riders and some of those already in front of me pulled away.

However, the doubletrack we were on soon led into a very rough rocky climb where I was able to power into and make up some time, and pass back the racers who passed me.  Then a section of flowy doubletrack led into a section of technical twisty singletrack called 'Rough Trade'.  This is a very fun challenging trail...the problem is I am not fast on twisty singletrack, so this fun bit cost me some more time.  Then Rough Trade opened into some gravelly double track, a long gravelly climb where I was able to make up some more time....I could still see serious less than 100ms or so in front of me....hoping I could keep him in sight and still catch him.

Here is serious....somewhere ahead of me on the course...

Then a section of flowy double and singletrack came into a wide open rock section along the top of the escarpment....and here was Ted of ApexRacePhotography snapping away pics of racers zipping by.  Had to say 'Hi Ted' as I passed.

Then the course took us down the descent...a fast rough rocky descent, across a bridge that appears to cross nothing but dirt....then down Digger Downhill....a twisty singletrack down hill with some berms and drops that give you a chance to catch some air...

Here is Kyle catching some air on Digger....

Then off the descent onto some twisty grass sections, then up the grassy slope into the start/finish and through the feedzone...

me...up the grassy slope....

There was Blaze working my feeds (remember he broke his wrist last race, and is done for the season)....thanks Blaze!!  Could be best feedman ever...if he gave me beer...

This is Bevin racing for the Lapdogs Race Team coming into the feedzone....

JennR just past the feedzone...

JennR again kicked everyones arse in her cat....

MarkR (known more as JennR's husband) on the gravel fireroad off the start...

machine4321 doesn't want me to comment on his crash, so I won't...but here is a pic...

He was OK....it could have been much worse....

Anyways...onto lap 2 (my race was 3 laps)...there was JeffS cheering me on by the gravel fireroad....thanks Jeff!!  I still had serious in my vision...but he was quite a ways up on me now...then up Tube-Death-HackALung Hill, and the twisty hill following.

Passed a couple of racers cramping and with mechanicals. I thought I had lost serious with my slower recovery...but he had flatted and had to DNF (Did Not Finish).  He was one of the mechanicals I had passed.  Tough break!!

However, as I recovered at the top of the climb, Garry passed me....damn lean, fast-recovery, tri guys!!  So, as I thought I lost serious, I focused on keeping on Garry's wheel....lost him a bit on the twisty Rough Trade.  Said 'Hi Ted' again in the same spot...then down the descent, Garry still in front of me slightly...but Lap 2 was in the books.

Through the feedzone, and onto the gravel fireroad...JeffS cheering me on again!!
This is me on the fireroad....Fig said I had to post this pic, cuz it was his favourite pic of me...I don't know why...

Anyways....we hit Tube-Stupid Hill for Lap 3....I passed Garry powering up the hill.  At the top he passed me back....damn!!  So as on Lap 2 I fought to stay on him...however on an open section before the final descent he made it past two dying riders who I got stuck behind.  On the grassy section between the descent and the finish I passed them and a faster rider who was riding out a rear flat...tough break!!  Then I kicked to catch Garry before the finish...but not quite to be.  He beat me by 3/10s of a second!!

I finished 7th....not so bad.  A target to better next time.

Singlespeed and younger age (30s and 40s) categories raced at 11:30 including Fig, and this guy...

misconceptionz

and CptSydor

Who borrowed my singlespeed to race this race...a very tough go....this was not at all a singlespeed friendly course...well done CptSydor!!  The 11:30 course was very similar to ours, but included a nasty rooty, rocky (for many it was unrideable) climb called Ugly Up.

The Expert and Elite categories raced at 1:30.  This included Kyle,

and John....

mtbmeister suffering

JeffS suffering

Seth

Giant, looking all concentraty up Tube Hill

Oggie...who always looks grim....

The 1:30 course included more technical sections, and a couple of very gnarly rock sections that caused several crashes, and broken bikes....   I'm happy to be in the Sport category....for now!

Anyways....Kyle finished first in his category....by a wide margin....sandbagger.

JennR finished first in her cat....well done!!  Careful JennR...you're gonna get famous!!

Again....JeffS on the podium...again.  Getting to be a habit...pretty soon his whole family will be up there....oh....wait...half of them already regularly are...

Sorry...no juvenile pics this time...

Ooops!!  Does that count??

Anyways...another race in the books!  And no race planned for this coming weekend....so what will happen???

Stay posted!!

Long Sock Classic - The Race Review

The Long Sock Classic, another of Dan of Substance's (Substance Projects) marathon type races in his XC Marathon Cup series of 4 marathon races.  The Long Sock Classic, a 70 km MTB race (two loops of 35 kms ) held in the Ganaraska Forest...rife with poison ivy....hence the need for Long Socks.  Is it all coming together now??  If not, google it, you'll figure it out.  If you really need to, Wikipedia it...apparently you can find all the answers there...except explanations for your childhood ....tried it, didn't work.

Anyways....getting off track too early.  The Long Sock....traveled to the Ganny with NewfieSteve and Giant.  Steve drove, so no missed turns; no getting lost....close, but we figured it out...without Wikipedia even...

Arrived alive...and once again many familiar faces...

Here is PowerPaul, Giant, NewfieSteve, yours truly, and Jaimie...

I think the entire lapdogs team showed up...

The entire Rock & Road team did not show up, but here is a pic of some of them anyways...only because my contract says I have to give equal billing....

Just kidding, I don't have a contract.  Besides you call them contracts, we call them treaties and don't expect you to follow them...hence, no contract.  In fact, this is not even a pic at the Long Sock...this is at Kelso...

Anyways....back on track.

Arrive, get registered, bikes set up, warm up....all the regular start stuff...
I am plate number 122...

14Stone was parked near us...his set up...singlespeed...

And so, we all lined up in the paddock....and we were off.  Although ApexRacePhotography was there taking race pics...this pic of the start was not their work...

Actually the start was very fast.  Oggie and Giant blasted ahead of me (with many others), never to be seen again...until the finish.  Fig passed me;  I pushed, but I was really feeling the effect of last weeks 8 hour single speed effort.  Dan had the start set up very well....most of the start was kilometres of double track and fireroad; so there was plenty of room for the most part.  The race started with a long double track climb, which twisted into a long rocky fireroad climb.  Quite the warm up...legs and lungs burning from climbing right off the start.

Then a long bit of fireroad rollers, starting with a screaming fast descent on dried packed mud fireroad....jittering the heck out of bike and rider.  I feathered the brakes, both because I was in a loose pack of other racers, and this extremely fast descent bottomed out in a base of very squidgy sand (in past years).  However this year the surface was so dry, the sand was minimal and I coasted flowingly into the next rolling climb.  Steve caught me somewhere around here...he is a talented descender and probably did not need to touch his brake.

Then we ducked into twisty single track.  Twisty single track....the bane of my racing efforts.  In short, I suck at twisty singletrack. It was flowy and fun, with fun descents, and punchy challenging climbs.  As I said, it was fun, I am just slow at it.  It was all I could do to hold onto Steve's wheel in there, while I mismanaged accelerating/decelerating, bounced off trees, and overcooked curves.  Unfortunately for me, pretty much the next 50ish kms of the race was twisty singletrack segments connected by short segments of double track.  The only respite from the singletrack coming in about the last 5km of the course that included doubletrack and fireroad.

At one point, Steve slipped on a root....and I managed to get past him.  Which only meant I had to work to keep him behind me, or at least not to slow him down too much.  At another point we passed Fig who was off the side of the trail pumping up a tire.  (Turned out it wasn't low, just very out of true; thanks to an incident with Blaze.  Story for another day...or not.)

So, Steve, Fig and I rode together until the mid lap feedzone where Steve stopped to refuel.  Fig and I rode on.  Then the hill of death.  A long, steep, sandy, troughy, leg tearing, energy sapping, lung busting, shite of a climb.

(Too much boring verbage....was time for a pic right?)

Anyways, we managed to pass a couple of other riders who were walking their bikes up the hill.  After about 12 years of climbing, we crested the top...and Fig took off, recovering much quicker than I (damn 30 year olds!!)...never to be seen again.

So on I hammered (stumbled?) through the single track, alone, hoping to see and catch Fig up ahead; occasionally seeing Steve sneaking up behind me (damn singletrack!).  From the feedzone, the singletrack seemed to be a slight but steady energy draining uphill climb. I spied a team member from the Lapdogs up ahead, and eventually caught him in the neverending singletrack.  We hit a section of steeper, tight switchbacking singletrack climbs and I could see Steve getting even closer.   The Lapdog in front of me stumbled on a tight, gnarly, rooty, switchback, and I managed to get in front of him; now forced to keep up the pace with him on my wheel.

Then we hit the 2km to go sign.  Now, most races that have the Xkm to go signs near the finish are almost always innacurate, but this had to have been the most off base one I have ever seen.  Either I hit a hole in the space-time continuum, or aliens rendered me unconcious for many minutes, but that last 2km had to be 4-5 kms long!

So true!!

Steve caught me in the last '2' kms.  Then about 2km later we came to the 1km to go sign, where we got dumped out onto about 1km of doubletrack....then about 1km of fireroad leading to the start/finish.  However the fireroad was not flat....oh no.  A couple of loose gravelly climbs to totally finish off any energy....then a fairly flat road to the start/finish.  Of course, on this flat finishing section, Steve says 'Hammer down!'.  I think, 'No you doof, we still have another lap to go!'  But he did, and my frail male ego wouldn't let him go....so hammer down I did to keep him in check.

Thanks to ApexRacePhotography, here we are finishing Lap 1 together, with the Lapdog right on our tails.

I stopped here to quickly switch water bottles, and I was off.  I had finished this first lap in a time of 1hr54mins.  My goal was to complete in under 4 hrs....so, maybe.  Steve was taking his time restocking.  The Lapdog was right with me, but not for long, he passed me on the fireroad off the start as I ate and drank....never to be seen again.

And so I moseyed on alone.  Driven to stay ahead of Steve, constantly looking over my shoulder expecting to see him catching me.  Looking ahead, hoping to see Fig, or Giant in my sights.  I did occasionally pass a struggling rider who had obviously gone off too hard on the first lap, and had little left to continue, and that is the nature of the game in these races.

I passed by the mid lap feedzone, still looking over my shoulder....still no Steve.  Climbed the hill of death alone, motivated by the expectation of a Newfie 'Hey, dare bye' from behind me.  I remained riding solo.  But I did hear voices somewhere in the distance.  I couldn't tell if it was behind or ahead....but sounded like females chatting.  Hikers??  Was there a girlscout birthday party going on in the woods??  (I think I saw a movie like that once...).  But then, with about 10km to go....it became apparent.

Alexia and Louda pulled up behind me, chatting like they were having Sunday tea.  Alexia made mention of me riding a geared bike, and not the singlespeed I rode in the 8 hr race last weekend (Alexia always rides a rigid singlespeed)...and mentioned that she really enjoys reading this blog.  Toying with my fragile male ego??  And then they were off....still chatting...disappearing in the distance, never to be seen again.  I wondered how they could have gotten so far behind me.  They are both faster than me; they must have had a unexpectedly slow first lap....or it could have been that this was the mid lap feedzone we had recently passed....

Yeah...that had to be it.

I hoped that wasn't why Steve was still behind me....

And so I continued on....still nervously keeping an eye behind.  I spyed a rider somewhere up ahead, on the twisty singletrack.  Really noticing the slow steady climbing on this second lap.  Then hit the neverending 2km to go mark.  More twisty singletrack....still occasionally seeing the rider up ahead.  Came out onto the fireroad...still no Steve....now thinking I had to be safely free of Steve.  I clearly saw the rider ahead of me, struggling up the final fireroad climbs.  I gunned it (as much as I could with what droplet of energy I had left)....caught and passed him on the climbs.  Crested the final climb where the Apex photographer was clicking away.

And yes...made it to the finish line, spent but done.  My time...3hrs57mins...I had made my goal time.  But finished behind Fig and Giant, who were waiting at the finish having got there several minutes ahead of me.  misconceptionz was also there with his camera.  He wasn't racing.  As the owner of Big Ring Entertainment he was filming a video of the event.  I grunted some stupid noise and gesture into the camera.  Otherwise....looking forward to this video!!

He is right you know.

Steve rolled in 10 minutes later.  He had gone too hard off the start and into the first lap....and struggled through the second lap...and such is the nature of the game in these races.

Speaking of video....here is a link to a short video of the race taken by Rocket Dog....a team member of the Lapdogs Race Team...shot as he raced.  For your viewing pleasure.

Rocket Dog's very cool video


So....another race in the books.  Thanks DanOfSubstance for another great race!!  But missed a few regulars.  CptSydor, VVagabond, EnglishJim??  Maybe at the next one??

What's next?  OCup #2!!  This weekend at Kelso!!

How will it go down?
Stay Posted!!

The End...ends??

Follow up in Pics - Spring 8 HR

As mentioned in the last post, I got some pics, most of which are taken by Ted at ApexRacePhotography.  ApexRacePhotography's Event Download....a gazzillion pics for $70; I couldn't pass it up.  Don't worry....I didn't put all gazzillion pics in here.

Also a few random pics individuals and friends (I got one or two) from cycling clubs.  (Don't worry, no nudies in this one...well, not of me anyways...).

So, here we go...

Here are misconceptionz and Giant breaking out of the logjam at the start...

14Stone before his hub snapped...

A goof ball...

A goofball in a series of pics on one of the rooty downs, trying to smile for the camera as if he isn't crapping his shorts scared...

Couldn't hide the fear here (worked on that rhyme all day...)

This actually, really, for surely, truly was fear....leading into the exit wound switchback....

Another one of the rooty downs...

misconceptionz looking all concentraty...before his broken toe caused him to call it quits...

Giant...kicking all our arses with 12 laps and still looking fresh...(except for the Austin Powers chest hair...)

Blaze's new cycling glove (remember broken wrist from last post...)

eggman's setup...I think him and misconceptionz were the only two rigid singlespeeds out there (although eggman was tagteam...misconceptions solo....)

There were a few spots to catch air on the course, but this was the safest...

I was looking for the podium girls as I finished....

But all I deserved was shirtless man...(it's not EnglishJim....no nipple tape...)

As a bit of a humorous aside; a racing colleague (he doesn't yet have a nickname but let's just go with Dickbow for now), got mistaken for Unglued, and for EnglishJim, at the race.  So what do you think this means???  He quotes inane legal terms??  He has an uppity British accent??  He wears nipple tape??  You pick...

Anyways...back to the pics...

I eventually did finish....and yes...as mentioned in the last post....I was seriously hurting...

Done, recovered, relief...

The end...I think....

So, yeah....a quick mid week post to display some pics of the race.  (Only have about 60 more!).

Now....getting ready for 70km of sandy climbs and single track at the Long Sock Classic this weekend!!  (Cept...I think I will use a geared bike this time!)

Stay posted!

None of these were mine.....