Clemson MTB Race and mountain road riding

I competed in the Southeast Regional Championship Series (SERC) mountain bike race outside Clemson, SC on Sunday 26 June. I like the course because it has a fair amount of climbing and ripping fast descents. There always is a good turnout, and this year was no different despite the low 90's temps and ridiculous humidity. I was fortunate to have a Twenty Niner Air bike to race courtesy of Shey Lindner of C-Town Bikes. Test riding a bike is good, but test racing one is a great way to see if it works well for you. There is a lot of debate on the merits of "29ers" as the big wheeled mountain bikes are known vs "26ers" as the traditional smaller wheeled bikes are known. I can say that I am officially hooked on 29ers. I'm just plain faster on them. My race went well--chasing and passing racers in my class and after a back-and-forth battle with the guy leading the SERC series, eventually finishing in 2nd place.

Being a relatively "flatlander" in Middle Georgia, I decided to make good use of a couple of days after the race and get some climbing (and descending) training in the mountains of SC/NC. Monday's ride was a 75 mile loop that included climbing Caesars Head and then several "grunt" climbs on East Fork road and a return over the Eastern Continental Divide. Tuesday I rode with my brother Tom who can't seem to get enough climbing. We did a beautiful route which you can see here: twin falls/whitewater falls loop. Photos by Tom here: twin falls/whitewater falls.

Newton Omnium

Team Neuro fielded 8 racers for the 11-12 June Newton Omnium. I was excited to race because I hadn't raced on the road for awhile and because it was a "grass roots" race put on by an individual to raise money for local trail building.

I had only ridden my time trial bike once for 30 minutes since I last raced it in July 2010....I don't really like time trialing. We had a good inter-team battle since most of us started about the same time. No surprise that Big John and his ultra-sleek machine blew by a few of us. I felt good about my race, and averaged about 25.5 mph...that was good enough for second to last in the P12 field!!

The criterium started at 7:45 pm--about 11 hours after my TT ended. I guess I should have been refreshed, but I was groggy and worn out from the TT effort and 90+ heat. The course was tear-drop shaped, with one 90 degree turn at the top of a stout climb in a heavily wooded area. About 30 racers started the P12 race, and that number started shrinking pretty quickly due to the gaps formed on the climb. At about 17 minutes into the race a freak event happened--a deer bounded out into the middle of the peleton just as we were hitting 35+ mph. The poor guy that got hit ended up with multiple serious injuries; a few other riders were taken out as well by the deer and/or other riders. I managed to escape by riding over 2 bikes and maybe one rider...if I had locked up the brakes I would have gone down for sure. The race was stopped to allow medics to attend to the wounded, and due to approaching darkness it was then cancelled. This is the second race where a deer took out a racer right before my eyes!

The main issue on my mind for Sunday's road race was heat/hydration. Thankfully Betty Jean Jordan graciously volunteered to hand out bottles to John , Jake and me at the 60 mile point of our 90 mile race. The course was fairly flat, but with 22 turns per lap so it was pretty tricky as there were no signs and few marshals. My role for the team was to go in or chase down any serious looking breakaway early in the race. Luckily for me nothing serious went during the first lap. By this time I was back in the groove of racing and ready for action. I ended up rolling to the front and then following a strong surge off the front by Jafer Beizer. We ended up forming a five-man breakaway with a couple of the bigger more powerful teams represented. We worked pretty well together, though I felt that we would probably be caught as we had 50 miles or so to go and a couple of the strongest teams (RealCyclist and Aerocat) were not in with us. At about 15 miles to go we were caught by a group of eight. Unfortunately John and Jake were not in this group having ended up on the wrong side of a split from an attack in the feed zone (not an ethical race tactic especially on a 95 degree day). I was on the front as this happened and Caesar Grajales of RealCyclist and a Hincapie devo racer went zooming by in a counter attack. Unfortunately nobody reacted and they were gone in no time. A flurry of attacks dwindled our number by a couple. I felt strong but had fought off some muscle cramping earlier and so I didn't attempt any attacks. I misjudged the distance to the finish and ended up in the very back as the group started the final sprint to the line. I managed to pass a couple of racers for 9th place.

Bump and Grind

Bump and Grind is a race held by the Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers (BUMP) at Oak Mountain State Park. This year marked the 17th annual edition, and due to popular demand was a 3-race omnium. There were two races on Saturday--Turn-and-Burn and Super-D. Turn-and-Burn was a 20 minutes plus one lap race that twisted and turned on a somewhat cyclocross style course. In the name of "fun" there was a couple of surprises--everybody raced together (beginner through pro, men and women) and we were lined to start up opposite the direction that we had been told it would go...then after a strange start--"go on the horn...ready, set , GO!" (but no horn?!), we were turned around 50 feet later and headed back the original direction. Result: I was now in the very back of the race with about 50 beginner/novice riders in front of me. This resulted in a crash for me and many near misses for the next 15 minutes. Needless to say, the faster riders that knew the plan lined up toward the "back" and were never seen by me again. I raced angry--to me the concept wasn't "fun" it was stupid! At the very least, they should have split the racers up by ability. As it turned out, since I was first in the "old guys" (40+ years) division, I won my division anyway. A few hours later (and many quarts of sweat in 97 degree temps) we lined up for the Super-D. It started up on a mountain ridge, and after a shallow jeep road climb plunged down a rocky, technical, trail that included aptly named "blood rock". This spot has been a place of grief for many riders for years and so was a popular spectator point. I wimped out and walked over blood rock! The course then got very fast, but still technical--some racers got flats from high speed tire impacts on sharp rocks. There was also a fair bit of climbing in the middle of the 5.5 mile course. I was passed by two racers (we went at one-minute intervals), but I could tell they were exceptionally fast. It turns out they were #1 and #3 overall. I was 7th overall and 1st in "old guys". Sunday was the main event--a 32 mile race that had it all--rocks, roots, sand, swoopy trails, twisty trails, long and short climbs, screaming fast fire road descents, paved road, and "blood rock". The 40+ expert field had some very talented racers, including Terry Duran, a local AL racer who happens to be the 50-54 National Road Race Champion. The race started very fast, and quickly there was a group of five that separated off the front. I was the tail end of this group and just hanging on. The group started to split as we approached the major climb of the race and soon were strung out on the climb. The initial leader suffered a flat--the consequence of sacrificing a light speedy tire for a heavier durable tire. That put me in third position, and I raced alone for a good 20 minutes before catching up to Terry back at the parking lot area. Terry fell in behind me for the next 15 minutes or so. This was fine for my strategy...conserve energy and at the right moment...attack! I attacked as soon as I had passed two riders from another category, giving me a good gap on Terry. I went hard until I got caught behind a large group of riders. This is a fact of life in mountain bike racing, at least at the amateur level. I made the mistake of not keeping tabs on behind me, and at the last hairpin corner before the finish straight--Terry came flying around me to take second place! Even more disheartening was that I was only 7 seconds behind first place and had no idea--and he was cramping! Well, that is the nature of mountain bike racing. It was a very hot, but fun weekend of racing and socializing--I will probably be back next year.

GSC Dauset Trails

Sunday, may 29th, I raced in the Georgia State Championship Series race at Dauset Trails near Jackson, GA. I'd been in a bit of a slump this year and hadn't podiumed, so that was my goal. I seems to always be hot and humid at Dauset races, and this year was no exception. I had a much better start than usual, no doubt aided by the knowledge that there was $100 award to the fastest lap. That proved to be elusive for me, but at least I was in the running for a spot on the podium after the first of three laps. I wasn't really sure how I was doing until I started my third lap and the announcer stated that I was hot on the wheel of the guy in first....so I found his wheel and passed it. Despite losing time to a mishap and bonking a bit due to poor nutrition, I held off the competition for the best spot on the podium.