Domnarski Farm: Bloodied and battered but fun!

Another last place finish (8th), however, I felt much better and never hit that wall as I have in previous races.  I did take a spill in the first 300 meters that resulted in a nice gash above my ankle, scrapes on my arms, a nice cut to the right knee, and maybe some sprained fingers on my right hand.  However, not enough to prevent me from finishing the race.  I was geared perfectly, for me that is; 32:21, and everything I was able to climb I went right up.  Initially though my HR is was spiking but I didn't feel it and thought something might be wrong with my monitor.  To be safe when the alarm went off, I walked.  

I brought my camera and snapped a few pictures on the power lines section of the course.  Except for the more steeper sections I was able to ride a lot of this part of the course.  The diSSent performed beautifully and I am glad that I did a check out ride on Saturday.  I never dropped my chain, which I was afraid might happen and climbing felt really good with the FUBars.

Nice scrape

Team NEMBA!

Bandaged up!

That ice cold PBR kept me going!

First Race @ Winding Trails, Singlespeeding at its best

First race of the 2011 Root66 New England Mountain Bike racing season got underway at Winding Trails in Farmington, CT.  It usually takes place at Hop Brook Dam State Park, but since it's a flood control dam the Army Corp of Engineers decided they wanted to test the dam this spring which meant a flooded basin where the ride would be held.  So, I spent my 17th day of the 30 Days of Biking challenge mountain bike racing!

I ran into this guy that I see at all the races (above) named Sam (didn't get the last name) who I think is from NYC.  He's racing for Audi Engineering now.  Below, is fellow Newtowner and Upper Gussy Rider Rick Brodsky racing for the first time in the First Timers heat.

After all the racers were off I headed out on a prelap run with this guy Bill that I see at all the races too.  He used to ride this root beer brown Fuji Tahoe 29er but this year upgraded to a Carbon Fiber Jamis 29er that must have been wicked light.   The Winding Trails Trails Committee changed the course a lot taking out the steep descent that is either a roller on one side or huck (center of map below) and in fact by doing this decreased the lenght of the course by a half mile.

At the whistle all the Single Speeders and myself were off and this time I decided to hang back rather than trying to be near the front after what happened last year when I hit the initial sand pit and almost took out two guys on either side of me.  When I got into the Single Track, I was on the tail of this guy from Boston who at the first log took it funny and ended up veering off the trail, I hit the log over clean and continued down the trail but Boston was back towards the trail so yelled at him that I was coming through and that was the break I needed because I never saw him again.  However, I did notice that I was having problems clipping in and out of my pedals.  I think it might have been the newness of the cleats.

Photo Credit:  Brian Cunningham

My first lap went pretty well somewhere around 30 minutes but a quarter of the way into the second lap I had a bit too much speed coming into a soft turn and I wiped out.  Landed on my hip, forearm and head but most of my weight wound up on my hip.  Fortunately, the ground was pretty soft otherwise I am not sure I would have finished the race.  I lost 2 or 3 minutes putting my ergon back on but I never saw Boston.  Except for my forearm everything else was fine so I hopped on the bike and kept going.

Photo Credit:  Brian Cunningham

The bike performed beautifully, god I love this bike!  I managed the softness in the fork pretty well taking all the climbs and mud locked out and then opening up the ABS for the short descents.  On the big descents, I really opened it up and was able to get a lot of speed - the bike just flowed through it all.  Increasing the air pressure helped but I know for sure I will need to get the firmer spring.  The one thing that wasn't performing well were my pedals and feet.  As I mentioned earlier, clipping in and out was troublesome and I think it was due to the newness of the cleats.  My left foot kept going numb which I think was due to the poor circulation in my left leg.  I need to find if there is anything I can do to prevent this from happening.

I finished 10th, a whole 10 minutes behind the next guy which got me thinking that maybe I am in over my head in this category and that I should go back to CAT3.  Granted there is no single speed category and the earlier start times would suck but racing against a bunch of geared riders would probably be more thrilling.  Afterall, I am not bent on going anywhere with racing but I love the competitiveness and the personal satisfaction that I gave my best performance.  In fact, what impressed me the most was that I did every climb, except for the last big one but never walked anywhere else.  

Upon getting back to the car I popped a motrin knowing that I would start feeling the pain sooner or later.  Had some fruit and then it was over to the bike wash.  I ended up giving my much needed PBR to Glenn Vernes, CT NEMBA Treasurer and went back to the car get another one.  I washed off the bike, ate lunch with my fellow NEMBA Racing teammates while watching the CAT1s/PROs come buy into the feed stop.  Overall, it was a great race and really tested my limits.  I think that is why I like racing.  It's the constant pushing to do better.

Root 66 @ Domnarski Farm

Drove up to Ware, MA on Sunday to race at Domnarski Farm for my fourth R00t 66 race this year. Wondering what the course would be like since we got around 2 inches of rain the night before but they didn't get any, that is until an hour before I got there. Art Roti, Team Captain for NEMBA Racing showed up 10 minutes later and parked next to me. We set up the NEMBA pop-up in front of his car. Shortly there after Fabian Esponda showed up, he rides a Soul Cycles Dillinger in Banana Yellow, and was able to park next to Art. Then Marjorie Bowen arrived and parked next Fabian.

Turns out Marjorie's husband, Dwight, is a frame builder (Bowen Bicycle Works) who has built some custom road and cyclocross bikes and now wants to give mountain bikes a try. I suggested that he try to minimize chainstay length for a 29er so that it would be particularly maneuverable for New England Trails.

Both Fabian and Art looked at my headtube and concluded that there is something indeed wrong with the headset/headtube. I borrowed Art's headset tool with the intention of knocking the cups out and inspecting it to see if there is a crack in it.

In the immortal words of George Costanza, "Look at the Spot!" It was a great parking spot. Close to the exit, near the finish line, near the registration barn, and most importantly right across from the port-a-crappers.

By the time the CAT3 race kicked off the parking area was probably three quarters full and probably due to all the rain was poorly attended.

Art and I did a practise climb by basically climbing a mile up the first climb and it was greasy. It reminded me a lot of riding Kettletown State Park in Southbury with all the rocks, pine needles and ferns in which the trail ran through.

It didn't dawn on me until after the race but thinking about it now I definitely had the wrong gearing. With all the climbing involved on the course I should have been running 32:22 instead of 32:20. I guess I just got complacent. I think staying with the Kenda Krests was a good move because they perform well in really muddy conditions as well as really technical sections but I should have had the mud flap on because they do kick up a lot of dirt and mud. Also opted to ride without eyewear because the steamy conditions would have fogged them up on the first climb.

It was a dirty course to say the least but it was a lot of fun. At the start the singlespeeders were grouped with a bunch of teeny boppers who should have been in front but were in the rear and blasted all around us. Of course when they hit the first climb in the greasy singletrack it was like a pileup on the FDR Drive. Further up the first climb, I was passed by most of the 50+ group, including this one guy on a Fuji Tahoe that I recognized from the Winding Trails Race earlier this year. We played cat and mouse through the majority of the course but I lost him on the powerlines climb and caught up to him about three miles out from the finish and he never caught up to me.

Not having the right gearing for the terrain and combined with warmer temps made breathing a chore. Unfamiliar terrain and not having raced in almost two months really added to my lack of attack on this course. Still, it was really challenging and fun. About 2 miles into the course I noticed something really weird, my bike wasn't creaking! I wondered if all the evaluation to the headtube settled the headset cup, which probably was the culprit to begin with.

I even caught up and eventually passed some guys from the category ahead of me, I think my age group! One of them was on this white, Special-Ed 29er with a Bike Barn jersey (I think) that by the 5th mile was still shiny clean. I asked him how he was able to keep his bike so clean but he just laughed. I wonder if he coated his bike with Pam (an old winter fly fishing trick to keep you eyelets from freezing). We played a little cat and mouse for a few miles but then I pulled away from him, too.

At the tail end of the powerlines this younger girl, who must have been really pushing herself way beyond her norm, passed me but was wheezing and bleeding from a cut on her leg. Quite a few times she wiped out ahead of me, in fact, once was in a mud bath. I don't remember if she finished in front or behind me but she really didn't know how to ride a mountain bike. I bet she was a roadie.

This was by far the wettest, dirties race I have done to date. There was mud everywhere.

Well, a last place finish in the singlespeed category was definitely in my future unless someone DNF'ed but fourth place isn't all that bad for series points. Pictured below is Garth Bean, the first place winner. Some new guy (I think he was from western Mass) riding an On-One with a rigid carbon fork and mary bars finished second, then Fabian, and myself. I only saw one other singlespeeder in the CAT2 race but he must have been racing in his age bracket.

While I didn't empty my wanter bottle I probably should have drank more from it and probably should have had a second one on hand.

The weird thing is that it never rained while on the course (that would have been nice) and only started raining 30 or 40 minutes after I was done and that was just initial down pour followed by sprinkles. I spoke to my wife and she told me there was a tornado watch along the I-84 corridor. After hitting the barbecue and checking my time (1:31) I hung out with Garth, Fabian, and the second place finisher and talked about trails and riding. I headed home about 3 PM and not five minutes down Rt 32 it started to pour. When I got to Palmer it was torrential and when I crossed the state line it was raining so hard I could barely see 20 feet in front of me. That was some rain storm!

Art after the CAT1 race - he was looking beat.

Matt, another NEMBA racing team member