two things are very predictable when racing at 7 oaks in boone. 1) its gonna hurt. 2) its gonna be a lot of fun cause you know there's gonna be a lot of good guys there. showed up early with promises of incredible weather (rare for this race). wasn't long before all the expected faces started to show up. trevor, kent, cam, jed, jay, aaron, kevin, steve, wild bill showed up!, kyle, taylor, bruce, a good chunk of the iowa city crew, met jacob after helping get him set up with a jabber test ride on adam's bike, met some other new (to me) guys. adam and amy came up with amy dragging emma along. had enough fun hanging out before the race that i was somewhat seriously trying to convince everyone to just dig into the 30 pack of pbr in my van rather than race but it seems everyone else had other plans. which meant it was time to hurt.
the deal with 7 oaks is that it has this perfect amount of climbing that makes you force yourself to climb everything because you know that its climbable...but barely for a ss over the course of an expert race. 1st lap had us stacked up a couple times early but people worked well together and things fell into place. biggest problem with the first lap is that the riding didn't flow well. it was very stop and go because of how tight we were so coming out of every corner and into every climb you were starting from nothing instead of carrying flow into it. that meant plenty of hard grunting efforts that would later take its toll. it was obvious early on that cam was off the front as expected. glimpses of jed (his 2nd race ever on a single) told me that he was riding damn strong. i found myself in a loose group with kevin, aaron, jay and kent with trevor not far behind. some dabs by guys in front of me along with just getting things sorted out led to some positions swapping throughout the first lap. by the time the second lap started my legs felt like shit. kevin and aaron had started to put a gap on me but i could still feel jay and kent behind me. second lap became about survival. pushing as hard as my dead weight legs would allow me. finally near the end of the second lap something happened and it was like someone took 10 pounds off my bike. legs finally felt good (product of too much endurance training?) and i finally started to enjoy the race. the entire third/final lap i could see aaron and kevin in front of me (lots of switchbacks) and jay and kent behind me. the gaps between us never really seemed to change. my legs were a strange mix of feeling good but also threatening to cramp if i wasn't smart about my efforts. so i pretty much just settled in knowing that if i tried for some herculean effort to reach the two in front of my i would put myself at serious risk of blowing up and standing on the side of the trail watching at least jay and kent ride by me. so i rode as close as i could to the red line and just smiled knowing that i don't get to ride these trails often enough. ended up 5th overall, unofficially 3rd in the ss state championships. happy enough with that considering the talent that was there.
post race was plenty of fun...donating 12 of pbr to jed for taking the ss race, drinking a piss warm abbott ale, having another one spray all over the inside of my van after aaron couldn't seem to keep it in his hands, hanging out with guys i don't see often enough and making plans for what should be a raging party in south dakota. i'm getting more and more excited for that trip as people continue to step up and throw their hats in the ring. long, sore drive home broken up by a nice, long, relaxing dinner stop halfway. recovery day yesterday at the pool with larsson. might spin the legs a bit today and try to fix the drag brake someone apparently installed halfway through the race.
the deal with 7 oaks is that it has this perfect amount of climbing that makes you force yourself to climb everything because you know that its climbable...but barely for a ss over the course of an expert race. 1st lap had us stacked up a couple times early but people worked well together and things fell into place. biggest problem with the first lap is that the riding didn't flow well. it was very stop and go because of how tight we were so coming out of every corner and into every climb you were starting from nothing instead of carrying flow into it. that meant plenty of hard grunting efforts that would later take its toll. it was obvious early on that cam was off the front as expected. glimpses of jed (his 2nd race ever on a single) told me that he was riding damn strong. i found myself in a loose group with kevin, aaron, jay and kent with trevor not far behind. some dabs by guys in front of me along with just getting things sorted out led to some positions swapping throughout the first lap. by the time the second lap started my legs felt like shit. kevin and aaron had started to put a gap on me but i could still feel jay and kent behind me. second lap became about survival. pushing as hard as my dead weight legs would allow me. finally near the end of the second lap something happened and it was like someone took 10 pounds off my bike. legs finally felt good (product of too much endurance training?) and i finally started to enjoy the race. the entire third/final lap i could see aaron and kevin in front of me (lots of switchbacks) and jay and kent behind me. the gaps between us never really seemed to change. my legs were a strange mix of feeling good but also threatening to cramp if i wasn't smart about my efforts. so i pretty much just settled in knowing that if i tried for some herculean effort to reach the two in front of my i would put myself at serious risk of blowing up and standing on the side of the trail watching at least jay and kent ride by me. so i rode as close as i could to the red line and just smiled knowing that i don't get to ride these trails often enough. ended up 5th overall, unofficially 3rd in the ss state championships. happy enough with that considering the talent that was there.
post race was plenty of fun...donating 12 of pbr to jed for taking the ss race, drinking a piss warm abbott ale, having another one spray all over the inside of my van after aaron couldn't seem to keep it in his hands, hanging out with guys i don't see often enough and making plans for what should be a raging party in south dakota. i'm getting more and more excited for that trip as people continue to step up and throw their hats in the ring. long, sore drive home broken up by a nice, long, relaxing dinner stop halfway. recovery day yesterday at the pool with larsson. might spin the legs a bit today and try to fix the drag brake someone apparently installed halfway through the race.
starting line...WAY to many rasmussen's jerseys...
climbing...weird
spent
glad adam was there to help hold the bike so i could go find my beerthanks for the pics amy
1 comment:
Good job on the race. The sport class had some crazy traffic jams as well. Good seeing/meeting you again. Sorry Kent beat you to the punch handing out the MGD after the race! LOL
Rick
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