Bone Bender Race Report...

First of all - congratulations to the entire crew at Bone Bender for hosting a great event. Last year's inaugural event didn't have the weather wanting to cooperate. This year it sure did. And what a great race! The course was in primo, perfect condition. Fast and fun. I pulled the plug last year after walking for about 2 1/2 hours in the mud which included carrying my bike until my shoulders were numb and I was spent and out of beverage/fuel, so I had never seen the entire loop. This year - I got to see it all.

The turnout (I don't know the exact number yet, but have heard about 266 total) was great to see. That marks 2 weekends in a row of huge turnouts we can call record numbers and is really nice to see. That continues the trend seen last year at races in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. Numbers seem to be growing again for XC mountain biking events. I think we'll see good numbers all season long as long as the weather plays nice.

I had a good training week getting in 9 hours of bike time and felt ready for the distance at the Bone Bender. Last week was a wake-up call as my training had not gotten me up to actual race pace and effort, so I used that race and this week to turn the screws a bit and reacquaint my body with the pain and suffering required. ;-)

I had pre-registered for the 3 hour version online as I didn't have time for the 6 hour since I needed to be back in Indianola by 5 pm for the evening's concerts. My goal for this type of duration/distance was simply to finish the event this time around and ride at a higher spin rate and effort than last week to get in some good training time. Most XC races I do are anywhere from 1:15 to 2:15 in terms of duration for the CAT 2 distance. I didn't have any illusions of maintaining a typical CAT 2 XC race pace for 3 plus hours, but I wasn't racing just to patsy pedal either. I was going to give it what I could for the entire duration. So pacing was in my mind to be able to finish strong. I figured the RIP with the 120mm of travel up front and rear would be the weapon of choice to keep my back and body fresh for this duration. Sure, it weighed 28 pounds, but this was not a course with climbing so I figured I would be fine. Especially after noting how well it climbed in the Black Hills with the massive Ardents and tubes on it.

I packed everything up in the Element on Saturday night but forgot one important thing. About 30 minutes away from Indianola and going through the mental checklist, I realized my cycling shoes were on the garage floor. So, I turned around and raced back to get them. I lost quite a bit of time and had planned my trip just about right to include a warm-up. That was now lost and I drove illegally (in terms of my speed) just to be able to arrive a few minutes before the start. I couldn't find a parking spot due to the huge turnout, but finally squeezed in between 2 trucks. I got the bike out of the Element, loaded up my pockets with gels, took my cooler over to the feed zone and went to the registration desk. I got my number plate on just as the rider meeting ended and everyone headed down to the start line. Whew! I made it. No time for any warm-up, but I made it.

Weather was around 60 degrees, sunny and the mood was chipper because of it. I placed my bike somewhere and headed down to the Le Mans style start (where everyone runs for a bit to their bikes in hopes of spreading out the field a bit). I chatted with Rassy riders Mike Lebeda and Courtney. Mike and his son were teaming up for the 6 hour event which was cool to hear about. I did't have time to visit or even look around to see anybody else (I spied Julie Vardaman a few rows up and over from where I was standing). There were more rows in front of me than behind me due to my very late arrival, but c'est la vie.

At the appointed time, we were off and running.



We took off in a massive group run through thick wet grass, through beach sand and finally up a hill and to the bikes. Dang! I couldn't remember where I dropped my bike! I had run too far and had to turn around and do a search for it. I finally found it and hopped on for the mass traffic jam ride to the singletrack where it was a stop and wait situation quite a bit in the first part of lap one as we entered each singletrack and technical section. Not a problem as I was getting warmed up and my goal for this race was to finish. Once on the singletrack, I started passing and working my way through what I could, when I could in the crowd. This meant being patient and waiting.

Lap one took longer than I expected due to the crowds and slinky-snake effect where some of the technical challenges of the rocks, ledges and logs and less experienced riders participated in some hike-a-bike sections. I was seeing a lot of flat tires. As I sat on my big cushion 4.7" travel 29"er and followed various riders, I could see how the trail tossed riders around that were in front of me. My back cringed thinking about riding this course on my Dos Niner. Ouch!! I was glad to be on the RIP. It didn't matter if they were on 29"er wheels or 26"er wheels. Those rocks and roots were back eaters. I hardly felt a thing on the RIP outfitted with the Flow rims and the big cushion/velcro Raven 2.2's run at low pressure. My bike and tires were eating everything up. But I was careful to pick good lines in the graveyard rock sections as there were a lot of flat tires out there. As I had suspected, there wasn't any climbing outside of a few short little ups and gradual serpentine ups. Middle and big ring racing the entire time with no need for a granny.

Sportin' the new BikeIowa.com kit...



Photo Courtesy of Lanterne Rougeici

Hammer Nutrition had a tent, so I filled up the water bottle after lap 1, got a gel and went on my way. Lap two was faster and the crowd had thinned out enough to really ride at a race pace. I kept passing people and probably due to starting so far back in the pack, I only recall 2 riders passing me during the race that actually managed to stay ahead of me. Some passed me, but I ended up passing them later. I got more confident in the rocks on this lap and went through them much quicker than during lap 1. Somewhere near the end of this lap, I saw Courtney standing and leaning up against a tree. Not sure what happened to cause him to rest. I knew he was doing the 6 hour version of the race, so figured he had plenty of time to collect himself and get going again. I was feeling really fresh and stopped at Hammer Nutrition again after lap 2.



Photo Courtesy of Lanterne Rougeici

Lap 3 was similar to lap 2 and I had finally worked my way up to groups of some faster good riders. Again, I kept working on passing when I could. We were hitting lapped traffic, but kept moving forward. I had enough in my legs to pick up the tempo and really gave it the gas in the last 5 miles to spend whatever I had left. I didn't stand and crank out of saddle one time during this race. Mainly because it was a relatively flat course and the RIP isn't exactly a stand and hammer sort of bike. ;-] Near the end, I noticed my left grip was a bit loose and without even thinking, I gave it a smack (or a big whack) on the end to push it back on which turned out to be a mistake. The sort of mistake you make when oxygen deprived and not thinking clearly. I was going full tilt at the time on an open section in a cow trail rut and I smacked the bar hard enough to knock me out of balance where my pedal caught the side of the rut and down I went at full tilt. Imagine my surprise when I didn't hurt anything on the bike or on my body with that crazy fall at that speed. Pretty amazing, actually. It felt about the same as a big fall while snow skiing so I must have tucked and fallen in good fashion. The guy behind me asked if I was alright and I said I was fine and uttered a four letter word of encouragement to myself as I hopped on the bike and tracked him down to pass him back a few hundred yards later. That was the only mishap I had during the entire race and it was entirely my own fault. I'll put a bit of masking tape under the grip and hairspray it on again to hold next time.

I crossed the line somewhere around 3:21 and change (not sure really as I forgot to look and really make note of the time on my watch). I headed back to the Element and got everything loaded up. I used the restroom and washed my face before climbing in the car and driving back. I wanted to stay a bit, but I had a full evening of events to attend. So I had to vamoose ASAP. I got home about 4:20 or so (actually drove the speed limit) and unloaded the car.

Here's a post race picture from last year to show you the mud (this is Brandon's bike):



No mud this year. Just fast and fun dry singletrack. The RIP is a bit dusty, but in good shape:





Update: Until the official final results are divided up into various age groups and categories, it looks like I was 37th out of the 127 overall that finished the 3 hour version of the race. My time was 3:21:47. There were an additional 12 DNF's in the 3 Hour race. So it looks like a total of 139 started for the 3 hour portion, 89 started for the 6 hour version and 19 teams (or 38 racers) started for the 6 hour Duo.

I feel really refreshed today which is odd considering 3 1/2 hours of XC racing. I have to say the RIP did a lot of the work and is a very nice endurance bike indeed. Hmmmm....