IMBCS #1 Race Report...

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day with sunshine and temperatures in the 60's. I had an easy drive over to Moline, Illinois for the first IMBCS race of the year. I say, easy because I had packed everything the night before and I even set the coffee maker on automatic so the brew was ready when I got up.

I was really looking forward to this race for a few reasons. Number one, I was itching to race and see how everything felt at this point in the season. Number two, I wanted to give the new wheels and tire combination a try to see if I could slay the Sylvan Island course that ate my Racing Ralph and caused a DNF the last time I raced there back in 2008. Number three, who doesn't want to be hammering away on singletrack on the weekend with a bunch of other Lycra-clad minded individuals? ;-]

I arrived about 10 a.m. just in time to see the Novice Category race start. I immediately noticed they were running the race in a clockwise direction which was the opposite direction from the last 2 times I raced there. I also noticed that the starting field was HUGE!! Actually, the number was 94 men and 10 women that went flying by. Wow! That's a great showing!!!

I got registered, watched a bit of the Novice race, said hello to Cam and Julie (Cam's mom was out there racing - a big thumb's up to that - and Cam and Julie were cheering her on) and went back to the car to get suited up. After warming up on the pavement, the course was open for Sport Class to take a test loop. I went on the Dos Niner. The bike felt good and the course was in perfect shape. It was a big ring only course so I threw the chain onto the outer ring.

I managed to get in about the third row at the starting line not realizing there were 87 guys and 25 gals lined up. To alleviate some of the congestion, they sent the 25 women out 3 minutes ahead of the guys, but no other waves. It was a mass start for the men. One guy in front of me went sideways and down which resulted in a quick compensatory move that we all mustered to not run over him and get around safely.



Of course, all that hard work to fly down the gravel path only to find a complete bottleneck at the singletrack entrance. But, that's racing. Unless you are in the first 10 or so guys off the line - and I sure don't fit into that category for this kind of race - you get stuck in the traffic jams. The slinky effect lasted quite a bit during lap one and I was really wanting to get going, but there was no where to go. It was tire to tire for as far as you could see in front of you and behind you. It took most of lap one and all of the open stretches to get things spread out a bit. I felt fine at this point.

Lap two had me turn the lap 1 minute, 12 seconds quicker than the first lap thanks to fewer bottlenecks and bumping my effort up a notch. In the middle of lap 3, I started to feel some fatigue and the reality of running out of steam. So goal number one of doing this race was to see what I could do at this point of the year. The Dos is a great climbing XC race course bike, but there were no climbs on this course outside of a few short 10 footers here and there. Sitting and spinning on a full suspension would have been the ticket, but the JET isn't due to arrive for another month or two. Regardless, it wasn't the Dos that slowed me down. It was my stamina and body giving into the fatigue. And it showed in me turning lap 3 about 43 seconds slower than lap two. Gone was the drool and higher heart rate - both replaced by a spent body that felt like I was riding a bucking bronco.

I thought I recovered a wee tiny bit in lap 4 to keep pushing along, but was only 6 seconds faster than lap 3 which proves I've got some stamina to work on as I move into the 2nd build phase and try to get myself to sustain a higher effort for a longer duration. I was riding along with a group of 4 that grew to 5 or 6 as we neared the end and somehow, in a cross eyed manner, made - or at least started to make - a wrong turn as I confused some yellow tape and a segment of singletrack that branched off of the main trail we were racing. I had to stop, turn the bike around and try to catch up to the group I was hanging with. That one cost me, as I could not reel them back in after that in the remainder of the lap we had and I finished a few seconds behind them after the final sprint on the chipped gravel to the line. I rolled across the line in 42nd place with a time of 1:29:15. Ah...42nd out of 87 on the line. Right in the heart of my old friend - midpackitis.

To be honest, I was happy to be out there racing after shoveling all of that snow this winter. After two DNF"s and missing a month while in France in the 2009 early season, I didn't get an XC race in last year that I completed until June 7th. If all goes well with the weather, work and travel - I might be able to get in a 1/2 dozen races this season before June 7th. We shall see...

Kudos to F.O.R.C. and all the volunteers for hosting a well run race where fun was had by all. I loaded up and had a nice surprise driving home as I was with the wind all the way and got some incredible gas mileage. I got home, showered, ate some nice salmon and rice for dinner, and went to two student recitals in the evening.