Sweat.

Crocodile Rock was yesterday.  I had raced at Perry Lake once before several years ago on a really gnarfest course.  This year Lyle completely rerouted it so it was fast and uber swoopy.  The course felt like you rode downhill 3x as much as you rode uphill.  Impossible, but that’s how it felt.  It was beautiful.  Everyone loves going fast.

I got up at 5:30 and griped loudly all the way to Warrensburg to pick up Kevin.  We hauled the mail to get to the race in time.  I gotta get faster/thinner so I can race sport and quit with these early start times.  It was already hot at the start but not unbearable.  I felt a little queasy - I think I had some iffy jelly on my sammich the day before - but it didn’t bother me during the race.  I tried some new stuff, Amino Vital, in my waterbottles. Ebby swears it’s the best stuff evar.  I had a bottle of that and a bottle of accelerade before the race.  My bottle on the bike was full of Amino Vital too although I only slowed down during the race long enough to take a couple of quick gulps.  I never seem to have a spot where I can lay off the gas long enough to get a drink.  I don’t really want to go back to racing with a camelbak on these shorter races but I gotta figure out how to drink while cruising through rockgardens or something.

The start was fast, there were 2 guys ahead of me and immediately my bike starts this shifting stuf again.  I had done this before and I thought I had found the problem, a stiff link, but no such luck.  I was giving me fits again.  Kevin passed me right off as I figured he would and then I got into a gear that wasn’t skipping and accelerated hard.  Peter was right on my wheel for about a quarter mile and then called to pass and went by with two other guys who I didn’t think were in our class.  I settled in for a long grunt in the saddle at LT.  The course was really fast, very buff with lots of passing room and some rocks thrown in for good measure.  I am running new tires in an attempt to cut down rolling resistance a little - Kenda Karmas - they did great.  I was running them at 28 psi in the front and 30 in the rear.  I was a little worried in some corners there was a lot of loose gravel over hardpack and I expected to slide but they hooked up fine.  The shifting problems continued all race.  At least one, possibly 2 cogs in back caused it to skip up or down when shifting, I think I’ve bent something back there and will find out tonight.  It forced me to use a heavier gear than I would have otherwise and since I’ve been worried about knee problems I was double worried during the race, but not worried enough to lay off the gas.

I was flying along pretty fast on the first lap and I could hear this guy behind me, his chain banging against his frame like mad and I was getting worried so I yelled back asking what class.  He replied, “30-39”.  DOH! I lit the afterburners and took off like a madman trying to gap him off on some climbs.  I finally got far enough ahead that I couldn’t hear him anymore but I couldn’t slack the pace.  After a while I could hear him back there again, bang bang bang.  Dang, up the pace again on some climbs to try to gap him off (Allen effect).  This went on about 10 times over the course of the 2 laps and so I held the pace pretty frantic trying to keep him from closing during the last 2 rocky climbs.  As I headed to the finish there was a guy in front of me, I wasn’t sure what class he was in so I sprinted it out at the end trying to catch him. We banged together a little at the finish but it was all good, we didn’t crash, just a little argy-bargy. Turns out he wasn’t in my class so the sprint wasn’t really necessary but like a dog on the hunt I’m fastest when I’m chasing.  

I cruised over to where Kevin and Peter were waiting and watched the other guys coming in, expecting the other 30-39 guy to be right behind me but it wasn’t.  It was a 50+ guy, and another one, and another one!  Turns out I had gapped that guy off hard and then he got passed by a few other guys so the person I was hearing behind me wasn’t ever the same guy.  It was good though because it forced me to keep the pace as high as I could.  The guy who was chasing me said the same thing. 

I made it to the podium, 5th, but still, it’s a podium.  This work is starting to pay off.

Garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42775203