Vengance was not mine.

Well, what day. In the end I got 5th out of like high 20s in Vet Sport. So how can you complain about that?



But I did not get my wish to crush the course. The demons of the past were not vanquished and I didn't really get the redemption I was craving see: past post
All I want is redemption
The reality check was that I was the left over food on the plate and the course was an Insinkerator.

Weather was a non factor as it was about as perfect as you can get. Chilly to start but sunny. Jersey/shorts and not too hot.

I believe that it is a proven fact that childbirth induces short term memory loss. If it wasn't for this fact people would never have kids again after going through the pain of childbirth or the terrible 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s.., and our species would die. Mountain biking has the same effect. After one hard ride we would never come back. But how many times have you done a heinous ride and forgotten about all the rocks and roots the next time you go back? Or finished a gruelling 24hr race swearing up and down while you are on the course that you are never going to do this again, only to start discussing strategy for next year on the drive home?

Douthat brings memories of some of the best single track I've ever ridden. Non-technical comes to mind. 2 big climbs and rolling ridge riding and 2 screaming downhills. Well my memory loss was quite severe!

Vet sports lined up with the Masters and we went after the Experts. Must have been 35+ in the group. Off we went. Legs felt great. Spinning good gear. Hit some wet rocks on the climb and people were walking it. Luckily threaded the needle and rode right through like it was nothing. Got to some big ring single track and was hanging fine. Not too taxed but just a good pace. Hit the real climb, and I'm still picking people off one by one, not seeming to be going at a pace that is over my head. I look up and see a snake of like 8 guys and then no one in front of the first. Could that really be the front of my group?

I topped out somewhere in that group. After some false downhills the real one came up. I had been dreading it and remember my hands acheing after it. Suprisingly it went really well. Fast (for me) and incontrol. Even caught several people. Been working on sevearl things from that skills book that have been prooving to be quite effective.

1) distribute my weight better over the pedals
2) this allows me to hang onto the bar with less pressure
3) choose better braking points
4) have better vision and look farther ahead

Flew through the tight twisties an the bottom before popping out at a campground to the main road. I stood up to hammer a few strokes on the road and started to get a leg cramp. Leg Cramp! It is only 1:15 into this. How can this be? I have been training hard, I won a race, I'm the Duke of New York-A#1, I da bes. This shouldn't be happening to me. 1:15 into it, This is Berry Berry bad.

Regardless happening to me it was. The eskimos have over 1000 names for snow. I need to talk to them to help me classify and name the brands of legs cramps I get. Discovered two new types today.

This first one wasn't too bad, just ding dong ditch to let me know they are out there.

Climbing the next mountain is rough, steeper at first. Had to walk sections I knew I could do otherwise I'd cramp. Grannied some then road ok on the countour sections. Stopped to stretch back and let a few riders by on another grunt. Got back on and felt good and caught up to one guy immediately, asked to get by and he pulls to the wall and I go around, but rookie move it and get freaked at the drop off and than fall to the inside and had to push off him to keep from falling and taking us both out. Well he had to unclip. I apologized and said I was sorry, but he was pissed. I felt terrible for doing that. If you are reading this. SORRRY. But it was good incentive for me to push enough so that I could gap him as I wouldn't want to have pulled that move only to get passed within 10 '

So I'm spinning some single track and hit an uphill switchback. Not too hard and try and pop the front onto it and I get this freaky cramp in the right leg. Takes my breath away. I unclip the left leg out to keep from fallinig and it is straigh down on the downhills side. This leg starts to cramp. This is a new species of cramp for me, Something right out of Alien. It is like the lower quad muscle picks up and moves itself in to a ball towards the middle of the quad. I could literally watch the muscle slide over. BOTH legs were doing this. It is like those muscle guys with tatoos on their chest/arms that they can make hula dancer dance with muscle contractions.

So Here I am standing right at this switchback with hula dancinig freakoid alien leg muscle cramps. The legs were like solid planks. I couldn't walk. IF it was flat ground maybe, but not uphill w/ a bike. I tried a few steps and almost tumbled. THe ONLY respite was to squat down. So here I am squatting down next to my bike as if I have to take dump in the forest. Sitting there for a few minutes. I tried one more time to get up and walk, but same deal. So back to the position. All I could think about was that I am going to be stuck on this mountain for hours and SAR is going to have to carry me down in a seated position.

It reminds me of the scene in Lethal Weapon where Roger has that bomb in his toilet and he has to stay there while the bomb squad dismantles it.

Finally accepting that I better do something and somethinig soon before I dnf, I force myself to get on the bike and pedal. How I swung my 2x4 leg over the seat I don't know but I was pedaling. And was able to work out those wierd cramps. The going is real slow. Fear of the cramps keeps me from pushing any normal gears. The top was a bunch more false downhills.

I'm feeling like crap by now. I think it is more dehydration related. cause I had two Hammer gel flasks and had almost all of them. But I was getting that lightheaded feeling and having to blink a lot, and close my eyes when I blink for longer periods of time. Trying to clear the cobwebs

Just slow going until the final downhill. Hanging on, not in control, See another Vet Sport go by. That last part of the down hill rules. Tight twisty rooty rocky, not a rocket run. And it ends up a a foot bridge. With 6 steps that are 1.5' high. Climb it with bike go down on other side. Novelty.

So on the other side I am feeling that we're on the home stretch and ready to rock and rolla. Get on and now I get the inside of the leg cramps. Resultinig in granny grear spin. SO I am crawling by and get the "on your left, "on your right" wizz pass.. Was that another Vet Sport guy? Cya Wouldn't want to be yah. These inside of the leg ones hurt, and take my breath away. Later even felt some hamstring twinges but those didn't do anything just twinging.

Finally work them out and continue on my way thinking that there isnt' too much left. Hit some more creek crossings. Walked all of them. I could just imagine cramping in one, falling over still stuck to the pedals, just barely able to keep my head above water. How's that one for positive imagery.

Finally make it to the track we take back, and it is just a crawl. Earlier it was big ring hammer, now it is just baby steps. All I could think about was my BBQ chips in my car. I just couldn't believe how slow I was going. Last downhill was prety rough. Wet, rooty, rocky. Rude way to end. But finally made it.

Had a goal of 2:40 but that slipped away over and over ended up wit 2:56

No major crashes. My headset was loose, and my gel flask holder rotated. My blister that was ontop of my blister broke the skin but it was dead skin anyway


It was a good time. See already forgot about the bad parts.


Thank you Kyle for leading the show. Saw many old friends that I haven't seen in years.

Oh well, next year it won't be so bad. Douthat has some of the best single track around, and it's really non technical trust me.

I got to figure out this cramping thing. I had tons of salty foods and took endurolytes before the race, non during But I've tried that before and still cramped. It could be dehydration related, as the feeling I got up on the ridge seemed more like lack fo water than lack of food. Maybe I'm taking in too much gel and it is pulling water out of cells that need it. Maybe I need to look in to glycerol again. Tried that years ago I think it helped some. Either way I need a better strategy or a magic pill.

Probably went out way too hard on the first climb. Should have took it easy and then tried to slam it on the second climb. But I was pulling the no guts no glory card.