NH Double / Double

And we're off!

Last year I did 7 races total.  This weekend I did 4 and on Wednesday I'll do 2 more...back to back.  Its addictive, I dare you to try it.

Last year was an experiment that went pretty well.  An attempt to salvage a year screwed up pretty decently by injuries and health issues.  This year I'm hitting the CX season with a solid block of MTB riding and racing in my legs as well as some new bikes.  I was interested to see what that would mean for my results. Spoiler Alert!: I'm a bit faster now.

I love the NH double weekend.  Two days of racing close to home on some great courses, both pretty difficult in their own different ways. First up was White Park on Saturday in Concord.  Probably one of the cooler city parks I've seen.  It incorporates a lot of cool things for the community in a tight little space and is really well maintained.  (Just watch out for dead bodies every now and then.  We have a heroin problem in NH right now ok?!  We're dealing with it...hopefully)

Started the day bright and early with the 4/5 race at 8am.  Grass was still wet with dew and a bit slippery.  Temps were mild, pretty great racing conditions really.  I was staged a bit better than mid pack maybe 3rd or 4th row thanks to last years points right behind teammate Eric.  It was a pretty big field of about 63 riders or so.  Turns out being behind Eric is a great place to be at the gun.  He is real good at lets call it riding with purpose and establishing his line such that other riders sort of need to get out of the way.

He went motoring up the left side and I went right along with him through the first chicanes.  Easily moved two rows up and had a bit of room by the turn around the baseball fields.  Got a good lead out and came around him heading into the climby chicane turns.  I remembered to grab some gears before we hit it and got real lucky and found gaps as people got bogged down and was able to sneak through and make several passes.  I think this ultimately was the move of the race for me as it got me clear of the bottleneck and into some space where I could ride the difficult back portion of the course without needing to worry about squirrelly Cat 5s.

riding to 7th a few laps in to the 4/5 race

They made some slight changes to the course this year including adding a much steeper loose run up.  I started to realize this last year but it is now fully confirmed...I'm good at running in a CX race.  No idea why. I passed 3 people the first go at the run up like they were walking and at this point I'm all of a sudden in the top 10 with plenty of room to take the lines I want and settle into a bit more of a TT ride as opposed to a punchy sprinty race where I'm reacting to moves etc.

I was really pleased with the way I rode the rest of the race.  Real clean, good pace management and I was actually using my gears at the appropriate times.  Although I did have one moment coming into a turny bit where I suffered from a classic lack of oxygen to the brain moment.  Light was changing as the sun got higher in the sky and the course tape was yellow.  Coming into a left hand turn I couldn't see the tape in the sun (even though I had done that turn at least 3-4 times already) and basically just went straight and almost plowed through the tape and off course.  Then I proceeded to basically completely forget where I was on the course and couldn't figure out where to go for like 2-3 secs. #DERP

SS race did not go as smoothly.  Like in most disciplines SS is an Open category so there are some fast dudes in there.  These races are more fun/training for me.  Not really anticipating much on the results sheet.  About 2 laps in I came to the realization that I did not quite snug the bolt that affixes my left brake to the handlebars adequately.  I could feel it sliding up and down a bit as I would pull and torque on it.  It quickly got progressively worse until ultimately this happened with about 2 laps to go:

Bolt completely backed itself out and the only thing holding it on was the cable to the brake itself.  This made racing a tad difficult but not impossible.  Just started riding everything in the drops and only using my rear brake.  Needless to say I got real sloppy.  Eric swept me up but surprisingly no one else did and I still managed to beat a few guys.

still fully functional at this point.

Finished the day up with 7th/63 in the 4/5 race and 18th/28 in the SS.  Not a bad days work and dropped my points from 491 to 471.

_________

Sunday was supposed to be a little wet in the morning and be cool and cloudy the rest of the day.  Instead it was bone dry and sunny and dusty and windy.

Sucker Brook usually draws slightly bigger crowds probably mostly because its a bit closer to Boston and I suppose it would probably also be considered a bit friendlier of a course to most CX riders (especially those who trend more roadie). The 4/5 field was over 100 racers but split U35 and Masters 35+.  Even though my racing age is 35 (eeeeeeeeekkk!) I'm not mentally prepared to race Masters yet so I toe'd the line in the U35.

I was third row which I'm starting to find is just about all you need in a 4/5 field.  Gets you in front of just about anybody that might be slower off the line and most everyone in rows 1 and 2 are way less likely to have crashing issues early on.  I had another decent start and moved up a few spots to high teens or so.  Luckily no massive explosions in the field like last year.  There are A LOT of turny bits in the early part of the course and I made good work of them moving up several spots early to just outside the top 10.

club row was a good time

I have noticed I can close a lot of little gaps just by needing to use my brakes less.  Free speed folks!  I was trading spots with a few guys between the front and back half of the course sitting about 11-14th or so.  I was opening up gaps in the long sand pit running section (I love running! (no I don't!)) and eventually the gap finally stuck.  Last lap and a half I noticed I was also slowly clawing back the guy in front of me and last lap I got very close in the turny stuff only to have it extend back out on the long fire road.  But it didn't extend enough and I was fairly confident I could catch him near that sand pit again.

Unfortunately I learned a cyclocross lesson the hard way.  I had estimated everything just about exactly right.  I came into the sand pit just behind him and caught him before we exited. In that moment I had to decide: dig deep and pass him now even though you are red lining and will be pretty dead on the remount OR rest a bit now so you can try to get him in the sprint.  I chose to rest and I chose poorly.

I stayed right with him through the lead in to the finishing straight and I had a solid sprint but he had a similar sprint top end in that moment and had just enough to hold me off by half a bike length.  If I had made the pass when I had the chance even though I would have been gassed it would have been hard for him to pass me back in the lead in to the finish without taking a bit of a risk and I would have had the half bike length to take 10th instead of 11th.  LESSON: If you've got the pass, take the pass.

Sam is very good at yelling at people

The SS race was just hard.  4th race of the weekend.  Flat, fast, non-stop hammering.  This was the last race of the day so the course was good and chewed up.  Interesting to see how a course changes over the course of a day, hadn't experienced that last year.

I realized something that in a way I already knew but I had never really been cognoscente of until this race.  My SS build is heavy as shit.  There was a good amount of dismounts and running required and my arms were getting tired by the end of the race.  Luckily this whole SSCX thang is really more training than anything else and if I'm towing an anchor around thats pretty good training.  Surprisingly enough I held my mid pack position and even gained a spot late on the last lap.  This time I didn't wait.  A sand pit pass was the plan but he let up heading into a corner and went a bit too wide so I dive bombed and railed through.

My advantage in the sand pit netted me close to 10 secs and I was good to cruise into the line.  Good for 14th/24. Sunday got my points down to 453 which should keep me near the front of the start grid for most 4/5 races from here on out.  My points would be lower but I've still got a 500 point race dragging me down from last year.  Crossresults only takes the lowest score from a multi-race day otherwise I would be a bit lower.  Should take care of that Wednesday.

Midnight Ride of CX is next!

Landmine Classic 2015

Not sure how I talked myself into doing this race after re-reading my report from 2013.  I got wrecked that year to the point of abandoning so as to not mess with my chances at Bradbury which I also abandoned and so was the beginning of my joint issues heading into 2014.

Part of my motivation was redemption as well as it being one of the best values for a Marathon race all year.  Plus I have suspension this year AND gears so how brutal could it be? *still pretty brutal.  Figured it would be a good last shot of base fitness heading into cross season and its an easy drive so bing bam boom I'm back heading to a race that broke me two years ago. Race amnesia is a hell of a drug.

redemption achieved!

Weather on the day was just what I like, 60's and a bit of rain but nothing too bad.  Course wasn't muddy by any means but roots were greasy and you had to be on point.  I was set for the Cat 2 Marathon which I was a bit conflicted about.  I'm used to flogging myself in categories that I barely belong in and frequently coming in or near last.  Been doing it for years at non sanctioned events between SS and now Expert with the geared bike.  I don't race sanctioned MTB very often and have come nowhere near accumulating enough results to warrant a Cat 1 license so racing Cat 2 was my only choice.  But it still just sort of felt off for me.  I'm a DFL kinda guy.

I knew at these distances that I should be towards the front of a Cat 2 field and going in my goal was a podium.  The field was pretty large though at about 20-25 riders so I figured there were probably some other strong guys in there.  I ended up staged on the front row for the start and at the gun the start was pretty civil.  No need to sprint when you are looking at a 5hr day but I did manage to get the 'holeshot'.  After about 30secs to a minute I even had a sizable 'gap'.  I was off the front! That never happens!  I was not going that hard but I'm guessing the rest of the field thought I was a joey going too hard too early.  Little did they know that the endurance game is my jam.

shootin' the hole!

I remembered the early parts of the course being a bit more fast and forgiving so I figured if they are going to give me a gap I might as well get out of sight and out of mind while I can.  I pushed the pace a bit and was even able to catch and move through a bit of the SS and Cat 1 field that had been 1-2 minutes up on us.  Now I had a gap and some traffic between me and the rest of the field.  I got into a small group with a SSer and a former teammate Fabian racing in the Cat 1 field.  This helped a lot to keep things moving mentally but good god is the second half of that course brutal.

I was riding well but taking a beating.  We dropped the SSer and Fabian eventually got away from me a bit in the rough stuff on account of full suspension (and hes good at tech stuff).  I pulled an excellent maneuver 1st lap heading into a little rock drop / feature.  Somehow managed to clip a pedal and then in my quick balance recovery move pull my other foot out as well and ended up rolling this thing at speed in textbook spread eagle formation.  Luckily my line was good and I somehow managed to not explode.  It was a great reminder that a long race like this one can come unglued real fast.

I started riding a bit more consistent and conservative after that.  Lapped through as many of the Novices were finishing up their shorter loops.  I tried up'ing the pace again on the easier part of the course.  I wanted as much of a buffer as I could manage heading into the rougher section of the second lap because I knew I was going to suffer there.  I could feel hot spots forming on my left hand and my back and arms were pretty well thrashed.  Lap two was pretty lonely.  Our fields had pretty well sorted themselves out and there were no other XC riders on the course any more just Marathon riders.  I caught Fabian in the pedal'y stuff and we leap frogged a bit and traded pulls.

#hotspots

Surprisingly the second lap went by pretty fast, at least the first part.  Before I knew it there was only about 10mi left. Unfortunately it was one of the roughest stretches of riding I've done in a while.  My hot spots were full blown blisters at this point and feeling AWESOME.  My back was toast and I was riding on the verge of explosion just about constantly.  I managed to stay on the right side of that verge though for the most part.  I took a poor line up a punchy technical climb and clipped a rock with my pedal and my foot flew out and I fully extended my leg and my quad said "oh! here let me help you with that!" and proceeded to lock up real tight.

A muscle of that size fully cramping is a unique feeling that is hard to describe.  Long story short I stood there trying unsuccessfully to bend my leg for a good 20 seconds or so.  I was finally able to massage it out and get rolling but it was really tender after that and I had to baby it for a bit.  I'm pretty good at cramp management at this point and I hydrated and got another of my electrolyte pills in and got it back on terms for the most part.  The miles were ticking by very slowly at this point and mentally I was pretty rattled.  REALLY wanted to be done and was literally cursing the course in spots because I just wanted a smooth section of trail for maybe just 100yds to rest.

I was still turning the pedals over ok but I was running out of the will to keep pushing hard.  I was trying to steal some momentum everywhere I could get it.  For the most part I kind of checked out and tried to go to a happy place for the last 3 miles or so after the final feed.  The drone of sound coming from the finish area was one of the best sounds I've heard for awhile.  I had held off the field with a final gap of around 5-6mins to second place and a finish time just north of 5hrs at 5:02.

 podium jersey and everything.

All in all a pretty good but brutal day on the bike.  Winning was also a nice change of pace for me.  Now I get to swap 5-6hr efforts for 45min ones. #CXISHERE

Carrabassett BC Challenge 2015

BEST 100K COURSE IN THE WORLD. (maybe just New England...my sample size is not substantial)

Its probably one of the better 50K courses too for that matter and really becoming one of the best events in New England in my opinion.  They have come a long way since the last time I did it in 2013.

Lets talk about the trails first.  They (Sugarloaf, Town Of Carrabassett, NEMBA, LL Bean (I've heard not sure if that is true)) have invested TONS of money into the region specifically for trail development.  And when I say tons I'm talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. 300 thousand with plans for another 2-3 hundred thousand over the next 2-3 years.  Thats crazy. What does that get you? Expertly built, fun as hell stuff.  Berms, rock work, its unreal.  At the end of the course we did a sustained 2+ mile descent on a nearly completely machine built trail.  Massive berms, tons of flow.  Keep in mind this was not on Sugarloaf or at a MTB park.  This was in the woods, free to the public.

Second the production value and the support are really getting dialed.  They have learned lessons and really have a pretty well oiled event going.  They are starting to incorporate all those little things that really set events apart.  Food truck burrito with reg, Pedro's on hand for bike wash, custom medals made out of trees, huge raffle, tons of great swag.  Aid stations were well stocked and volunteers were spot on.  They have an eye for safety.  They take measures I have never seen done at any other race and while some of it some might seem annoying (mandatory dismounts here and there etc) I think its smart.

So yeah if you can't tell I love this race and I would recommend just about anyone who likes riding/racing bikes should make the drive and ride either the 15,50 or 100K.

I'm going to have to check the archives but I think I'm safe saying this is the best a race has ever gone for me.  Both from a result stand point and the amount of fun I had attaining that result.  I won the SS 100K at the Wildcat years ago but this course was 1000x better and my time was a pretty major milestone for me that I have been gunning for since shortly after I started doing longer races, specifically 100Ks.

The spoils.

Its funny to think that before all this awesome happened things were looking grim on the start line.  I had one of those "What the hell am I doing here??, Why do I do this to myself??" moments as the Expert field was staged to start.  Forecast wasn't awesome and the rain just started to come down pretty hard.  It cooled things right off and I was standing at the line shivering, getting soaked and looking at 6ish hours on the bike.

Luckily the rain only continued for the first maybe 10-15mins of the race and that was it.  Rest of the race was just overcast and mid to high 60s.  Pretty perfect really.  Trails were a bit greasy but it had been pretty dry up there the week prior so no real bad mud holes.  All in all pretty manageable and actually quite fun.  Ended up being the conditions I really love.  Greasy, loose, on your toes stuff but not enough to completely ruin your gear.

It was a mass start so I ended up slotting in with teammate Erik for a roughly 11mi two man TT through the early sections of the race.  I'm the captain so I put him on the front obviously.  He gap'd me a tad on the main haul up Sugarloaf and I wouldn't see him again until mile 40.  Funny how fast little gaps can become big gaps before you know it.  There was all kinds of new singletrack on the Sugarloaf side of the course.  First 20mi is a lot more like a small XC race at a ski resort within the bigger 100K course.

here I am wheelsucking

This was an odd 100K for me in that I felt pretty metered and strong during the entire race.  Usually I go through some pretty dark times during these efforts.  Felt good early, felt good in the middle, and felt 'good' at the end.  I was pleased with my power on the flats, I was able to stay with and in some cases drop groups when historically that is where I would lose time that I would have to claw back on climbs.  Luckily this course has two 3+ mile climbs later in the course in which to do that.

I was passing people here and there most of the day but really had no idea where I was in the field.  All I knew was that I was feeling good and I was on sub 6 pace past the 40 mile aid where I stashed my drop bag.  The aid at mile 40 was a life saver, I had pushed a bit too hard on the long false flat single track prior.  Its hard not to, its a sweet trail with some rollers and it works much better if you just keep the momentum up and power over those rollers so its almost like small mini intervals for 5-7mi or so.  I was also trying to catch a group of 3-4 guys that were perpetually like 5-10 secs ahead.  Never did quite get there though.

why wouldn't those guys just slow down and let me catch them?

Those efforts had me just about at the edge of empty and cramping but I knew that aid was coming and I was keeping a close eye on calories and fluids I had left.  Restocked at mile 40 and went out to hit the little out and back cul-du-sac section.  That's a great place to get an exact gauge on where people are around you because you can see them coming back while you head out.  The group of 3-4 had put about a minute into me through the aid and were already into paceline mode on the road so I gave up on that fight.

As I made my way out of that section I saw Erik again...behind me thanks to a navigational error on his part.  I contemplated waiting so we could collaborate on the long gravel section but not too far behind him was a competitor of mine so I got on it knowing I could extend the gap on the road and make it very hard for him to come back.  There is a pretty gnarly section of singletrack after the longer gravel section that is tailor made for a strong rider on a full suspension to catch a guy on a hard tail and sure enough Erik caught me at the end of a descent and we got back into two man TT mode.

We came into the last aid together and set about getting to the last climb that brought you up to the crazy machine built descent.  I was hoping to stay with him and maybe have a funny mano-a-mano sprint at the finish but that climb got STEEP at the end and his gearing was a bit friendlier than mine (and hes a tad stronger) and he rolled away.  I was digging pretty deep on that climb.  I was still good for sub 6hr heading into it but it was substantial and posed a serious threat to my overall pace. Cramps were threatening but luckily never really materialized.

At the top I knew I still had a shot depending on the terrain I had to deal with getting down.  Luckily that terrain was a super fast, amazingly built, amusement park of a bike trail called Oak Knoll.  Even though my body was in 'we need to be done with this, like, soon" mode I couldn't help but shred with a huge grin on my face.  Such a treat to end such a long day like that.

I kept the pressure on through the last little section of singletrack along the river watching the clock the whole time.  Hit the mile to go sign with about 11mins to spare on the 6hr mark and a whole bunch of tension that I didn't know was there released.  Unless things went horribly wrong in that last mile it was in the bag.  Crossed the road and got onto the final switchback climb to the Touring Center.  Legs still felt ok and you get that little surge knowing you are so close to the finish. Crossed the line in 5h53m good for a very surprising 3rd place in my class.  I was not expecting a result like that with the names on the start list but I've always said these types of distances are the great equalizer when it comes to me being competitive in an 'Expert' field.

5h53m is a roughly 35min improvement on my previous 100K PR.  Hard to tell how much of that is fitness and how much is suspension and gears.  I certainly surprised myself and had a blast doing it.  Very unlikely I'll miss this race in the coming years.

The Pinnacle EFTA NECS #3

This recap won't be nearly as entertaining as Millstone.  The weather and the course was basically perfect.  My race prep was far from it however.  Although it was far from it on purpose.  Overall goal for the weekend was maximum fun not necessarily my best race performance and I think I met that goal.

Heading into that weekend Naro started working on a bit of an impromptu bachelor get together for Dano.  Saturday pre-Pinnacle was what was going to work and the plan was hitting just about every brewery in Portland before a BBQ back at Naro's house.  Initially I didn't think there was any way I could pull both off but the extended forecast was looking so good and I REALLY like racing The Pinnacle...

Plan was hatched to go for the double knowing full well it could end in catastrophe.  Had a blast rolling around Portland trying all kinds of craft beer and throwing bean bags into a hole in a board in parking lots.  Back at Naro's it was just meat, meat and more meat (and beer).  Many in attendance thought for sure I would bail in the morning but I got up feeling "ok".  Luckily the expert race didn't roll until Noon and it was only 1.5hrs from Naro's to Newport.

I got my bearings and some hydration and figured I felt good enough to at least head up there and give it a go.  I'll be honest there were several times on the drive and shortly after arriving that I contemplated bagging it in and just going home to get in bed.  Just kept hydrating and eventually started rolling around the parking lot and my head started to clear.  Started chatting with some teammates about their race earlier in the morning and catching up with the usual suspects and mentally got in line, LETS DO THIS.

Felt pretty normal at the gun and thought I might have a shot at a decent race.  Vet I field was about 10-15 strong.  I slotted in about mid pack in the initial parade loop but as we went up and up and up I could tell I wasn't quite firing on all cylinders and I was definitely sweating pure IPA.  Got overtaken here and there by a guy or two and before long I was tail-gunning the group but holding on.  Towards the top of the first round of climbing I dropped my chain in a rooty section and that was the last I saw of our group.  Vet II's swept through as I was trying to fix it.

I have begun to have issues with this 1x setup keeping the chain on in the rough stuff.  I dropped the chain again two other times later in the day.  Not a hard fix but certainly very frustrating and excellent at killing any momentum you might have.  Best guess is the clutch in the derailleur either needs some tightening or adjustment (if you can even do that?) or its shot and I just need a new one.

I tried to get back on terms but I could only really ride threshold, any punch I might have had was weighed down due to excessive meat consumption.  I settled into an ok groove though and actually felt pretty good for laps 2 and 3 all things considered.  I was certainly having fun at least and that was the goal.  Having suspension and gears for the first time on this course certainly helped to decrease the required suffering.  Not sure I would have survived the day on a rigid SS.

Felt like I finished strong, I passed a few guys later in the race to avoid the DFL and still had some gas in the tank so I'm feeling good about my 100K and possible 100mi goals for later this year.  Early season block of racing/training is done.  Its a bit of a break now, NEMBAfest, fun riding and eventually the Carrabassett 100K.  Vive le Summertime!

Millstone Grind 2015 Kenda Cup East #3

This past weekend was an excellent example of the 'wait 5 minutes' New England weather experience.  Late Spring / Early Summer can be a bit of a crap shoot.  Saturday was 80+ degrees and blazing sun.  Race day was low 50's, windy and pissing rain.  I actually like riding in conditions like that (to a certain extent).  I certainly like it better compared to 80+ degrees but there is a tipping point when things get a bit ridiculous.  Sunday started on the fun manageable side of 50's and raining and eventually ended up solidly in the realm of the redonkulous.

This is gonna be a good one.  Buckle up.

SPOILER ALERT: it was muddy

I'm gonna skip right to the start because I feel like this could get long...Marathon'ers were sent off first to stay in front of the Sport/Novice field.  We had 14 pre-reg'd and it felt like maybe 10-12 on the line.  I love longer distance starts.  So much more civil and reasonably paced (sort of).  I slotted in at the tail end of the 'front group' per usual.  Sitting maybe about 5th heading into the first sections of single track. It wasn't actually raining quite yet at that point.  There had been some big T-storms overnight so everything was damp but the trails were more tacky than anything else with slick rocks and roots.

lined up at the start

Those are the conditions I love and the first lap was actually really enjoyable.  Just enough to make things really interesting but not enough to really cause any issues with gear or crashing really.  It was slowing things down a tad at least for me with my first lap time coming in about 3mins slower than I had wanted,  I was hoping I would get in a groove, get used to the conditions a bit and dial things up in the coming laps but Mother Nature had other plans and slowly started to dial the rain up.  Rain started at some point during the second lap and conditions started to change quickly.  There is sort of a spectrum to mud and its consistency as water is added.  It goes from tacky to peanut butter to soup and then back again as the moisture dries out.

First lap was tacky, lap two was peanut butter.  Luckily a good portion of the course was under canopy and held up for a bit as the rain came down.  Exposed sections got bad fast.  Mud was starting to stick to everything.  Ikon's shed mud fairly well but not this stuff.  Rotational mass of my wheels skyrocketed, mud was getting flung everywhere.  Eyes, mouth, drivetrain, brakes.  Nothing was sparred.  Lots of wasted watts that lap spinning out on climbs (and flats).  Much respect for my former SS brethren, climbing out of the saddle was near impossible.  Lots of mud sticking to kit and gloves and bottles made feeds interesting.  How many calories does mud have?  I would say at least 25% of my nutritional intake during the race was quarry dirt.

Towards the end of my second lap I started having issues with shifting.  Grabbing cable to shift up was still working ok but trying to drop cable to drop gears was a no go.  Spring was having a hard time pulling the cable through all the mud gummed up at the ends of the housing.  I figured out that if I dropped 2 gears to increase the tension and then reached down and wiggled the small piece of housing at the top of my seatstays I could get it to go.  Obviously this maneuver is not ideal while trying to stay upright in those conditions and it is also not efficient or timely in any way.  So I spent much of the rest of day under geared.

Fellow NEMBA racer Erik caught me just as my gears went sideways.  I was able to claw my way back up to him and we lapped through together heading into lap 3.  I was getting a nice draft through the first part of the field and then we started heading down the slight descent into the woods and I started getting a huge rooster tail of water and mud to the face from his rear wheel so I let him go (that and he probably would have eventually dropped me anyway)

Lap 3...ah lap 3.  This is where things go wholly ludicrous.  Its been raining for a while now and has even increased in intensity a bit.  On lap 3 we begin to move from peanut butter to slicker than snot soup mud.  Kinda like riding on ice but way dirtier.  The margin for error disappeared.  If your weight was even slightly askew from where it needed to be you were going down and FAST.  I avoided catastrophe for maybe the first 1/3 of the lap but then things went south....when it rains it pours (GET IT!?).

My first incident and probably the best was on a very fast double track descent heading back into the field/feed zone.  To that point the mud had been sticky enough so that you could let it run without issue.  There were some roots and rocks to pop over here and there, things would get a little loose but hook up before any problems would result.  So like an idiot even though the conditions were changing I still barreled into the descent at full speed.  At the beginning of the double track section as you pop out of the woods there was a slight bump in the terrain with some roots that you could ever so slightly pop over, get a bit of air and be on your way.  Things were going to plan, but this time around I landed and my bike just disappeared.

Not sure I have ever had a bike come out from under me quite that fast before.  With cardio dulled senses my perception was that it was there and then it was not.  Without a bike I was quickly on the ground and thanks to my horizontal velocity and the well lubricated trails I began hydroplaning down the trail at a good clip.  The world has a tendency of slowing down during life events such as this.  Probably some sort of biological adaptation to help us fully realize and remember the error in our ways so as to be avoided in the future.  As I flew down the trail on a thin layer of mud I glanced to my left and noticed something flying along down the trail with me just a few feet away.  It was my bike.  Also hydroplaning.  Luckily my slide path was free of debris and once I came to a stop about 10-15ft later my bike was right there (and still in one piece) and off we go!

Things got progressively worse after that.  I'm not exaggerating when I say it was like riding on ice.  You could easily spin out on flat ground and rooster tailing and sliding out through corners was a near guarantee regardless of how well you balanced your weight.  My next crash of hilarious significance happened in a somewhat innocuous corner.  I think I just got lazy (or tired).  Going down was pretty straight forward nothing funny there but once I was on the ground things got weird.  I don't think I can accurately explain how this happened but I somehow ended up on my head and spinning like a top, or more accurately, an 80's break dancer.  I only got maybe part of one rotation but I was pretty impressed with myself.

My next issue came about 1-2miles later and this one was nearly heartbreaking.  I lost traction and slid out navigating a small rock garden and my line was adjusted just enough to send me hurtling into a very sharp and pointy rock on the edge of the trail.  As soon as I hit it (at the speed I was going) I knew I was screwed. 1 second later I hear the tell tale sign and see the Stan's mist spraying into the sky.  Now I have had some issues with Stan's sealing up in conditions like these and I was in no mood to try and get a tube in with the amount of mud that was everywhere.  I knew very quickly that if this didn't seal my day was over at 3+ laps of 4 and that all that suffering would be for naught.  So I started yelling.

I screamed at Stan's to do its job, go to your home, get in that hole etc.  I threatened it with bodily harm.  I promised it riches.  AND IT WORKED.  I was actually somewhat amazed.  I've had pretty poor luck with Stan's but it came through when I needed it most.  It stopped spraying and best I could tell it was holding.  I started riding away somewhat gingerly and slowly got back to 'normal' riding without issue.  Turns out I probably could have been running my tires a bit softer because things were actually working a bit better with the 1-2psi I lost and I still wasn't really rimming out anywhere.

The rain began to die off towards the end of lap 3 and during lap 4 the mud gradually swapped back to a more peanut butter / tacky consistency.  Lines got easier to hold but things got sticky again and shifting got tricky and pushing up climbs wasn't getting any easier.  Luckily the trails at Millstone are very well built and were draining really well throughout.  Surprisingly very little damage done to the trails and the few spots that got a little more whupped will likely recover in a week or two with a little love.  I got a bit of a second wind last lap but I was also running low on fluids and calories.  So it was a balancing act of pushing harder but not too hard so as to crack before the finish.  Lap 4 ended up actually being almost 2mins faster than my 3rd lap.

I came in at about 3h:52m, almost an hour longer than expected.  Results sheet had me in 5th of 7 finishers at the time I checked it (ATTN Root 66: when are you going to ditch those hand written results sheets and get into current century????).  Not sure if the rest DNF'd or just hadn't come in yet.  I proceeded to use my drink ticket for some Heady Topper and even got a free Turtle Fur for some modeling work I did (pic coming soon hopefully).  Turns out an old friend from PSU is a Turtle Fur rep now so we got an opportunity to catch up which was nice.

I'm a model!

All told it was a hell of a day.  Memorable to say the least.  The trails at Millstone are really great and this course is probably one of the more fun I have ever done.  If they keep this event earlier in the year like this and keep offering a marathon class I will probably continue to come back.  I mean free Heady Topper and a meatball sub with your reg fee? c'mon