WORS #5: The Eau Claire Firecracker had it all: Rain, heat, sun, fast doubletrack, great technical singletrack, sand, mud, everything you want in a mountain bike race. A thunderstorm passed by from 7:00 until 9:00 am with the sport race starting at 11:30. The rain helped the sandy places but made the new singletrack slick and sloppy.
I started in the last wave male wave with riders 50 and over and the clydsdales. The women started 2 minutes behind us. The leadout was fast doubletrack for about a mile. I pedaled as fast as I could but was one of the last in the wave to reach the first singletrack. My 33x18 gear was prefect for the singletrack but too little for the fast doubletrack.
At the start of the singletrack I was last in the 60+ group of eight riders. I started catching riders in the singletrack and worked my way up to about 4th or 5th place after half of the first lap. At that point I was running with several riders that I usually finish with on my geared bike. However, I was gassed. In the end I finished in 6th. My fellow 60+ riders were shocked to see me on a singlespeed. I had a blast.
After the race I talked with Antony Dombromski who finished 3rd in singlespeed and 25/148 overall. he told me that the way to go fast on the doubletrack is to spin up to speed , then coast, recover and spin up again. I had just tried to spin fast for the entire lead out and that left me exhausted.
The overall winner of the sport race was Rodney Moon riding a singlespeed. Rodney finished over 2 minutes ahead of the second place rider. In the women's race Maria Statz was the overall winner. Brittany Nigh deserves special recognition from me. After leading her through some singletrack, she she said it helped following me. She then passed me in an open section and a big chunk of mud came off her rear tire and directly into my mouth.
Overall it was a great day of racing and riding the singlespeed was lots of fun. I have alot to learn about singlespeed technique but that is what makes it fun.
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment