USA Cycling MTB National Championships
July 16-19, 2009 Granby, CO
SolVista MTN Bike Park

The Decision:
Every summer for the past few years a few former co-workers and I venture to the Fraser Valley (Winter Park, CO area) for a 3 day weekend of riding. This summer the American Red Cross and National Center for the Disabled scheduled their annual charity ride for July 17-19. The boys all got kitchen passes and we planned for the convergence of 6 riders from around the country. This planning was done around January or Feburary. Swell! My favorite place to ride and we’re on again.
Then the Bar-H race. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to race that day. It was one of those races where it was like, ah what the heck. No pressure, I had no expectations. 3rd place. Sweet. That’s better than I ever did in a real Cat2 bike race. Couple of weeks later find out that qualifying for USAC Nationals isn’t all that hard to do and that 3rd place was enough. But why the heck would anyone want to put themselves through the humiliation of racing against the best of the best? Beats me, moving on.

Somebody posts up the dates and location of the Nationals. Huh… Granby, CO? That’s where I always ride. Whattya know, it’s the same weekend I’m going to be there. Let me think about this and talk to someone that’s been to a big race like this. Hey Big Pig Rich, you gotta copy? How do you get ready for something like this? What did you pay for a coach? Etc…

Aw, what the heck. The stars won’t align like this again. Once in a lifetime, I’m going to give it a shot just to say I did. But I don’t want to be DFL.

The Preparation:
Training. I don’t train, I ride with friends and blow off steam through mountain biking. Heck, I didn’t even train for track season in High School. You got what the good lord gave you and nothing more. Just go do it. Or so I thought.

Several conversations with Rich and he sent me out for various training rides. Almost all of it involved riding on the road, and alone. This sucks! I hate riding on the road, I don’t even own a road bike. About a week into this I decided to make things more interesting. I put the fattest heaviest tires I had on the bike just to make a game of it. The miles started rolling by. Good grief that was a lot of riding, and almost always on the road. Took about 2 weeks for me to really settle down and accept it. I kept telling myself to just keep the goal in mind no matter how much getting there sucks. There are some mountains on your horizon, and nothing you’ve done to this point has prepared you for the punishment that is to come. The hardest thing for me to do was to have to say no when Danny, Randy or anyone else wanted to hit the dirt. Anything but dodging cars!

Looking back, that training was obviously the right thing to do. And a huge thanks for Rich’s patience in showing me the value and guiding the way.

Nervous. Holy cow! I hadn’t been this nervous about a sporting event since the NEO Ohio Regional Track Meet back during my senior year in high school. I kept trying to tell myself that I ride a bike for fun. A full week of this nonesense. I wanted to have my best day on a bike ever, and I didn’t want to let those supporters down.

The Race:
Got to the starting line and found a nice spot up front. I can’t believe how small of a group this age class is. Looks like a lot of folks from the local race series stayed home. Chewed the fat with one of the guys in the class from Minnesota. Cool dude, but he hadn’t ridden the trail yet. So I filled him in on the course. The groups ahead start shooting off in 2 minute intervals. Watching folks crawl/walk that first hill was almost comical as an observer. Just wait pal, you get to do that hill twice!

Our group finally gets moved up. I notice that some yahoo put a row of orange cones at an angle, from my outside perch a straight trajectory is going to run me right through those cones. Okay, so much for jumping on the gas early. But that’s okay, we’ve got 6 miles of nothing but climbing ahead and I’ll make up for it. Our turn, the countdown begins…. Off we go! Cool, slow start. Every mountain bike race should start on a climb…. The steeper the better. It seperates the men from the boys. We’re all gearing down as we go up, since I’m in line with the cones I tuck in behind my new bud from Minnesota. Mid pack. I can deal with that, things will sort out quick. We hit the dogleg of the climb and head to the left. I’m taking the rough line to the outside. Everyone else is drifting left into the well worn path. Next thing I know I’m powering up past most of the guys and break out at the top in 4th place. Sweet I think, I hardly hit HR5 on that climb. I might have a chance to show the ole black and white pig colors today. We keep plugging away at a slightly easier grade until we get to a quick fire road with a slight downhill into a sharp left turn into the single track. Uh oh, here they come on the gas. Couple of guys blew by me right before the singletrack. Okay, maintain position…. I’ll hit them on the next fire road. Up into the tight and rocky singletrack climbs we go. I’m in good shape, got a wheel and feel okay. Crap, now we start catching some of the riders from the group in front of us. Just takes the wind out of my sails, guys blowing lines all over the place. Everytime that happens the nice guy finishes last. I got passed by several guys that are obviously smarter than me.

Finally through the mess of riders and hit the next fire road. My legs and lungs are on fire at this point and I can’t figure out why. Cramps are sneaking into my quads and they shouldn’t be hitting me only a couple of miles into the race. So much for attacking this next couple of miles, I hit a nice cadence and hold it for a little active recovery. Son of a gun, there goes a Colorado racer flying by. And he has a few friends with him. Alright I tell myself, give it a few minutes and you can go try to get them before we hit singletrack again. Didn’t recover fast enough, couple more went by and boom.. back into the tight twisty rocky uphill singletrack. And what do you know, there’s a line of people walking their bikes, blowing lines and generally making a mess of things. Gotta dismount cause the wheel I was on stopped. Nice guys get the heck out of the way, so I did. Damn, there go a few more by me. Enough of this, I’m jumping back in before things get to far out of control. Up we continue. At this point I’m holding my own and it continues that way for quite a while. Not many got by from that point on, couldn’t be that many guys behind me.

Finally, after about 6 miles of mostly climbing to the top of the world we hit the downside of the mountain. Guy behind me from another class asks if I’m going to ride it or walk it. Hell I don’t know, go ahead around I’m going to do what I can. So down we go this tight, loose as sand downhill. This has to be brand new singletrack. There is like 2 inches of powder on the trail. Trail takes a steep pitch down. Where the devil is the friggin line? There is like a 3 inch deep rut down the middle, ruts on both sides from people dragging brakes and rocks hidden by powder everywhere. Its like ice skating on a pond somebody has thrown gravel over. Well big boy, you put the 2.4 tires on there for a reason and you have big wheels. Point and shoot, and so we did. Kinda, took it slow and easy. I did the pre ride and know there is a 4’ or so drop coming up soon on a S turn. Nice feature! The masses are waiting like vultures with their cameras and camcorders. I bet there was a competition, who gets the best wipeout. Guess I didn’t win that contest, launched off the bike sideways and into a tree. Swell, no blood and nothing broke. Ding, ding, Rich said not to screw around with obstacles that would slow you down. And guess what genious, one of the NRC boys just caught you from behind and he’s running his bike down the hill. Okay buddy, I’ve got a a couple of more miles of downhill and a lap to drop you. Back on the bike and screaming down the hill. No concerns about HR zones now. Just got to keep the bike on the trail instead of off that cliff on your right. The rest of the trail is twisty and rocky and full of loose stuff that’ll make your day at any moment. I can’t shake Mr. NRC. He finally gets around me. That’s okay, I’ll get him on the climbs. Just gotta keep him in sight. I know this guy, we’ve traded places at two TMBRA races and I got an idea what he can and can’t do. I just can’t believe he’s still with me after all the training I’ve put in!

The NRC rider continues to put time on me down the mountain. Another rider from a different age group decides he’s a downhill expert on a XC bike. Cool, go ahead buddy. I let him by. Being a downhill expert I guess he should have made the turn but nope, straight into the tape coming down to the start/finish for the world to see. I slow down a bit so I don’t wing him. All I could think was… you jerkoff, you ruined some of my momentum for this climb. Now I’m a little grumpy, got passed by to many guys that are no longer in sight, quads are still on fire, getting cramps in the hands, lower back and feet now. This sucks, how am I going to get through another lap. Oh I know, that NRC boy isn’t going to get away from me no matter what. Got a little motivation now and he has already started up the fire road.

Coming down to the start finish could have been a scream and really given you a momentum shot up the hill. But the course organizers put in just enough tape to slow you down and not run over all the spectators looking on. Off we go again up the hill. Heck, this hill isn’t so bad. Got in the granny and churned away. That NRC jersey sure is coming back to me quickly. I don’t want to go by him just yet, lets wait until we hit the higher fire roads and make sure he’s spent first. The climb is behind me, hit the handup station. I’ve got to take a bottle, and with 3 on me it was a delima to toss one of mine away. Sure would be nice if my wife would have come with me as support as planned. Damn, there goes $15 I’ll never see again. I’m not climbing this hill again today to recover it.

Okay, this lap is going to hurt. Still reeling NRC in. little cool water on the head and feeling better. Hey dummy, you have gel why don’t you use it. So hit a shot of that. Gotta remember to knock back the rest on the next fire road. Why do I always forget to use this stuff until its to late? Good news is the second lap is about 2 miles shorter than the first.

Upwards and onwards. Got a rider on my wheel now as we hit the mid mountain fire road. Whaddya know, its another Texan. I’ve by this time caught the NRC jersey and decide I don’t like his pace. So I hit the gas to go by and the guy from Houston behind me encourages NRC on. So Houston passes me but he’s not in the same class. Nice pace, I’ll hold this wheel. We hit a tight switchback that carries us up some more. Houston throws his chain. Crap, NRC looks like he’s gaining ground back. I yell at him, “come on Dustin”. Shouldn’t I be trying to bury this guy before we hit the down pitch? What the heck, I’m 38 years old and not as competitive as I used to be but I’m not going to wait for him. I keep churning away up the climbs, can’t be more than 2 miles of climbing left at this point so I just get a good tempo going and try to eat up some distance so I have cushion on the descent. I look around and both of the Texas boys are no longer in sight. Sweet.

Getting to the top, through the sand pits, into the gnarly downhill. Not nearly as many people in the way this time. Makes it much easier to navigate. Finally ran into a gal walking her bike down the steep rutted singletrack. Just enough distraction to make me blow the line. What the heck, didn’t I get caught last time trying to ride this? So I push through the 4’ drop. The boys with the cameras are obviously disappointed. You can see it on their faces and I think someone actually groaned. Piss off dudes, I got a tiger on my tail.

Back on the horse, down we point it. Catching riders as we go. Trail takes a little rise for a good 1/3 mile or so climb through wood chips. Last real climb of the day pal, put out what you got. At this point all of the cramps I’d been feeling throughout the race were intensified. And here comes cramps in the hamstring area as well. Lovely! Double wammy, front and back. Thank god we’re almost there. Hit the top of this hill and use some flow and technique to finish off the downhill.

You can see the finishline from about a mile out. How sweet that was! Loose rocky switchbacks all the way down, but I don’t see or hear the NRC jersey. I fully expect to hear him at any moment so I’m going to do what I can. You can’t pull a muscle from cramps can ya? Sure hope not, but this does hurt like hell. Couple of close calls with washing out, but down we went. The finish line is just at the beginning of the big hill. I can see the timing strip, don’t hear anyone behind me. Okay hot dog your going to make it, make every last second count. Hit the gas with what little was left. Tons of people around the start/finish. So never really being one to learn a lesson well, I wheelie over the timing strip. (Those that saw the results of my parking lot wheelie at 380/Greenbelt last fall will understand the significance of this moment.)

Ya Man! That wheelie was fun and I didn’t run anyone over. Now get outa my way people I gotta fall down now. I ride through the maze of people and find a nice rough patch of grass, fall off the bike and lay there for a minute. Tried to get up but my legs aren’t working. Holy crap. I got nobody here to help out and I can’t move. 15-20 minutes of this while I try to get my legs to work and my cramps to go away. Finally… I walk over to the three 5 gallon water jugs. My bottles are empty and warm. All 3 are empty! That’s what you get for finishing so far back I guess. Oh well, gotta ride UPHILL to my truck to get some water. I didn’t bring any money with me for the ski store. First I’ll go congratulate the other Texas boys for making it through this. So I did. Through this conversation find out that folks have been spending a good bit of time training. Good thing I did or I’d have been DFL for sure.

Time to get gone. I’m certain I’m 15th or worse at this point. Shoot man, I wanted better results but I don’t know that it was in the cards. Back on the bike, sure hope I can make it back up the side of the mountain to my truck. On the way out I see Aspen and stop to shoot the breeze. Good guy. Said it was the toughest race he’s ever done. I had to agree with him. Lucky soul had got to spend quite a bit of time in the mountains before the race to. So at least he had a chance to get used to the altitude some.

Start the climb back to the truck. Don’t know how I made it. Get the phone, holy cow. Already have a text from Rich asking how we did. Sent him a message back saying I thought it was about 15th and I’d go down and check to see if results were posted. I sure didn’t feel like going down that mountain to just climb back up again. Changed cloths and went to see if I could find where the results were posted.

12th place! Holy cow. A little better than I thought. I wanted better, but seeing the list of Colorado riders at the top and most of the Texans below I felt pretty good. Not great, but better than I expected. I gotta roll. The boys have all gotten by now and are probably waiting on me to do the Friday night shake down ride for tomorrow. Wonder if my legs will be ready after a 10 minute ride back to the house.. NOT! I hit Rich back with a text telling we got 12th, shoot the breeze with Luke for a little bit about the race. Hey boys, thanks for all your support!

Wake up Saturday morning early to get a start on a 40+ mile day charity ride. What the heck, I’ll check the results online to see if they got posted yet. What the heck, 13th! It wasn’t another Texan that moved in front was it? Nope.. cool. I’m still not happy andam going to go make somebody feel some pain today for that one position. It just won’t be the guys I raced with, my poor riding buddies.

The Experience:
As an overall experience, this was something to remember. When they setup these race courses they do so with the ultimate punishment in mind (or so it seems). The climbs were brutal, and the descents were the most sketchy I’ve ever ridden.

I also have a new respect for altitude that I never had during my annual rides in Colorado. Riding up here for fun in one thing, trying to hit it at race pace is completely different. I no longer have any doubts that the locals have a HUGE advantage, and the race results show it. The altitude, plus the level of competition was quite shocking. I topped the first nasty climb in about 4th and was gaining on the leaders, within 2 miles I was probably back to about 10th place. That was just settling into HR4 because I knew I couldn’t peg it in HR5 for 2 hours. These boys get on the gas and just stay there no matter if you are going up or down. Just amazing.

Watching the various events was really neat, you get a good feel for what and how other people ride. XC is just one of many disciplines after all. Having all of the big name sponsors around was pretty cool, and with those tents come the big name riders. All that said, it wasn’t Sea Otter.

For overall race day organization our DORBALAND red jumpsuit crew outdid USAC and the local race organizers. No chip timing and there was a lot of confusion at the start. I found myself wishing they at least had a bull horn to announce where to line up. No pre-race riders meeting either. One thing they did really well was quickly post race results and distribute pain.

The Lessons Learned:
Nutrition. When you go to altitude you load up on water because of the dry climate. Not a problem here, I drink tons of water. The problem comes about when you have to get up every couple of hours during the night to urinate. I thought it was just hitting my sleep, but there are other side effects. Electrolyte flushing and a full stomach. So for 2 days before the race I wasn’t getting enough calories and was flushing much needed electrolytes. I didn’t figure this out until 2x Tennessee High School road bike champ filled me in on why I cramped up so badly when I usually don’t have a problem on that front. I spent the rest of the weekend alternating a bottle of watered down NUUN and Miller Lite. Little late for the race, but it sure helped on the 6000 feet of climbing we hit the rest of the weekend. I felt bad for my Fat Tire Classic riding buddies when I got warmed up and took it to those damn hills in a fit of revenge.

Warmup. I had worked through a warmup routine with Rich that worked well for me at the Lake Murray race. So I jumped into it a little over an hour before the race. A couple of problems on this front. Problem 1, I went at it so early because there wasn’t a clear cut procedure to how the race was going to start, and I had to be around the starting gate to hear any announcements. Problem 2, when you are on the side of a mountain you are either climbing or decending. To attempt to hit the HR zones the warmup called for, I did the climbing. I probably put in close to 1000’ of climbing before the race even started. All that climbing and I still couldn’t hold the HR zones I needed to. Uh oh! Well, I’ll head to the starting banner and we’ll do what we can.

Most of the training came into great use. I’ve never been one to sit in the saddle for climbing. For this race I actually think I screwed up by not getting out of the saddle more while climbing. Easy to say in hindsight, with the way I was cramped up staying in that saddle was probably the right thing to do. Seated hill repeats and interval training really came into play. I found myself with just enough legs and lungs at the top of every climb to keep pushing on. And outside of the local studs, I found that I was in better shape than some others around me when the grade goes up. A great compliment I got was from an observer from Dallas who saw me at the handup location on lap 2 after the start/finish line. She said I looked fresher than most of the other folks that were coming by. I’d like to chalk that up to a great training plan, but I started to wonder if I’d pushed enough. Once again, that’s silly thinking since I was all cramped up.

The Conclusion:
I’m really glad I did the event. Its a great and humbling experience. If you ever get a chance to experience it, I think its worth it.

Without the great support and prep leading up to the race by Big Pig Rich, I don’t know how I’d have even finished the race. The folks I ran across all put a ton of prep and training into gearing up for this race. The TMBRA guys I saw up here weren’t racing like the same TMBRA guys I saw at Bar-H. Everybody brought game.

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