Snotcycle XC Race Report

A few months ago I got an e mail from my friend Plum Grove Pete telling me about a race that Rob (he of Plum Grove Cycles, he of the Leesburg Bakers Dozen, and he that is the putter on of kick ass races) was hosting a winter XC race called "Snotcycle". Snotcycle would be an XC race on the same course as the Leesburg Bakers Dozen and would quite possibly have rain, mud, snow, ice, sleet, blood and various amounts of the weather man's winter weather fueled fecal matter involved. Pete casually mentioned it, thinking there was no way I would drive 3.5 hours to race a 2 hour XC mountain bike race in January. Pfffft! Not only did I sign up, I got 3 other racers to sign up and make the trip to Leesburg with me!

I decided early in the off season that in 2009 I would make a return to XC racing. I spend too much time training and racing at endurance pace. I don't do that many group rides, so doing XC races should be the perfect way to try to get faster on the bike and work my system in a way that I just can't achieve on my own. As I've mentioned in prior blog posts I haven't done an XC race since 2004 (I think), so I've been a bit nervous about how I would perform. I figured an XC race in January, in the middle of off season training would be a good way to get my feet wet (literally).

In the week leading up to the race, the mid Atlantic region of the U.S. received daily doses of snow, ice, rain, and freeze/thaw cycles that would make Snotcycle just what it was billed as on the registration page- "a weather be damned" rain, sleet, the nastier the better, race."

My companions to Snotcycle would be my Pro Bikes teammates Tim C., and Don P., as well as our friend and member of my former Bikeman.com team- Brad S. (one half of "The Schmalzers"). A fun group of folks that included one angry "little ball of hate" caffeine meets meth brained Pro, two fast Expert class racers and one Sport class, mid pack endurance racing doofuss (me).

As Pittsburgh got pounded with another blast of winter weather during the day Friday we ALL thought that we may have just made a horrible mistake in signing up for this race. Luckily we would be proved wrong. By the time we loaded up Don's cruising vessel on Friday night the snow had stopped for the most part and the PA turnpike was in fine condition for the drive down to Leesburg. A stop or two for Tim's infant sized bladder, some food (Quiznos subs sort of suck IMO, and the mistakenly poured Sprite/Peach Iced Tea tasted just as bad as one would think), a couple wrong turns (my fault) and we were there. Before you knew it 4 guys and 4 bikes were stuffed safely into the warm, yet odd smelling confines of a Days Inn, working on bikes and getting gear straight for the a.m..

6 A.M. came early, we all got chamoised up and made the trip to I.H.O.P. (not the Luna song) for some grub. It was cold. DAMN cold. But there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Granted the ground was covered with ice glazed snow, but it was still nice to see the sun and know that I would be racing today.

After an hour of food shoveling and bike talk, it was time to head to the race venue, get checked in and get a pre ride in. The trails were indeed covered with snow, but barring the open field leading into the single track, the Dos Niner's IRD Fire Pros were getting pretty good traction in the woods. It was also clear that I was overdressed for the pre ride and was putting out a bit too much sweat for it being 20 degrees. I also left my friggin' bottles in the car so I did the whole 7.5 mile loop with no hydration. DOFUSS!!

I ran into a bunch of folks I knew before the race... Fernando and Jenny, P.G. Pete, P.G. Rob, James, Travis, etc.,) Always nice to talk to the familiar faces at the races. All that really helps to calm my nerves. The more races you do, the more folks you meet and the more the races seem like "organized group rides" rather than races.

Brad's Kona (soon to be a Salsa Moto Rapido),
Don's Mamasita, and My Dos Niner.

Soon I was on the start line, ready to take off through a slippy hard packed snow and ice covered cow pasture for my first race of 2009. The gun/whistle/Rob yelling "Go", went off and I found myself in the lead group of 5 or 6 heading into the woods. SWEET! I was pretty worried about my start and was happy to make it into the woods in the lead pack.

Once I got in the woods it was time to put my head down and keep power to the pedals. The 7.5 mile loop has about 12 feet of elevation gain and is just power, power, power. The snow made my middle ring feel like the big ring and my low back was soon telling me that I was pushing some harder than usual gears and in need of an expert bike fit. BUT I was doing pretty well and was on the wheel of another racer for 85% of lap one.

The dude in front made a few bad line choices and even commented out loud on the fact. I knew there was a short steep rock slab coming up that had two lines- one line to the left that 90% of the folks were using and one line right up over the big slab. P.G. Pete clued me in that the line right over the slab was totally doable as long as you kept your momentum up. I had a feeling that the dude would for sure take the left line, so as we entered the climb I backed off, let him commit to the left and then shot myself up over the slab and dropped him. SWEET! This move would work for me two of my 3 laps today.

Once I hit the open field heading to the start finish line I reach down for a bottle, went to take a swig... DOH!! FROZEN!! So I tried my second bottle and got a few drops of water. This was a bad sign for lap one of 3. But there was nothing I could do but keep going.

Lap two was much like lap one, but I found myself riding alone more. This sort of sucked because I surely backed off the gas a bit with no one to chase. Towards the end of the lap I entered an icy corner a little too quick and was slammed down like a dead pig to a butcher's block. Ouch! But adrenaline was flowing, so I hopped right back up and took off.

I'm not gonna lie... as I crossed the start/finish and headed out for my final lap I was relieved that this was the last one. This was fun as hell, but I was cold, wet, thirsty and was wanting it to end. I crossed the start/finish and headed out for lap 3 with a ton of motivation to get this one in quick.

I hit the fast single track in the pines, and put the hammer down. About 200 yards in I saw "the woman that Travis lives with" (AKA his wife). I shouted out a hello and promptly hit the deck hard. If the last crash was like a dead pig slammed on a butcher's block, this one was like a bovine dropped out of a 3rd story window to a city street and sidewalk. OUCH x 2!! I couldn't help but wonder what my body was going to look like in the a.m.. Remember, I'm STILL on blood thinning medication for last falls DVT issue. This might be ugly in the a.m.!!

Again, I picked my spandex encased carcass up and headed off. This time my legs were cramping as I remounted. Surely a combination of big efforts, very little hydrating during the race and NO electrolytes. Sheeit! Oh well, only 7 miles to go! I spent much of lap 3 either alone or mixed in with the tail end of some other classes. The course was starting to melt and there were many more muddy, slushy parts now. I was cold, and glad to be finishing before getting too wet.

I finished the 22 mile-ish race in 10th place with a time of 1:55:53. Given that there were 60 guys registered in my class (maybe more, maybe less, I need to see the full final results to know for sure how many folks lined up) I'm pretty happy with that result. My goal was a top 20 and got top 10 (EDIT- Final Results now have me finishing 11th, my ego is wounded! HA!). There is still a TON of work to be done before the W.V.M.B.A. series starts in the spring, but I'm feeling good about racing XC along with my endurance schedule.

Congrats to Fort James who finished ahead of me in 4th place, and to Plum Grove Pete who finished 3rd in Sport Geezer. BIG congrats to my teammate Tim Carson who won the 30 mile Expert Pro race and to Don P. and Brad who finished 9th and 10th in the Expert/Pro class. Nice job guys. All in all a pretty good showing for the 'Burg folks.

Big thanks to Rob from Plum Grove for another great race. I can't wait for the Bakers Dozen in April. I just hope for a LITTLE bit warmer temps! HA! Also thanks to Pro Bikes (and Tim) for getting the Dos Niner dialed in for race day. Even with the snow and ice the bike shifted great. Thanks! The Dos Niner is a great bike for a course like Leesburg. I do plan on using the Big Mama for this April's Solo race though. 13 hours on this course will beat you up for sure and the Big Mama should help smooth it out.

This was a fun race weekend. It was great to make the trip with other folks and we had some fun. Tim kept us entertained and Don got us there and back safely. I learned a lot about XC racing this weekend, and am anxious to go again, but hopefully in some warmer, snow free conditions. I also learned that a Denny's is NOT the place to get a nacho platter. Yikes!

It was once again nice to race and be 95% coherent rather than 3% afterwards. A guy could get used to this! Yeah right!

Hope to get some more pics in the near future.

Later.