Fat Boy Deluxe

Another year of racing Lodi goes in the books. This year proved to be one of the best years yet. About 4 years ago I had sworn off racing Lodi if it was going to rain. That was mostly due to the fact that it started raining at 11:30 PM and didn’t stop until 12:30 PM the next day…and this was no pansy rain. We’re talking full on crazy flood the creek type of rain or tadpoles swimming in your tent kind of rain. So when the rain started to fall as I left the house to drive down I was a little pissed.

Met Steve and Butch at the Wawa just off the 95 exit for Fredericksburg, VA. We gathered some last minute emergency supplies (mostly ice for the beer cooler) and headed on out to the race grounds. I think we arrived by 3:30 PM, so plenty of daylight left to do a pre-ride if one wanted. We just wanted to get our stuff setup before the rain caught up with us. We managed to get Steve’s truck and my Outback situated nicely with the popup tent joining the two.

Photo by Butch

With everything setup and the decision not to pre-ride being made by Mother Nature, there was nothing left to do, but boil up some water for our tasty Mountain House meals in a bag. Steve brought out the big guns with Spaghetti and sauce, Butch ventured into expired eggs and bacon, and I whipped out my Beef Stew. Steve’s meal in a bag was delicious, as was mine, but Butch’s meal looked like one of the port-o-johns after the race…nasty! Evidently it didn’t taste much better. After a fulfilling meal it was time to pull out the cooler and chill out. We got our lineup straight. It would be Butch, Steve, then me. Figure both of them are faster than me, so if we actually ended up going head to head with somebody, they’d be more likely to get the extra lap and be able to do it faster.

At about 10:30 PM, Butch starts to whine, he thinks he has a fever and just can’t get warm. We call him out and a little after 11:00 PM he starts to get ready for his first lap. Talk about a transformation, just put Butch in some woolies and he’s a new psyched up racing man.

At midnight the race starts with a parade lap (in lieu of doing a le mans mass running start). Pretty soon they were off and Butch went on to pull an hour lap. Steve got his stuff together and was there on time to make a flawless transition. The word came from Butch that it was slick as snot with a nice layer of peanut butter, but it was definitely rideable. Steve went on to pull an hour and five minute lap. So I head out for my first lap of the race at 2:05 AM with my one handlebar mounted light. (As much night riding as I do, you’d think I’d shell out for a nice HID, but to be honest, those things defeat the purpose of riding at night. Granted this was a race, but damn, a good HID lights up a trail like a highway…way too much light. I like not being able to see more than 5-10 feet in front of the bike.)

Photo by Butch

Butch was right, the course was slick, but totally rideable. If you like the occasional two wheel drift, this was the time to ride. I’m sure it was much more slick for my two team mates though. You could tell it was already getting down to the hardpack for some fast paced riding. The first lap was pretty uneventful. Without doing a pre-ride I was really just trying to learn the course (a third of the trails were brand spanking new). I managed to pull my lap in an hour and eight minutes. I was shooting for under 1:15, so I was happy with myself.

Butch grabbed the baton and pulled another hour lap! Then Steve was back out and managed to shave a couple of minutes off for an hour and three minute lap. Then it was my turn again, looked like I had the good fortune of being the sunrise lap rider. I felt really good on my second lap. There were two riders just ahead of me as I left the gate and another one pulled out right behind me. We made a nice game out of passing and pulling each other. Over the lap the group of four broke down to two then back up to six or seven. I managed to pass a bunch of people and I think I only got passed by a couple others. By the end of this lap I knew this was going to be a fun race. People were out there racing hard, but everyone seemed to be in a good mood. People were talking to each other on the bikes, asking to pass, picking a side and actually announcing it…it was civil and it showed. This was good natured competitiveness at it’s peak. I rolled in with an hour and six minute lap. Like Steve, I shaved two minutes off my first lap and finished at 6:22 AM.

Butch went back out and pulled a sub hour lap at only 58 minutes! Steve then battled it out for a 55 minute lap! My third lap went really well. I was passing more people than I was being passed by…always a good thing, ha. I was using a guy up ahead of me as inspiration. He had a red blinky on his back and that became my target. We would start going uphill and he would start pulling away, so I’d start to lay it down and give it everything I had on the flats and downhills. I managed to pass the red light rider and acquired a new target…big Blue. This was an obvious Clydesdale, a big boy, but he was rocking the course. Super smooth until SMACK! The dull thud of his shoulder straight into one tree that made a tight spot. A second later he and his bike were down hard. I stopped to make sure he was ok. He was definitely dazed, but was able to get up and walk around. He said he was alright and that he could probably make it in on his bike. After making sure he was able to ride his bike I sprinted off to let the race organizers know they might need to have the ambulance guys look at his shoulder. It gave me my inspiration to ride hard for the rest of the lap. Unfortunately I was also starting to enter the cramp zone. Not actual cramping, but knowing that if you push a little harder on the uphills, you know you’ll be spending a couple of minutes on the ground working out your leg muscles. I made it back to the start with a lap time of 1:07, not bad considering stopping and being close to cramping. I remember getting back from this lap and telling Steve he needed to get back in before noon, because damn it, I wanted to get my fourth lap in if it killed me.

Butch went back out and managed to pull a 54 minute lap, the fastest on our team!

Then Steve goes out and pulls yet another 55 minute lap!

Photo by Gary

Talk about being a boat anchor…if these guys had a third man that was a little more equal to them, they definitely would have been in contention for a podium spot. But hey, we do what we can do and racing with these guys makes me faster than I would be on my own. Knowing these guys are out there giving it their all really makes you want to man up. I realized I would need some more food, boiled up some water and ate my second meal in a bag, eggs and bacon…not expired, ha. Damn it was good! Fluffy eggs with chunks of smoked bacon…mmm… Grabbed all my gear and waited up at the start line for Steve to roll in. Like clockwork, Steve pulls his second 55 minute lap and I roll out for what should be our last lap of the day. I’m just not capable of pulling a sub 50 minute lap, which is what would be needed in order to get somebody else out before noon. Since we weren’t really going for a podium, that last lap fell in the natural order to me.

Photo by Butch

The lap was nice and easy. I pushed it to stay with people, just hard enough to really work it, yet keep from cramping. I followed what would be the eventual winner of Solo Singlespeed. He was on his 11th lap! Seriously, I’m worried about cramping in my 4th lap and he has almost tripled me…talk about humbling experiences. Then I got a little uphill encouragement from FatMarc. Every little bit helps! I was definitely walking more of the hills now, but I still felt good. I promised Steve and Butch a little singlespeed spirit, so with that thought in mind I pulled over before finishing up my lap. They were near the end at one of the tech sections, an oil barrel with doors on either side, fun stuff. They were looking for spirit, so I gave it to them…

Photo by Butch

Finish up my lap in 1:08 with the clock at 12:19 PM. So my last lap was equal to my time for first lap, pretty fitting. All in all, it was a great race. The Big MEATS came together and really rode well. We didn’t podium, but we all had fun and we all know we rode the best we could. There was nothing left to do, but enjoy an ice cold beer.

Photo by Butch

I’m proud of our team and big props to Butch and Steve for kicking some ass out on the trails. Hopefully we’ll get another chance to do it again soon. If you still need more, check out the 3 man singlespeed results here. Check out all of Butch’s pics here and all of Gary’s excellent photos here.

The Big MEATS!

It’s the return of the Big MEATS! The grass is cut and the chores are done. Just gathering the needed clothes for another wet 12 Hours of Lodi. The plan is to camp out inside the Subaru, instead of trying to keep the tent dry. The last thing you want to do after pulling an hour lap at 3:00 AM is to climb in your tent and push out the puddles and try to find some dry warm clothing. Let’s hope the weather peeps are wrong…again.

First race of the season is in the books. If this was the Single Speed Worlds I’d have a nice DFL tattoo or brand, ha. Quick writeup: I raced in the Single Speed class, which had 12 entries. There were three DNF’s, so I ended up coming in 9th. I may not be the fastest (not by a long shot), but I usually finish, ha.

Longer writeup: I found myself waking up at what would normally be 8:20 AM, which would be plenty of time to pack up the bike stuff and make the two hour drive down to Oilville, VA, about 15 miles north of Richmond. But, due to the government seeing that our economy is in shambles and deciding to move DST up three weeks, my wakeup time was actually 9:20 AM. Just a quick side note, the last time DST was moved ahead, the golf industry pulled in something to the tune of an extra 400 million of income. Anyway, I quickly got up and started pulling my stuff together and packed the car, said goodbye to my wonderful wife who made sure I didn’t walk out the door without a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee. On the road by 10:00 AM, race starts at noon, so I start trucking down there. Got to the park with about 10 minutes to spare, quickly signed in (preregistered a couple days earlier), and changed and starting getting the bike ready. Turns out they must have been a little behind, as my race didn’t end up starting until probably 12:30 PM. Before the race I got a chance to see another DCMTB teammate Lorena (who I think did really well in the Pro/Expert class), who was warming up. Joel was supposed to show, but due to some last minute family stuff had to bow it, thus is the life of a family man playing a mountain biker.

So we roll up to the line, Single Speed class was the last class to get on the course. Not a big deal for me, but for any of the super fast guys, they probably had to pass a few people. The whistle (megaphone) blows and we’re off on some gravel roads to jump into the singletrack. Surprisingly, it wasn’t quite the super fast sprint I was expecting. I was near the back of the pack, but the line was tight and close, close enough I had to step off on one of the dirt mounds the singletrack weaves through in the first couple of minutes. After about 10 minutes we we’re pretty spread out and I didn’t see too many people from then on.

The course was in superb shape. Evidently they missed out on all the snow and rain that we received all week up north. The trail was dry and fast, totally classic east coast singletrack – rooty with tons of flow and a few hills to get the heart rate up. My only problem with the trail is it had a lot of small stubs ranging from the just above the ground to probably 4 inches high. Mid first lap I was railing a slight downhill and leaning into a curve when I clipped a stub, bam! It was a rude awakening and the opposite foot went flying from it’s peddle and swung around and under my frame. Somehow I managed to save it and not run over my foot and pull myself from the bike, but I was definitely dazed in a sort of “what the hell just happened” kind of moment. It didn’t seem to hurt too bad at the moment, so I just kept pushing on. Pulled into the end of the lap where the obviously built a new section of trail just for the race. It was really wet, but it was soft and loamy and just sucked all the power you could throw at it. I ended up jumping off the bike and running up. Back on the bike and through the starting line to start lap number two.

Lap number two was much like lap number one. I saw only a few people, passed a few peeps and only got passed by a few of the Pro/Expert (who technically were lapping me) and Enduro racers (who had been riding since 9:30 AM). No stub incidents this time, which was nice. I walked the same hill again before the end of the lap. Finished in a tad under 1:40. For a sunny 65 degree Sunday, it was a great day on the bike. My first time on real dirt in quite a while and it felt good to get the heart rate up. The course was awesome and I’ll definitely consider racing the rest of the series!

After the race I hung out for a few minutes, saw Lorena finish her race, and then I jumped back in the car and headed home. Got some stuff done around the house and even managed to do a late night racking of my Belgian Wit onto some strawberries. Monday came around and damn, wouldn’t you know it, one stiff and sore ankle, ha. It’s still tight, but I’m going to try and loosen it up tonight…

Bottom line, if you are looking for a well run race and want a trail you can go all out and just rail at top speed as long as you can hold it, then this is the race for you!

DT

Well here we are again…it’s the beginning of the 2007 mountain biking race season. The first race I know of is this weekend, just outside Richmond, VA at Camp Hilbert. I usually try to put together a list of all the area races, so that at anytime if I have a free day on a weekend I can pull up the races and see what’s happening that day. As an added bonus, I also make it available to all you lazy mofos, whether you want it or not, ha. Last year I did a wiki, great idea, but not a lot of help, oh well. Year before that was a spreadsheet, but it meant emailing out an updated spreadsheet to peeps. So this year we’ve got Google Docs, which allows you to do spreadsheets (among other things) and have people view or collaborate. I’ve done the bulk of the work already, but I’m sure there will be a few more races added, like the W@W series and any cyclocross races that are officially announced, but it’s complete enough to give to the public.

So, I give you a new page on the blog…look in the upper right hand corner…see that link that says “Races“…yea, click that and get the goods.

DT

I missed the first W@W race and almost missed the second one. I’ve been on my mountain bike one time since I crashed, that was Monday a week and a half ago with my boy Gary. He can tell you how bad I was hurting… Bad enough to not want, but need to stop 3 times on one lap of a 3 lap race course. A couple of times I just laid down on the trail and thought about how much ass I suck.

So this past Wednesday we had the return of the race series to Wakefield. I ended up working a little late in MD and struggeled to get home, get my stuff together, and throw a tube/tire combo on the new front wheel I’m borrowing from our team stash of sponsored gear. I made it to the registration desk literally as the race was supposed to start, 6:50 PM. They had me do a quick fake registration, took my cash and I hauled ass down the hill to the start, just barely cutting in front of the experts about to leave and getting in with the sport cats.

A minute later and we were off and up the gravel hill. I stayed on the outside, missed a pile up wreck and got to the singletrack in the middle of the pack. Hung pretty tough on first lap giving it everything I had. Even managed to make a pass on the big log…it’s either a make it or don’t situation and well I made it and it felt damn good! I launched good enough to get a nice smack of the tires as I touched back down on the dirt, completely clearing the log. At the end of the lap I started to fade a bit. At this point I hadn’t stopped, but that would all change as I hit the timing tent. I had to stop and grab some Old Dominion Lager from Stoner before I was on my way back into the woods.

The second lap turned out to be pain lap. I tried not to walk, but at the pace I was moving I might as well have been hiking out there. My second lap was a full 5 minutes longer than my first or third. Nothing exciting this lap, just amazing the range of emotions you go through in the thick of a race. Nervous, excited, stressed…it can all be summed up this head conversation – “Damn these pump trackesque curves are bomber! I think I’m going to puke.”

So while I didn’t finish on the podium, I did manage to get DFL with some style points…clearing log in first lap, beer at start of second lap, and getting some air on the rollers on my third lap.

Damn it felt good to feel the burn and push myself hard again. The dirt tasted great and the sleep came soon after..

Oh yea, check out Gary’s photos here.  Check me out here and here.

DT