Mudslinger race report

OK, so I have not done a whole lot of mountain biking lately. I pretty much hung up my Enduro last fall, hoping to keep it clean for a potential buyer. I rode my hardtail maybe once or twice during ‘cross season, but we all know that’s not mountain biking.

I sold my ’03 Enduro Pro in February and just got a new ’06 Stumpjumper Pro. Took it out for a single lap at Browns Camp two weekends ago, and two rides around town beforehand, that’s it. One of those rides had me hopping a log in very poor form, and ending up upside down, ass-first on the ground, still clipped in. My left cheek is still purple and yellow five days later. Not a good start.

I massively underestimated my dietary requirements for a 20+ mile mtn bike race with 3,000 feet of climbing. After doing 25 road miles on the bike on a weeknight after work, with only a couple sips from a waterbottle, I was sorely out of touch with mountain bike nutrition. I had a hydration pack with maybe 1.5 liters of water infused with Accelerade and Clif Gel, thinking I could just sip the gel from my bladder rather than having to open a gel pack. It’s only 22 miles, right? Not a bad idea necessarily, but unfortunately 22 off-road miles is way longer than 22 on-road miles. I should know better.

My right thigh cramped on the climb at the beginning of the second (1/4) lap. Had to get off the bike and stand there for a minute, then I walked the rest of the climb. I got back on, went into the singletrack, and at this one spot where you have to make a hard right up a short steep section, my left thigh cramped. Yow! I was in too much pain to get out of the pedal, so I just had to stand there in the middle of the trail, blocking everybody else. I couldn’t even get off the bike. So I walked another climb, luckily this one was much shorter. Before I got back on there was so much mud in my rear wheel that it literally stopped turning. A little power to the pedals got me moving, I was packing a good 5 pounds of crud in my drivetrain. I hit the singletrack, then a descent, flew down, and got back on the gravel road back to the start/finish. Actually made up some time, caught the guy I drove down with (for the second time, I caught him before I cramped the first time), and then stood up for the final little climb and passed two more guys. I came in right behind Eric Tonkin. Yeah, I know he did 2 laps and I only did 1 ¼, but it’s still cool to say I finished just after Tonkin.

I could complain about my results, and my incredible stupidity for not bringing anywhere near enough water, but after all that misery I still managed to finish in the top two-thirds. Don’t say I’m not determined.

Oh yeah…after the race, when I was loading gear in the van, my left leg cramped AGAIN!

The Brain Fade rear suspension on my new Stumpy appears to work very well so far, and the Fox Talas fork handles everything with its usual aplomb. I swapped the XT discs for some Formula Oro Puros, and I am very impressed. Those suckers are light as hell, they stop well, have excellent modulation, and for the record, they are really expensive. I’ve got some brand new XT disc brakes for sale if anyone is interested! The SRAM XO parts are working very well too, even accounting for initial cable stretch. It’s nice to have a fully enclosed rear derailleur cable. I’m still debating on a set of race wheels…I’m an outed weight-weenie after all.

I’m home this weekend, working with the team to put on the Piece of Cake road race up in Woodland. Then next Wednesday night I am driving down to Monterey with a guy on my team for Sea Otter. Woohoo! Looking forward to testing out the new SRAM road components, and hoping for better results at the Sea Otter XC race.

-Smack

Keep the rubber side down!