Disappointment on home turf

The Raccoon Mtn SERC race was a mixed bag.

On the plus side:

It's 15 minutes from home.

No hotel is needed.

The course is familiar.

I like this course.

It was not too hot.

My teammates did great in the expert/pro category.

Terry Berger let me borrow a race number.

US-Stove company displayed their grills and stoves.

US-Stove company cooked on their grills.

US-Stove company gave away food to racers!

I learned the importance of a valve core.

My husband provided excellent taxi service.

On the other hand:

I flatted on my tubeless tire about 5 minutes in.

I lost the valve core on tube I used to repair the flat.

Four cat 2 women started the race and only two finished.

So, my teammates rock, our sponsor, US-Stove rocks and the race was a great time (for those folks who finished). Here's my mini race report: the course has a start that's challenging with one gear that loops around the Laurel Pt circular paved drive and then shoots into the woods where in past years the race would finish. The single track at the beginning is twisty, rooty, dry, and with off camber rocks here and there. There is an advantage to being local for the first few miles of trail due to the more technical rocky sections. Then the course spits out onto the road for about a 1.5 mile road section up to the switchyard. Diving back onto single track, you take the trail up grindstone ridge and exit the singletrack at the visitor center parking lot. The course goes up the road briefly before rejoining a fun descent and then making its way back to Laurel pt.

As has become a trend, I entered the woods behind the FL ladies, Jane and Heather, and behind the only other racer, a girl from the Sorella team. Soon after inching past the Sorella racer in a technical section, I flatted. Stans was spewing out of the defect, but not fast enough to fill it. I wasn't patient enough to wait out the Stans self repair, so I put in a tube. The valve core was loose, but in the heat of the moment, I didn't notice it. The Sorella girl passed me by mid-repair. So, with sub-optimal psi, I started hammering hoping to at least catch someone. I soon ran into the Sorella girl, as she is called since I don't know her name, because she broke her chain and was walking back toward the start. Then, I popped out onto the road waaaaay behind everyone in the yellow wave.

Meanwhile, my husband was spectating and cheering. Little did I know, he had watched everyone go by the switchyard, everyone, that is, but me and was perplexed. As I started up the road, I heard an ambulance behind me. The sirens were apparently loud enough for the aforementioned husband to hear at the switchyard. Concerned EMS was there for me, while I kept pushing hard up the road, he started booking it on his cross bike back to the East Overlook. We crossed paths on the road and with my uninjured state confirmed, with much relief, he headed off to investigate what was up with the EMS folks.

Optimistic, I started the climb to the visitor's center. My rear tire felt so sloppy, but I was out of CO2 and rode gingerly on the descents in an effort to minimize a pinch flat. Then, I rounded a corner and saw an unused CO2 on the ground! Heck yeah! I thought, here's my chance-- I'll add some more pressure to my tire, it will feel like it should instead of this warbling mess, and I'll be able to reel in Jane and Heather to at least a few minutes away. Woo hoo!! I was so excited as I stopped and threaded the cartridge onto my adapter. I had a brief moment of considering not messing with what seemed to be working for fear of making something worse, but rationalized adding the extra pressure by thinking about how I didn't want to get a pinch flat and really wanted the bike to handle more predictably. I thought- with this low PSI, I'm more likely to wreck and have a bigger issue because the bike is handling differently. So, I added the entire cartridge, the tire felt so much better, I took the adapter off the valve and sure enough: swoooosh, poof, groan, multiple expletives.

The valve core which was hanging on by half of a thread before, shot out of the valve and all that precious air left my tire with 0 psi. I searched the leaves and trail briefly to look for the valve core and stopped looking when I realized that even if I found it, I had no CO2. Sadness set in. I had about 6 miles of race course between me and the completion of one lap. Not realizing that if I'd walked it in and gotten lapped by Heather and Jane as they were finishing, I could have logged finishing points, I pulled out my phone and with much disappointment, got my husband on speed dial.

Lesson learned: Valve cores are important little suckers.

Although a disappointing experience, I'm grateful to be intact/unhurt.

I'm also grateful for the sponsors that make is feasible for our entire team to race and travel. US-Stove Company, you guys are the best!!

Dauset Trails SERC

So, after getting hitched in Texas and getting settled back into the daily grind in Chattanooga, updating the blog got a bit behind. For my birthday, I got to travel to Jackson, GA with the rest of the US-Stove team to race the Dauset trails. I remembered the trails being fun a few years ago and that memory was confirmed on the pre-ride. The course is twisty, with little rooty and rocky pitches sandwiched around a dreadful flat section in the middle (although I'm sure my legs needed the recovery of spinning, the flat sections are some of the most challenging on one gear).

After our pre-ride, checking into our hotel and eating our lovely microwaved dinners, my teammates pranced into Catherine, Reid & I's hotel room with a chocolate birthday cake and ice cream. It was very tasty and a very sweet thing for my teammates to do. Then, after a good night's sleep, it was back to the course for the race. I warmed up mostly by myself and then did the tail end of my warm up with a few of the other Cat 2 racers. I'm used to standing around for what feels like forever waiting for our wave to start (we start last in the yellow wave), but somehow we ended up rolling up the the start to hear that we were starting in 30 seconds! Yikes.

So, off we went. It was a hot, humid, typical summertime in the south kind of day and my camel back was full of >100oz of heed and camelback tabs and ice. I loved course, with the exception of the flat section. To start, I was 4th into the woods and stayed on Paige and Heather's wheels until a fork in the trail where you could either take a longer, smoother line to the left or a shorter, rockier line to the right. I opted for the shorter line with mixed results: comically, I merged with the trail just behind Jane, who was in first, and in front of Paige and Heather, but then lost traction and had to unclip and scoot out of the way,

all just to watch 3rd and 4th ride right past me. One of the things I love about racing mtn bikes is that in the heat of the race, anything can happen and even mess-ups like this, although not ideal, are enough to make me laugh during the race.

Through the hilly, twisty sections I was able to make my way past Paige and Heather and work up to getting on Jane's wheel. For what felt like forever, I stayed on Jane's wheel up climbs, but lost her on the flat parts. Very frustrating, but by the beginning of the second lap, I worked hard and got back within speaking distance of her. When we got to a section of double track, I took my chances and went around her with the hopes of pushing hard on the climbs so that I'd lose less time to her and the others on the flats. Right as I started pushing my pace, both my quads started getting that tense, quivery, watch-out-we're-about-to-seize feeling. Being so hot outside, I kept consuming as much of my fluid as I could. I ate a goo halfway and kept drinking hoping to ward off the cramps. Every uphill pitch we got to, the cramp feeling got stronger until every revolution brought a cramp. With much disappointment, I moved out of Jane's way on a steeper pitch and watched her ride away while I half walked/half limped up the trail. I did this a walk/limp up every hill, tried to spin lightly on the flats, kept drinking and kept stretching when I could coast. During this coast-athon, Heather caught me and passed me like I was standing still. Thankfully a few minutes later the cramps subsided and I pushed hard for the last mile or so. I finished in 3rd, empty camelback bladder, and within about 1-1.5min of 1st and 2nd.

So, while not a perfect race, it was a really fun course and I worked my way on to the podium with the Florida girls. My US-Stove teammates Catherine, Emily and Kym also did great-- check out their blogs for updates. I do have to put in a plug here for my new ride: the superfly is still feeling, well, pretty fly. Every time I get to race and ride it, I'm really grateful for everyone who worked to build it and for the team sponsors who make all our clothing, racing and traveling to races possible. As always, many thanks to US-Stove.