Twisted Tire Spring

Today was the the Twisted Tire Spring MTB race at Poor Farm Park in Ashland, VA. To set the stage for this report, the weather forecast was mid-60's with an 80 percent change of thunder storms. The forecast was the same for the previous night. I woke up just vefore my alarm at 6:00 and the first thing I heard was thunder (ominous sign). I checked the website and the promoter had posted a note at 11:17 p.m. last night saying "the race is on, its going to be wet, bring your knobbies." Given that nugget I rolled out of the house at 6:36 headed for Ashland. The ride there was rainy but easy with l;ittle to no traffic. Got to the park at 8:40-ish and checked in with no problem.

So I sat there a little while watching the folks walk around with umbrellas and things thinking why postpone the inevitable. So I started getting ready to ride, i.e. putting my number on the bike and the second number on me. Meanwhile the rain was relentless. I decided I had better get some kind of a warm-up in so I got the bike out of the car and started to put the front wheel on when I noticed a spoke dangling (ominous sign #2). The nipple had broken and the spoke was just flopping around. I didn't bring any tools so I thought I would ask at the registration area. No luck, but a woman with some pliers attempted to adjust the spokes without a truing stand. Just when I had accepted that I would have to race like this I saw some tents in the parking lot. I ran over and the guys from Bike Factory of Charlottesville came through for me. They totally repaired the spoke with a new nipple with twenty minutes to spare before the scheduled start of the race. I got back to my car put the wheel on the bike got my things together and rolled out for a five minute warm-up. Just in time to learn that all races were being postponed for at least fifteen minutes. I saw a bunch of folks with magic marker on their calves. Then I heard an announcement telling everyone to make sure the got marked at the black tent. I went over and some dude wrote "BM" on my right calf (ominous sign #3). I know what you're thinking but it stood for Beginner Master 40+.

The rain never really let up and the race started about 20-25 minutes late but I couldn't ask for a better start. A guy from Squadra Coppi and a dude with a white shirt took off and I was third wheel heading to the single track. The course description said the first part was tight and twisty and they weren't lying. Add to the copious amount of mud and puddles and you have a recipe for disaster. We normally don't ride after rain to preserve the integrity of the trails so riding on a muddy trail was something new. I crashed about three times in the first mile, nothing serious but couldn't stay upright. Of course most of the folks in my race went by me so I was playing catch-up the rest of the race. There was a stream crossing where there was a bridge of to the right which I decided to use since the crossing looked rough and muddy. Bad move! Since I hit it at an angle as soon as my front wheel touched it, my wheel slipped sideways and I went down. My left thigh landed hard on the end of the first board. So now I have a baseball sized knot/welt on my thigh, but I digress. I ended up getting behind a Sport Woman (I could tell by the SW on her calf) who was spinning along rather slowly with no good place to pass. A guy behind me was getting impatient and started pressuring her to move over. She said, "But I'm keeping to the right," which was rather funny because the trail was so narrow that she couldn't help but be smack in the middle. We ended up going by her eventually but it seemed like it took forever. There weren't many steep uphills but with the mud any uphill portion of the course was tricky because your wheel spins in the mud when you get out of the saddle. The second half of the course was flat and fast with a handful or more log crossings and I managed to crash a few more times. I ended up catching up to a guy who really started hammering when I got behind him. He hammered hard for a good ten minutes on the second half when he turned around and said "You wanna pass?" I said, "No you're going fast enough for me" to which he said "It's too fast for me." I finished the first lap in ~50 minutes. The guy who asked me to pass sat up so I wouldn't be pushing him and I started the second lap. The tight and twisty part seemed a lot faster because there were less people around and I started catching and passing folks. I still crashed at least once and bailed out a couple of times but did much better second time around. When I got to the second half I caught a few guys who tried to keep me from passing but I was really feeling pretty good and motoring at a good rythym. I ended up riding the second lap in ~50 minutes but it seemed much faster than the first. I ended up finishing fourth with which I am happy.