Escape (almost unhurt) from Granogue

This weekend started with a bang for me. I got home after working half a day on Friday to find the bronze medal I won at Greenbrier (Maryland State Championship) in the mail. So a big thank you to Jim Carlson and crew at Potomac Velo. This was my first award in quite a few years. Maybe since the Army Ten Miler in 1999? Anyway, I was quite happy.

Today's race was the Escape from Granogue MTB promoted by the Racing Group in honor of Andrew Mein led by Fatticus. This race was on the estate at Granogue in Montchanin. DE. About a two hour and fifteen minute ride from my house in Calvert county. I car pooled with Mike Thompson from southern Calvert. We left my house at around 5:15 a.m. and arrive at the race right around 7:30-ish, hence my 2:15 estimate. Driving into the estate and seeing portions of the course I thought it could be my day if there weren't too much technical stuff. But you know the old line, "looks can be deceiving."

Riding around for a warm-up after a super smooth registration and first visit to MR. PP seemed to confirm my belief that the course would not be too technical. At one point I saw the finish line and the hill leading up to it. A paved road, no less, but steep and somewhat lengthy but something I would look forward to on my laps. I forgot to mention that I was making my first foray into the Sport category. So far this year I have done only beginner races but the Beginner races at Granogue started at 1:00 p.m. whereas the Sport races started at 9:00 a.m. so the desire to get up early and get home at a fairly reasonable hour prevailed and both Mike and I raced Sport.

The start of the race was on the paved estate road and it was innocuous enough except for the number of participants and the top layer of slippery mud that was prevalent everywhere except on the paved parts. There were just too many folks on the course. The starts for the groups were staggered only by one minute so there were a large amount of people out on the course. It led to more walking than I can remember at any race in which I've participated. Oh, and my hopes were dashed rather quickly once we got about three miles into the course. I had one rather hilarious pseudo crash that I have to write about. I was going down a single track trail that was rather narrow and had a rocky drop-off. Just past the drop-off a off-camber root was sticking out into the trail. As I dropped down, my front tire got wedged into the aforementioned root. I perceived the danger and quickly bailed to the right so that I wouldn't endo. So my right foot clipped out and I tried to stand/push to unwedge my front wheel. But, remember that it was a drop-off and my momentum was down the hill. Well, my front wheel stayed wedged and my body continued down the hill while my left foot remained clipped in. I hopped over the bars and the bike endo'ed underneath me. I was feeling some serious pressure on my left calf and still my left foot stayed clipped in. At this point I lunged at a tree to stop from falling the rest of the way down the hill at which point my bike pirouetted off the root and ended up hanging by the rear wheel off a branch above my head in the tree with my left foot still clipped in. I can only imagine how funny that looked. I reached up and pulled my bike out of the tree, did a quick inspection and continued on.

There were quite a few hills at Granogue, some steep, some rocky, and some rocky and steep. I managed to walk up the steep and rocky ones both laps. There were also a couple of nasty spots that I didn't see anyone ride. One in particular was a drop-off onto a boulder off of which one had to drop again down into a creek bed and then climb back out over more rocks and boulders. I had one other comical crash. This one occurred at a wooden bridge that had some large rocks just before it. I had negotiated it fine on the first lap but on the second lap my front wheel slipped and I fell off to the right. My right arm dropped into the mud up to my elbow and my right foot went in half way up my calf. Sorry Fatticus, I didn't want to go swimming.

The second lap went much better than the first. Racers were more spread out so there was more room to enjoy and ride the course. There was one guy who was in my race that walked up a lot of the hills that seemed to push his bike in front of my, almost purposely, as I rode up to pass him. He got ahead of me probably during one of the three times I dropped my chain but I had a feeling I would see him again. Sure enough, as I approached the climb up to the finish line I was happy to see him walking up the last hill as I started riding up it. I was passing a lot of folks both walking and riding but he was the one I most wanted to pass. As I rode up the steepest part I saw that he was getting to where the hill levelled out some and I was afraid he would be able to get back on his bike and hold me off so I put my head down and went harder. I looked up to see him stopped on the hill right in front of me. He hadn't gotten going yet. So I swerved around him and as I passed him he let out a huge moan/grunt. I just kept going and after a few seconds I looked back to see if he was gaining on me at all. Well, he was out of the saddle sprinting as hard as he could but he wasn't gaining too fast. So I kept spinning steadily, looked back one more time and then gassed it. That was so satisfying!!

OK! Bottom line is, in my first Sport race I ended up 21 out of 26? overall in about 1:58. I am relatively unhurt except for a bruise on my left calf and another on my right knee. My bike was muddy and I lost my polar cadence sensor I think on the tree hanging endo but I have a spare so I'm not upset. All in all a good day and a good experience. But I think I will keep on racing Beginner, those Sport guys are just too fast for me!