Huck-A-Buck 2012

Another Huck-A-Buck at Lake Crabtree is in the books and for once it was not 100 degrees.  The race is put on by Happy Fun Racing and they do one hell of a job.  This race always draws a pretty big number of riders and the Single Speed Category isn't lacking either along with the competition in it.  The trail got some rain last night which helped tighten it up since it has been dusty and slick, but the trade off was slick roots and bridges along with 80 degree temp with about 85% humidity.  We had three 7 mile laps to sort it out on the trail.

Rockin' the 29nsngl kit
Photo by On the Mark Sports

They let the Single Speed Category loose on the course at 12:20 and it was on from the start when the siren went off.  The start line was maybe 40 yards from the entrance to the trail, so I had to mash on the pedals hard to hopefully get the hole shot or at least be close to the front.  I hit the trail running 3rd, but there was a nice line behind me that was pressing hard.  It seemed 1st and 2nd were trying to keep the pace down and with really no passing areas on the trails were going to be tricky.  So, I thought I would be nice and ask to pass, so that is what I did.  I can't blame the guy when I asked I got the response of, "what?" So, I asked again and he said sure at the next time that it was possible.  I went around in the first 2 miles and sat on 1st places rear wheel until about 5.5 miles when it widened out and was smooth, so I took a drink from the bottle and let 3rd go around me.  We crossed the start/finish line nose to tail and stayed like that until about 10 miles when 2nd made his move and he was gone.  We tried to stay with his pace, but backed off since 4th on back looked to be maybe a minute behind us.  I spent the rest of the race seeing 2nd through the woods and looking back and seeing 4th and 5th not that far behind me also.  There was no letting up for the entire 3rd lap for it looked like 4th was trying to close the gap and he was.  I crossed the line in 3rd at 1:32:19 for 21 miles (3 laps). 

I only ended up drinking one bottle of fluid and two Gu packets the entire race.  After uploading my Garmin 500 to Strava it really showed what kind of suffering was going on during the race for me by my heartrate.

http://app.strava.com/rides/14193435

For placing 3rd I got this nice poster of vintage Tour de France image of the racers drinking that I plan to frame and hang in my office at work.  Along with it was one of these handy dandy recycled bike parts bottle opener key chain that will get plenty of use.

Curse at the Crab 2012

photo taken by On The Mark Sports

This past weekend I raced the Curse at the Crab 6 hour race at Lake Crabtree here in Raleigh, NC.  What makes this race really awesome is it runs from 2pm to 8pm, so you get at least 2-3 laps in the dark.  Going into the race I knew the course was going to be a fast 6.75-7 mile course.  No major climbing just lots of hammering the pedals.  The Single Speed category was 10 deep with some really good racers in it, so I knew it would be a fight to take a podium spot.  They started us about half a mile down the main road in the park to try and get us spread out.  When we started it was a mad sprint to be somewhere up front since we had about 75 racers jumping into the singletrack at once.  I hit the woods running around 4^th in the single speed category being sandwiched between two other single speed racers, James and Mark.  These are two buddies that I ride with, so I knew what they could do for the next six hours.  Not even 2 miles into the race by buddy was running in front of me and he wrecks, which moved me up to possibly 3rd in the SS Category.  Somehow I came to a stop without leaving him with a tire tattoo.  Then not even a mile later going through some switchbacks I was carrying to much speed into a 90 degree turn and ate it.  I got up and never lost my spot in the four person train we were running since they had no way of getting around me.  Somewhere during all of this 2^nd place fell off and moved me up another spot.  The next three laps were the same with me leading the 4 person train through the woods until we got to this flat straight away that I would use for eating and hydrating.  I backed off and waved them around while I ate some food moving me back to 3^rd place.  Somewhere on lap 5, I moved up to 2^nd place without knowing it.  Then on lap 6 I rolled into the pits and saw who I thought was 2nd place off to the side getting some food or something.  At the time I had no clue that I was now in 1^st place, and tried to pick up my pace or at least stay consistent.  So, in my mind I was trying to chase 1^st place down, but at the same time I was running scared and hoping to not get caught.  Halfway through lap 8  it was time to switch on the lights.  The last two laps were in complete darkness and my goal was to not let any lights catch me and try and catch as many as I could in front of me hoping it would be 1^st place.  I started my last lap 10 minutes before the cut-off time, so I knew there was plenty of time for someone to still catch me.  Lap 10 was uneventful and I crossed the line at 5:58:37 with 10 laps/70 miles.  It was not until I got to my pit that I found out I won the Single Speed Category and when I started looking at the results I learned I had been in 1^st place since lap 7.  Lesson learned:  Hammer it like you are chasing and running scared at the same time.  Stay Metal.

This race like all the others wouldn't be possible without TORC (Triangle Off-Road Cyclists) and all the volunteers.  On The Mark Sports provided the timing and photos.  It was really cool that they did live updates on the website every few minutes and had the photos uploaded within hours on their facebook page.  The trophies were really bad ass also.

I think I have finally dialed in my nutrition also.  I ended up with no cramping or stomach issues for the entire race and that was a first.  More on this in a future post.

Bushwhack Mountain Bike Challenge

photo by biketriad.com

This was the inaugural Bushwhack Mountain Bike Challenge and it was limited to 100 riders, and I was one of the lucky ones that got a spot.  It wasn't that hard to get one as long as you signed up early and didn't wait until the last minute and then hope someone would back out so you could have their spot. This crazy cold front that came through had the temperature at 28F and a wind chill of 20F at the start which is not normal for Raleigh, NC. This race was every man or woman for themselves, no categories, just straight up racing.  They had us start with 1 mile on the road before hitting the singletrack to get us spread out sort of. It was great accept for everyone with gears went flying down the road which made it harder on the single speed to get a good spot going into woods. I spent the next 7 miles slowly moving around people before we hit the fireroads for the next 19 miles. It was fairly flat for the next 2.5 or so miles which made it easy for some the geared guys to come back by until we hit the uphill sections and I would make up time on some. Spinning out going downhill didn’t help when I would be within quarter mile or so of some others and they would just pull away. I think I only ended up passing 3 or 4 on the fireroads. Finally I hit the singletrack again and that is where I made up some spots passing 7 guys. I ended up covering the 35 miles in 2:37:49 and finishing 33rd out of 90 riders. The race didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but better than not showing up and not finishing.

Photo by Reward
Yes, I ran the rooty climb.  People were stopped at the top.

Lesson learned - Even though it is cold as hell outside you don't have to put on every cycling related piece of gear you own.  Well, the one extra piece was not actual cycling gear, but none other than running tights.  Huge mistake, not because they were running tights, but because when you slide your leg warmers over top of the tights the leg warmers like to slowly work themselves down over the miles.  This didn't happen with both legs at the same time, they somehow took turns sliding down.  At least 3 times in Umstead I slowed down to a crawl to pull them back up.  Only happened once in Crabtree, but it was flopping around by knee, so I had to come to a complete stop for this, it sucked.  So, next time I will have to not be a big wuss and HTFU and go with just the leg warmers or just hope it is warmer.

This race will be on my list every year they run it.  It makes you hurt in a good way.