2010 Mudslinger Weekend Race Report: Super D and XC
May 1-2, 2010, Womens Category 1
by Elaine Bothe
Two races in one weekend. Countless learning opportunities.
The Super D, a mountain bike downhill race but with some uphill action to keep the hardcore downhillers from stealing the show, took place on Saturday. We get two runs on a 6 or 7 mile course, half of which is uphill on gravel roads. No previews whatsoever. The final time is cumulative of the two runs.
I collect my number plates and I rope my nemesis/friend Michelle Hannaford from Team Dirt into it. Her team’s hosting and helping the organizers with the weekend. She’s running registration and didn’t think she had the time to do the race.
Lesson #1. Make friends but don’t invite them to compete against you...
First Run. I’m flying but held back by the fact that this is a preview run (and I didn’t get much warmup) even though it counts. I sail over logs, around the corners and the steep rooty downhill sections no prob. Feeling good, and confident in the double track I’m cutting track to track to decrease the arcs, saving as much time as I can. This is my kind of time trial! Even though it’s downhill, my heart rate is as high, if not higher, than my Cherry Blossom TT.
Lesson #2. Be careful when you’re flying.
I start across the double track and notice, too late, hidden by the tall grass, there’s a 4 inch height difference than the tire track part... my front wheel catches and down I go, a repeat performance of my CB fireworks! same side and all.
Except this time, I was going faster. And, I had on pads! so I wasn’t hurt except for a bruise and rash on my hip and a hole in my almost new leg warmers and sleeve.
I still finish first out of the 4 women. yay!
Second Run. We’re seeded according to finish, I’m 6th or 7th out of 20 or so, including all the guys! Off I go even faster than the first run because now I know where the corners are. Clear and clean over the first log. the second, too.
Lesson #3. Bring tools and tubes to ALL races no matter what. Even if you run tubeless!
My front wheel lands not exactly the way I expected then POP!sssssflapflapflapflap. No crash, just extreme disappointment. I do NOT want a DNF (“Did Not Finish”) for a race I entered for fun and practice. Especially one I had a good chance to win! I weigh the options, and start running down the hill. Stop. Michelle and several others race by, one guy, Josh from Peak Sports bike shop in Corvallis stops, he has a tube but the wrong pump.
Oh well, thanks anyway.
Cars are closer at the top of the hill, it’ll be shorter to head back up. So I go up. At the top, maybe ten yards from the start (only about a half mile) somebody has a spare tube! and a pump, we undo my wheel, yank out the tubeless valve and shove in the new tube. I didn’t see any rips or punctures, I still didn’t know what I hit... I think I just landed hard on another stump or branch and popped the bead.
Lesson #4. Ask for a restart. Sometimes this is possible. I did not know this.
The tube seems to hold air, I put everything back together, thanking everyone profusely for the impromptu emergency tubeless clinic (it’s not hard despite all the rumors) and I head back down the hill, though more conservatively. A finish would still mean second place in the Cat 1’s.
Lesson #5. If you even think you might need new tires for whatever reason, you probably do. Change them.
I try different lines, just previewing the course for tomorrow’s race. I still don’t have full confidence in my tires though, they’re old, they’re not gripping like they did last year and I still didn’t know what killed the front.
Lesson #6. Don’t stop racing. Ever. Well except to render aid....
There’s a kid on the gravel road, standing over his bike, head on his hands on the handlebars. He’s just really tired, we're only about a quarter mile out but it’s all up hill. I slow way down, checking on him and shouting encouragement. He remounts and starts riding. “Pretend there’s a rope attached to my bike and I’m towing you up the hill!” I yell, that seems to help him a lot and he makes his way up the hill.
Finish line. Michelle is there. “I just got here!” she says. whaaaaa? !?? “I took a wrong turn and rode an extra four or five miles!” No way, we are both laughing. What a race.
She edges me out by a little and wins the Cat 1. I came in second.
But, the best part is that the winner of the men and the winner of the women each get $75. There were two other women, both Cat 3, Jackie from team Dirt who broke her collarbone at the Cherry Pie road race earlier this year and is just now getting back on her bike, and Melissa, queen of the masters! Jackie gets the money, Melissa came in 2nd overall, Michelle, 3rd, and me, 4th!! What fun!
I win a tire in the raffle, to the cheers of everyone who all know the story. And Michelle invites myself and Teammate Sarah, who drove up after the Eugene Roubaix, to stay at her house. We were planning on camping up there but were thrilled abut the offer. And a shower.
Lesson #7. Double check tire sizes.
Since I won a new tire, a Specialized The Captain, my favorite mud tire, I figure I’ll drive back into town to see if the wizards at Peak Sports a) have another matching tire and b) can mount them both up for me. Yep and yep. Double-yay!
I drive to Michelle’s house and take my bike for a quick spin in her driveway to help spread around the sealing goo. Wow, said Morgan, Michelle’s boyfriend, those are big tires! I look again, and, sure enough, they are the 2.2’s not the 2.0’s I originally had. Same tread, different sizes. Well, I said, they should be good in the mud. Spoiler alert: they are.
XC on Sunday. Sarah and I warm up on the gravel road, coating ourselves with mud splatters before the race even started. Eventually, we start. Michelle chases the pros up the hill, I’m in back. My legs feel like lead, even though I had a good warmup. I stalk Brooke from Bicycle Atty’s up the hill for a while but can’t hold on. Solo ride through the beautiful coast range mists and mud. I’m last.
Dead leg last.
Oh well, I enjoy the scenery, get a good training ride in, I’m still tired from Cherry Blossom and used up whatever I had in the Super D race. oops. Plus, these bigger tires are bigger, heavier, collected way more mud than I could imagine (but still had great traction—don’t ask me how!) I stopped a couple of times to clear out my front deraillieur and around the brakes (non-disks). Mud tires, they are, faithful though it is, mud bike, it’s not.
I keep my heart rate as high as I can (which isn't very high today, it turned into a nice endurance ride) and attack the obstacles and technical sections with glee. I’m still riding as hard as I can--oh, wait, I really have to pee. So I neutralize myself for a pee break.
Otherwise, I’m still racing as best I can. I’m remembering Lesson #6, Don’t Stop Racing. I still come in last, (6th I think) but CONTROVERSY! Michelle doesn't think some of the women listed ahead of her ever passed her. There was a tricky cutoff where the cat 2’s go one way and the Cat1/Pro/Singlespeeders go another... Melissa from Team Dirt did that, fessed up and took her DNF. (She had pedal problems at the start, too!) I don’t know one way or the other, so I can’t advise, but maybe it’ll all get sorted out. who knows.
That cutoff, by the way, led to some glorious and spectacularly twisty, muddy, rooty descents, Sandy Ridge x 8 or so! I went down them all, though not with grace. This makes Cat 1 so fun, the “secret” trails even if I’m not on the podium. It’s still a fabulous challenge.
Lesson #8. Rescind Lesson #1. It’s great fun racing against friends and being supportive, teammates or not. Especially when they don’t ride well when they usually do, and same with you, so you get a great story out of it!
Sarah did great, for her first mtb race in a while, 3rd one ever... 4th in the masters Cat 2!! Yay! It was fun playing and I’m thrilled that she had a good time too.
Fun time, memorable weekend. And, if you need a bike shop in Corvallis, I highly recommend Peak Sports!
Photo credits: Oregon Velo.
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