In every race there is a story to be told. No one does this better than my teammate Dirty Mike. I, on the other hand, will just tell it like it is.My race weekend started on Thursday afternoon when I got off work. This is because I was of Friday-Sunday so I had plenty of time to enjoy the Ironcross race weekend. Things started off on a bad note on Thursday evening when I broke a mirror in my bathroom. Jump ahead to Saturday when I showed up for Ironcross Lite. I went to the registration table to pick up my packet and I was handed #13.
Now I'm not superstitious but this was just ridiculous. I really didn't have huge expectations for this race because mass start races and racing off road isn't really a strong point for me and cyclocross has both. I've done cyclocross races before but it never fails to surprise me just how fast these races start. I had a pretty good start and was mid field and starting to settle into a rhythm. It was an awesome course complete with 4 log jumps and a pumpkin orange Cannondale death spiral to go along with the normal cyclocross stuff like barriers and a sand pit. After a few laps and managing to clear all of the logs and not face plant I somehow managed to pinch flat my rear tire when I was sitting my bike down after carrying it over a set of barriers. RACE OVER! That quick I was done. I thought to myself, "this is disappointing but I guess I'll just save my energy for tomorrow." So I went into recovery mode to prepare to put my best foot forward for Ironcross VI on Sunday.
Saturday evening Dirty Mike, Doug Milliken and I went to Olive Garden for dinner and then watched Transition 2: 'Cross the Pond to get pumped up for the next days race. Then it was off to bed early.
Sunday wake up time was 06:00am. Breakfast for me was pancakes. Dirty Mike opted for waffles (I think he was trying to gain some Belgain 'cross magic). Time to head to the race!
The race was staged so that the first group were the past winners of the event and the winners of the Ironcross Lite races. Then came all of the the races who thought they could finish in less than 5 hours. Next it was the races with an approximate finish time of 5-6 hours and the final group were racers with an approximate finish time of >6 hours. The crazy thing about this race is that even though it was >62 miles long it started just as fast as the Ironcross Lite race the day before. I was in a good place at the start and stayed close to DM through the cross course and onto the first section of trail. Then we started up the first big hill and I, of course, crumbled. I stayed steady and caught back up to DM's group on the hill but another acceleration left me in their wake. Then Doug caught me and we joined up and started a paceline to try and catch DM's group and were making good progress when Doug went down in some loose gravel on a tight turn on the downhill road section. I slowed down but he yelled that he was OK and told me to push on. I did but it wasn't long before Doug and a paceline of about 10 strong guys (many of whom were in DM's group and flatted on the first hill/trail) came blowing by me and I was unable to hang on on the series of hills we were on and then once again I was all by myself. I hit the first section of downhill of single track where I was subsequently passed by what seemed like half of the race. I stopped once during the single track and once later on to lend my pump or a tube to racers who had neglected to prepare for the course. Which brings me to my next image of how disappointed I was when I came across DM walking down a hill with a flat tubular clincher tire and no replacement. We refilled it with a CO2 and the tire sealed for a minute but went flat pretty quickly. He told me he was going to walk back to the last checkpoint and I was on my own again but this time it was until the end. I ran out of water soon after passing the final checkpoint and little did I know I still had an hour to ride. I was in pretty bad shape by the end but managed to finish in 5:01:xx. I missed my goal time of no worse than a 5 hour finish but would have made it if I didn't stop to help a few people so I'm OK with it. I arrived at the finish line a few minutes after DM. We had some burittos and coke, then jumped into the lake to cool off and clean up before the drive home.
It was a fun day but only now am I realizing how disappointed I am with not being able to do well in mass start races. I'm now starting my month awake from biking. I'm looking for a coach for to work with next season that can help me with this problem. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.
