Trail of Tears

     I took it easy the week between Florida and Chickasaw just to be on the safe side. I was starting to think I had a touch of sickness with my stomach feeling weird and having a headache all weekend. It rained most of the week so what little riding I did do was confined to indoors on the trainer. Chickasaw has been wet more often than not the past few years come the race weekend. The rain was heavy earlier in the week and while things were still wet on race day, it was not to the same extent as the past few years. I was hoping to get to pre-ride again, but my day-trip back at the end of February turned out to be my only chance to see the course before the race.

     The storms we had during the week not only got the course wet, but also knocked down several trees which were too big to be cut out. The Columbia Cycling Club maintains the trails and worked hard to reroute one part of the Ravine Loop around an uprooted tree and also built a huge ramp over a fallen tree on the River Trail. I was eager to go see those two areas in my warm-up. This was one of those races where Shannon couldn't come and my new feed pole would be put to use. It’s just a plastic fence post with two water bottle cages zip-tied to it. I was excited to be putting it into action for the first time. As soon as I got my skinsuit on I headed to the feed zone to put it in the ground. On the way over, one bottle started to fall out of the cage and I tried to catch it. In the process of reaching with my hand I twisted the feed pole behind me and it caught my spokes, which pulled the entire pole into my rear wheel. After just 11 seconds of warm-up I destroyed my rear wheel. It broke out at least four spokes, bent many more, and nearly snapped off my derailleur. It even bent the feed pole. I couldn’t believe that just happened. I felt really dumb as I limped back to the car with my spokes clanking. Luckily, Dina raced at a later time today, so I was able to borrow her rear wheel for the race. Grant Wilson’s dad, Jeremiah, offered me wheel when he heard what happened. I thought that was super nice of him to do and I really appreciated the offer.

      Once I got into the trail, I found that it was greasy, but not terribly muddy on the dirt sections. The rocky areas were treacherous, like riding on ice. That would be exciting as we would hit the rocks right after the start. The layout of the trail at Chickasaw Trace Park in Columbia, TN is a 9.75-mile loop broken up into several distinct sections. The opening trail is rolling with some rock gardens and takes you down to the boat ramp and onto the flat River Trail along the Duck River. After some fast singletrack you get a long stretch in a flat field and then onto the Ravine Loop before a climb up to the top of the landfill that the park surrounds. You then descend Rick’s Trail, built and maintained by local legend rider and mechanic Rick Harmon.

     The second half of the loop begins with the infamous Trail of Tears section. This is where the majority of the climbing takes place. Riders face four major climbs in this section. The last two come in quick succession with minimal time for recovery in between. The last climb is known as Dump Hill as it climbs to the highest point overlooking the landfill. It’s only steep at the bottom, but the length, roots and constant grade really make it a tough climb. Once at the top, it’s down again on a fast, choppy downhill into the Black Hills Trail for the final section. The first part of this loop is descending along a creek with some really fast, rooty dips and a big log pile to go over. You then have a climb back up the hillside away from the creek before some rolling terrain takes you back to the edge of the landfill for some tight singletrack to finish up the loop. The county had bulldozed one section near the end of the loop to clear out a drain where they have expanded the landfill a bit. The bulldozed area had really washed and left some huge ditches for us to cross. Again, the club did a good job of making it rideable on short notice and got some pallets wedged into the ditches so we could get across.

    Race distance was for three laps on the loop for Pro and Cat. 1, which should have made for a little over two hours of racing. It would be my longest race of the season as everything has been 1:40 or less thus far. It was a cool, overcast morning, but far from cold. The Pro and Cat. 1 19-39 classes had separate payout, but we did a combined start as the classes are combined for the TBRA points series. With all the cutbacks in payout at races in recent years, Chickasaw now has the biggest Pro payout of any race in the southeast. And it brought out a big group of strong riders.

     I did not get a good jump off the line and was swamped in the new start loop. The turns that were added to keep us from bunching up entering the woods just caused us to bunch up four times before we bunched up going into the woods. It was a fast traffic jam all the way to the trail. I wasn’t even in the top 10 entering the woods. I was worried about being that far back, but I didn’t panic. I started to move up in the first field section. 

Pro/Cat. 1 19-39 start line

The launch

Pack of riders on this wet, off-camber turn in the grass

I'm in the black, sitting way back in the group.

Me just after the start

Photo courtesy of Columbia Cycling Club

     We jammed up on the first rocky climb and it turned into a hiking festival. People were trying to get back on their bike on the rocks and kept falling. Once you get off you have to just commit to running to the top. I went off into the bushes and got one spot back before remounting. I got up to Simon Lewis, who also did not have a great start and did not appear to be having a good day. I told him to calm down and get into a rhythm and we could work together to get back up there. Up front, the two strongest riders from the past few years, Carson Beckett and Cory Rimmer, were in the lead and were ahead of the congestion on the climb. I was already one minute behind Carson when I got to the boat ramp, which is not much more than a mile into the loop.

     Simon let me by on the River Trail and I picked up two more spots in the following field stretch. I wasn’t counting how many I had passed, just knocking them off and focusing on the next one ahead. I got my first time check at Rick’s Trail as I passed Harrison Klapheke. I was still just over a minute back to Carson and 18 seconds behind second. I was surprised to hear I was up to third overall already. It didn’t seem like I had passed that many people. I encouraged Harrison to get on my wheel as I thought he was leading the Cat. 1 19-39 class and I could help him get away from the others.

Carson Beckett out front on Rick's Trail on lap 1

Cory Rimmer running second

Me in third after just passing Harrison as we entered this section

Andy Messer

     Harrison and I could see Cory throughout the Trail of Tears. My legs felt really good, but I kept something back in reserve. Dump Hill hurt me and I lost a few seconds to Cory. We were 30 seconds back after lap 1 with Carson now two minutes ahead. 

Carson leading in the Trail of Tears

Cory holding down second

Me and Harrison trying to keep the front two in check

     I kept pulling Harrison along and chasing Cory. I got the gap back down to 12 seconds by the Trail of Tears on lap 2. My legs started to hurt as soon as I hit the hills the second time. I could tell I was fading fast and the third lap was going to be awful if I didn’t back off. I gapped Harrison a few times, but kept backing down to save my legs and let him catch up at the same time. Cory pulled away in the second half of the lap out to a minute by the start of lap 3. Carson was long gone now. The crowd was a bit rough towards me as we ended the second lap. There was a little taunting about how Harrison was going to beat me. It didn’t make sense to me because I thought we were in different classes and I was trying to help him.

Ending lap 1

photo by Ann Beckett

Rocky climb starting lap 2

photo by Ann Beckett

Carson increasing his lead on lap 2

Cory still in second

Me pushing hard to catch Cory, but I just couldn't get there

Harrison riding strong just a few seconds behind me halfway through the race

Alek Minkis

John Carr

     I knew I was fast in the first half of the lap so I pushed it hard on lap 3. I continued to catch some slack from some of the spectators about how I was holding him up. People often criticize me for not racing local, but this is a perfect example of why I don’t. This isn’t the first time I’ve had people yelling all sorts of negative things at me. They have done it quite often at Lock 4 over the years. I just don’t understand why you would yell negative things at a rider when the rider you support is right on his wheel. Wouldn’t you want to be positive toward your rider and pump him up? I don’t know what their goal was, but it got me fired up and made me go even harder. Harrison was able to stay with me and I kept dragging him along, never once asking him to do any work. I wanted to help him get a win if I could.

Me and Harrison starting the final lap

photo by Ann Beckett

     My legs were pretty shot on the climb up to Rick’s Trail and I knew I was about to explode, so I slowed down and let Harrison go by. When he went by I saw he had a “P” marked on his calf. Crap. I didn’t realize it was a Pro/Open category today and Harrison had signed up in Pro. I just drug him around and destroyed myself.

     The Trail of Tears finished me off completely. I not only lost my legs, but my whole body was weak. I think I was dehydrated as I didn’t start on the best hydration level and had not taken a bottle starting lap 2 as I was caught up in the chase. We were over five minutes ahead of the next riders on course so I was easily able to limp in the last few miles and take fourth. Carson won by a big margin over Cory, with Harrison having another great ride for third, just a week after his charge at the finish in Florida.

In the last section on lap 3

photo by Columbia Cycling Club

     My finish time was 2:10:31, which is 30 minutes longer than my longest race this year, so it’s no wonder I came apart. Upon review of my data for the day, I may have been trying to hold back on the first lap, but my average and max heart rates were equal to last week which was the highest I have seen in several years. The legs were good, they just didn’t last. I learned some very valuable lessons this week: 1) Keep your feed pole away from your wheel! 2)Always attack when you pass somebody. Jim Sharp always said with road racing you should attack or get off the front. It also applies to mountain biking. I will not make that mistake again. No matter what class someone is in, drop them and beat them. 3) Do not skip a feed even if you think you have enough water to go another lap.

     I missed the podium presentation as I was putting Dina’s wheel back on her bike. Some people said I was being a stick in the mud because I didn’t win this year so I skipped it, but really I was trying to help the person that helped me. Besides, it’s not like I would be upset about not winning. I’ve never won this race. Chickasaw has been a hard one for me to put it all together for three full laps. I’ve been close to winning before, but the top step of the box has evaded me thus far. Next year…

Pro/Open podium minus that one guy that is always making a scene...

     As for the rest of the family, Dina did Cat. 2 Women, which was a long, hard race for her. They had a huge class and a great battle among the top four or so. I really enjoyed watching the Cat. 2 races. There were some tight races that came down to the final few climbs. Dina finished ninth out of 11. It's so good to see 11 riders in that class. My Dad raced Cat. 3 50+ and took fourth. Hopefully we can keep him on the bike and coming to more races this season. The trail was perfect for the afternoon races an the riders really were treated to a great course and beautiful day. We took tons of pictures. I posted a bunch below.

50+ class in the opening grass section

Cat. 2 Women on the start line

Dina in the black kit had a good start

Dina up close on the start

photo by Columbia Cycling Club

Juniors 15+

Juniors 14 & Under

Cat. 3 40+ start

photo by Columbia Cycling Club

Cat. 3 40+ from the other side

Dina

photo by Tammy Richardson

Photo by Columbia Cycling Club

Dave Richardson

Caroline O'Neil

Sarah Moore

Mike Taglio

Dina on Rick's Trail the first lap

Mark Poore

Sarah Moore and Katie Soto

Mike T

Dina making a pass in the Trail of Tears

Lindsey Yokley

Bill Buckingham

My Dad, Jesse Greer

The Buck

Bill

Dad suffering in the Trail of Tears

Logan Luker

Butch Carter

Race promoter Duane Leach

Poore always smiling

O'Neil

Moore

Dave

Dina smiling

A little later, Dina not smiling so much

Tagz

Caitlyn Parker

Dina entering the last section

The last hill was tough

Dina finishing up

photo by Harpeth Youth Cycling Club

     I was back in the shop early on Monday, bringing my wheel in for Rick Harmon to fix my spokes yet again. He fixed the wheel for free. He said it was a gift for how hard I had been working lately. He also gave me a big pep talk about being frustrated by dying that last lap and making all those mistakes. They were good words to hear. I respect Rick a lot and listen intently to the wisdom that comes out of his mouth.

    With the Epic fixed up and ready to go again, my journey for six straight weekends to kick off the season continues next week with the second SERC race of the season at Tsali. We are planning on doing some adventuring while we are in the area so be looking for stories of that as well as a race report in the next post.