After nearly five full months without racing, it was finally time to pin on a number and saddle up. First race back was on the road at the Cedar Hill Criterium in Madison, TN on May 5. This crit is fun on a big loop around a park not too far away from where we live. It feels more like a road race being in the park. The road undulates quite a bit at Cedar Hill. There are two main climbs on the course, as well as an uphill drag before a downhill run to the finish. Only two turns are there to slow us down so speeds are usually pretty high. This was part of a three-race weekend last year, where we raced on Friday night at the Nashville Speedway, then Saturday at Sevier Park before catching Cedar Hill on Sunday. Like last year, it rained for Sevier Park, so I did not do that one. I wasn't keen on starting my season in a rainy crit when I haven't gone fast on a road bike since last September. The Speedway race did not happen this year as the track is closed while they add dirt to the inner loop for a pair of dirt race weekends later in May. Not good for my bike racing, but great for my love of dirt track racing!
It had been nearly five full months since I had raced, the longest break from racing I have had since I started racing seriously in 2001.We had a good-sized group in the Pro/1/2/3 class, which is pretty typical for this race. The first lap was at a moderate pace, then things got fiesty on the second lap. It was an eye-bulging pace for the next four laps. I was up front when things got spicy. I dropped to the back quickly as I was hurting and knew I wasn't going to try to make any break at this point in my first race of the year.
Once things calmed down, I got back to the front. I made one little seated acceleration to see how I felt. I got no gap as everybody was chomping at the bit to get in a break, but I did feel ok in the legs. It just seemed like things were going to blow up at some point. The closer we got to the end, the more pressure there seemed to be building up within the group. The last 20 minutes of the 60-minute race were constant attacks. Small groups of 8-10 riders kept slipping away, only to be chased back.
Finally, the elastic snapped and a serious group got a gap inside of five laps to go. The chase behind was tough and split the peloton into many smaller groups. I was up near the front of the pack at three laps to go. I was at my limit so I tried to slow a bit up the main climb and save a little. I slipped back two spots and then nobody came by. We had split off the front and I didn't realize it. Once I looked back and saw the gap, I sprinted back across to the front split. It put me beyond my limit. We were caught before the end of the lap and things split up again. The leading break stayed away to the finish, while the pack disintegrated. I found myself just trying to hold wheels in the finale, ending up at the back of the third small group in 22nd. It wasn't a great finish on paper, but I was happy with how I rode in my first race back. I was there when it mattered and had the legs to make some of those late splits, it just didn't work out in the result. I will take it and build off of it. We had a 25.6 mph average speed which was actually pretty slow for this race. That was due to some really slow laps in the middle of the race before all the late attacks began.
I had not only been skipping races, but also group rides. Y'all know how frustrated I get at times with our local group rides. Between sketchy riding and constant in-fighting between group members, it doesn't alway leave a good taste in my mouth. But I knew I needed the training so I got back out there. The first week I didn't see anyone. Then I found out they had reversed the loop for this year. I wasn't keen on the change at first as it put all the hills at the end with a long climb to the finish. Once I rode the course though, I found I could get up that climb well enough to be in contention. This loop was more conducive to bringing a bigger group into the finale as the hills were all crammed in the last five miles. There wasn't much to split things up prior to that. It turned out to be a pretty fun loop.
It was time to get back to dirt in the middle of the month. The DINO Series was ready to start up in Winona Lake, IN. Dina and I were both ready to get back to mountain bike racing. We headed out on Friday as the Winona Lake race is always on Saturday. We stopped on our way out of town for strawberries at Slate Farms in Clarksville. We picked a box to eat, a box to take to the family in Indiana, and a few boxes for us to use for strawberry jam. We bought strawberries from different local farms last year and Slate's had the best taste. We picked them ourselves and then had a little fun on the way out of the field.
Another eight hours of van time and we were up in northern Indiana with the family. It rained there on Friday, so we rode our home trail before leaving instead of trying for a muddy pre-ride. We didn't get to see the course before the race, but we had ridden it before so no major worries there.
The race was well-attended, with large numbers in most classes. The Elite group was especially big with 18 riders on the start line. The Bissell-Giant development team had several riders. They are all fast. There were some other riders there that are full-time Pro as well. I rolled up to the line at my normal time and the line was packed. They added more distance to the start by going all the way around the grassy field. I started in the back, but the extra distance in the grass gave me time to move up to 9th before we hit the woods. We did a short section of woods, then popped out into the open again before hitting the main trail. I get rammed in the side just as we re-entered the woods by one of the Pros who decided to make up for his poor start by running over people like a bulldozer. He rammed me and we got hung up on the uphill into the woods. His foot went into my front wheel and I had to stop to save my spokes. It cost me a few spots. Of course he was mad at me about it.
I lost another spot on a split line. I took the safe route as people were riding sketchy and I expected a crash on the log ride that was a little slick. But everyone made it and I lost out. There was then a big crash on the first bridge. I made it through, but now was gapped off the main group way back in 13th. I chased hard the entire first lap, making many mistakes in the slick corners as I was not able to get into much of a rhythm while in chase mode. I blew a corner at one point while looking for the group ahead and dropped two more spots. Despite my hard work, I came out to end the first of three 10-mile laps in 15th over two minutes off the lead. Not how I wanted to start my DINO Series.
I have been doing this long enough to know not to panic. I kept my cool and kept plugging away. I picked off three riders early in lap 2, then bridged across to another group of three. I got by all three riders within a few miles and then passed one more rider to get into 8th by the end of lap 2. I was 1:10 behind 7th and 1:20 off 6th starting the final lap. I knew it was possible to get there if I stayed focused.
I caught 7th before the halfway point of the lap. As I got to his wheel, I hung my foot on a root that was sticking out into the trail. At this spot, the trail was a deep trench going up a climb. When my pedal came around it hung a root at the top of the trench, smashing my foot under the root. I was in a full sprint and the force was pretty heavy. It was the most painful thing I have ever felt. I thought half of my foot was gone. It busted my shoe, but no toes were hanging out so I guessed the toes were still attached. That slowed me for a minute as I howled like a coyote, but I could still pedal so I got back to work, eventually getting that position. I rode great despite the major foot ache, but started to bonk with two miles to go. I changed my drink mix this year to a lower-calorie mix and started with a little bit smaller breakfast. Both of these were done to try to get rid of the full stomach feeling I had at most races last year. It did help fix the stomach issue, but was just a little low in calories. I could see 6th the last six minutes of the race, but just couldn't get across to him. I ended the day 7th. It was a nice recovery, but man did that first lap kill me. Too much jumble on the start and too many mistakes in the corners on my part. I rode strong though and that pleased me. It was by far the toughest group I have ever raced with in a DINO Series race. This group was the fastest group I have ever raced with outside of a Pro XCT event. It was tough! My pinky toe appeared to be broken, but I could walk on it with it taped so I didn't go get it checked out. Like my two finger injuries, there's not much a doc can do for a simple toe fracture.
Dina had a good day, taking home 2nd out of six in Expert Women. She was less than 2:30 off the winner. Dina is getting some help from Maxxis this year which is awesome as she has really worked hard in the past year, getting through a diabetes diagnosis along the way. She made the choice to leave the team she was on last year. She is like me in that we don't like politics and BS. Her team had two levels of riders. The top tier gets some help with race entry fee reimbursement and some other perks, while the lower level does not. Dina met the requirements to move up to the top tier, but was denied because her results came from mountain bike races. Other riders on the top tier didn't race for most of the year and didn't meet the requirements, yet still got to stay in the top group. She had also been "in trouble" for not wearing her jersey on the podium at a late-season mudfest race last year. She only has one jersey so of course she didn't stay in a wet, mud-covered jersey on a cold day while waiting around for the podium. It seemed like a simple explanation, but they didn't accept it. You want her on the podium in your jersey, then help her get another jersey or a team t-shirt. Besides internal team politics, they also liked to push other politics as well, like telling the team where they could and couldn't buy things because of the political stance of the owner of the store. I don't mix my politics and sports. The bike is where I go to get away from politics and the division it brings. Dina is much like me. We don't care about your political leanings, only what kind of person you are to others. If we decide not to shop somewhere it is because of our own opinion of you, not because someone else tells us not to. Just because someone votes different than you doesn't mean they hate you or are a horrible person. If you get to know someone you think has different views, you will most likely find they aren't much different than you at all.
Shannon and I were working hard on the farm as Spring gets ready to become Summer. The plants are growing strong. Our super hot peppers are in the ground as the cooler nights have now passed. We made our Strawberry Jam, then added a new option in Honeysuckle Jelly. I used to eat honeysuckles as a kid. Well, it was more like suck the nectar out of the blossoms rather than actually eat them. They have a very sweet taste and strong smell. We heard about making jelly from them so we got to work. It takes some time to pick enough blossoms, but luckily we have plenty here. Honeysuckles are not native and have actually caused a lot of problems in our area so plucking the blooms actually helps to slow their growth. The jelly turned out great, tasting just like the honeysuckles smell. It is super sweet and was a huge hit with our customers. I was shocked how quickly we sold out of our first batch. The growth of the farm has really been amazing, especially considering some of the things that have driven our sales like Honeysuckle Jelly. Who would have thought?!!
The dirt was finally ready for some racing at the Nashville Speedway. Two race weekends were on tap. The first weekend was the DIRTcar Clash centered around late models, while the second weekend was the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. I have always wanted to see the World of Outlaws, but this year was not to be the year to make it happen. We were already planning to go out to Utah to see Gma and Amber that weekend. We had the SERC race in Chattanooga on the same weekend as the DIRTcar Clash, but I wasn't about to miss both races. Dina and I went to the DIRTcar race on Saturday night, then drove back home for a few hours of sleep before driving down to Chattanooga for the SERC. Not the best recipe for a top performance on Sunday, but it sure was fun!. The late models did not disappoint.
We got home late from the dirt track as expected. We were asleep at midnight, then in the van and on the road at 4am bound for Chattanooga. This was only the second time we were racing at the Enterprise South Nature Park. Our first time was last year and I found a course that I really liked. I was pretty excited to get back to this place. The course was dry and fast this year unlike the slick conditions seen last year. I knew I was riding better than last year, when I rode pretty bad and still had a shot at the podium until I crashed starting the last lap. I set a new PR on our home trail this week and felt good in the warm-up. Everything was lining up for a good day.
Despite having some confidence in the strength of my legs, I was still nervous about the long, uphill road start where I got hammered last year, reaching the woods in last place. This time was different though as I was up front the entire climb, reaching the woods in 4th out of our 13 riders in the Pro/Cat 1 group. The pace was high initially on lap 1 of 4. It quickly split the group behind me. The first long descent saw two crashes from the rider in 2nd place. The first crash slowed us up, but no positions changed. The second came just a few seconds later and 3rd place was able to slip by, but I was not. Simon Lewis was ahead of the falls and got a gap as a result. The chase was on immediately. We were near the bottom of the descent when the pace reached full-tilt. I decided to hold back just a bit as I knew a long climb was coming.
The front three pulled away from me as I settled into my own pace on the climb. I'm not sure if the falling rider ever rejoined the front two or not, but he was definitely off by the end of the lap. They got out of sight at one time, but then I could see third on the final climb of the course. The loop ends with a big descent, one where I was much faster than everyone last year. I knew I had to pass him before the descent to be able to gain time on the two ahead. I pushed it hard and was able to make the pass right at the crest of the hill. I pulled away down the descent and finished lap 1 just 15 seconds off the two leaders.
Lap 2 I worked harder, but was unable to gain anything. In fact, I lost time, dropping to 45 seconds back by the halfway point of the race. I was pulling away from everyone else, but I wanted a win not a 3rd. I kept working on lap 3 and maintained the gap until the final climb, when I dropped a handful of seconds, still coming in less than a minute back with one lap to go. My legs were strong and helping me to climb pretty well for a guy that is still a bit on the heavy side. They finally started to fade midway through the final lap while the front two ramped up the pace racing for the win. The front two sprinted it out in the closing miles, with Simon getting down the descent first to grab the win. I ended up 3rd at 3:01. The pinky toe had been sore all week, but it was not much of an issue today. I barely even thought about it. Thankfully, bike shoes are super stiff and don't let toes do a lot of moving, even under power.
May was a great month as I got back into competition. The next DINO race kicked off June in just a week's time, but we would be missing that one as we were heading out west to see family. It was an interesting trip to say the least, going off the rails before we even left. More on that in the next post!
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