Snoop "working out"
I enjoyed my first trip to Conyers last year, but driving there is always a mess as you have to drive right through Atlanta. I don’t know how anyone could live there with all the traffic and crazy drivers. Things are a bit more complicated than usual right now as part of I-85 is closed near downtown after some people set couches on fire under a bridge in an attempt to bring the bridge down. I’m not sure how they were charged, but that is terrorism in my opinion. So, I-85 traffic is being diverted onto the other interstates making for more traffic everywhere. We lost over an hour and half during what should have been the last 30 minutes of the drive down.
We camped at the race site. As soon as the tents were set up we hit the trails for a quick pre-ride. Overall, the course was the same as last year. There were two slight changes with new trails being added. One bypassed the only soft spot on the trail, while the other was an extension that also bypassed a rooty uphill.
The moon up above the race site on Saturday
Our tents ready for a night of camping
Dina practicing taking a bottle from a feed pole
The weather was great and the trail was dry. The air was also dry with the lowest humidity the area had seen in a long time. There were fire bans due to the dryness so no campfires for any of us staying in the field. It got cold on Saturday night so a fire would have been nice. As soon as the sun went down we were inside the tent trying to stay warm. It dropped to about 38 degrees overnight, which made for a good chance to test out my new 0-degree sleeping bag. I also took my turn on the Klymit inflatable sleeping mat that Shannon tested in Florida last month. Both the sleeping bag and mat worked great. I will be getting another mat for future camping trips as they sleep just as well as our cots and take up about 1/6th the space when packing.
It was still cold during my warm-up ride. My legs did not feel good. They felt tired, like I had already ridden two laps. I felt like they did not recover at all from the pre-ride. I realized right before the start that I had forgotten at home my First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot gel flask full of my high-calorie gel that keeps me from having to eat anything else during the races. So, I had to turn to regular gels which was not really a big deal since I have raced on them in the past so I knew my body would handle them well and knew how often I should take them. It was really just an inconvenience more than anything with having to take multiple gels during the race versus one swig of EFS per lap.
There were only four Pro riders on the start line. With this being a GSC race as well as a SERC, I hoped we would start with the Cat. 1 19-39 riders since the GSC Series scores us together. I would rather race them head-to-head than to compare times at the end. But we started separate with just the four of us taking off to kick off the Yellow Wave races. It was a slower start than last year. I was on the back of the line until we got near the woods. I pulled out to the left to move up and got as far as second before the others reacted. They all beat me to the woods as I struggled a bit up the first incline just before the singletrack. As soon as we hit the woods I got gapped and couldn’t seem to hold the pace. I didn’t panic, just tried to be smooth and find my rhythm.
Yellow Wave start line
photo by GoneRiding.com
Pro Men start
photo by GoneRiding.com
Cat. 2 Women had the Holeshot Award this week. Dina (left) went for it, but ended up 2nd.
photo by GoneRiding.com
I dangled just off the back for the first few miles, never really being able to close up to the wheel in front of me. On the first of the longer climbs I fell back even more. I had absolutely no power today. The legs felt tired and the rest of my body just didn’t want to go. I don’t know how to explain it. The gap was at 15 seconds at the first pipeline field crossing, then 20 at the next. The first of the two major climbs came next and I dropped back to 40 seconds by the top. I struggled just to get to the top. Same thing with the second climb. By the end of the lap I was well over a minute back, but I could see third place was behind the first two in the big open field so I knew there was a chance I could catch him later if I could get my body going.
Me struggling by myself out on lap 1
photo by GoneRiding.com
Pro leaders after lap 1
3rd in Pro
Me running 4th
Dustin White leads the Cat. 1 19-39 train at the end of lap 1
A quick peak over the shoulder revealed a charging line of Cat. 1 19-39 riders being led by Dustin White. I managed to hold them off through the first piece of woods on lap 2, then moved out of their way. There must have been about 10 of them together. I actually had to stop to let them all go by. Dustin was on the attack and it made it hard for me to get onto the train. I got gapped, but then clawed my way back up to them on the first gradual climb. There was some excitement in the line when one guy tried to pass on a section that started wide, but quickly narrowed. He ran out of room and clipped a tree and went over the bars. As his back wheel lifted up it looked like it went onto the top of Jaron Wood’s shoulder. Luckily, the rest of us made it through without going down with the guy.
I was feeling better by the end of lap 2 and the line of Cat. 1s drug me back to third place and we went by him on the first big climb. The front two were long gone. My goal now was just to hang with this group and pass everyone that fell off and then try to put a minute on them. As we ran, every rider in this line would finish ahead of me for GSC points since they started a minute behind us.
Pro leaders on lap 2
3rd
Dustin White got a slight gap on lap 2 and was leading the 3rd place Pro at this point in lap 2, just about 10 seconds ahead of the Cat. 1 group.
Jaron was ahead of me and let a small gap go as we came into the field to end lap 2. It made for a really hard chase all the way around the massive grass loop. Jaron actually gapped me going back into the woods and I didn’t bridge to the group for another mile or so. I didn’t have any legs, but I could still rip the singletrack and gain time with momentum. I still felt weak throughout lap 3, but I hung on. Same thing happened at the end of this lap. A different rider let a gap go in the last woods section and it turned into a massive chase all the way around the field again. I lost his wheel when I slowed to take a feed. Just like the previous lap, he got back on and I did not. I had to really push the first twisty section to rejoin the group, but I was able to do it yet again. That one took a lot out of me and about finished me off.
Me topping the second climb on lap 2
The group was now whittled down to six of us on the fourth and final lap. The pace got faster as we approached the first steep climb. I had to suffer to stay with them and managed to do it until the bottom of the climb. The line had caught a slower rider and the first half cleared them going into the climb, while the back half of the line had to wait. That split caused a big acceleration out from the back of the group that popped me off the back. At the same time, Harrison Klapheke attacked the front of the line and opened up a gap that he would hold all the way to the finish to win the Cat. 1 19-39. I was completely blown and out of energy. I tried to hold my gap over Jaron Wood, hoping it was a minute, but he caught me right at the end. It was a really bad race for me and I dropped a lot of points in the GSC Series, ending up ninth overall in the combined Pro/Cat. 1 19-39 results. Dustin White is now the GSC points leader. As for SERC, I got third thanks to low turnout and actually didn’t give up too many points.
2nd place Pro on the last lap
Still six riders together in this line. Five were Cat. 1 19-39 riders and one Pro (me) on the back.
Harrison Klapheke makes the winning move on the first big climb
It was chaos in the group with all the lapped riders on this climb
I got popped off starting this climb. My legs were done.
Dina was toast by her last lap as well.
The only thing I think might explain my feeling of weakness was dehydration. It is something I have struggled with a lot the past few months. With it being so dry here in Georgia, it is possible that I didn’t drink enough prior to the race. That’s usually the only thing that makes me feel weak all over without having that bonking feeling. It was a similar feeling to what I had at the end of Chickasaw, just on a much higher level here from the start of the race.
I was surprised to get the yellow leader’s jersey for SERC at the podium presentations. I didn’t realize that I am the only rider to do all three rounds thus far. It was a consolation prize for a tough day, but it got a little tougher when I got on the podium and some people were yelling that I didn’t deserve it when I couldn’t beat the Cat. 1s. Again, the “he should be downgraded” phrase was thrown around. I saw a few of the people that said those things and they were the same people that accused me of cheating for my fast time at Montgomery Bell. So, I go so fast you think I cheated and then, a month later, I have a bad day and I should be downgraded? I don’t get it. Besides, it’s Pro/Open anyway so technically I wouldn’t even have to be Pro to race this class. That also means it’s open to anyone else who wants to come get them some.
Pro Men podium
Overall SERC Series Points Leader's Podium with me and Josselyn Gutierrez
To add to a kind of bitter day, Dina got wrecked at the end of her second lap. Some guy took her out in the field. It’s at least 100 yards wide with no tape to force you to follow any certain line. This guy passed her so close that he hit her handlebar and lifted her up off the ground. It knocked her bars clean out from under her and she landed on her back. She got pretty skinned up and bruised. It also busted several spokes out of her rear wheel. She was lucky to be able to finish the race on that wheel. The guy didn’t even have the decency to stop to see if she was ok. With that kind of hit, you can’t make me believe he didn’t know he wrecked her. She was pretty angry about it and probably would have ruined his day if she had been able to identify him after the race.
We tried to ride away our sorrows with more riding on the course. Dina did half of a lap and I continued on for a full lap to get in the steep hills again. I felt terrible, but I did a lap anyway just to clear my head.
We have some race video from Conyers posted below, which is mainly start clips from the Yellow Wave classes, but does include a few clips from out on the trails.
Video: SERC #3/GSC #2 - Conyers, GA
We had another drive filled with traffic nightmares to get home. We tried to make the most out of our detours by hitting up Bruster’s for some ice cream in Roswell, then catching De Soto Falls in north Alabama. We visited the falls last year when we raced the SERC at DeSoto State Park in Ft. Payne, AL. We thought we would show Dina since our detour was taking us within two miles of the falls. There was much more water flowing into the gorge this time, making for a totally different view than we got last year. I am really glad we stopped.
Nice sundae from Bruster's
Top portion of De Soto Falls
De Soto Falls
The spillway above the falls
Video: De Soto Falls
We now have two weekends off before another SERC/GSC double-header at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA on Athens Twilight weekend, so we plan to do some bike racing and watch some bike racing. More on that coming soon.
