MASS #5 2016 Granogue & Bach CAT1 6th/ 12

I was still riding my Summer Sizzler 4^th place finish high going into this race and I found myself very interested and sucking myself  emotionally deep into the series points chase. I was running 8^th prior to the D&Q Summer Sizzler and finishing 4^th bumped me in to the top 5 which triggered all kinds of thoughts and emotions… Could I possibly finish my first year in CAT1 in the top 5? Could I possibly end the year on the podium? I heard Tommy Steinbrunner was possibly upgrading to Pro once he locks up the series championship standings… Could there be a shot at the top step once Tommy upgrades? After my 2014 race season, I promised myself I wouldn’t get caught up in all the series standings hype and here I was, up to my neck in point series fever. I had it bad! And this is where my 2016 points chase fever began…

The Granogue race course was on the other side of the Brandywine Creek in Delaware near the Ramsey’s Revenge race course and I REALLY love that area and I was hoping Granogue would be similar to the Ramsey’s course. Unfortunately, the course is on private property which meant there weren’t many options to pre-ride. The weather forecast was calling for 95+ degrees and high humidity which meant this was going to be a challenge on many fronts; Unfamiliar course, dangerous heat, self inflicted points series fever pressure.

Race day..

Quick pre-ride preview… I make my way to the event without any hiccups, flawless on my prerace routine and food. Jump out of the car, hit reg, checked in, back to the car, suited up, grabbed my gear, found a nice spot under a big oak tree before the start / finish line for my chair, cooler and bottles. I started rolling around and made my way on to the course for a short preview. I heard the course is running in reverse…that didn’t mean much to me since I didn’t have any clue what the previous course direction was but as I was pre-riding, I kept that in mind. I rolled through the prologue which was approximately an 1/8 mile flat road until you turn right onto grass and begin climbing double track up the tower. Then you bombed down and past the start / finish area into a short tricky single-track section. Then you pop out to a farm where you rip the edge, quick left, then right and descend down to a hard right hander on to a gravel road, continue descending and make a long sweeping loose gravel left hander and then another loose gravel right hander. You continue down this road which turns from gravel to dirt double track and continues to flow and net down to a hard right to another double track dirt road which pitches up slightly. Then a hard left then right into the single-track climb. Typical single-track technical switch back climbing with a tough uphill rock garden towards the end followed by a nasty uphill pitch to the top. Then it’s a fast and flowy downhill section with some techy bits. This is where I run into Tommy who was coming the other way. He asked me if I knew how to get back, Me – “Nope”.. I decided to turn around and follow him back.

The race… I lined up second row behind some fast guys (Tommy and Zack) and noticed many familiar faces and kits, I counted 12 or 13 of us at the line, I felt pretty good, felt a little apprehensive because I didn’t know the course. A couple deep breathes, and I get my mind set on a good start. I had one quick short goal, I wanted to see how long I could hold on to Tommy’s wheel and hope I could stick with the lead group so they could give me a tour of the place.

GO… We take off and I’m mid-packish sneaking through to the front where I see Tommy leading who was literally in full TT position and he wasn’t pushing his usual murder pace, it was more like a torture pace which gave me a chance to get beside him. We drill the climb to the tower and its Tommy, Zack and myself and we make our way into the single-track and we are really flying through this section. Just before the trail bumps out to the farm, there is a quick little off camber rooty left which I bobbled and lost two spots. I gathered it back up and drilled it on the farm trail and  was running 4^th or 5^th. I  drilled the entire descent and stood and sprinted the double track uphill pitch into the single-track climb. I felt pretty good, a little pissed at myself for bobbling and losing those spots. We hit the uphill rock garden and nasty pitch and everyone ran it including myself. Halfway up the nasty pitch, I remounted, spun my little legs to the top and drilled it down the fast and flowy switchies and just as I’m making good progress, I screwed up a fast sweeping right hander, washed out the front tire and hit the deck hard (That one stung). I popped back up, lost three more spots and jumped back on and started hammering. I passed one more guy (Alex Pankiw) and as I passed, Alex yells out – “I don’t have any traction!”, I yell back “Me either!” and continued to chase the rest of the guys in front of me for the remainder of the first lap. At this stage in the race, I lost sight of the guys in front, the pack stretched out and I switched to a “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast” style.

The rest of the first lap went like this… Tough down / up rock technical feature which I could not ride followed by fast and flowy straights, switchback climbs, more murderous climbing, some fast wide open downhill farm sections, did I mention the murderous climbs? A couple neat tunnel / stream features, a sick pit jump feature which I aired out tremendously every time (Where was the camera guy?).. Anyway, the course was awesomely tough and sections were cobbled together to make for a really challenging race.

I made it back around to the S/F area, pulled over to my chair, swapped bottles with the quickness, jumped back on the course and almost collided with Werner Freymann (lead pack 40-49) as he was trying to go around me to grab a bottle from his wife. I get screamed at by he and his wife – a whole bunch of !@#$% going on. Good times…This was totally my fault for jumping back on to the course without looking behind me first. So after getting my verbal beating, I jumped in line with those guys and I get a lecture about why I shouldn’t have done that which included a few f-bombs. I was wondering if we were going to throw down but as we flowed into the single-track, we cooled off and were apologizing to each other realizing it was a heat of the moment, aggro, adrenaline moment. No harm, no fowl. Sheesh…

Second lap… I’m trying to ride smooth and clean and was mixed in with a few 40-49 CAT classed racers. I was catching glimpses of an orange and white Henry’s bicycle shop kit ahead which I believed to be one of the racers (Austin Gleason) in my class “A CARROT!!!”. And the chase began… I was running in 7^th at this point and all I could think about was trying to make up as many spots as possible because POINTS CHASE FEVER! It took me a good half a lap to reel him in and I ended up catching and passing him on the wide open farm road before we crossed the road and jumped into the last section before the S/F. I get to my chair, swapped bottles, LOOKED BOTH WAYS BEFORE PROCEEDING TO YIELD BACK ON TO THE COURSE!!!, popped a GU, onward and upwards I went.

Last lap – I was doing my best to stay smooth, ride clean, hydrate, NOT DIE FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION, pace to keep from cramping and not toast my legs so I had enough for all the punchy ups the course had to offer. I also spent a bunch of time suppressing inner demons and self-doubt, did I mention there was plenty of climbing and it was HELLISH HOT? Thankfully, around the mid lap point after the mid lap climb, folks were posted up offering ice cold water.. Each lap, I asked them to dump it over my head. That saved my life on the last lap. I heard Austin creeping up on me from time to time so I did my best to maintain a comfortable gap. Eventually, I lost sight of him after the mid lap climbing. There were a few other classed riders that came and went. The tail end of third lap was thankfully event-less and felt more like a death march, especially the areas where there was no protection from the sun or the slow climbs where there wasn’t a breeze. The toughness of the course combined with the heat was brutal. I rolled through the S/F, rode over to my chair and collapsed from exhaustion. This was THE TOUGHEST race for me to date. Well, it felt like that at the moment. I spent a good amount of time sitting in my chair under a huge oak tree trying to get myself back together. I almost fell asleep but knew I needed to take care of myself, eat something and drink a ton since I sweated out gallons. I watched the CAT2 guys start their race, I went back to the car and as I was changing and packing up, I had a long conversation with Austin and his father. Good Peeps!

Some afterthoughts… I really need to work on being able to stay fast and smooth during those race starts and cut down on the mistakes if I want to contend for a spot on that podium.