MASS – 2018 On the Rocks at French Creek – CAT1 “Expert” 40-49: 5th

From ER on Monday to 5^th place on Saturday

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these… I started writing about my last cyclocross race and never finished it mostly because I lost interest in writing about me racing cyclocross; it was quite depressing to say the least. In fact, based on my last cyclocross performance at Cooper River Cross, I am cured of the cyclocross-racing itch. I’m bookmarking this entry as a reminder to read again if I ever become #crosscurious. Cyclocross is not for me. I am not motivated enough to prepare for cyclocross racing as I enjoy riding my mountain bike more. For me, to be somewhat successful at cyclocross, I have to work harder than I want to.

Since the middle of October of last year, there have been many things going on…. I decided to get my fitness back in order with hopes to race mountain bikes well. We created an entirely new NICA team and I am the head coach and team director. My oldest son, Cameron, wrapped up a tough wrestling season, my middle son, AJ. wrapped up a solid basketball season and little Nate continues to pursue his love for baseball all the while Stef took on a part time job and also manages to keep us glued together as we bounce around from one thing to the other. It is clear we appreciate our downtime more as of late…. We sleep really well in the Williams household.

Leading up to this race, I’d estimate I spent the last eight months riding / training roughly three hundred hours to get my race fitness back in order. Most of which was before work on the road bike between 5am and 6:30am six days a week. I was hoping to have had at least five races under my belt by this time but most of them were cancelled either due to weather or due to a conflict with NICA. So here I am recapping my first race of the season.

This race almost did not happen for me. A couple three weeks ago, I started feeling some pain and discomfort, enough to pay the doctor a visit. Last week, I went for a physical and based on my symptoms, the doctor and I thought I may have pushed it a little too far with riding and training and she advised me to take a break which meant, I’d miss another race, the Iron Furnace 50k race. I cannot even express how down I was feeling thinking how much time I spent preparing and would not be able to race.

The Monday after the rest weekend, I was feeling better and decided to take a short spin before work. As the ride went on, I felt better and better, I started pushing harder and harder, and when I returned home, I felt good with the exception of some lower back cramping. I spent the next twenty minutes stretching and then took a shower to get ready for work. As I was in the shower, I felt like someone punched me in the left kidney and I was doubled over in pain. I knew this pain from previous bouts of kidney stones…. I managed to get out of the shower, crawl to the bedroom, and yell for Stef to help me. Long story short, I spent that morning in the emergency room and the verdict was confirmed – kidney stone. The good thing was the pain and discomfort I was feeling for the past weeks was gone. That explained it. The bad part was the CT scan showed some other unsettling things I need follow up with which has me a little scared, , nervous and down.

The rest of the week, I spent working from home waiting for the stupid stone to come out, scheduling more follow up tests all the while feeling better and working on getting my riding routine back in order. All the rest time created a sense of freshness and strength and I had an eye-opening ride Thursday morning, which had me thinking I may have a small peak fitness situation happening. Aside from the health concern distractions, I was pondering if I should race French Creek. I was dreading the regret I would feel if I missed another race.

Saturday. race day arrives and I am checking the weather and wondering if it is worth driving to the race or not. Around 9:30am, Stef and I were discussing our plans for the day and she asked if I was racing or not. At that moment, I was still undecided and then I realized I had roughly an hour to make a decision and get my act together if I wanted to race. At around 10:10am, I made a decision and at 10:35am I was in the car headed to the race.

I arrived, and did all the prerace things and am feeling decent, a little anxious, and a little nervous and prerace jittery. All was good because it took my mind off of anything else that was bothering me – my happy place. We stage, in a moment or so the race started, and we were motoring up the dirt road climb. I was slowly picking off a few in the pack and wiggle my way to 4^th place just before dropping in to the peanut butter water bar’d slip and slide chute.

We begin our climb to the top and I got hung up behind the third place guy riding with fenders and the two guys in front of him opened up a significant gap. I managed to take an alternate line, hopped a log over, and made the pass. At that point, the leaders were way out in front and I needed to catch my breath before the first downhill section.  I felt some pressure from behind as I drilled the downhill section and I could not shake the rider behind me so I decided to let him by and see if I can hold on to his pace. I was in 4^th place at this point and battling for 3^rd which I eventually lost just before the hike a bike climb. He just slowly pulled away from me in each section… After the hike a bike climb, I kept catching glimpses him but could not bridge the gap. I made it to the lap’s final downhill section and I felt slow and clumsy and noticed another rider gaining on me quick. As I made my way to the end of that section, the rider behind me caught me and I let him by. This time I managed to stay with him through the end of lap one and I passed him on the first climb of lap two.

Lap two was a battle for 4^th / 5^th. I was faster on the climbs and he was faster on the downhills and flats. I’d reconnect to his wheel at the tops of the climbs, he would pull away on the flats and open up big gaps on the downhills, and that continued until the last downhill section of the lap where I completely lost sight of him after I bobbled in a small tech section and dropped a chain. That moment bummed me out. I put the chain back on and pinned it and when I lost sight of 4^th, I backed off the pace a little bit. Ugh…

Lap three I went in to la la land and rode by myself for three quarters of the lap until the hike a bike. I felt slow, tired. lazy and clumsy. At the hike a bike climb, I saw someone chasing me, managed to pull myself together, and dug as deep as I could to not let that rider catch me. I pushed hard up the final climb, the entire tech section by the campsite and I drilled the downhill tech sections. When I reached a point where I could peak back, I did not see any sign of the person chasing me. I managed to stay on the gas until I rolled through the finish line. It turned out the person chasing me was the leader of the 50-59 Cat1 class. I thanked him for the late race motivation.

Therefore, the race was not too bad, not great, yet I am happy to be able get the chance to race… After reflecting on that performance, I feel I may have been able to dig deeper for a 4^th place or maybe 3^rd.

I think I was being too conservative and may have underestimated how much I could push. I may have been tentative knowing how tough the last lap and last couple of climbs were. I think that has to do with not racing and forgetting about that aspect. Looking at my data file, my heart rate set some new personal records.

I never had a shot at first or second, those guys were gone after the first fifteen minutes, never to be seen again.

I will miss the next race at Bear Creek due a NICA conflict. The next possibility of racing is at Ramsey’s Revenge, which is one of my favorites. I hope life allows me that race opportunity.

 

Thanks for reading!