Bare Bones - Part Deux

Sunday, November 19, 2006
The second installment of the Bare Bones Mountain Cross series took place in somewhat cooler temperatures & a nice little headwind through the field. We had a smaller group of riders this week, although 2 newbies raced.
Once again I was the only female...Oh well...What are you gonna do?
Anywho...my main goal this race was to have clean runs each lap and maintain a steady pace. If I knocked time off, that would be a bonus.

We arrived to find out the bridge at the 3rd water crossing had been washed away due to the heavy rain that pounded us earlier in the week. A few of the racers got together to examine the crossing & determined there was no way to negotiate the crossing w/out getting completely soaked. It was at least 3' deep with no way to ride up the other side of the bank. We proceeded to gang up on Wendy & Dick and proposed an alternative route which was about the same distance but would keep the riders somewhat drier.

The race started & my teammates took off. Ron was leading the first pack of riders which included my husband and it turns out I led the second group of riders out to the first stream crossing. I had a decent first lap..only had one minor bobble through the woods when I threw my chain at the log crossing. I cleared the 2nd creek crossing but got totally soaked in the process. Lap 2 was stronger than the first but I again had chain issues. This time I experienced some sort of weird chain suck when shifting from my big ring to my middle This happened just before the 2nd water crossing so I lost all momentum coming across the water. Fortunately I cleared the creek before stepping off my pedals. The 3rd lap was clean for the most part. I think the 2nd stream had it out for me. As I rode through it, my foot came off the pedal but I had enough speed to roll up on the bank and recover my cadence. Lap 4 was a clean run and I had a good line through the stream so there were no problems. Teammates Ron & WArren greeted me as I made the turn for the finish.

Final results: I took off 3 minutes from my previous week's time! Just about every racer turned faster times this week than last. I think knowing the course really benefitted the riders. Teammate Ron Glowczysnki took the overall series title.

Thanks to Roanoke County Parks & Rec & Dick Howard for putting on such a fun-filled, low key event!