Dirty Dawg

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Mother Nature played a cruel April Fool's joke on the racers and volunteers at the Dirty Dawg Mountain Bike race Sunday. As we ascended the mountain, it got foggier and foggier. No rain to speak of (that was to come later) but let's just say conditions were'nt exactly ideal for our first race of the 2007 season. No worries though. We've ridden in worse and the temps were hovering in the mid 50's so we should be ok. To the left is the view of some of the little shops at Mountain Lake. Nice fog huh? As we set up our tent, the rains started. It rained off an on until the start of the race. I was a little nervous but confident going into this one. It was my first "expert" race so I knew I'd be racing w/ the big dogs. I knew the pace would be fast & furious & only hoped I could hold on. With very little warm up time, we lined up at the start. The gals decided they would go at the same time as the men. As we started, the folks at the front took off. My heart went immediately into the "you're an idiot" range on my heart rate monitor. I hung w/ 2 of the expert ladies but the rest were gone. No worries..we've got 16 miles & lots of climbing so no one is going to win this thing in the first 2 miles.

As we barrelled into the singletrack, leaves, wet rocks and mud awaited us at every corner. It was very negotiable though. we then dumped out on a paved section which ran behind the hotel and up by the cottages as seen in the movie "Dirty Dancing" This is where most of the field blew up on this climb. I kept a good steady rhythm though I wheezed the entire way. We then went into a section of very rocky but negotiable trail. This was a great test for my new Full Suspension Kona King Kikapu. The bike did not let me down at all. I was able to negotiate the rocky sections like they were nothing. Woo HOo! my confidence was soaring & I was having a blast. Then came the Flat Tire Central portion of the trail. First I passed 1 dude..hollering "you ok?" Yup..cool keep going..then came another, then another, then a fourth, then a fifth, then my hubby!!, then a sixth...I thought..man am I lucky...I'm just floating through this section. All of the sudden....shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......The sound of my tire going flat. Followed by the sound of shhhhhhhh.........out of my mouth.

Ok..no problem,,I can fix this. Flipped my bike over, got the tire off, old tube out, new tube in, tire back on..when up walks my husband. He could not believe I flatted! Since you cannot get assistance from anyone on the course, my husband shouted "HURRY UP" about 6 times to sort of lend encouragement. I just laughed. The 2 other experts I had pulled ahead of had caught & passed me. My race was over as far as being competitive. I inflated the tire, got it back on the bike & took off. My hubby's race was over...he sliced a gash in his sidewall which rendered his bike useless.. :(

I probably lost a good 15 minutes changing that stupid tire. So I decided to just ride smart & not try to catch the other 2 ladies. Rode through the rest of lap 1 fine w/ no problems. As I came back through the start/finish area there were lots of sport guys who had finished hanging around. I thought...wow that's a lot of people hanging around on such a crappy weather day. Then I also had the dreadful thought that I was probably the last one out there!...UGH

I zipped through the paved section back past the cottages. At one point I thought I saw Patrick Swayze hanging out in front of one of the buildings....oh wait..that was just the fog from my glasses creating a blurry line of site. Oh Well!....I pushed on & saw my teammate Bob O Taking some pics. I smiled really pretty for him, then informed him my hubby was out!

As I got up on the ridge, it was so foggy you could barely see 3 feet in front of you. pretty scary too when you could not see the trail...but the bike kept me going where I needed to be. Midway through the second lap the rains started. YUK!....I was wet and miserable & just wanted it over. Even the volunteers who were supposed to be at various intersections had abandoned their posts. I'd have to ride on memory and hope the turns I was taking were keeping me on course.

I came upon the rocky section and came across another guy who flatted. Unfortunately I did not have any air to help him so I kept on rolling. All the while I kept praying...please don't go flat, please make it through these wretched rocks. Phew..through safely, across the slippery wooden bridge & back on up I went. The second lap seemed like it would never end but I did finally make it back. Cold, wet, frustrated, tired..but glad I finished!.....
My overall time was 2 hours, 22 minutes. Which wasn't too bad considering I lost a lot of time fixing the flat. I was the last expert lady in :( but as least I finished. w/out the flat I probably would have placed in the top 4 -5 of the expert ladies...not too shabby for my first time.

Glad that one is out of the way. Gotta work on starting faster. Still had a great time though!
To the left is my trusty steed which carried me safely through those rocks. This bike ROCKS!!!!!