The Great Flume Mountain Bike Race
I'll start with a powerful lesson I learned from race #5; The Kirkwood XC: I finished that race but had to be carted off in an ambulance and get 2 units of IV to bring me back from the brink. The week leading up to the race was very out of routine for me (work and prepping for weekend events), and I believe I started the race somewhat dehydrated and low on electrolytes. Also, I was drinking plain water and Cytomax during the race, which wasn't nearly replacing the electrolytes I was losing. Lesson learned.
- Jim Pavlicheck working up the Flume Trail ascent.
I didn't even plan on doing the Flume race as I thought I was way off the podium for series points, but a general email from the promoter prompted me to check the standings. When I started at the bottom looking for my name, I was shocked that I had to keep scanning all the way up to 3rd! Hello Motivation! I registered and, this time, paid a lot of attention to pre-race nutrition, and getting good sleep 2 nights before. Two and a half hours driving time and a 9:30am start meant a 4am wake up for hitting the road at 5. I still only got just shy of an hour warm up. I saw a good number of people with road or cx bikes warming up on trainers; not a common sight at an MTB event, but it spoke to just how hard this race was. It was basically all steep climbing then hammering non-technical single track. The Garmin Data: -- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110360218 -- With a 19 mile course and 3000' of climbing at elevation it's safe to say this is a pure climbers race. Definitely out of my element, but I've got a position to protect, so, I'm all in.
The race started straight away with climbing, 4 miles and 1200' of it, and it only got steeper towards the top. Bailing into the granny gear that early in the race is tough. As has been my plan with all these races, I let the locals ride away and concentrated on not blowing up. I had decided to leave off my HR monitor and just go by feel. That turned out to be the right move. I settled into a good spin and by the top of the first climb had picked off 3 or 4 riders. A fast fire road descent with some loose, tight corners brought us down to Marlette Lake and fast fire road leading to the Flume. I've ridden the Flume but never raced it. First off, the views of Tahoe and across to the peaks of Desolation are amazing. It's the kind of trail you want to stop every 2 minutes and take a picture, and I have. Not today. I know now what the pros mean when they say they don't really get time for scenery. It was hammer, hammer, hammer and I was surprised to be cruising fairly comfortably.
The end of the Flume section saw the race half over and a switch back to the little gears to crest a 250' saddle; not much but after hammering a while, the abrupt change heaps on a bit of hurt. Over the top and down a sketchy, loose descent lead to another helping of fast kind of wide single rack. The real waking moment came at about mile 13.5. I come down a short descent and through one of the many small water crossings up to a tight switchback which I can tell goes up, up, up. There was a Bike Patrol guy there who kept telling the racers, "Steep climb, little gears!" Really though, most people, in the heat of battle, didn't process that fateful instruction quickly enough and there was much walking and gnashing of teeth. It was loose, rocky and as steep as anything Mix Canyon could throw at you. This was the start of the second Big Ass Climb. 1100 feet in just a tick under 3 miles. The worst of it was a bit called Sunflower Hill. Have you ever made the mistake of looking up a big climb and seeing how far and high you have to go and wishing you hadn't looked? This is Sunflower Hill in a nutshell. But you're racing, so you keep going.
At this point I had settled into a sort of stasis of not passing, but not getting passed. That is until I was passed by the last 2 guys I had dispatched. Fatigue was setting in and I decided it was better to not try to hang with them. Well, that and I simply couldn't. I had been taking care to take big, frequent pulls off my Camelback and my bottle of electrolyte, shots of gel, Margarita Shot Blocks (“Thanks Huy!”) and a little Powerbar. I don't know if I ate enough, but I don't think I could have eaten more. It was survival time.
- Jim prepared for all the climbs with plenty of hydration.
The 400 foot drop at 17 miles in might have been a relief if it had not been somewhat rutted, loose and wet. On the upside however, I was back in familiar territory having ridden this loop many times before. I knew all I had left was the last climb (1km and 270' gain) and the finish was mine. Fearing getting passed on the uphill finish, I gutted it out as best I could. It's amazing how you can give just that little bit extra when you know the end is nigh. And no one else passed me.
I was satisfied with a 7th out of 13. I think my time was 1h58min, but it seemed a lot shorter than that. Maybe it was the pain amnesia. :o) As long as I show up at the last race and finish about the same, I should have my podium spot locked up for the series. If I'm lucky, the cash I get for that might buy me half a tank of gas, but that's not really the point. The main point, and what will make me happiest, is that I made a goal of trying to finish on the podium of a race series which really didn't suit me. It will have challenged me, hurt me and taught me. And I will get that goal.
And that's why we do what we do isn't it?
Thanks all, and happy racing!
-Jim
