Bikes For Bovines 2012

Ah, New England.
Land of steady habits, abandoned bridges and awesome bike racing.

They redid the Bike for Bovines course this year; instead of the 4 mile ass-grinder of a loose fireroad climb (which I loved) and the 2 mile flat to downhill bike path (which I loathed) it was 90% singletrack (baby!).  Being a New Englander, I am resistant to change, and as much as I disliked part of the old course, I was reluctant to accept the new one.

There was a low prereg for the Cat1 SS class,  so I signed up to race with my peers.  The Junior Geezers as I like to call them (us).  the Cat1 40-49 has been consistently one of the largest and fastest groups on the racing scene.  From who showed up today that looked like it would be the case again.

The whistle blows and I do a spectacular reverse holeshot to about 10th place.  Swinging around the first tight fireroad turn, it seems I'm holding my ground okay. I actually feel I can go a little faster than my multi-speed compadres.   I swing into the rough and grab a few spots.

Another sweeper and the course begins to climb.

Climbing?  I love climbing!
These are just shallow pitches but they are enough to equalize things a bit.
Grab a couple more spots and cross the street.

Now the real climbing begins.
Other than the Start/Finish which is probably about a half mile of double-track, and a few connectors here and there, the rest of the course is singletrack.  But it's pretty passer friendly.  On a the wider switchbacks I grab a couple more spots.

I have the leaders in sight.  MKR has a little gap on RC, and I have a clear shot to RC's wheel.
On the longest climb I claw my way up to him.  Meanwhile Mike has done what  Mike does; lit the afterburners and got out of sight.

Rob leads most of the first lap, but on the tight little brute near the end of the lap, he lets me take over second spot.

This is short lived as we swing on to the fireroad, and he goes clicky-clicky.

But as the climbing starts I reel him back in and pass him back.  I'm getting little gaps on the climbs, but the effort must be taking it's toll, because I repeatedly dab, loosing anything I have gained.

That's okay.  As long as I can stick with him, maybe on the last lap I can make it stick.

Rob decides it would be in his best interest not to see my plan pan out, and as we swing towards the Start/Finish he lays down the watts and gets himself a good sized gap before we start climbing again.

Okay, time for damage control.  I'm still on the podium, let's keep it that way.  As long as I can keep RC in sight, I know I'm racing well.  I'm getting glimpses of him on the switchbacks and through the trees.

Good.

On the forth lap up the biggest climb I see him ahead of me.  I'm pulling him back!  This is awesome!

I bang my handlebar against a tree, and knock myself off my bike.  Guess I'll have to run it this time.

But I'm still gaining on him!
Great!

Ah, no, your gaining on one of his teammates from another age group.

But the rearview's clear and I finish in third.
(and narrowly escaped being lapped by the Honey Badger)

The new course is great.  Super fun.  It and Grafton Pond have really raised the bar.
Change is good.

Bikes for Bovines: I guess karma wasn't done with me yet

I won this race last year in the Cat1 40-49 class. True, much in part to Jonny Bold's mechanical misfortunes, but I was pretty pleased with myself as Kevin Hines "only" beat me by 6 minutes racing the Pro/Open class.
So I wanted to do well here.
At registration there was only one t-shirt left, I passed on it hoping to kick start the karmic turn around. Plus do I really need another t-shirt with a bike on it?
This race is a little different as they send all the Cat1s and Pros off at once. Those on singlespeeds spin wildly trying to keep up for the mile or so of flat fireroad, praying for the climbing to begin.
To my surprise when the climbing did start, Reinout and Kerry shot forward.
"No, don't chase, it's a long race, ride your own pace" I told myself.
As the trail tilted a little steeper and got a little rougher, things began to go my way.
First I closed down the gap to Kerry and Reinout (they are 1st and 2nd respectively in the overall standings for Cat1 SS). Then slowly started to reel in the geared riders from the age classes.
By the time I got to the singletrack crossing the mountain to the last grunt of a hike-a-bike, I had opened up a nice little gap.
A geared rider caught back up to me and passed due to his technical proficiency, and I could hear a couple more closing, but the guys who mattered, those with one gear, were out of sight.
Things are starting to go my way...pffffft....
What the?!
Nailed a rock with my rear tire, and now it's loosing air. That's the problem with suspension forks; your front wheel doesn't tell your rear wheel to look out for that pointy rock it just so effortlessly absorbed.
Stopped and tried to give it a quick blast of air in hopes it would re-seal. By the time I finished fumbling with my inflator, and got everything shoved back in my pockets, Kerry was right back on my wheel.
Rode a little further, and the tire went soft again. Kerry offered assistance, but I said I was all set and he headed off. Shot the rest of my first CO2 cartridge into the tire, but still too soft. Pumped it up with my mini pump, but by the time I got to the feedzone it was soft again.
Oh fudge! I should have just put a tube in it in the first place.
Let this be a lesson to all you young'uns from your ol' Uncle Charlie, don't dick around, just put the fucking tube in it!
At this point everyone had passed me.
Wait! Aren't we playing by Saxo Bank rules? Isn't everyone supposed to wait, holding hands singing Kumbaya? Oh that's right, IT'S A RACE!
I had a long super spinny descent and and didn't see anyone. A 50+ rider I had passed on the hike-a-bike came big ringing it passed me on the long flat fireroad to the start/finish, but I was Mr. Lonely.
Finally I'm climbing again.
I start bringing back riders, one by one, but they are few and far between. I catch David Devine from Union Velo and move up to third place in class.
As I come out to the feedzone, the marshall points up the hike-a-bike and yells "there's another singlespeeder right there".
Reinout!
As we both are run/walking our bikes up the climb I catch him near the top. As I start making my way back down the mountain, I start thinking "It took me just over a complete lap to close down the gap on Reinout, he must be a pretty good descender".
Getting to the bottom and turning to the final long fireroad stretch to the finish, I glance back and he's right there.
He takes the lead and I draft him for a nice easy tow.
He's pushing pretty hard, but I'm having a pretty easy go of it. Pedal a dozen times, coast, repeat.
I could just let him wear himself out, and try and come around him at the line, but for some reason, God only knows why, I decide to take the highroad.
"Reinout, quit killing yourself" I yell. "Why would I want to do that?" he replies.
"You can waste yourself towing me to the line, or we can pedal it in, pick a spot and sprint for it".
And that's what we did. We chose a spot, sprinted, and he won.
I think that might have been just the push to get my karma back in line too.
At the awards, Kerry got a Starbuck's gift card for 1st place, and I got a Dunkin Donuts card for 3rd. Kerry goes to DD more often so he swapped with me.
Score!