2008 EFTA Glocester (RI) Grind MTB Team Race Report
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2008 Glocester Grind MTB Team Race Report
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Pictures here
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Conditions: Warm and sunny; the ground was holding 3/4” of rain from the past 3 days.
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The Course: A technical 4+ mile loop which somewhat resembled a figure 8 (without crossing); the mid-point pinched in to the start/finish. 18 minutes out to the right, 18 minutes out to the left. Ten of us showed to compete in the Beginner, Sport and Expert fields despite the majority having raced on the road at Mt. Sunapee the day prior. Among us was Oscar in his first mtb race, Bernard for his second and Cris for her first Expert race on what is a very difficult course. Last year there was only 1/4” of rain prior to the race and conditions were marginally better, this year there was 3/4” of an inch of rain. The only reprieve we had was that laps were cut down by one from last year. You’ll hear all about the baby-head sized rocks, wet roots, mud pits and vines that acted like fishing nets.
Novice: 2 laps, Sport & Expert 3 laps, Elite: 4 laps
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Report:
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We had TEN NEBC members racing the various fields: - Scott Brooks - 2nd Sport Sr2 - 1:44:57 - Michael Good - 6th Expert Vet2 - 1:49:25 - Keith Reynolds - 5th Expert Sr2 - 1:50:13 - Norm Collard - 1st Sport Mstr - 1:54:55 - Greg Brown - 16th Sport Vet - 1:58:46 - Cris Rothfuss - 1st Expert Vet - 1:59:18 - Barry Greenberg - 5th Sport Vet2 - 2:10:32 - Oscar Jimenez - 1st Novice Sr2 - 1:14:00 - Julie Lockhart - 1st Novice Vet2 - 2:39:30 - Bernard Tan - DNF Novice (nasty mechanical)
Everyone suffered from something out there; punctured tires, vines interfering with gears, pedals bashed and falling out, spokes breaking, gashes and mud!
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[Oscar Jimenez]
After weeks of hearing that I needed to do a mtb race (Scott Brooks), I finally caved in and went to the Loft to see if I could borrow a demo mtb from them, so I could do the Gloucester grind. They didn’t have a small men’s mtb, but they were more than happy to tell me that they had a women’s small with some really nice pastel green paint job. I took it. Since this was my second ride on a mtb and first mtb race I was told to do the novice race. I arrived at the race early to seek help from team mates, so not knowing what I was doing I quickly hooked up with Cris R, Keith and Goodie. Keith and Goodie set me up with the proper tire pressure and off I went to recon the course with Cris. I got to look at the first half of the course which made me realized that I have little to no skills on a mtb, the second part of the course will have to wait until the first lap. Since I decided to turn around to make sure I didn’t miss my start.
In a true mentor way Cris reminds me that my cyclocross skills are good enough to know how to get off and on a bike efficiently as we are passing through some of the rock gardens. This would become a very valuable advice as the race goes on.
While I was waiting at the start line I decided to treat this race as a cross race since I didn’t know what was coming on the second half of the race, so I should try to get to the front in order to pick good lines to the best of my abilities. Once they said go, I quickly clipped in and was fourth wheel into the first turn. Few minutes later as we are passing through the first big rock garden I caught the guy on the lead. I dismounted and ran passed him. At this point I gave it gas to get a gap, it worked and I kept on building the lead..
Even though I was leading the race I keep on making mistakes including almost taking the wrong turn a few times on the second half of the course. As I mentioned earlier I have little to no skills on a mtb, but I now have the scrapes, cuts and bruises to prove it after loosing count of all the crashes and tangle ups with prickly vines, rocks and trees.
I ended up winning the overall and my aged group on the novice race after keeping my lead until the end. I completed two laps in a time of 1 hour 14 minutes and taking a gap of almost two minutes to the second placed rider. I hope I can do some more mtb races in the future in the sport category, but hopefully on my own bike. Congrats to Cris on winning her race and Scott on taking second on his, thanks to everyone for all the advice and cheers.
On a side note. The guy that took second on my race told me after wards that I was running so fast when I passed him that even though he was riding his bike, he wasn’t going to catch me.
[Bernard Tan]
This race was unfortunately a DNF for me. The 1,000,000W I was generating ripped my right pedal out of the crank through the first half of the course. It’s a tricky course to say the least. You had to process the path through the rock gardens in your head faster than your Crackberry in order to execute flawlessly. It was still a beautiful day to be out there supporting teammates. So, it wasn’t entirely uneventful.
[Julie Lockhart]
Goals – to learn more skills a keep the rubber side down, if possible.
Previewed first half b$ the race, and it looked doable. Lap one was a learning experience with all antennae out and many near falls, where I decided to put a foot down, I rode some of the mud but had to run the more difficult rock/root garden ones … and there were several ‘rock gardens’ that I just ran. Second lap, I put my learning to use shortening my lap time by 15 minutes even with stopping for the hoards of fast riders. Said hi to my cross friend Mo Bruno ….
All in all it was a great race.
[Greg Brown]
Not available for commentary…
[Norm Collard]
First back to back race of the season after Sunapee RR the day before. Saw many familiar NEBC faces as we arrived and registered for the Grind. Initially, registered for Sport, Vet II (40-49) without thinking but then realized, I’ll be 50 later this year so I qualify for the Masters category this year! I managed to sneak a preview of the first half of the course during my warm up and got the flavor of what was in store…no real hills but lots of baby head rocks and mud to keep it challenging. Okay, time to line up for the start. Andy Sherman is in attendance. He’s been dominating the masters races for a couple of years now. I’ve ridden with and raced with Andy in the past. We’re about the same speed, strength. So, I immediately pegged him to be the one to follow/beat. Masters and juniors lined up together.
At the start, Andy and 2 juniors just squeezed ahead of me into the single track and we were off. Andy immediately passed both juniors and I followed suit shortly thereafter and motored to quickly get back on Andy’s wheel. Through the first lap Andy and I switched leads a few times. We caught and passed several Vet II racers in lap 1. Near the end of lap 1, I suffered a chain suck that got jammed requiring me to get off the bike and take about 30 seconds to get the chain back on. Andy was nowhere in site. Time to play catch up and pick up the pace into lap 2. Meanwhile, both juniors had passed me during my mechanical. Had to catch and pass them during lap 2 before I had a shot at catching Andy. Still no sign of Andy about a third of the way through lap 2 until I see him in the open area section where there was some back and forth lines to make. Okay he’s got about 50 yds on me. No need to panic, keep the pace up but no need to burn all my matches yet, with 1/2 the race still to go.
Still in lap 2 maybe 3/4 through, there’s Andy off his bike with some kind of mechanical. “Gee, that sucks Andy” I snicker and motor on. No time to relax, but with the lead, I can do a bit of recovery into the start of lap 3. Just want to ride smart and not make any stupid mistakes. Meanwhile throughout the race, I AM having problems staying locked into my frogleap pedals. It was a constant struggle, almost every time I tried to push hard I would slip out in particular at the start of a few short rises when I tried to get speed and momentum, I’d slip out and have to jog up the rise. About midway through lap 3 I catch a glimpse of Andy…he’s made up some ground on me as we go through the switchback coral…I’m only 50+ yds ahead of him. That was the final gauntlet for me. It’s my race to lose at this point and I went into overdrive mode for the next 10 minutes or so, short recovery and again into overdrive. All the time praying for no more mechanicals. Finished just about 1 minute ahead of Andy for 1st place. I’ll take it..mechanicals and all.
A win’s a win! Great seeing everyone at the finish and the cheering sections during the race was a real treat! Getting old has its benefits.
[Barry Greenberg]
After hearing last year’s race took almost 2.5 hours and there were lots of mud bog rock gardens, my goal downshifted from doing well to surviving my first MTB race in 3 years… After seeing someone at the start line with a broken spoke and commenting that it’s no big deal with disc brakes—you guessed it: JINX!! I broke a front spoke in the first 100 yards of the race! Didn’t stop since it seemed contained, rode most of the first lap with it “tink-tinking”. Eventually the noise got annoying and I worried it might jam into the fork and send me flying, so I stopped and bent it around another. Rolling again, a new “scrape-scraping” noise joined the band (all this while slippin’ and stumbling over mud-coated babyheads and plunking wheels and feet into 6”-deep mud holes. Fun stuff on a beautiful day in Rhode Island…) Then my front brake gets really weak… I figure the rotor got bent by whatever broke the spoke and a pad fell out… so I stop and dial out the pad adjustment knobs (Love my Avid mechanical disc brakes!) to at least stop the bent rotor from dragging and slowing me down (not relishing racing another couple hours with no front brake). Scraping noise still!! So I stop again, and after several spins of the wheel finally realize the wrapped-up spoke is banging into the brake caliper. And the rotor is not bent. I quickly dial the pads back in. (The banging spoke must have dialed-out the pad, causing the original brake “failure”.) After getting all that resolved, my chain starts jumping cogs… ugh. A couple more stops to turn the barrel adjuster and I actually have a functioning bike. Of course, I’m covered in mud and presumably last in my class… oh, and all the slip-ups, dismounts/runs, and body-englishing has totally torqued my lower back… TRAINING RIDE it is, then! The best news of the day comes as I finish my first lap in under 39 minutes wheels-rolling time, meaning 3 laps will be more like 2 hrs and not 2.5! Woo-hoo!! What else to say? I finished.
[Scott Brooks]
Having done one small mountain bike race this year, I was really looking forward to a larger more organized race. As we queued up at the start, there were over 100 riders across a multitude of fields. What was most surprising was the number of faces from cross. If the temps weren’t so warm and the bikes so heavy, I might have thought this was a beautiful fall day in New England. On the line I noticed my field consisted of nine starters. Check off first goal of the day, top ten finish! As we took off, I wrestled my way into third wheel going into the woods. I followed the guy in second for about five minutes before making a move around him where I saw that the leader was gone. Our group felt still together so I just pushed the limit of speed and ability. There were numerous rock gardens that with more oxygen to my brain I would have riden more carefully, but in the heat of the race there was no time for caution. About half way through the first lap, the course folded back onto itself and I was able to notice that I had a gap on the riders behind me. Pushing harder I started to pass riders who started ahead of me. I kept looking for the leader of my field, but it seems that he was gone for good. On the second lap I had settled into a good groove and was motoring along before a friend of mine from the field behind me caught me. Sean and I played leap frog for about a lap before he pulled away for good. At that point I caught local legend Mo Bruno. We played off each other and kept the
pace high enough to fend off anyone who may have been behind.
After crossing the line I immediately dropped off my bike from exhaustion. Mountain bike racing is ridiculously hard and I told Michael Good that it would be Wednesday before I thought that that was fun. The course was incredibly technical (more so for a roadie) and wet in some places. Especially the place where I stepped into a mud puddle and sunk up to my calf. A day later and I already am very happy that I raced. It’s such a different experience then road or even cross. As of Monday I’m already thinking that it might have been
fun.
[Cris Rothfuss]
As I’m sure others have mentioned, there was barely a spot on this course that wasn’t a rock garden, root garden or mud bog. It was an abusive course and my entire body hurts today (not from falling down so much, but from having the bike jackhammer under me for two hours). I joined three other expert women on the start line, along with 3 elites (all of whom hold pro licenses). Recognizing that I shouldn’t interfere with the start of the three elites (Mo Bruno, Sara Bresnick-Zocci and Karen Potter), I didn’t contest the hole shot, instead opting to follow them into the woods (making sure, though, to keep the other experts behind me). I also hoped to learn a few things by following lines for as long as possible. I was pleased to be able to track the three of them for a bit, but got bogged down momentarily in the first muddy abyss and, poof, they were gone in a blink. I had a gap on my field, but after some time had to stop to extract a vine from my derailleur, which allowed Pauline Frasone (IF) to catch up to me. Cathy Rowell will laugh when reading this, because last week I blathered to her about me not feeling the need to be competitive or care about results in my first expert race. When I saw Pauline, all my competitive instincts kicked in and I became hell-bent on staying ahead and winning the damn race. She and I bounced off rocks and roots together for most of the first lap, but she fell off the pace before the end of the first lap. I spent the next two laps not knowing how far back she was, but determined not to let her see me again. While the second lap went really well (I finally found some semblance of smooth riding), it was difficult to stay focused during the third lap as fatigue set in and the rocks seemed bigger and the mud deeper. I was happy to see the finish line, and managed to cross it in first place in the expert category.
[Keith Reynolds]
The weather report cleared Sunapee late Wednesday evening and I sprung for it favoring performance on some drying roads over some muddy trenches. So arriving early on Sunday team members connected and started chatting and talking about tire pressure, course layout and the previous weather patterns.
My attitude showed from the start when I lined up behind everyone, there would be no battle for the hole shot. I wanted to focus on finishing the race (not easy!). I was in the combined start for the Senior 1 & 2 experts and our start was a little sluggish compared to last year. I settled in preparing to hit the many bumps ahead… the terrain shocked my now (mostly) roadie system. There was a blue PearlIzumi guy in front of me having just a few more problems with the terrain; I attempted a pass in an opening field however PI battled back trying to nudge me out. Muscles not motors was the tagline yesterday; a few jumps on the pedals and I safely manevured around him before we went into the next set of singletrack.
From here on I settled into a pace that I wasn’t mentally ready for bound by a rev-limited legs. Then came the many disruptive sections where it was just safer / faster to get off and run. Most will compare this to ‘cross but I was thinking it was more like canoe portage. All this mud erased any memory of what you’ve just ridden for picking lines next lap; this makes me grouchy.
Lap 2 came and I was still motoring along, then the leaping thorn bush attacked my front tire and I. Stanz to the (tire) rescue! That spitting wheel just sealed itself right back up …magic… no more than 30 seconds later a rear spoke broke reminding me what we were dealing with. Ugh, this is just going to be a race of attrition! Get off, braid the spoke up and keep going.
Lap 3, still getting passed by plenty of people here and the Sports are starting to come through.. might be time to get back in touch with my ol friend the mtb.
Congrats to Scott, Oscar and Cris on their stellar finishes.
[Michael Good]
This was going to be a tough day for a race regardless of trail conditions and any other unforeseen challenges that may, and often times do, arise in a mtb race. At the Lake Sunapee Road Race on Saturday I had worked much harder than I was planning on. The combination of sunshine and spirited work by the team, found me spending way more time out front working than was anticipated.
While trying to warm up for Sundays race I quickly realized that the previous days effort had taken a toll on me and this was going to be painful.
Less than a mile into the race I went too close to the side of the trail while trying to avoid a mud hole. I became ensnared in a thorn bush! It wrapped itself around my shoulder and arm, and as I rode away, I could feel the branch breaking away from the bush and tightening it’s grip on my torso. Somehow I was able to pull and pull and finally get free from the thorny grip. My relief was quickly replaced with grief when I heard and felt the long branch of thorns wrapping itself around my rear wheel. Realizing that it was not going to free itself, I got off the bike and tried to remove it. As all my competitors rode by me, I unsuccessfully tried to free my skewer, rotor and hub of this long branch. It had wrapped itself around about a dozen times and the more I pulled on it the tighter the inside wrappings got. At this point I made an error in judgement, I decided to jump back on my bike hoping the branch would break away on it’s own. I could feel the resistance as I pedaled hard trying to chase back on.I suffered with this the whole first lap. Exhausted, I finally pulled over and did what I should have done right away.I removed the rear wheel and was able to fully remove the branch. Finally free, but with little energy left and my competitors long gone I decided to forge ahead and at least get the ride in that I had paid for.
After finishing the race I was surprised to say the least, when someone told me that I had finished 6th. I thought for sure that a mistake had been made. There had been fifteen of us at the start, how as that possible? I checked the results and sure enough,out of twelve finishers I was sixth. The only thing I can figure is that all the people I saw on the side of the trail fixing flats and wrestling with thier drive trains must have been in my group.
Lesson: Never Quit. Not unless your bike is so broken it’s unridable. Keep fighting and you never know what might happen down the trail.