2008 Root 66 Channel 3 Race MTB Team Report
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Conditions:
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Hazy, hot and humid with temps in the mid to upper 90’s. The trails were primarily moist and tacky with rocks and roots soaked and sweating from the humidity.
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The Course:
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The course was a 4 mile loop on surprisingly good mountain bike friendly hiking trails. The elevation gain was about 475’ per lap, and came most notably in two ultra steep, back to back climbs up the same hill. The terrain was very rolling with lots of loamy switchback climbs and descents, a small mix of access road and some technical riverside rock gardens with some sketchy wooden bridges and rooty madness mixed in for good measure.
Beginners did 2 laps with Sport doing 3 laps and Pro/Semi-Pro/Expert doing 4 laps.
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Results:
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Once again, NEBC had an impressive presence at the race with eleven registering in the XC events. We also had great representation on the podium racking up at least 4 podium spots and an impressive win by Libby against a tough expert women’s field. This extends the incredible success rate that the team has been having all season.
Excellent work to everyone on a very, very challenging course.
- Kristen Lukach – Beginner Women 19-34 – 8th
- Linda Hood – Beginner Women 35-99 – 4th
- Julie Lockhart – Beginner Women 35-99 – 6th
- Anthony Laskaris – Sport Men 40-49 – 6th
- Wayne Cunningham – Sport Men 40-49
- Cathy Rowell – Sport Women 35+ – 2nd
- Teri Carilli – Sport Women 35+ – 6th
- Libby White – Expert Women 12-34 – 1st
- Michael Rowell – Expert Men 40-49 – 3rd
- Keith Reynolds – Expert Men 30-39 – 11th
- Ted Yobaccio – Expert SS Open
http://www.root66raceseries.com/results/index.php
In the team competition we scored 262 points which moved us into 3rd place in the team competition (one point behind 2nd) and 2nd place in the team participation competition.
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Reports:
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[Linda Hood]
My main impression of this race can be summed up with one three letter word: HOT. It was sweltering even at our 9AM start. We had a large field of 19 beginner women at the start line. I managed to stay pretty well hydrated with my camelbak. There was lots of climbing and I think I walked less of it than prior years. My only fall was when I was trying to power up a hill, turned my wheel and fell over sideways-not too graceful. Overall it was fun and I ended up 4/6 for beg women over 35 and 10/19 overall for beginner women.
[Julie Lockhart]
Realizing that you did not know exactly where the race is until morning of, definitely gets the day off to an exciting start with getting lost thrown in … rider/bike ready in 5 minutes, @ start with 3 minutes to spare … Hmm, how shall I say it? Stoopid … and then, spacing the shifting (how) on the small short starting hill (had to dig in and grind it out) was not stellar. Passed 3 or 4 people before the first kinda technical climb, and settled in to get better … had someone to chase, mostly enjoyed being in the woods, learned to mount on a uphill, fell a few times trying something, some of the slippery roots did not dry. feet? Saw the person in front of me fairly close and got so excited I fell twice chasing harder, and she beat me by 5 or so minutes %-( ...Great fun!
[Cathy Rowell]
Given that I landed at Logan at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, headed home for a quick shower and change, and then down to CT to race after 4 days of big climbs in CA, I wasn’t really expecting much of myself at this race ;-). Plus, the heat and humidity were a touch high, and a shock to my already out-of-balance system.
There were a good number of women lined up for the Sport race, which I snuck into under the wire (who needs a warmup in this weather anyway?). I lined up next to Teri, and was eagerly listening to any advice on the condition of the course, and what to expect from it. Somehow, I had heard that it was relatively flat and non-technical – neither of which turned out to be true ;-).
II had to pick my way through a number of women after we started, knowing that I needed to be in a decent position once things got more technical (but not knowing WHERE those things were!). By the time we hit the singltrack, I was in 4th position, but 1st in my age group. We hit the first technical climb, and Alison Snooks yard sailed in front of me – bike one way, and body another. I quickly asked if she was ok, and then was back on my way, chasing the two younguns up the trail.
Then it happened. I hit the famed “Twin Sisters” climbs. I thought I was going to throw up! These were steep, nose of the saddle in your butt climbs. On the second climb, I hit the flat piece in the middle, looked up, and swore. Off the bike, walking uphill, and the HR was at 181. Yikes! No WAY was I going to make three laps… But, in my too-stupid-to-stop fashion, I trudged forward, glad of my camelback full of ice.
In the second lap, I messed up a technical section and got passed by Stacey Moseley. Stacey had a fancy new Look Carbon hard tail, and apparently, it served her well on this course. Then I got passed by another woman in my age category, and I gave up. It was hot, I was tired, hadn’t eaten enough – blah, blah, blah. Still too dumb to stop, I trudged on and a strange thing happened – I started to be able to see the woman who had passed me, and I was running scared of the woman who was sneaking up on me (turned out to be Alison). The second-placed woman was walking all of the technical sections, and now that I knew to expect them, I was doing well there. Managed to catch and pass her going into the final lap, and then never saw her again.
I managed to stay away from Alison for most of the third lap, until I succumbed to how tired I really was, and fell over at the bottom of a technical uphill. I tried to stay in front, but she was riding the technical sections smoother than I at that point, and I let her pass going over a rock bridge. She ended up besting me by only 18 seconds, but was in a younger age category – whew!
So, I finished the race in second place. Not bad considering everything ;). Alas, this was my last Sport-level MTB race. Now will have to suffer through an extra lap, and return to the land of getting my butt kicked. My upgrade to Expert was approved…
[Teri Carilli]
HOT! That’s all I can remember about the race. I kept thinking I was just going to spontaneously combust.
There were about 15 sport women on the line almost evenly split between the 19-34 and the 35+ categories. I had done the race last year and remembered enjoying it despite forgetting my helmet, glasses and gloves. With the sport race going off at high noon and the thermometer in my car registering 94 while parked in the shade, I set my goal to be 1) finish 2) ride all the technical stuff I couldn’t do last year 3) enjoy one last mtb race with Cathy Rowell as sport and watch her school the field.
Similar to last week, I didn’t gun it at the start as I figured it was going to be a long, hot day. Typically, I love riding in the heat so I was hoping some of the others out front would fade in the last lap. First lap was my best. Since I was relatively fresh, I tackled all the more technical stuff and to my surprise rode it all very well. I passed two women one on the first hard climb and the second on the long off camber (I think the roots were freaking her out and she decided to walk it). Second lap I start questioning the wisdom of actually doing this race and not sitting on a sailboat in the harbor instead. At this point, I even debated whether I should even go out for the third lap but I haven’t DNF’d yet so figured why start now. Figured I would just go to my “happy place” and just finish.
At the end of the 2nd lap, I watched the woman in front of me that I was trying to catch go under the finish banner instead of up the ugly scree covered hill. Figured she was calling it quits. Was surprised to find her on the slight uphill after the feed zone. Not happy. Not sure what was going on there but I sure wasn’t happy that I did the hill, she didn’t and was in front of me. Grrrrrr. I think mentally, that just buried me and I really started to wilt. Was passed by one woman early on in the lap. On one of the killer hills, I decided to hell with it and hopped off the bike to walk it. Head down, pushing the bike up the hill, my HR was still at 93% and there was a steady stream of sweat just pouring out of my helmet. Yikes. Hopped back on and focused on goal #2 (ride everything). Did ok but as I got more tired, I hit the rock garden, muddy section toward the end of the lap and was getting sloppy.
Was super psyched when it was over and really happy that I’d finished.
[Wayne Cunningham]
When getting to the race I jumped out for a lap to see how the course would be for that day’s racing. I thought it was a bit rougher then I was told by others at earlier races that it would be though it didn’t seem as bad at speed as it did slow. They also left out mention of all the climbing. The climbing was not any where as long as the climbs at Pat’s Peak but much steeper. The hot temp I figured would be a factor so I intended to be sure to drink well. I started as I always do no big jump off the line just a steady hard pace up the first opening climb. I kept my eye on the front of the field and the other as I moved up. John Mosher and Sean Davidson (the winner at Pat’s Peak to my second and later DNF also) were already into the back of the field that started before us when we entered the first single track. I was in third and they were pulling away from me as we made our way through the traffic. By the middle of the second lap I had caught and passed second place and could only see John in some of the switchbacks but could not tell how far up he was. So I really wanted to close on him and kept pushing hard. Had I known at this point he already had over a minute on me I would have backed off and just watched for anyone coming up from behind me. By the end of my second lap I was really starting to fell bad as I started up the opening climb I knew I had to get my hart rate down. It had been stuck at 180bpm too long and I could hear my breathing in my head like I was wearing a pail over it. After the long first climb I could only ride slow in my granny gear hoping that my HR would drop. On the steepest climb I was walking when another rider caught me and said there were three more coming and he thought we could hold them off. My mind said you can still get third if you stay with him. I hopped back on my bike but was unable to ride well hitting and stalling on rocks and roots. At some point the others caught me and I was in a daze now so I got off my bike to walk and but could not even stand at that point. I laid my bike down and held on to a sapling like a drunk on a lamp post swaying back and forth. Then the poor little tree snapped off at the base and I fell into the weeds. I laid there and thought I guess I’m not going to get top 5 and turned off my watch. I drank what I had in my bottle then thought I’m probably going to get poison ivy. It’s funny sometimes how your mind works, in a fog. I struggled to my feet. stumbling and falling my way up the trail now my only concern was getting out of the woods. I came to a brook and laid down in it for awhile my hart rate was still over 170bpm. I stayed there till my heart rate dropped into the 140’s. So many rider stopped to ask if I needed help but I declined and thanked them. If any one is reading this that passed me at that point, thanks again I was out of it at that point so I hope I thanked you. I would have liked some one to push my bike out but I did not want anyone to mess up there own race because of me. All I wanted to know was the shortest way out of the woods. I walk cross country to the main dirt road then back down the course to the parking lot where others met me and helped get to me van, find Jean and get down to the river to cool off. This was a very bad experience I hope to never have again. I still don’t know why it happened as I’ve done hard races in the heat before with no ill effects. I’ve seen high HR numbers during other MTB races this year and could handle it just fine (my average of 1.01hrs was176). I guess it must have been the first hot race I have done this season and was not ready for it yet. As of Monday morning I only have a small headache and my eyes feel a little bit at the wrong speed. So to anyone that reads this please be careful out there, no race worth going through this or possibly worse. Hope I have a better report next week. Thanks again to everyone and for reading.
[Libby White]
I was in the lead for about the first 20 feet or so before five women passed me- two expert, three pros. I passed one expert woman at the beginning of the first lap, she quit shortly after that. I later passed the second expert woman. I made sure to drink plenty from my camelback (which was full of this low-calorie electrolyte water), drink when volunteers handed me water, and I took a GU every time I came through the feed zone. I continued for the next three laps (we had to do four laps) to make time on one of the pro women. In the end, I finished less than a minute behind her! My legs felt strong.
[Mike Rowell]
This was the first race of the season that I was really nervous about as some really big names from road and cross decided to make an appearance. I was honestly anxious and worried that I would get crushed. There has been very strong competition in my category at most of the races this season, but this took it to a whole new level with road, cross and MTB strongmen all taking the line.
Off the start I made a strong effort but didn’t want to be leading so settled at 3rd into the woods with series leader Stuart J. and a Bethel Cycles rider ahead. Mark G. from Team Fuji passed me maybe a mile later and launched an attack. We passed the Bethel rider and Mark got by Stu and kept moving hard up the access road climb. With me on his wheel, Stu moved aside and said “Don’t let Mark go”. I was pegged but reluctantly chased up only to quickly detonate, which was an issue given that we hadn’t even gotten to the real climbs yet. A little later Corner Cycles ringer Kevin H. came by me and then Mark, who has gapped me a bit. I recovered a little and reeled Mark back in on the backside technical stuff and to my suprize see Ted sitting with the promoter and cheering me on. Ted was the wise one that day. We come through the first lap in that order, with Kevin up off the front. The feed zone was mayhem but Cathy managed to hand me a water bottle and we are off for more.
Shortly into the 2nd lap I caught Keith, who looked about the same as I felt so I cheered and pressed on. About then, Corner Cycles other ringer, Jonny B. passed me as I’m in the depths of hell, wondering how I can possibly finish. I muster the voice to cheer him on as I do for everyone, greab his wheel, and then he proceeds to biff in a stream crossing in front of me and clog the trail. At some point we catch Mark and Jonny gets by him and keeps moving. All the way through past the big climbs I finally recover a little so tell Mark to let me pull the technical stuff and for him to tuck and follow. I’m able to bridge quickly to Jonny and follow his wheel.
The rest of the race was basically Jonny gapping me on the power sections and me pulling him back in the technical stuff. I had a plan to jump him on a really technical mud – bridge – mud – rooty up section near the end and gain some room through the final rock garden then get to the last rock bridge with breathing room and sprint for all I was worth. Unfortunately I was so far in the red that I washed out on a technical swamp turn and went down. That was enough so I couldn’t get him back. He had enough on me for the finishing 1/3 mile access road section that I couldn’t close in but he was looking over and under his shoulder the whole way. I crossed 3 seconds behind Jonny and 50 seconds behind Kevin with Stu just a few minutes behind me. I wish I’d have been able to push harder and really race against these guys but just didn’t have it. Hopefully they had to work a little for the results though.
[Keith Reynolds]
I thought we might have been cycling on the Sun this past Sunday. Ugh, it was so hot and humid! We all cast off the weather advisories and went to Connecticut, hoping for some reprieve.
Through a long grape vine we heard that the Channel 3 course was a roadie delight. Driving into the rural area with repeated hills and many roads containing the word ‘swamp’ and no warnings on sharp off camber turns led me to believe we were up against a different beast. Mike R, Ted Y and I got our things together and did a pre-ride where we saw many guys absolutely suffering, gasping for air on the “Sister hills”. Yes, this course had two mega-hills each crowned with rocks atop. At pre-ride pace the course was fun and we knew the hills would bring a battle. We road the entire course, log piles and all, shorter than advertised we were completely soaked and returned to the Cycle Loft tent to mull over the conditions. Rocks and roots were wet and slippery just from the humidity. There was only one place hottrn’ the trails and it is every racers nightmare.
Up the loose rocky road we went, shuffling into a double wide group. By the time the hill relented and we doubled back into some single track I was sitting in 10th with no opportunity to pass. During the stretches of fire roads everyone blazed, during the single track we were getting held up by the tight quarters.
24 minutes later we ended our first lap. I over-cooked the exit leading into the feed zone, sliding my rear wheel in some loose stone, avoiding a rock resembling a parked car. Cathy was able to take all of this in while in the feed zone and later sounds to have enjoyed the excitement!
I suffered for the following 3 laps. Temptation set in on the riverbed trail, wanting to abandon and jump in the water to refresh more than the cold cups of water being handed out could. If only the thunderstorm had broke during the race. Temperatures rose, my heart rate pegged, even while walking the hill. I saw others’ tempers flare almost the the point of Fists of Fury. Entertainment at it’s best.
Mike came around in the beginning of lap two and he was going like a freight train after Kevin, all the while still encouraging me (Thanks Mike!). There were a range of emotions to battle; wanting to laugh at how awful this felt, wanting to “abandon” – that sounds better than quitting, wondering when the chills would stop… signs the temperature was getting to more than just my head. I pushed onward to the finish and that’s about all, it is a haze.
Congrats to everyone for what endured. Cathy placed 2nd after getting off a plane only hours earlier and Mike placed 3rd against some huge names… in perspective these guys he was up against are semi-pro’s without the license.
[Ted Yobaccio]
Unfortunately I don’t have much to add to the report. My attempt was so short and uneventful.