2008 Hodges Village Dam MTB Race Team Report
======================
Conditions:
======================
Mostly sunny, dry and calm with temps in the upper 70’s. Overall, excellent weather.
======================
The Course:
======================
The course was a 5.6 mile long power rider’s fun fest with about 550’ of vertical per lap. There were no huge climbs but there was one steep scrample up and one short sustained climb. Primarily rolling terrain with fast, flowy, twisty, bermed dirtbike singletrack and access road sections. The course had some mud-puddles in the deep bermed sections but overall, was remarkably dry given the recent rain. Beginners did 2 laps, Sport 3 laps, Expert 4 laps and Pro/Semi-Pro did 5 laps.
======================
Results:
======================
Once again, NEBC had an impressive presence at the race with ten registering in the various XC fields. We also had great representation on the podium racking up at least six podium spots. This further extends the incredible success rate that the team has had all season.
- Janet Lorang – Beginner Women 19-34 – 2nd
- Kristen Lukach – Beginner Women 19-34 – 4th
- Catherine Womack – Beginner Women 35+ – 4th
- Janet Ramos – Beginner Women 35+ – DNF (flat)
- Rebecca Wellons Sport Women 19-34 – 1st
- Keith Reynolds – Expert 30-39 – 5th
- Mike Rowell – Expert 40-49 – 1st
- Michael Good – Expert 40-49 – 10th
- Cris Rothfuss – Expert Women 35+ – 2nd
- Cathy Rowell – Expert Women 35+ – 3rd
======================
Reports:
======================
The beginners are staging.
Our women speed off!
[Janet Lorang]
This was a beautiful course – a field of purple flowers, flow-ey singletrack, and great signage! I started off the race not so great, as we all got jammed up / off our bikes at the entry to the singletrack. Lots of women got way ahead of me there, but it turns out the super-fast ones were all juniors or masters. Then it was just great singletrack, no big climbs, lots of roots, and a few puddles – but much drier than the monsoon at Fort Rock (Efta) the week before.
Unfortunately about 3/4 of the way through the first lap my left crank arm came off of my bike. Ooops, never had that happen before. After at least 5 minutes of fiddling I got it re-attached (glad I brought the Alien!). Now was I was motivated to ride fast! I caught some of the riders that had passed me, and chased some Expert men that were out for an easy warm-up lap. One of them offered to fix my rear derailler that was making horrible noises, but I wasn’t in the mood to stop. I finished in second, with a second lap time nearly 10 minutes faster than my first…I have to learn to keep my bike in one piece!
[Catherine Womack]
Today was my first MTB race in 3 months—I had been out with numerous injuries, and I have been feeling skittish on the technical stuff. My goal today was to get my head back in the game and finish. And I did. Very, very, slowly… :-) My finish time was 20 minutes longer than last year, which was a big bummer. I attribute it to losing my nerve and momentum after a fall—I tried to get back in the rhythm, but it was not happening—fear kept rising back up, and I ended up off the bike more than I ever have. Well, some days are better than others.
Another weird complication: there were a bunch of motorcyclists on the course during my race, and I kept running into them (5 times) while racing, including meeting a 3-wheeler ATV. Can you imagine? On single track? WTF? I yelled at them to get off the course, telling them a MTB race was in progress. One stopped and yelled at me rather menacingly.
Eventually, though, things went smoothly. I finally found my groove in the second lap and swooped a bit through the lovely ST near the end, and even sprinted to the finish line, where a bunch of women were waiting and cheering. I love this sport! And I even got a medal for 2nd place in Mass State Championships. Root 66 is kind of like kindergarten in this respect—practically everyone gets a medal…
A special thanks goes out to Mike Rowell, who administered MTB psychological first aid to me on the course when I was freaking out a bit—I owe you!
[Janet Ramos]
Beginner Women 35+ RaceJanet Ramos DNF (flat) But somehow the Bronze Medalist in the MA State MTB Championship (Beginner Women)
This was my first mtb race so I was excited to do it, plus it is really different from the road. I did one warm-up lap which was pretty rooty, rocky, rooty, rocky, rooty and rocky (did I say rooty and rocky?). It has been a while since I have ridden my mtb so I bounced around quite a bit on the warm-up lap. At the end of the lap I was on a sweet doubletrack fire road so the inner roadie spoke to me saying “you will rock the house on this part for sure”. So I got on the start line where Cathy Rowell fixed my number as I had it tied on wrong and I was feeling really limber from the warm-up. At the whistle I had a really good start and I moved up into 6th place or so. Then disaster struck! My rear tire went flat 1/4 of the way into the lap and I was doing so well, boo hoo… Well, dumb me, in all the pre-race excitement forgot my pump, boo hoo again… Many nice people riding by me offered their help (Catherine Womack was one of them)—she even offered her pump but this was before I realized that I had forgotten mine. A nice fellow named Dave stopped to ‘help a damsel in distress’ with his C02 cartridge but it did not put enough air in the tire to continue racing. So I walked my bike back to the parking area, told the officials that I flatted and they all said ‘awwww’. Since I was so bummed about not being able to finish I just jumped in the car and headed home. But had I known that I was going to be presented with the bronze medal for my age group for the state championships I definitely would have hung around longer. So I learned a few things at my first mtb race:
1) take my pump with me
2) leave enough time for the warm-up lap (I made it back with 10 minutes to spare)
3) double check my tire pressure before the race, and
4) don’t rush next time
So I will definitely be back for more mtb racing since I did have fun! Thanks for reading – sorry if it was a little on the long side.
[Rebecca Wellons]
I really wanted to try out the fat tires again after a long hiatus. I used to mountain bike before I went full-fledged roadie, and then when I caught the ‘cross bug, I didn’t get to mountain bike even in the fall anymore. So it has been awhile. A short couple of spins in the woods this week highlighted to me how weak my technical skills are these days! No rock walls, teeter-totters, or massive log attempts for me these days. I will have to get out there and work to develop some skills again. So, it was fortunate that my first race back in the woods was a big-ring speed demon course.
I was unsure what category to do (if I could have seen a pre-reg list, that might have made my mind up that I should try expert), but the issue was solved because I was not allowed to do the expert race. My license says sport, and there is no self-promotion like in the days of old, so I lined up at 2 pm after seeing all my expert friends finish up. I was just there to have some fun, a little bike handling practice for the up-coming ‘cross season, and a break from the current going-through-the-motions I was feeling on the road bike. Please don’t call me a sandbagger.
It felt a bit like a ‘cross race. A good crew of us sport women were hunched over our bars, ready to pounce when the official said ‘go.’ I locked my fork out, looked up the gravel hill start, and gunned it. I didn’t realize that I would be off the front so easily. At the end of the long fire-road start, I felt only one woman on my wheel. I almost made a big roadie-style mistake on the first hill by not shifting down enough to prepare for that first hill. On a road bike, you can get away with getting out of the saddle and pumping it over a little hill without down-shifting much, but not so on a mountain bike! I didn’t make that mistake again.
Very soon I lost the one woman who had been close behind me. I actually felt a bit lonely with none of the men visible ahead yet, and I think I slowed up a little. I thought, “well, I only have to be ahead at the finish line, so I can just cruise around and have some fun now. I can always attack through some of the fast road-style sections and get away if need-be.” But I was desiring competition and there was none to be found externally. So, I found some internally. I decided that what I wanted to do was see if I could turn over times comparable to the faster expert times. I wanted to see how close I could come. How far off would I be? One thing with being a competitive person is that you always put pressure on yourself, even in a just-for-fun, have a good time in the woods mountain bike race. So, I began to pour it on.
I got smoother and faster as the race progressed, although I think I slowed up into a bit of a lull in the second lap. It’s hard to ride alone and keep pushing just as hard for 90 minutes. But my motivation resurged every time I passed a guy. :) By the last lap, I discovered that I could actually ride the majority of the race in the big ring, something I wish I had realized sooner. I never have really used the big ring much on my mtn bike! It got used yesterday more than ever before. I had tons of fun on the swoopy, berm-lined turns, and even on the sandy fire-road 2/3 of the way into each lap. It felt good to let the bike go underneath me, a skill I lack desperately after all the time I spend on the asphalt. I also worked on churning slightly bigger gears over the rooty sections and “hovering” over the saddle to keep my momentum going forward while the bike ricocheted beneath me. (I think someday a dual-suspension bike might be calling me….)
So, I did win, by about 10 minutes. The woman who got second, Natalia, spoke to me afterwards, and although a good sport, I gathered was not too happy with me. I can’t say I blame her, and I felt badly about it. I did 3 laps in under and hour-and-a-half, and the top female experts did 4 in a little under 2 hours. I felt I could have ridden another lap as fast, so mission accomplished for me – at least in my head. But I harbor no illusions here: I’m sure that things would have been quite different if the course had been technical or muddy.
Things I realized:
1. Holy mackerel my back hurt!!!! I forgot how much work mountain biking is on your back. Time for me to work on core strength.
2. Goodness gracious my feet were killing me!!!! Great balls of my feet fire!
3. Aye carrumba! it is really hard to drink from bottles during a mountain bike race. Hydration is an issue. I had to discover what spots in each lap I could take my hand off the bars to drink, and I usually had to slow down for a moment to do so. I know, I know, I could have used my Camelback, right? I am such a vain roadie.
4. I should try to upgrade. Anyone know who I should contact?
I had a great time and have caught the mountain bike bug, so you will see me on fat tires a couple more times before ‘cross begins!
Thanks everyone who cheered for me and congrats to all who raced! Hope to see you out on the trails soon.
[Keith Reynolds]
Captain Rowell fired up the teams spirits early in the week and got us all to buy in to racing at Hodges Dam. For a good reason too, it was the state championship!
Lining up I recognized only one guy, Guenter, whom has been killing it on courses all year. I knew as long as I stayed with him I’d be set.The usual race jitters were absent and I was ready to begin, the countdown from a minute begins. Go and I’m in 4th position and maintain that through the fire road leading to the single track. Someone slows and there’s a pileup while the chase group swings wide and takes an alternate line around our straight path. Now the 5 or 6 of us are at the rear, bummer! Which jersey went by? how many? Ah, doesn’t matter just get in the groove and stay out of the mud. Banked turns were everywhere and it felt all BXM or motocross, as if I knew what that even felt like. Spent much of the lap regaining positions and staying at threshold.
Having not pre-ridden lap one was where I noted all of the obstacles and exactly where not to ride, notably there was a large root bed on a hill that I stalled out on. Shortly thereafter there was a number of dirt bikes halted on the trail, revving their engines and spewing fumes. At least they were stopped and not running us over.
Lap 2 I was back in the groove and knew exactly where to put the tires and the power into the track. Without much surprise Michael Rowell came up on my wheel half-way into the lap and said hello and told me not to worry about letting him pass. He’d sit in during this tight stretch and rest- and he passes the usual encouragement as I did too. Past that tight section we exit the woods to pass another rider and Mike slingshots ahead, at least 1 minute ahead (delayed starts). Go Mike! No one in sight behind him. Pre-riding he said this was a “big-ring”course. Well, not for me but he sure showed it :)
Lap 3 I suspect Mike’s competition comes knocking on my door. Not in a huge hurry to pass but he does it at ultimately the wrong time, just before the only tough hill. He blows it and knew it going into it, while I call out I am going to ride it. Argh, he apologizes as I dismount mid-hill and re-pass him slinging over the seat. Shortly thereafter he passes me back and we pass Sara (Landrys) walking a bike in pieces. Huh, all she needs is a tube and Co2? Ok, so I toss my stuff on the trail and scurry off. Mike is just ahead and asking if I’m ok- yep, keep charging ahead!
John Mosher joins me near the end of lap 3 and says “bring me home”.Glued to my wheel I take him through the banks and hopping the terrain.That energized me a bit- knowing he’s right there. Too bad he didn’t know it was one-to-go but that was soon evident when I didn’t slow at the lap/finish line. Still glued to my wheel through the 4th lap John and I are passing some remnants and riding what felt tandem, ok John here comes the hill- gear down! Later we passed a Benidorm wheel and he reacted to us passing. This was in a long gravel access road where the stones were loose and power sucking, John gets a second/third wind and guns it! I fell off the pace and later got back up to speed after crossing the bridge, only to wash out/lay down in one of the stone turns- oof! Back up and onto the finish.
Who but Mike Rowell is at the finish line smiling, cheering and taking photos! A terrific turnout and excellent results for the team! Congrats to Mike on his State Championship victory everyone else for their placing. During the results ceremony* I was surprised to hear that I was also a State Champion, woohoo.
- John pointed out the results ceremony was missing in the road scene. Perhaps we can consider doing an awards ceremony for Bow.
[Mike Rowell]
I’d targeted this race for most of the season, partially because it was relatively close but also because it was the MA state championships. Over the past couple weeks I’d tried to rally the team and it sure seems to have worked given the strong turnout of regulars as well as a couple of newcomers.
We arrived at the event plenty early so as register and get in a pre-ride. We said hello to some team members racing the 1st race of the day, snapped some photos, saw them off then changed and went out to ride. After a lap I could tell that it was going to be fast and that it would likely hurt loads as there was no place to rest.
The starting line was a who’s who of road and cross Masters, fortunately minus three of the five Corner Cycles heavy-hitters and Stu from Benidorm. In leiu we still had, among others, John and Gray from Corner Cycles, Johan from Bethel Cycles, Mark G. from Team Fuji, Tyler from CCB, Bob and Mike from GearWorks/SpinArts, Jeff from Joe’s Garage as well, the ever present and solid Brian R. and Brian M. not to mention our own Michael Good. A strong field for certain.
For some reason I had trouble starting and couldn’t find a rhythm. It was about 1/2 mile before we hit the woods and everyone was fighting for position. I messed up the short, loose hill climb before the woods and pitched over a bank but was able to hop off and run the rest with no loss. From there we hit the trail, which was rock strewn. More fighting for position with Mark in front setting a blistering pace, Johan behind him and me behind Johan. I could see Jeff and John right behind us. The pace was furious and Mark gapped a bit and Johan bobbled the steep hill climb so I ran by and bridged onto Mark’s wheel. I knew we had to get a gap so I offered to work with Mark, though I was already redlined, but he said he could haul the mail through the section we were on. Deliver he did almost dropping me and inflicting serious damage on the field. Mark led almost the entire 1st lap and it was all that I could do just to hang.
Through the finish I grabbed new bottles from our self feeder in the feedzone and started the 2nd lap. I went to the front and just started riding my pace. Instantly my heartrate dropped and I just got in the groove. Shortly into the woods Mark had dropped back. Knowing he was much stronger than me, I tried to increase the gap to get some room. A little while later I came up to Keith and said hello. He offered to let me by but we were in a technical section where it would be awkward for him and I didn’t want him to lose his line so I told him to just go ahead and I’d pass in a bit. Of course, having me dogging him made Keith ride even harder so it wasn’t like I was losing any time. When the trail opened up I passed Keith and the rider he had caught and moved on. I can’t say for sure but I suspect that having another NEBC rider between me and the competition likely helped as it probably caused confusion and possibly mistaken identity, at least that was what I hoped for at the time. Meanwhile I floored it trying to get more room to breath.
The rest of the race was mainly with myself, trying to pace myself so as not to crack yet still maintain a good pace so as not to get caught. Shortly into the woods on the 4th lap, I caught up to Cathy who was moving along well. I told her that she was doing great and she offered to let me pass. Again, we were in a section that wasn’t very passing friendly so I told her to keep here line and race her race and that I’d get by her when the trail opened. Around about that time I started to believe that maybe I could win it and shortly there after I started to get paranoid. Visions of a broken chain, or derailleur or a flat filled me with fear, (justifyably so as I’d learn that Jeff, Mike and Bob all suffered that fate). I started to try and ride ultra conservatively so as to minimize the risk of a mechanical. Once out of the really rocky and rooty stuff I had the rare opportunity to really enjoy the ride within the race. The last couple miles of the course was tight, twisty and super fast. Just plain fun stuff to rip on and so I did. All went well and I was able to retain my spot. This result was particularly sweet as I’d come up short in the last few outings and because I managed to get the 2nd fastest expert time of the day (beat by a single-speeder). Many thanks to all for their encouragement during the race particularly Keith and Cathy.
[Michael Good]
As we staged for the race I knew I was in for a tough day. The field of sixteen was full of the big guns. It appeared that all the fast guys had come out to play.
The course started with a 3/4 mile slightly uphill grind before entering the woods. I knew almost immediately that I had no chance of staying with the front guys. They were going so hard and I was feeling the effects of a couple of hard rides recently. No worries I’m thinking, I’ll just ride my own race as usual and see where I end up when the dust settles. I knew there was still a few behind me so I’ll just keep them there and see if I can pick off some other guys as we go along.
About a mile in I crashed. After cresting a small rise there was a sharp downhill into a sizable mud hole. Having not pre-ridden, I didn’t know there was a dry line far to the right and made the split second decision to just hit the middle of the puddle. I didn’t know if it was three inches deep or a foot deep so I went for it. Ughhh, it was closer to a foot deep. The mud grabbed and stopped my bike immediately. I, of course, kept going, doing a superman dive right into the mud face first. As I got up and pulled my bike out of the mud a couple of guys passed me. I was really bummed. I did a quick inventory of my bike and myself and all seemed to be in working order, just really muddy! I spent the rest of the first lap trying to figure out a way to quit with dignity. I needed some kind of legitimate reason to DNF. As hard as I tried I couldn’t think of one. I figured if I couldn’t come up with a reason to quit I might as well keep going and try lap two. It couldn’t be any more discouraging than the first. A couple of miles into lap two it was as if the sun came out on a rainy day. I started catching and passing some people. I recognized some from the start as being in my field and others were the back of the field in front. This really lifted my spirits. I recommitted myself to the race and dug in.
The course itself was a lot of fun. A really fast ride for the most part with a bunch of rocky or rooty sections thrown in to make it interesting. The motorcycles had bermed up the corners making for some fast swoopy sections as well.
I ended up 10th. I’m pleased with the placing considering the quality and depth of the field. I do wish that I had felt better so that I could have gone harder. The legs just weren’t there.
Congratulations to all my teammates with the great finishes. We crowned two Massachusetts State Champions. Mike Rowell in the 40+. And Keith Reynolds in the 30+. Very cool!
[Cris Rothfuss]
Soon into this race, the three pros in our combined pro/expert field disappeared up ahead. I settled into a group that was being led by Pauline Frascone (IF) and also included Andrea Smith (Landry’s) and Susan Lynch. Pauline took us out through the initial part of the course at a super nice clip. It felt great to ride fast on her wheel. I’ve learned this XC season that my fitness often eclipses my technical prowess, unless I have a great wheel to follow. I can ride much faster when someone else is making the decisions and I just let go and follow. This was not a very technical course, but there were still better lines and worse lines, especially at race pace. Not terribly long into the first lap, the course presented two options up a rooty little hill. Pauline went right, I went left, Pauline snapped her chain, and suddenly I was leading the expert field. No worries, I actually had a bit of a groove on and powered away. I think I dropped my two mates for a bit, but first Andrea and then Susan reappeared. At some point into the second lap, Andrea and I dropped Susan again (she may have suffered a stick in her drive train). Andrea is a better technical rider than I am, so I forced her to come around so that I could follow her for a bit. I suspected that we could be going faster if she were leading, and that seemed to be the case through the bumpier stuff. I was pleased to be able to stick on her wheel without problems, as she has cleaned my clock at all of the races this season. We rode like that (exchanging leads a few times) for about 1.5 laps. I was having a great time. It was nice riding with someone in a race, and we were riding along smoothly and seemingly quickly. Well, it turns out we may have been dogging it a bit (in retrospect, I don’t really remember suffering a ton). Pauline reappeared behind us (from a side trail; no longer racing) and attempted to tell me that we better get on our horses because Susan was coming back with a vengeance. Pauline crashed herself out before she delivered the message, however. Susan blazed up and took us by surprise just as we were finishing the 3rd lap. She passed on a fire road, popped into a singletrack ahead of us (with Andrea in front of me) and proceeded to gap us big time. When we reemerged onto a fire road, I came around Andrea and kicked it into overdrive in an effort to chase down Susan. I rode what felt like hard the entire last lap, dropped Andrea, but never saw Susan again. Susan flat out-rode me that last lap and deserved the win. I took 2nd overall expert and 2nd in my age group.
[Cathy Rowell]
I was really excited to be back on the dirt after what seems like a long time. I had been having some great results on the road, and was hoping to translate those into more success in the woods. When we arrived, only Cris and I were registered for the Women’s Expert 35+ race – sweet – that meant I was guaranteed 2nd! ;)
On the pre-ride, Cris and I were motoring through the first third of the lap, and having fun with the banked turns and off-camber sections of trail around the mud puddles. Yeah – great fun until I rode one of those off-camber-round-the-puddle sections, slid on a root, and went down INTO the mud puddle! Two miles in and my spiffy kit was full of mud, and my bike was, too. Oh, and I was a little sore, but shook that off to keep going, but a little more cautiously than I had been.
We lined up at the start, and I realized that now there were four of us in our field. And on the whistle, they all took off up the hill like they were on fire. On the first uphill into the woods, I got caught over-geared, and was dropped. Sigh. I put in a big effort, but wasn’t able to chase the leaders down. I did have another racer still behind me, so that motivated me through the first two laps of the race.
On lap three, things started to go downhill. First, I started getting lapped by the Pro/Semi-pro men, and not always in the best places. Mike passed me shouting encouragement as he went by, and then many more racers started to go by. One put me off the trail and another put me into a tree. Those incidents, and the fast pace from the start, wore me down. My head wasn’t in it, and the negative self-talk really started in earnest. As I crossed the line to start my fourth lap, Mike was there, finished with his race, encouraging me to go on. I really wanted to quit, but couldn’t.
You see, last week, I told Michele A. that there are only ever 2 valid reasons to DNF – one is a mechanical that can’t be fixed, and the other is a crash or severe medical emergency where you physically cannot go on. Checking that list, neither applied. I was eating my own words, and continued on. Everything hurt. I ran out of water. I had no food. Halfway through my final lap, I started thinking about food and water. Not a good sign.
I rolled across the finish after 2:25 (the official results have my time and the other racer’s time reversed). I couldn’t talk, I was tired, and I needed water. But, I finished the race, and was third overall, and third in the MA state championships! And Michele – I hate me too, but I don’t think I suck ;).