Waterbar lessons of Pain. WIndy City Cross #4

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I tried to think of a decent title for this blog report: 'Karma~Killer '. 'Waterbar from Hell' . or how about .... 'I shaved my legs for THIS?' (ok . That was what Hank said about the race)

Actually I was sick all week , my lungs were not cool. I really had no business riding. I went to watch. THen after I rode around the course. I got the bug to race and warmed myself up. Devon was sick too and when I saw her at the start line she was blowing her nose in a kleenex. A KLEENEX. Did you see that? I snot my nose, this other gal spitted . The whole line up of women riders were just snotting and spitting and wiping our noses. Devon used a tissue. The girl has class.

http://www.hillcrest.com/dont_bug_me/gross_facts.php

The course had tight, slick corners and a very disturbingly dangerous waterbar in the downhill section. I only got to preride one lap so I managed to ride over the waterbar by lifting up my bike gently. But I had to come to a complete stop when I did that. After a glance around I noticed a path to the right. I went up and rode it again and the path worked. I had to kinda duck a bit and there was a stick pointed at you but it was nothing to worry about as long as I didn't slide into it. The guys had done a pretty good job of rutting up the path. After years of service in trail maintenance, I was a bit ticked about widening the trail. But there was clearly no other way around the waterbar. I could bunnyhop the first one but bunnyhopping lined me up to ram into the second waterbar, it just wasn't going to work for me. The surface of the trail was rather slick.

A cross bike has surprisingly delicate wheels and tires. The lower pressure we run makes a pinch flat with tubes super easy to do. And if you run tubeless you still have to be careful to not ram anything too hard or you can damage the tire and the wheel itself. Anyone on a mountain bike today had a clear advantage on this course. You never really got your speed up with the way the obstacles were placed. The corners and the waterbars and the off camber part of the course made a mountain bike with its wider knobbies an excellent choice of weaponry.

Hank's race was just before mine.

The 40+ men's race was exciting from the start. The guys took off and were STYLING at the front again. Tim was in third spot and Hank and Wayne were in 4th and 5th. I screamed at Hank to GO!!! NO sooner had I shouted ~then his wheel slid out from under him in the chicane and he just crashed ! (( Its OK Wayne..I won't tell anyone that you RODE OVER MY BOYFRIEND with your mountain bike tires. )) They both got up and the entire pack was thundering in behind them... GET UP!!!! Hank got back into the race but he was in 9th spot. I could see him passing people in the distance trying to get back up to where he was. By lap three he was hanging somewhere in 6th or 7th. It didn't last long before he started to slow just a bit. Later, after the race, he said that he was just sliding like crazy on his tires and crashed , and dabbed in the U turn and again in the corner. His skin suit bore the scars as proof of the difficulty he had. I was warming up and rode up to the hardest corner. It was a fast corner that had a hard left.

I wanted to see what line the guys were taking it. The front guy was putting his foot down every time he came to that corner and took it clean and fast. Tim didn't have to put a foot down to corner fast and took a great line everytime.

They made it look really easy. But Lombardo was just insane with speed in the corners and never slid or went too wide. Hank was also fast in the corner and made it seem effortless.

....But he was swearing up a storm!

Chris Lombard had dissappeared early in the race but made it to the wheel pit. He reappeared just going faster than anyone else on the course trying to get past all the other guys. He was flying.

Tim was off with the front three guys till he crashed and Rob ran over him. Rob got up first and Tim set out after him in third. When we saw him come around you just knew something had happened. Wayne, it seemed had the best tire set up for this course. He was on his mountain bike and could do the off camber and corners like NO one's business. He had his head down and soon was with Tim. He got in front of Tim and just buried it for him, getting him up the course in the windy section and pulling him up. Before you knew it Tim was off the front again and gaining on the two guys in front of him. He passed the second guy but never caught up to Rob again and took second for the day. Wayne picked up 5th/4th, Hank got 9th and Chris did really well too and placed 5th? Anyway. They all got a top ten. But the course proved to be slippery for most and there were multiple crashes along the course thru-out the race. I thought the tire eating water bar was causing quite a few flats during the race since I saw several guys running to the pits.

Brian's race was fast! He might have experienced the same slickeryness of tires but he seemed to be flying every time we saw him. He was in 3rd or 4th but as the race progressed he picked off people till he was in solid second place. His wife was also in the area and came just in time to see Brian race. She mentioned she had her horses with her. Unfortunately there was no showdown of horse versus cyclist today on the steeple chase course.

Ladies race:

At the start of my race Hank came up and changed my wheels right there at the start finish line. I felt comfortable breaking a general rule of superstition and getting brand new equipment before a race. One thing about Hank is that he is hands down the best mechanic. If he runs up and tells me to "ride this' , you bet I will ride it.

Since he had just raced he felt these new tires were a better choice for me. Hank has been reading up a LOT of books and information, news sources, reviews, forums. He calls manufacturers, he talks to dealers. He reads pro blogs. ANYthing he can find to learn more about cross and what equipment and tires and wheels we need. He has a three ring circus of tires and wheels down in his laboratory of evil crossness. His parents are from the Czech Republic, home of cyclocrossing phenoms and TUFO tires! When they went to visit last month, they stopped at the Tufo plant right there in the heart of Czech and visited it for Hank. They talked to the owners! Got us some brochures and information. They are so nice. They even brought us back some presents of Tufo Cross tires. sweeet. :)

But Hank did say one thing that I kinda think was not karma~ conscious. He said really quiet to me, "Whatever you do don't pinch flat, these tires can win you the race'". I didn't hear anything else.. I didnt hear about tires winning a race........all I heard was......'pinch flat'....

pinch flat

pinch flat

pinch flat

pinch flat.....
Its like an echo. I heard it. I heard it said. I just nodded my head in agreement but then this little voice in my mind was like, "noooOO!!!".

The gun started us off and I felt the bite of the new tires. OUCH! nice! VERY NICE!!! WOW. SUPER nice. gimme these tires! I want them! I love them!

I was gliding in the off- camber and had to crunch it up in the U turn to slow down to avoid running into the back of Holly and Devon. Devon was nearby and I wanted to get around Holly to get on Devon's wheel. Holly was not giving up Devon' s wheel! We all were steady in the barricades and I stayed on Holly's wheel. WHen we reached the long flat stretches, she opened it up. But then she complained about her tummy hurtn'. Ok ~My lungs are being asthmatic, Devon's got a cold. We are all evenly sick. EVEN ! Such a motley bunch we are. Somehow, I managed to eeeek past Holly just before that left hand sharp corner that led into the trees. I went a bit too wide on the mud and slid a tad, had to over- correct. I kept my speed up high but... Uh oh..... I totally forgot about the evil Waterbars!!!!!

In politics these days they talk about a Waterboard Torture as a cruel and inappropriate torture device. I think they could talk about how on a trail a Water Bar can become a deadly instrument of destruction. It is a form of cruel torture to cyclocross tires. WHO put that dangerous waterbar out there? You can be hiking out here and just trip and split your head wide open on that thing! 3 such waterbars turned an otherwise swoopy decent into : THe WATERBARs FROM HELL.

Usually waterbars are rubber or a rounded log or an old broken up railroad tie. I mean. SOMETHING decent. These were 4x4 crisp cornered planks of wood set into the earth with 2 inches above the ground of "WHERE DO I GO TO GET AROUND THIS?" ?!!!!!!

( the pic above is not from our race course but that is what they looked like)

I suddenly saw Devon veer left but I took it straight on. My mind went blank, I felt Holly breathing down my neck so I took the middle and aimed to hop. Aimed....ready.

THen I CHICKENED OUT!!!

Instead, I immediately lifted my front wheel but at the speed I was going, I aimed RIGHT at the corner of the water bar. Its like I never rode a bike before. With only 40 pounds of pressure in my tube. I lifted my wheel. It was not high enough. I rode over the bar . Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ugh.

SO my bike took me and the flat tire down the hill and I jumped the last barricade to the wheel pit and couldnt get the axle loose because Hank is a monster about tightening up the skewer.

freak out.

Time, Infinity and jelly donuts are what you find in a wheel pit. Everything slows down. Which ones are my wheels? I never get a flat. This is ridiculous. Everything seems too slow. I couldnt loosen the cable of the brake. I lost all track of time. The wheel pit. How much time is gone now? 30 seconds? 60 seconds? How long was I in the pit? Time ~you want more of it but you really don't want it at all.

So Tim told Hank 'Hey your girl is in the pits'.... Hank comes running up and grabs my bike and does my wheel change. (my hero!) 2 minutes down. or so. I don't know. It doesnt matter. I lost the race. I tell myself to just get back on the bike. LETS JUST RIDE OK?? I got back in with my tail tucked and started riding. It went from a great race day to 'just get a workout in'. Devon's guy friend was up on the hill cheering me on. The gals were all long gone.

I smiled and never said one swear word the entire race. (I am so proud of myself). I started to tempo. Two laps in and I am passing a gal in my field, then another. I felt a good pace in my legs and kept it up.

Somewhere about half way through the race I was passed by a junior racer wearing a Pony Shop jersey. He wasn't someone to draft off of but someone to use as a sling shot. He was someone to motivate me to go faster. I soon caught up to him and flew past him. But he would reenergize and pass me again! It was great. He inspired me to pick up the speed in my legs. He would slow down in sections I could pick up speed and I"d zoom past him. I thought he was gone but then the next thing I knew he'd pass me again where he could go faster. We never took a draft off each other but we sure used each other's momentum. This went on for a couple laps and I think it was what kept me from falling asleep. Thanks to his energy and the rubber band effect of cat and mouse, I kept a faster pace. His race ended and I now had 2 laps to go.

I came up the hill and ..wait a minute! THERE is Holly! and there is Devon! seriously. Devon was in sight! Coming the other way on the course, but not that far off my front now! wow. If I only had one more hour...just one more hour...maybe....haha.

Ok~ only two laps left to go. I know Holly saw me because she started to go faster . Patience taught me not to go too hard, don't freak out and blow up. Even so I dug deep and tried to force myself up the hill a bit faster. Ooh my legs were toast. I wasn't reeling her in anymore. I got close but she would take off. It was the last lap and I just wanted to make it clean and no more mistakes. I did my fastest remount, then I just got out of my saddle and hammered it with whatever was left in my legs. I was closing in on her in the back section. I was now ' king of the sand mass' just diving into the sandy pit on the backside, pedalling thru it. I took the corner solid, The back tire bit in the corners and I never slid out, not once. Holly was getting closer and closer.

I was in charge of the waterbar section now and FLEW thru that. I came down the hill swooping around the corner just as she got to the last barricade. Maybe just a few seconds behind her. Holly fumbled on the barricade and didn't jump back on her bike. She didnt' mess with the remount and took off running as fast as she could to the finish line. I ran the barricade, lept on my bike but took third just behind her.

Hey ~I put up a good fight. I am happy with third. It was fun and a good lesson for me today. I do wonder if I did not flat if things would have been different for me today. Oh well. Its all part of racing! I should just take it as a learning experience. When Hank says DON'T pinch flat...it means DON"T pinch flat. JUST BUNNY HOP THE DANG WATERBAR!!!!