Note - blogger is giving me headaches uploading photos but they're all here.
Mom and dad dropped by before lunch, then Devin, Craig and Geoff showed up for the drive out to Nordegg. Fun drive overall, but the long time being seated without motion didn't feel good on my back.
We found our motel, geared up, and rode right from the motel to do a pre-ride lap of the course (Nordegg is a really small place). The first 15 minutes or so of the lap are a gravel road climb, and once I was warmed up on that my back felt better. On the first descent I slammed on my brakes and ungracefully dismounted, as we bunched up on a corner and I didn't think taking Geoff's rear derailleur off would go over to well the night before the race. Back survived.
After the gravel climb, the rest of the course is smooth downhill, singletrack, a kilometer of horizontal traverse, then more of the same. Really a fun loop, and a little muddy at that. Here's how my bike looked after the race for evidence of mud.
We had dinner at the Nordegg Lodge, which had one waiter and was out of a lot of items. Our the motel was full of only mountain bike racers and bikers. After watching some America's Most Wanted and Cops to kill our brain cells, I fired up the heating pad and went to bed. I tossed and turned all night, but overall I'd guess my back made a little progress.
Breakfast posed a little challenge for two members of our crew, since the motel restaurant wasn't open. Craig and I had brought food, but Devin and Geoff went to the general store to get a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly. Everything worked out fine. We made our way up to the start area, and I was very impressed to see Jon coming down from the food zone drop with plenty of time to spare, even though he drove out that morning (3.5 hours)... after going to bed at 1:30am.
Race started a few minutes after 9am in one mass start, for 6 laps of a 10km loop. Our pre-ride at a slow pace was 45 mins, so I guessed that the race would be under 4 hours overall. The feed zone was perfectly placed where it was easy to eat for the next 10 minutes after, and the rest of the course was obviously the same great layout as prior. I started off moderately in about 10th or 12th and rode within myself for the first climb. Unlike yesterday's warmup, I pushed harder on the hills, and the strain on my back felt... great. The muscles were working properly and weren't just bunching up for the sake of causing me grief.
The only tactical mistake I felt I made on the day was not being aggressive enough at the top of the climb, 2 guys went by to take the single track descent first, I didn't suspect they were top 10 kind of guys overall, but I didn't make a fuss. They were slow on the descent and I could no longer see the crew I had hoped to keep in sight for at least a little while - Devin, Craig, et al. Andre and Jon were the furthest two I could see up the road on the climb.
The places got sorted out on the horizontal traverse, and the rest of the day I spent enjoying the terrain, temperature, and race. Didn't change too many spots, but started lapping riders by about the third or fourth lap. I was having a lot of fun, especially since the last two days, and this morning, I kept reminding myself that if my back hurt badly, the right thing to do was drop out rather than push it. I was happy that it felt like I'd make it to the end. Fended off the urge to cramp on the 5th and 6th laps to nurse it home, and I ended up winning the expert group. Geoff Clarke was second, and Ed Roddy was third. We could have had a sweet deadgoat podium shot but Ed left right after the race to make another commitment.
The elite class podium was Andre Sutton, Jon Nutbrown and Craig Stappler. Andre apparently rode without food and with only one water bottle, which boggles my mind. He traded in the baggy shorts a year or so ago for the skin suits, so that must be what's helping him. Jon led much of the race but Andre's tenacity on the climbs, and lack of food zone fiddling, added up to a second spot for Jon at the end of the day. That's a great ride regardless, one can't help but wonder how much of that was helped by the new glasses. Craig battled it out with the chasing peloton and laid down some extra power on the last ascent to secure a third place. Jeff Nielsen, Devin and Mike B. from hardcore filled in the next spots.
Loni and Trish took the elite women's spots, and Alana took the expert women's. Jeff, Alana and Pepper have the series leader plates.
I'm not sure where Cory Wallace finished, but here's a good sidetrack note. Cory is training for 24 hours of adrenaline. To get to Nordegg, he started in Jasper last week and has toured down the Icefield Parkway on his mountain bike with a bob trailer. I'm sure he passed at least a dozen roadies on the way too. From Lake Louise he rode over to Ghost Dam then up to Nordegg. I think I heard that this was 6 or 7 days of riding. Then he races an enduro, and is planning to ride home after. He unfortunately broke a chain on course (too much power output probably) and didn't finish in line with what his legs seemed to indicate... in fact he passed me on my 6th climb, I kept looking back and couldn't figure out who was closing in on me... I didn't want to give up the win in our class, so I pushed as hard as I could, but every time I looked back the rider was closer. Of course it was Cory recovering ground from the chain break. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST - Cory has a new girlfriend, whom he asked if she wanted to do a bike ride... meaning she's done the entire tour with him and the race! And just to confirm, she isn't a bike rider by "trade", and likely isn't gifted with the horse like strength of Cory (although she must be a pretty tough cookie to have made it this far in the trip). If I heard correctly, this was her first bike race. Holy cow.
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