16th Annual Hodges Village Dam

After the race... and a beer
(which allowed fro some of the mud to dry up as I sat under the hatch of the pterodactyl)

Rain on a race day... rain the night before, the morning of, during, and I'm sure after.  As I arrived and headed to register the rain let up... maybe we'll get out there relatively dry??  Annie didn't attend the race due to the forecast, and I could not blame her at all.  I called my father before heading out to tell him not to come either - no use having them be miserable in the rain.

As I was getting my gear together to head out for my warm up it begins pouring.  I pause and watch the minutes tick by... will it end??  Eventually I just jumped on my bike and started out on the course.  Puddles (and I use the term lightly) are huge, spanning the sandy road to start the race.  Following my pre ride of the course on Saturday I had commented that a bit a of rain would be nice to help firm up the long sandy road which got extremely soft before heading back into the woods... but by no means did I mean for this much rain to hit.  I'm not actually sure if the rain helped or hindered on that road... as now we weren't contending with soft sand, but rather standing water.

Ok, so the race.  At the start I ponder if wearing my glasses will do anything as vision was slightly skewed from droplets on the lens.  My field started off quick and I was content in riding the back off the start knowing there were miles to go and plenty of time to pass.  As soon as we complete the first climb into the rocky doubletrack mud rendered me blind.  Not because my glasses were covered, but because mud somehow got up under my glasses (thus rendering them useless) and into my eye.  With my right eye burning and blurry I could feel the pack pulling away - catching glimpses of them as I turned corners.  The pain was too much and with wet muddy conditions I couldn't keep taking risks, I stopped.  My camelbak isn't much help as the hose won't dispense water into my eye, so I ripped off my glove and fill my cupped hand with water and attempt to rinse out my eye.  I had some success and get back to racing, for now.  I'm still not far off as I come up to a short steep climb I see riders from my class.  I push forward, but with constant rain washing mud and sweat into my eye my vision continues to deteriorate... I start thinking of calling it.  DNF... This season I didn't want a DNF or a DFL in a race, and at this point it looked like I'm destined for one of the two.  

As I exited the forest for the stretch of sandy road the rain starts to let up a little... my eye gets some relief from the barrage of pain and I'm able to get through the second half of the course without too much hesitation due to the eye.  Before hitting the start of lap 2 the rain is back so I make a deal with myself... get to the water station, flush out the eye, and then decide if I can continue or if I have to call it.  

After flushing my eye I figure I can continue so I push forward.  As I hit the short climb into the forest I see a rider ahead of me... is that someone from my class??  Can I climb back into this??  As I come upon the rider I discover it is my friend Pat from the age group below me - he's be having issues with his contacts, so I pull him along for a while before losing him in some muddy descents and corners.  I do my best to push on all roads and strive to have a better 2nd lap.  

Throughout the second lap I am forced to make two stops to again flush my eye.  The trail was looking less like a trail and more like a river as the rains continued and puddles merged from their individual entities into a constant stream at some points.  Eventually I come upon a rider in my class pushing his bike, I pause to see if I can help, but he has a torn sidewall so I push forward.

I'm bummed that my eye held me back as I felt conditions, although WET and muddy, weren't really a factor holding me back from being able to race my race.  I am happy that the wet conditions didn't cause me to overly back off or fear the wet roots as I did at Weeping Willow.  I'm not sure where I would have ended up had I not had eye issues, but it would have been a bit more fun!!  So even though results don't indicate a success, I think this race was a great experience for me as I start looking forward to next season.

Hifi not looking so bad, but sounded TERRIBLE with sandy guck rendering my brakes useless on the second lap.
Check out the camelbak, with it's mud covered bottom and whatnot

Earlier I mentioned waiting for a package... well it arrived on Saturday before I left for the pre ride.  Extra tube and tire levers nice and secure under the saddle thanks to my sweet orange Awesome Strap... Now to get a co2 cartridge to pack in there so I can take the pump off the HiFi.  I like the idea of being able to store that stuff for quick easy access (not to mention less to stuff in jersey pockets/camelbak)

Grossness all up in the tire levers

Did Aquaman just pass me??

It was a wet nasty one at the 16th Annual Hodges Village Dam race on Sunday... but I'll tell you all about that when I finally get all the gritty sand/mud out of every crevasse (I'm talking bike and body).  The HiFi lived to make it through, though it sounded like it wanted to die - my brakes weren't so lucky....

So what will you hear about today??  How about the Thursday Night Social Ride over at Burlington Landlocked Forest!!!

Bottom line, it was sweet!

My first group ride and it looked to be well attended.  There were certainly the "elites" out there ready to get that race pace going.  I wasn't sure where I would fall in with the rest of the riders, and honestly - with a race coming - I wanted a mellower ride to stretch out the legs and get on some of those trails I had seen in Thom P's video.  I signed in and waited to get started.  We would be breaking into 4 groups... the FAST, the ladies, and the intermediates (slow and fast).  The intermediates (where I settled in) was a large group, so we headed out together and used the first bit of new singletrack to weed out the fast and slow and separated from there.  The pace was good and I could have gone with either group I think, but I chose to lay back and take the easier group.

It was strange riding in a group at first because I had to pace myself off of the rider in front of me - which both pulled and slowed me at times.  Off the bat I did have to pass a rider who was struggling on a hill and I wondered what the protocol was for group rides and passing... it wasn't a race so I did wait quite a while before feeling like I HAD to get in front of him, and took him in a wide open location... but still, I wasn't sure if that was kosher.  So from there whenever we stopped I tried to position myself in the top half/third to ensure I'd be able to keep pace but not be tripping over someone.

Not to say that I didn't trip others up myself, I'm sure I did as I did hit a snag here or there.  But it was a great ride overall.  Got my sweat on and hit some sweet trails I had never been on before.  It was strange to come across the other groups from time to time... just lines of riders passing each other going in every direction.  Overall I think the ride leaders did a great job in routes and spreading us out so there weren't traffic jams between the groups.

I am looking forward to this Thursday - hopefully I'll be able to make it back out again.  Group rides are definitely a necessity going forward though.  A great opportunity to keep the pace up and not worry about routes - just follow and ride.  And with the various groupings available, a great workout/training for racing.  I'll have to jump in on them early next season.

New roads, races, AND trails!!

Thursday I looked over Fells commute route, tweaked it a bit, waited for the plumbers to finish and off I went.  Ended up with a ride that was only a little over a mile less than the Cutler commute, but still...  you don't get a view of Boston on the way to Cutler.

Climb up this bad boy (located in the Mystic River Reservation in Medford)...

And catch a glimpse of the Beaner

You don't really want to know what I found under the look out....

Had a decent little ride around the Fells.  I was able to quickly join the Bike Loop from my entry point, toured that around and came across a number of riders, which was really nice.  I often ride without seeing another mountain biker, so it was cool to see a number of riders.  I probably jumped off the loop sooner than needed to in order to get back to the task of rodeoing back home... but that is what transpires on a scouting trip.

Saturday I hit up Wompatuck to ride attempt to ride the race course (as they have posted up a map outlining the course).  Overall it was pretty easy to find, a couple head scratches here or there and I was back on track... but I did get tripped up twice.  One was due to a lot of intersecting trails amongst some sweet dips, turns, and jumps... rode around that hill for a bit trying to determine the actual course.  The other spot was coming to the end.  I got suckered into following the Time Trials markings and got all turned around... and of course this occurs in probably the most technical area.  Which, in reality was just a great opportunity for some practice.  I was totally psyched that I was clearing all the rock gardens and rooty/muddy mess that was thrown in front of me.  When I determined I was off track I backtracked through the technical minefield and attempted to get to the finish line.... well it never happened.  I ended up doubling back somewhere by mistake and with my time on the trail nearing 3 hours I decided it was time to get back to the car (after all there were beers, wings, and the company of friends by an open fire to be enjoyed later that night).

Of course there is a race BEFORE the Landmine Classic, but there doesn't seem to be much going on in terms of a pre ride on that front.  I did see today a GPS from last years race and it seems I have ridden much of the course on my ride down there earlier in the summer.  So I feel fairly confident in heading down the day before to just tour the course.  One of the things that I was reminded of while riding in Wompatuck is that I need to utilize my gears.  This seems to be a cycle I fall into where I stop using my gears and just try to push too hard.  I don't know what it's all about (some subconscious feeling that I should be stronger/faster?) but it throws me off my game.  I was very happy to snap myself out of it and get back to spinning - pushing hard and riding fast, but making sure I was spinning those gears.

I'm in a good mindset going into the Annual Hodges Village Dam race so I'm feeling good about that.  I've backed off working my legs this week as I started the Fells Commute with a nice "burn" going on that never went away in my right thigh.  My legs felt pretty good at Wompatuck (could feel them working throughout - which is MUCH better than the void they were floating in for the Boneyard) so I'm hopeful I'll be in good shape for this upcoming race.  I'm ok with "feeling" my legs, as long as there is some output!!

Monday I decided to have some fun and hit up a new trail.  I went up to Chelmsford and rode Russell Mill.  HOLY CRAP that place is sweet ass!!!  The trails were just pristine.  So sweet and fast.  They did a great job of utilizing the natural features, hitting up rollers and wall crossings whenever possible.  Some nice quick twisty singletrack throughout.  And a pump track to boot!!  Not the longest trail system ever, but certainly a fun place.  I wanted to hit it for a second loop (mainly to snap pictures of the awesomeness that was the trails) but clouds were coming in and I had to get to the grocery store before I picked Annie up so I had to bail.  No fear, I will be back... and probably with much more media accessing technologies than just the garmins and iphone (possible mini movie??).