16 May
2006
Last weekend, the road was an ugly place. I left out with a
thinned-down version of the Columbia Crew. This time it was only me,
Kenny Marshall, and Rick Harmon piling into the Green Goblin. The
others had wet their pants when they saw the radar and retreated to
the couch. We all new the rain was coming, so preparations were made
for lots of mud. I rigged up a front derailleur covering out of an
innertube on Saturday in hopes to stop my normal mud problems. I
have been really disappointed with my Superlight in the mud. I
always seem to ride well in the mud, but the bike doesn't like it.
Mud always gets hung in the derailleur and stops it from moving,
plus I get bad chain suck. Not this time. My little innertube
covering did it's job, even with worn-out chain rings.
We rolled out of Columbia before the crack of dawn. It was a little
before 4am and the rain was already in middle Tennessee. We drove
through the mess all the way to Atlanta where it got pretty bad. The
Goblin was getting all kinds of sideways. It was white-knuckle
driving as we tried to hold her off the retaining wall. Amazingly,
the rain stopped just as we reached our exit. We got to the
beautiful Dausett Trails in Jackson, GA just before the start of our
race. It had rained a little overnight, but the trail was about
right for racing. I saw the dark clouds coming so I plotted my
strategy. Go hard early and then hold it when the rain came. I only
got about ten minutes of warm-up before rolling to the line. That
didn't matter though. Just as we lined up the rains came. It was
slow at first, but steadily picked up.
I had my best start of the year. I hit the woods in fifth, just
behind the fast guys. I was fast through the slick single-track so I
moved up to second by the midpoint of lap one. The rain was pouring
by this time. Water was standing about four inches deep in the
trail. That was ok though, no mud accumulated on the bike with that
much water flowing. After the first lap, a little Canadian rider,
Matt Hadley, had jumped out to a 1:20 lead. I hung on to a three-man
chase group. I was so happy to be with the fast guys after the first
lap that I almost didn't know what to do. Then instinct took over
and I moved back to second in the single-track. The rain subsided on
lap 2 and the sun came out. The mud thickened as every minute
passed. Some sections were nearly unrideable. I was smiling as we
ended the second lap. I was now in third and still feeling good.
The trail was nasty on the last lap. The little rays of sunshine
turned the mud to a substance similar to peanut butter. It didn't
taste like peanut butter though. There were a couple of times when I
wondered if a pig farm was nearby. I let second place gap me a
little on a field section because I thought I could make it up in
the single-track. When I got to the single-track, I found out that I
had no brakes. It was an awful screeching sound that came from the
back wheel, but I couldn't back off if I wanted that first podium.
So I hung it out the rest off the lap. I tried not to use the
brakes. That worked most of the time, but I did take a few detours
through the bushes. I held on for third at the line. Then I got to
go for a swim and clean off the mud. On the way home we practically
put a Mexican restaurant out of business. I haven't been that hungry
in a long time.
So maybe all this hard work is starting to pay off. That is by far
the best I have ever done at a SERC race. Now I have to back it up
at Fontana in a few weeks. I decided to take this past weekend off.
I usually do McMinnville, but I needed a little mountain training
with Nationals on the horizon. I went up to Wood-N-Wave on Saturday
and picked up Steve Wilson's Santa Cruz Heckler. He is letting me
borrow it for the next month or so to do a downhill race at Fontana,
and the Super D races at Sugar Mountain and Mount Snow. It is almost
40lbs. so I plan to train on it until the big races arrive. It is a
beast.
I am glad school is out, but I had to get a job. It is a physical
one. I have to deliver books for a book fair company. I get to
unload tons of books and then reload what is left at the end of the
day. It pays well, and I need race money. It uses some upper body
muscles that cycling does not. I had a little soreness in muscles I
didn't know I had. That is good for me. Maybe it will make me as bad
as Chuck Norris. I will roundhouse kick the roadies this Saturday at
Whitehouse. Then I will let it all hang out Sunday in the crit. at
the Coliseum. I will unleash the fury that is contained in every
NashvilleCyclist.com diarist. I hope to see everyone there.
Hopefully this wet weather will give us a break. Until then, ride
hard.
Dustin