|
Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
|
|
Written by John Burns
|
|
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 |
Johnny Wishbone
 | | click to enlarge |
No, I’m not trying to be Axel Foley. On second thought, maybe I should. That would be pretty cool. If you didn’t get that, well, I’m a little disappointed (Quick hint BHC2). Bad luck has been following me a bit this mountain bike season. The Root 66 New England Series Landmine Challenge down in Higham, MA would bring some more in both the Short track and the XC.
 | | click to enlarge |
The Short track was on Saturday. There wasn’t much of a turnout, so they combined the Pro and Experts. The course was actually about 50% singletrack. I got a decent start. About twenty seconds later on the drop down into the field, my chain decided it would jump off the outside of the big ring and wrap itself around the crank arm. I don’t think that has ever happened to me before. That left me on the side of the course righting wrongs as everyone blew by me. I was well off the back and dead last once I got going again. I hit the gas a bit and reeled in most of the expert field within a lap or two. By the end of the race I had passed everyone except the last pro, the leader, and 2 expert guys. At the finish, I was right on one of the experts and the other had just finished. So I think I had a shot at the win without the incident.
 | | click to enlarge |
Sunday brought the XC race. They had the course on both sides of the Park access road this year for one 20 mile lap. So now the secret is out, as the east side is more technical and has the real goods. Not all the secrets, but enough. There was also a marathon category this year. This cut the Pro field in half with some racing the regular XC and the others racing the Marathon. I lead out the start down the fire road. Tagging along were Teammate Mike Joos and Matt Boobar. Joos got a gap in the tricky section after the technical climb. I wasn’t too worried since I know all the lines on the back half of the course and figured I would be able to bridge back there. Boobar and I were riding together. That is until I burped my rear tire, twice. I had been running the replacement tire I got out in Snowmass (see last report), a Kenda Karma(Yes I know). I had a couple problems running the Karma tubeless, but since it was pretty new, I just decided to run it a little longer until a picked up a new Panaracer. I lost a little over a minute shooting CO2 into and dealing with the rear tire twice. This pretty much ended any chance to pull back Joos. The real bummer is that I only lost to Boobar by 25 seconds. 3rd is not too bad. It just wasn’t sitting well for a while after the race.
With all this crap luck, I was looking for a way to exorcise the demons from my bike. Enter in housemates Andrew and Hattie cooking up a small chicken a few days later. After they pulled, I quickly staked claim to the big half of the wishbone. The bone now lives on the handlebar of my mountain bike.
 | | click to enlarge |
Next up was the 12 hours of Bradbury. Team Bikeman.com was well represented with Chris Cyr, Andrew Freye, Rick Nelson, and me. I was looking to win this one, but only managed second. I took it pretty easy on the first lap and was riding comfortably with Andrew. I was having trouble swallowing food. It was sitting ok in my stomach, but I was just struggling to get it there. Because of this, I was losing time in the pits. So, instead of getting a lot a real food, I only put down one ham and cheese on plain bagel, I went with what was working. Hammer Gel Espresso, Fig Bars, and Snickers. Hydration was good with Hammer Heed, Pepsi, and water. Yeah, by the end of the 12 hours I had finished the 2 liter bottle of Pepsi. For those keeping track, you’re correct, that’s a serious amount of caffeine. The leader and I were very close throughout most of the race. We were just a few minutes apart at some points. I lost some more time with some light issues. My lights were going on and off. Turns out, only a connector had come loose, but in the dark and after 10 hours of riding I wasn’t diagnosing problems. I borrowed a helmet light but that also took time to install. My lap times in the dark weren’t that great with the limited lights. I completed 12 laps. My lower left side of my back was pretty wrecked by the end of the race and I had some fun dry heaving after I finished, but it was a great time at a great race. Special thanks to Al, Darcy, and Chris’s sister Becky( I hope that is right) for helping out in the pits. With the wishbone perched on my bar, the bike was perfect. I don’t think I’ll be taking it off anytime soon.
I didn’t sleep much Saturday night after the race. Andrew didn’t either, and Sunday morning was a funny scene with the two of us sitting at the table eating oatmeal in zombie mode watching Big Mama’s House 2.
 | | click to enlarge |
That wraps up the mountain bike season for me. Next up is the double header cyclocross weekend up here in Maine, and then the big time Verge New England Cyclocross series.
Kenda Karma quick review: Pros—Lightweight, rolls fasts, corners well. Cons—very lightweight leads to all cons (delicate, debris gets into casing easily, burping problems, wears fast). 2.5 bikeman heads. Poor reliability due to lightweight cons doesn’t sit that well with me.
JB
 |
; "click to enlarge")
; "click to enlarge")
; "click to enlarge")
; "click to enlarge")
; "click to enlarge")
Show/Hide comment form
