|
|
Vermont 50 Miler |
|
|
|
Written by Don Seib
|
|
Friday, 02 October 2009 |
Vertmont 50 MTB Race
Ascutney VT
September 27th, 2009
 This is a long race report for a long race. The Vermont 50 has been a race I've wanted to do for many years but have never paid attention in early spring when registration opens and fills fast. Unfortunately after the CX schedule was posted a couple months back, found out it conflicted with the Green Mtn CX weekend which was kind of a bummer. Waited till a few days before the race to make the call on where I was going, but in the end decided I'd spent $125 to enter and I'd follow thru.
Since I waited till the last second to commit I didn't have a place to stay. A HODAD friend of mine Dan offered me pull-out-couch space at the condo him and his wife Cathleen rented. The place was super nice and darn close to the start/finish. On top of letting me poach their condo, they fed me lasagna and pasta Saturday night. A huge thanks to both of them. My preparation prior to the race was pretty solid. Had a good week of riding, a cameback full of Hammer Heed, tools, quick-link, bars, gels and my Salsa Moto Rapido was in a high state of tune. 5:40AM threw everything in the truck with Dan and headed to the start. Pretty lazy for sure as we were only a mile away. Seemed to make sense the night before as we were thinking we'd just stay warm and dry in the truck till a few minutes before the start. Pulled up to the access road to see a huge line of cars heading in and realized we might not make it up the road in time. Back to the condo parking lot, threw our gear on and rode up to the base lodge.
Cathleen had brought some clear ponchos which I decided would be perfect to stay dry and warm for the first hour or so of racing and then I'd just toss it away at a feed zone. We took off like clockwork at the prescribed 6:20AM start time and followed the pace vehicle down the access road and onto Rt. 44. It was fifty degrees, dark and raining, and a little sketchy in a large pack with spray coming off wheels at around 25mph. I let the rabbits take off the front and settled in the second pack knowing we were going to be out there for a long while. Taking the first turn uphill into the singletrack decided to take a pull of my camelback only to realize...it was still in the truck. Early morning races just aren't my thing and without coffee my brain just doesn't function well. Decided I had quite the assortment of gels in my pocket and would depend on the rest stops for fluid. Figured if I had a mechanical I'd just sit and cheer at a rest stop till the race was over.
Prior to the race met up with the ROAG gang and told them I was going to pace myself for the first thirty miles. They laughed pretty good as I'm not good at executing on such tactics. Determined to not race stupid, stuck with the plan and about ten miles in I hear NEBCr Norm Collard come up from behind. Always good to hear and see a friendly face. Norm is a tick stronger in the climbs so I figured if I could stick with him thru the race I'd finish well. A few miles later while zipping down a descent, I took a flyer from my rig and Norm had two choices, run over me, or crash also. Glad he choose the latter as we were moving pretty good. After about 25 miles and me drinking at least four cups of something at each feed I had to whiz. At that point I lost Norm as I was drinking way more than I had sweated due to the cool temps. I'd see him occasionally in the next eight miles topping a climb ahead. Coming around 33ish miles I ran into Norm at a feed zone with Bryna Nestor from Bear Naked/Cannondale. The three of us left the stop together and then promptly took a wrong turn. We figured out quick as if you weren't seeing tracks in the mud you were off course. A quick retrace of our route and we were back in the groove.
While I haven't ever had issues with chainsuck on the Salsa, today it was almost impossible to avoid. Thought about the throw-the-bike-in-the-river wash trick, but just opted to carry the extra five pounds of mud and see how well I could ride with about half my gears. Chainsuck would usually catch you as you were turning into a steep transition and you needed the lowest gears with the highest wattage. Pretty much the worst times possible as you were hosed at that point. As we made such a transition I heard Norm yell F*!k, which I interpreted "darn I have chain suck". I should have interpreted better as Norm doesn't normally articulate that way and it was his derailleur hanger which had failed. Hopefully my wrecking in front of him earlier wasn't a contributing factor. Pretty certain Norm would have finished ahead of me without the mechanical.
I had saved some gas for the last ten miles and dialed up the pace. I passed about a dozen people who were in various states of pain and mechanical challenges including Andy Chambers. Andy doesn't know me by name but I know him as one of those guys that while he's passing you during the race, or just hanging out after, always has a positive thing to say. He must have had some issue going on as I'm not usually in his zip code. The race at this point had started to get in the epic category, riding up some of the hills was everything you had in the bag, if you didn't have perfect front/rear balance you were walking. Staying on the bike was a big advantage, because the mud was like 80w gear oil. The people who run this event certainly are impressive. The finishing climb was super painful and I passed a couple more. Finished 8th out of 48 in the 45+ Expert Category. The DNF count was pretty solid at 157 which indicated just how hard a race it was. There were 193 DNShows which indicates how wacked the people who started were. :)
After the finish, I sprayed the extra five pounds of mud off my bike, the three pounds on me and my gear, and headed to the post dinner feed. And a fine feed it was, had a couple Harpoons and a plate of food that would dazzle the largest clydesdales. All in all a great race, the single-track was fabulous, organization was top notch and can only imagine how fun those trails are when dry and sunny. Not sure how many of them are actually legally ride-able as many have land owner permission just for the race.
On the equipment side tried Ergon GR2 grips after reading Bikeman teammate Rick Nelson's review . For a race like this with 7k feet of climbing they were just what the doctor ordered. After doing a few endurance events the last two seasons I had to try something. I suffer from Carpal Tunnel in my right hand to the point that after three to four hours sometimes that hand goes almost completely numb. I had no problems with the carpal even after 6 hours of hard riding, they offer a really comfortable position and enjoyed riding with bar ends for the first time in probably fifteen years. I spent an entire ride before hand dialing them in for the correct angle and can see if you don't you may not like them. I did find I lost some real estate on the bars due to the bar ends and I'm pretty sure I would like the small size better. Ergon makes small and large sizes and and on the size chart I was in the middle at 8.5. Due to the size I found I lost a bit of grip descending in the really technical single-track. They make my bike look like a moose mounted on my riser bar, but function over aesthetics.
Congrats to the rest of the ROAG and HODAD guys I ride with who raced this epic. There are some amazing stories that came out of this one that you'll hear about for some time. While bummed this race is scheduled in CX season my masochistic tendencies will probably...well most likely, make me sign up again next year. Thanks also to SkiPix.com for waving their copyright restrictions and letting me attach the picture. It captured the the wacky-ness of this event in a very cool way.
Don
 |
|
|
|
; "Image")
Show/Hide comment form
