I wasn’t originally planning on racing the Beltown Classic when I put together a race schedule early in the year, but once I got the leaders jersey in the Root 66 Series I decided it would be a good idea to make the trip down and get some more points. With a week of steady rainfall in the North East it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that this was going to be one very muddy race!
Backed up traffic in Maine, before Memorial Day!
I made the trip down to the race again with the Perly family which again was a huge help. Not having to drive down in the early hours allowed me to get a couple extra hours of badly needed sleep. With finals week just ending and resident assistant responsibilities going all the way through Saturday I was far from well rested for this race. As I was starting to doze off in the car we came to this traffic jam (yes backed up traffic in Maine and it was May!) The reason was there was over a foot of water crossing I-95. This was a great sign of what was to come in the race.
I hope the tourists brought their Gore-Tex.
Despite it being Mothers Day and all there actually was a decent turn out in the pro field. I really thought I was the only one out there who had a mother kind enough to understand that I wouldn’t be coming home from school on Mothers Day and would not see her. Either there are a lot of really nice mothers out there or some people just don’t have the respect for there Mom’s that they should.
Still smiling after another muddy day at the office.
With the flooding delaying our drive down I wasn’t able to get a full pre ride in, but the little bit of the course I did ride I could tell it was going to be very technical. I started off in good form with the lead group up the long climb. Once the climb turned into a single track climb I was able to pull away from everyone. The Panaracer TrailRakers gave me an unfair advantage over everyone. I passed about four guys who were spinning out on the wet roots and tires were getting stuffed with mud and forced to run. I was able to stay seated and ride like it was nothing! Let’s keep the secret about the Panaracers hush, hush.
The El Santo after an abusive ride in some NE mud.
Then somewhere in the first lap my brakes started to go and soon I had nothing to stop me. Going through the feed zone after lap one I took some time to try and tighten the cables which helped a little bit. The 2nd lap I would loose some more time do to some bad crashes because of no brakes. Finally on my third lap I was tired of not being able to make any of the turns. I got off my bike and took a good amount of time to figure how to tighten up the brakes. After loosing another spot I was able to ride my bike again and stop the bike when needed.
I didn’t finish the race with a stellar result or anything like that. I think I was sixth overall. I still control the leader’s jersey in the series which was my main goal for the day. After the race I made the comment that I needed to go home and sleep for a week. I was so tired from a long semester of school and all the responsibilities of being a resident assistant. Again I was very thankful that the Perly’s drove me home from the race because I definitely took a nice nap in the back of the car on the ride home. If I were to have driven myself down I don’t think I would have left the race site. I probably would have spent the night sleeping in my car there.
I received my new Lake shoes before the Beltwon Classic. This meant new shoes that actually stay on your feet! This also meant I was able to use the pedals Time hooked me up with. The combination of shoes and pedals worked out great. There was a lot of running involved in the race and the shoes worked out well for it. The Time pedals like always perform great in the muddy conditions allowing me to always clip in when needed. Thank you Lake and Time.
This was my first NE race on the Salsa El Santo. The bike performed amazingly well in the woods. It gave me a smooth ride on the down hills and didn’t slow me down going up the long climbs.
I wasn’t originally planning on racing the Beltown Classic when I put together a race schedule early in the year, but once I got the leaders jersey in the Root 66 Series I decided it would be a good idea to make the trip down and get some more points. With a week of steady rainfall in the North East it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that this was going to be one very muddy race!
; "Backed up traffic in Maine, before Memorial Day!")
; "I hope the tourists brought their Gore-Tex.")
; "Still smiling after another muddy day at the office.")
; "The El Santo after an abusive ride in some NE mud.")
