Team Mango

chelan mud - it's light and fluffy

this weekend’s race (WIM #4, chelan mountain bike festival) provided a welcome counterpoint to last weekend’s disappointing (and expensive) mechanical failure. i also exchanged the usual post-race frosting layer of mud for a fine coating of bone-dry dust.

last thursday i purchased a new rear derailleur (and a new chain for good measure), installed them that evening, then used my bicycle commute to work on friday as a test ride. shifting was once again in order and luckily the dropout still seemed to be in proper alignment.

friday evening after work, i loaded up my borrowed minivan with bike, workstand and camping gear and made the four-hour drive to the town of manson on lake chelan. on the way, i stopped a grocery in leavenworth and loaded up with all the carbo-rich foods that sounded appetizing — croissants, jelly-filled doughnuts, molasses cookies, gallon of OJ… i arrived in the race parking lot at midnight and camped in the van.

i woke up well rested at about 7:30, registered for the race, and luckily had some time to take a spin around the course before it closed for the pro race.

the course was pretty much divided into two main sections: a long…. slow…. climb (600’ gain) up a fire road to the top of the hill (did i mention it was long?), followed by some rolling hills at the top of a sagebrushy ridge, then a lightning fast descent via a dry, dusty, heavily washboarded singletrack (mostly) back down to the bottom. three 7-mile laps for the sport class.

after my test lap, i had 3 hours to kill, so i found a decent vantage point to watch the pros go up the climb and later fly back down on nearby singletrack. at the start, these guys were CRANKING up the hill, standing on the pedals! if i tried to set that pace, i’d probaby peter out about a third of the way up, pass out, and then become cougar fodder. not only that, they had a full 4 laps to complete. ugh.

i spent the rest of the time checking my bike over, warming up, stretching, and trying to get over my ubiquitous pre-race jitters. i also tried not to listen to the race announcer on the PA system report how the dust was wreaking havoc on drivetrains — at least three pro riders had DNF’s because of broken chains. hmmm, i think i’ll carry my chain tool for this one…

for the first two laps, i picked a pace that i could easily maintain without bonking. i found the half-up / half-down design of the course worked nicely for recovering on the downs after the ups. by lap three, i mustered enough energy to move one gear above ‘granny’ and picked up the pace. i felt so good at the top of the course that i pulled out all the stops for the ride back down. at one point, my cyclometer clocked me at 47 mph. towards the end of the lap, i managed to pass at least three guys i knew to be in my age group (one due to a wipeout) and came to an anti-climatic finish 1:45 after i started. but i’m thrilled just to have another finish under my belt. results were just posted today. i finished a respectable 21st out of 43 riders in my age group (including 7 DNF’s!)

those long climbs usually get me, but i think this time around some careful pacing really paid off (that, and i’ve been a little more religious about my training in the past few weeks).

i’ve got 4 weeks off until the next WIM race in winthrop, but i might throw in a race or two for fun between now and then…

Posted by jason at May 7, 2003 4:51 PM