Are You Racing?

A 'cross bike in it's element. Photo credit: McColgan Photography.

Last Saturday was the Platte River Battle Royale, a mountain bike race taking place at Platte River State Park. The trails at Platte River State Park are among the most technical, interesting, and fun in the area and though I was very much looking forward to racing, I was a bit nervous as well.

I don't get out to Platte very often since it's about a 45 minute drive from home. Being married and a father of three kids who are four years old and under means the higher driving time to riding time ratio is unfavorable for getting laps out there with much frequency.

I tend to be a pretty conservative rider and have a hard time going fast on a trail I am unfamiliar with so I was very glad to have a chance to head out to the park the weekend prior to the race to get a few laps in and regain some familiarity with the course. My mom took our kids overnight (which she does nearly every Friday night cause she's Super-Grammy) and my wife and I drove down to the park together. Rachel did a little hiking and had some nostalgic fun with smashing coins on the railroad tracks while I played in the dirt.

Can't pass by a rails without trying to smash coins. #kidatheart

A photo posted by Rachel Loewens (@raeloewens) on May 1, 2015 at 5:29pm PDT

Another reason I wanted to be as familiar as I could with the trail was that I would be at a further disadvantage due to the fact that I would be racing my 'cross bike rather than a true mountain bike. While I technically do own a mountain bike, it's really better to race my 'cross bike. My mountain bike functions fine enough, but I've never really been able to get the fit down quite right and the previous owner of the bike, my brother, had swapped out the stock suspension fork (which apparently handled like a pogo stick) for a cheap Nashbar rigid fork with some unknown geometry. That, coupled with the lower-end mountain bike weight, means my 'cross bike ends up being the more comfortable and faster machine, even at trails like Platte River State Park.

Anyways, I was racing the four hour marathon race. You get four hours to complete as many laps as you can start within that time. The long and steady style of racing suits me better than the more all-out punchy style of the Cross Country races.

The race used a Le Mans style start, meaning our bikes were all laying on the ground in a designated area while we racers lined up about 50 meters away and had to run and grab our bikes when the whistle blew. I wasn't too worried about working too hard on the sprint for the holeshot. The trail at Platte starts with a 0.3 mile climb up some double track that averages around 8% but kicks up to around 20% a few times. I knew that first climb would probably line us out pretty well and allow me to slot in to a good position for me by the top. Plus, potentially being in front of people who would be pushing harder going downhill than I would be comfortable with was not what I wanted. I didn't want that pressure, as my handling skills are what I like to call "pretty good for a roadie."

Before the start of the race. I'm pretty sure I was asking Tyler if he thought I should drop the air pressure in my fork. Photo credit: Rachel Loewens

I think my starting strategy worked out pretty well. I might have been better off a little further forward, but by the time we hit the open section about 1.6 miles in, I had been dropped by the guys immediately in front of me who were taking the corners better than me and I had caught a decent sized group of guys who seemed to be starting to fade a bit after their initial effort. I don't think I ever saw most of that group again.

After catching and passing that group I attempted to set a good pace that I could hopefully maintain throughout the race. At some point a single speeder named Chris and I began to ride together. I can't recall now if I caught up with him or if he had caught up with me, but I know I was in front and was trying not to let the fact that I had someone following me cause me to ride too hard or to push myself too hard in the corners. I know I was holding him up when the trail pointed down but I would then get a bit of a gap when we climbed. We played a bit of tag for the rest of that first lap and all of the second as well. He was a good guy to ride with and never acted annoyed with my slower descending. He ended up stopping in the pits after the second lap while the fact that I was using a hydration pack meant I never needed to stop in the pits to swap bottles or grab food so I kept on trucking without him.

About halfway through the third lap my teammate Todd Ramsey caught up with me and we rode the rest of that lap together and began the fourth lap together as well. Todd was another good one to ride with. He is good at making conversation which always helps to pass the time. At some point I realized Todd was no longer right behind me. At this point we were about 2 hours in to the race and I realized that I hadn't been eating as much as I had planned. So, I pulled over and grabbed some more food. Todd popped up out of the woods a couple minutes later and was not feeling so hot. He said he thought he might puke and took a seat in the grass next to the trail to rest a bit. I did not envy him. We still had two hours to go and it sounded like he may have pushed a little too hard already. Later he would tell me that after eating something and getting some more fluid in him, he felt a lot better. I was glad to hear that. Not much is worse than feeling sick and trying to ride your bike.

Two hours after the marathon start was the cat 1 start so not too long into the third hour of my race, I started getting passed by the really fast guys and gals. It was also about this time that I started feeling the effort of the race in my legs, arms, and back, so pulling to the side of the trail to let the cat 1's pass me was not entirely unwelcome. I do my best to not impede the process of these guys since their race tends to be decided in much closer margins than mine, so I try to pull off the trail with plenty of time for them to get by without having to slow down. At one point on my second to last time up the first climb, I heard someone coming up behind me and, in my oxygen-depleted state, decided the best course of action as to pull to the side of the double track trail and put a foot down. I'm not sure why I did that since there's plenty of space to pass there. As the rider passed me he asked if I was racing. I thought that was an odd question. It didn't occur to me until a few seconds later that he probably only asked me since I was riding my 'cross bike. He probably thought I was just some dude out riding in the middle of a race. I had to chuckle to myself about that one.

The last few laps were a matter of just pushing on. The mental game really started for me there. My legs were getting tired, of course, but one of the big downsides to using a drop bar bike in a mountain bike race is that you have to combine your grip on the hoods with your braking power. Modulating the brakes while essentially pinching the hoods with my thumbs and palms put a lot of stress on my triceps. This isn't usually a big deal for shorter rides, but after a couple hours on a technical trail it really adds up. I concentrated a lot during the last few laps on relaxing my arms whenever I could. That really helped and I'll have to remember that for the next race.

I rolled through the line for the final time with a total of 7 laps in 4:02:39. That was good enough for 11th overall out of, I believe, 24 men racing marathon. Officially, I was given 5th place in the under 40 age group, though the guy they called up for 4th place was actually over 40 and they never adjusted it, so I'm calling it a 4th place finish.

Officially 5th place. Photo credit: Rachel Loewens

I was stoked with my result. I wasn't sure what to expect considering my bike and the course, so to finish in the money and to have my name called during the podium presentation was really cool. I was pretty happy with the way I rode as well. I kept the rubber side down the entire race and never made any huge mistakes. I stayed on top of my eating and drinking for the most part too, though I'll need to be a bit better about drinking more in the middle of the race so I'm not so thirsty towards the end.

Next race is at Lewis & Clark on June 13th and I'm looking forward to it!

I wonder how much faster I'd be on a real mountain bike...