Mont Du Lac
so what happened? well first of all Afton doesn't start climbing right away... Mont Du Lac does. that was the first thing i learned when i got there. the start line was ON the hill. you look up the ski hill and are forced to imagine yourself biking up that. it hurts a little just to look at it. at the start line i asked around to get an idea of how long that climb goes. You could only see a portion of it from the bottom. it turned to the right and went behind some trees. one guy gave me a little idea of how long it went. i wouldn't fully appreciate it for about 5 more minutes.
from about 1 minute after go i could feel the 1 week away from the bike and the cold i had just gotten over. walking was already tempting in the first 300 yards. i did not want to walk basically off the starting line and did manage to avoid that.
i got around that turn to the right and saw that this hill meant business. i had been in a local bike shop the day before and saw the evil grins when i told them that this was my first race at Mont Du Lac. those evil grins now made sense. i think Duluth is proud of the pain that race puts you through at the starting climb. i was now feeling that pain.
i got to the top of the hill with the first group of my wave. they took off and i didn't go with them. similar to Afton i stayed back in hopes of getting warmed up and catching those guys. i wasn't feeling great after that climb and i didn't know what was coming so i was conservative once again. to do this race again i would have tried to go with them. i had a lot of fun on this race but i think this course would have been even more fun to go with that group.
i rode along at a good pace and felt good about getting that first group. i saw them come toward me after a switchback. i hoped that the switchback would come quick and that i was just behind them but it took forever to come. i then realized that the leaders had a very big gap on me. i told myself (and heard B tell me) to stay positive. there was a lot of race left.
just kept going and did end up feeling pretty good. twice my chain came off my front rings for a bit of a slowdown, not much. once i was feeling so bogged down i got off my bike to see if my rear brake was rubbing. it wasn't. i think the trail was just wet and slow and i just hadn't really ridden for a week. went back at it and saw B after the first lap. she told me i was 11th overall. this was encouraging. i did a bottle trade with H (he was pretty giggly during that) and he seemed to have fun with it.
they send you back up the 2nd half of that starting hill after a water station. i made a pass there. took a gel at the top of the hill and started to follow a rider in a Maplelag jersey. he was riding strong and kept a good distance on me for a couple of miles. i passed 2 guys riding together and then proceded to eat a dirt burger. first wreck in a race... check. lose the guy i'm chasing...check. got back up and kept going. came to the final climb and walked. saw that the 2 guys i passed were coming up on me and ran the final climb to the peak and a fun, cheering crowd. hopped back on and did my best to get down the hill having fun and not losing my place.
the ride down was a blast and B told me to push it at the finish because there were riders just behind me. they did have one last uphill at the finish and i took B's advice and pushed to come in 3rd in my division and 7th overall.
i wanted to see what would happen and i did. the race was a lot of fun, the organizers make a great event that makes you earn the finish. i wanted to get the dnf of Afton behind me. it felt great to finish.
takeaway: gel before the start and go with that lead group.
from about 1 minute after go i could feel the 1 week away from the bike and the cold i had just gotten over. walking was already tempting in the first 300 yards. i did not want to walk basically off the starting line and did manage to avoid that.
i got around that turn to the right and saw that this hill meant business. i had been in a local bike shop the day before and saw the evil grins when i told them that this was my first race at Mont Du Lac. those evil grins now made sense. i think Duluth is proud of the pain that race puts you through at the starting climb. i was now feeling that pain.
i got to the top of the hill with the first group of my wave. they took off and i didn't go with them. similar to Afton i stayed back in hopes of getting warmed up and catching those guys. i wasn't feeling great after that climb and i didn't know what was coming so i was conservative once again. to do this race again i would have tried to go with them. i had a lot of fun on this race but i think this course would have been even more fun to go with that group.
i rode along at a good pace and felt good about getting that first group. i saw them come toward me after a switchback. i hoped that the switchback would come quick and that i was just behind them but it took forever to come. i then realized that the leaders had a very big gap on me. i told myself (and heard B tell me) to stay positive. there was a lot of race left.
just kept going and did end up feeling pretty good. twice my chain came off my front rings for a bit of a slowdown, not much. once i was feeling so bogged down i got off my bike to see if my rear brake was rubbing. it wasn't. i think the trail was just wet and slow and i just hadn't really ridden for a week. went back at it and saw B after the first lap. she told me i was 11th overall. this was encouraging. i did a bottle trade with H (he was pretty giggly during that) and he seemed to have fun with it.
they send you back up the 2nd half of that starting hill after a water station. i made a pass there. took a gel at the top of the hill and started to follow a rider in a Maplelag jersey. he was riding strong and kept a good distance on me for a couple of miles. i passed 2 guys riding together and then proceded to eat a dirt burger. first wreck in a race... check. lose the guy i'm chasing...check. got back up and kept going. came to the final climb and walked. saw that the 2 guys i passed were coming up on me and ran the final climb to the peak and a fun, cheering crowd. hopped back on and did my best to get down the hill having fun and not losing my place.
the ride down was a blast and B told me to push it at the finish because there were riders just behind me. they did have one last uphill at the finish and i took B's advice and pushed to come in 3rd in my division and 7th overall.
i wanted to see what would happen and i did. the race was a lot of fun, the organizers make a great event that makes you earn the finish. i wanted to get the dnf of Afton behind me. it felt great to finish.
takeaway: gel before the start and go with that lead group.
Comments