jjay’s journal

We left early and hit up the Houston race as a 1 day trip. Missing the pre ride there is alright by me.   I like that kind of course - flat, sandy, and rooty. 

I didn’t have a breakthrough race by any means, but I did have a nice improvement. I caught some riders in my class that have been beating me by minutes and I didn’t get caught by anyone in the classes behind me. I beat my friend tomtom too which is always a victory -he is a tough racer.

Before the race at registration the MC from REI walks over and checks my bike. A minute later I hear on the PA “It’s called The Big Ring Challenge for a reason, make sure to use that big ring racers!”. All the same, once again, the 1×9 didn’t leave me looking for more gears.I have to admit though… at times before the gun goes off, I feel like I don’t belong lining up with those guys, but I’m getting closer, and its pretty dang fun racing in the top class.

I went into the woods in last position at 15th place.

photo by KarmaBiker

I was patient and stayed behind a rider that was slower in the corners but riding strong otherwise. I passed him going into the second lap and he kept it close. On the third lap he caught and passed me so I kept his wheel. Later in the lap I was able to pass and stay out of site. Then towards the end I saw 2 guys in my class and caught 1 of them with about 1 mile to go.

photo by pappatop68

This was the first PSE race this year where I felt like I was in it instead of off the back by myself…

I ended up in 11th position.  Top ten is right there - then I’ll shoot for a $ spot. That is my next big goal. To win some coin in the PSE class. I don’t care if its only 20 bucks

results will be at http://www.ouachitachallenge.com/results/results.html eventually.

Tombstone was the only movie we had on the ipod - so we watched it each way - nothing wrong with that.

I don’t have any good crash stories to add, but I think my friend bgreen does…  just kidding - I did step over the bars on a steep switchback when I thought the line was different, but no hitting rocks.

I got 4th in overall 80 mile distance at 6 hours and 46 minutes, pretty happy with my race although I got a little depressed around the 38-40 mile mark.   That trail can get into your head. My computer stopped working at about 39 miles and I didn’t realize it for a while. I just new I hadn’t reached 40 yet! Next year I’ll have a better idea of what is back there. Some of that stuff is tough.

I guess they ran it backwards from usual, but she started off real easy on the Womble section. Lots of water crossings. Then went to crazy hike next to your bike - my back was screaming at the top of that!

Then into more really hard climbs and less maintained but great trail which made the last section Big Brushy seem easy. A fun/simple grassy downhill followed that was like half fire road and half trail -it was flooded at the bottom for a mile or two. I have new bb and hub bearings - super! :)

That Big Brushy trail was one of my favorite parts. It was like a hybrid of the first two parts, a better maintained than the really hard stuff and more difficult than the Womble section. It had some mud but not bad.

After the last few races, it feels good to be closer to the front again. Hopefully I can bring some of that to the TMBRA series and move up a few spots in the PSE class.

cheers.

I had a bad race.the end.

Alright… It’s no fun to write up the bad races, but here goes. I had a hard time getting pumped up for this race for some reason. I think I need to start recovering better from my workouts. Time to get back on the Endurox or some other recovery drink and start taking my vitamins again - more stretching, self massage, etc.I got to the start line late and got fussed at by the official. Then I try to pass wide down the start lane which was dumb. You can pull that off in Expert - not with these guys. Next time I get a bad line I am going to just settle in right away… lack of patience is a reoccurring theme here… I really need to work on it… even more so now in semi pro.

photos by commiebiker

The pace is really high at the start and I am feeling it. After the climb (Horseshoe) I start to feel better and try to settle into my pace. On lap 2 I get caught by the 30+ leaders and pull over to let them by. I am riding with these guys and feeling pretty good, then about 10 minutes later I have to pull over and inflate the tire for the first time. I should have waited for a better spot to let them pass because I pulled over in a spot where the grass was a little high and apparently picked up a thorn or something in my sidewall.

The rest of the race is pretty bad. I have no confidence because now I am so far back and my back tire is squish in the corners. I stop a total of 4 times to inflate the tire (no tube and the sealant wouldn’t fix it) The third time I really tried to get the hole to seal but no go.Oh well, the next race is

Waco in 10 days. The good thing about having a really bad race is the next one is got to be better!Update on the bike for those waiting on one: - the Optimus absolutely rocks! It soaks up the bumps better than the Jabber and climbs great! I really like it and the 1×9 is working well also - 1×9 is going to be a bear at Waco but I will grind it out and will be stronger/faster for it.

So the new frame Optimus Ti arrives to the office at about 4:00 pm on Thursday. I haul butt to the bike shop after work - get there about 5:30 - get the major stuff done and get home about 8:00 pm.

From there we cabled it up -tweaked it and got everything perfect (or so I thought at the time) at about midnight.

Friday — 5 o’clock am departure for Terlingua! (Only a 10 hour drive ~mas o menos)

WFO

Ring Ring!!  Our friends are out of gas.  We divert to the closest station and hook ‘em up.

We get to the venue and register, pre ride, get some dinner and we are back to the room at about 9:00 pm. Not bad.

Saturday morning. We get up at 5:30 and eat then head down to the venue again. It’s chilly, but not that bad. I didn’t really get much of a warm up in which isn’t good, but it’s a long race.

The neutral start goes and we are off. The 1×9 gearing was fine - I was afraid that I would spin out down the fast slight downhill start. I did spin out just a little bit, but managed to hang on with the front group in about 23rd position (finished 23rd out of 36 that started semi pro - my first semi pro race also). As everyone goes into the single track groups start to split off and I just sit in and try to be patient. The legs are not feeling too hot, but I just hope that it gets better. Next thing I know my right grip is starting to slide all around. It was annoying but not bad enough to stop. Maybe I should have.

Mike B. and Spears catch up to me headed into the Tres Cuervas climb. Spears surprised me - he has gotten stronger, but he seems a little too happy… it’s still the first lap and we haven’t climbed up this yet.

I catch a few people on the climb which is pretty cool. Last year I had the granny gear on there and I used it the whole time up the climb. This year with the 1×9 I had to just crank it out. It was really hard at times, but then it would ease up a little and I would really pull away from the riders who dropped it down to the little ring. The downhill was fast and I felt pretty good on it. I see Spears and Bohn up ahead, but they hold on and finish the lap in front of me.

So then I go through the pits and see Spears on the way back out. He yells something at me and keeps going. I am feeling pretty good now and catch him and a couple of other riders. Then later on the trail turns a corner into the wind where everything gets sandy and there are a bunch of dips. Suddenly I am not feeling as strong anymore. After a while I see brandish! Crap! ‘err I mean -good for him! He passed me and moves on. My legs feel lousy, but I am just trying to get to the climb. I figure if I can just get to it and up then the day is done. I am ready for it to be over. :) Bobby E. catches and passes me also.

I stopped at the feed zone before the climb to get a bottle filled and check some noise going on in the drive train. I didn’t figure out the noise and just kept on going. While I am stopped John R. Dan T. and Christine S. catch up. Damn! We all ride to the base of the climb together and then they all lead it out early. I can see Bobby way up there, then Dan, John, and Christine is right in front of me. As soon as it gets steep I think they dropped down to the little ring because I passed Christine right away, and then closed in on John. Dan is up ahead and we close the gap on him. He dabs and stops then we chase after Bobby. Now I have left John and I am closing in on Bobby. Lucas B. is coming up from behind and catches me. He is really a strong rider and should have been way up ahead. I was glad that he was the only one to pass me on the climb all day. Last year I got passed by probably 20 riders.

I caught up to Bobby at the top and passed him but he hangs on. We race the downhill and catch a couple of riders. I managed to stay ahead of Bobby (even though he beat me time wise since he is expert 30-39 - it was a small victory at the time :).)

At the end of the day I realized that my seat had slid back on me so I was running with that about 1.5 inches too far back. That sucks, but that’s why it’s not ideal to build a bike the day before you leave for a race - better then running it SS though…

Looking at the positive - I finished at 4 hours and 46 minutes which is nearly half an hour better than my last years time.

I’ll update with some pics later.

This one from last night is not very consistent -next time I will try to keep it more level across the top. 

Here is a chart from tonight.  The first interval hurt the most I think - all four sucked though.