Burkys race & training blog: March 2010

So the first official GSC race of the new season has arrived and I am ready to take on the challenge. I have been training most of the winter in anticipation of this day. Last year I did 2 mountain bike races and fell in love with the sport. So I decided to buy a bike and give it a try this year. After hurting my shoulder back in September, I really didn't know what to expect. Not being able to ride all winter as I had planned would be the big "am I ready for this" question.

I have been riding a stationary recumbent bike since about 2 weeks after my surgery. I started doing spin class in February and started riding my bike on March 1st. All of this was strictly enforced by me as directed by my doctor and physical therapist. I tend to abide by the rules and listen to authority. After all, they know what is best for me and my recovery.

So I decided to go up on Saturday afternoon to give me enough time to set up camp and go for a pre-ride. I like camping as it gets you close to nature and it also offers the opportunity to meet other racers and socialize some. Plus we can usually camp right on the property where the race is taking place.

Camp Thunder is an Official Boy Scout camp that is located between Woodbury and Thomaston, Ga. Approximately 50 miles north east of Columbus. Comprising over 2400 acres of land and many miles of trails. It lies right on the Flint River and is heavily wooded. It also contains some of the highest hills south of the north Georgia mountains. Beautiful, majestic and "steep" are the first words that came to my mind when I arrived.

I arrived in the early afternoon and set up camp.

Knowing that there was a good chance of rain that evening and on race day, I brought all of the rain gear including tarps. The camping area was very nice with permanent scout tents set up for rent. I had my own tent so I just picked out a clear flat spot and popped up the tent and tarps. While doing so I met some nice folks from Albany and the South Georgia Cycling Club. I think that there were 6 or 7 of them here with 3 guys actually racing.

They were very cordial and invited me to join them that evening by the camp fire. Vonnie has been racing many years and knows some of the Columbus racers too. So we at least had some things in common to talk about, including racing. He decided to race his single speed bike for this event. Something that I wouldn't have even considered because of the steep terrain.

So after I set up camp, I get my bike gear on and head out to ride the race course. The only thing that I know about it is that it is steep. I am somewhat of a good hill climber, so I think, so I shouldn't have too many problems with it, or so I thought. Well that was the last time that I thought that particular though! LOL The hills weren't the problem at all. It was the down hills that kicked my butt. They were just as steep and probably more narrow than the up hills. I was just praying that my brakes didn't give out!

The first part of the course, 1.25 miles was flat and followed the banks of the Flint River. Flat with loose rocks, deep sand and several water crossings I should say. The rocks and water crossings were not too much of a problem. Just stay away from the BIG rocks and I should be ok. It was the sand that was the problem. As long as you can maintain your speed, you won't have much of an issue. But slow down too much and it will be hard to control your steering and could possibly fall over. I had no problem with this section at all.

The flat transitions into the first Big hill with a quick swoop up to a very narrow off angle trail. After about 100 feet or so you arrive at the first switchback. The trail is loaded with rocks and roots and close trees that you have to navigate carefully. The first switchback is probably one of the hardest ones because it begins the steep climb and is loaded with rocks. If you loose too much speed you will fall over, and I did just that. Not hurt too bad, mostly my pride, I try to get back on the bike. I can't get started so I have to walk up the hill until I can find a tree and a flat spot so that I can get on the bike and get clipped into the pedals.

So off I go again with a large appreciation for the rocks and roots. This hill is a monster and larger than any hill I have ever been on. According to my GPS it is over a mile long and over a 600 foot climb. Woooooooooooooo!!! My heart rate monitor is freaking out and I am finding it hard to breathe. I have to really concentrate and talk to myself and remember my training. Slow and easy is now the new theme of the day. This hill is going to wipe me out if I am not careful.

I finally reach the top of the hill so I decide to take a short break and take in the view. Since the leaves haven't arrived on the trees yet, the view is spectacular. I don't know how far I can see, but the Flint river is way down below me now. I start back on the trail and quickly hit my first down hill section. It is as steep or steeper than the up hill and it is very narrow. I am not used to this and am somewhat nervous about it. Brakes don't fail me now!!! You can't even let off them for a second or you build up too much speed.

Arriving at the bottom unscathed I reach the first creek crossing. It is a small stream and it is not too bad or muddy. At the second crossing there is a small bridge that someone has made over it. The third crossing is very soft and muddy but I maintain my speed and cross with no issues. The trail immediately starts climbing up the next hill.

This hill is somewhat different than the first one in that it is not going straight up, but transversing at an angle. The climb is just as hard though and it littered with rocks and roots again. According the my GPS it is about .75 of a mile to the top.

When I get to the top I am greeted with a long logging road. What a welcome relief it is too! It is about 2.25 miles long with several rolling but smaller hills. I think this is where I reach my fastest speed of the day at 21 mph. The relief is quickly over with and I reach another down hill section.

This time instead of being long, fast, narrow and scary, it is very winding and technical. It also has all of the rocks and roots just like the up hill climbs. This in itself can make it dangerous. Putting on your brakes in loose rocky dirt laden with roots is not a very comfortable thing. I just have to make sure that I do not use the front brake like I did on the first down hill. It wouldn't take much for the front tire to slide out from under me.

At the bottom of this hill is my worst nightmare! A 90 degree off angle right hand turn between 2 trees. I am pretty good at left hand turns but not so good going to the right. So what do you think happens? Yep you guess it! I crash and burn, badly. On the way down I get a bright idea and try to grab the inside tree to help slow me down and hopefully stop me from crashing. Well it worked as far as the slowing down part went but I still crashed and the tree shredded my right forearm when I over shot it when trying to grab. OUCH is now the new word of choice!

So I am now laying on the rocks, still in one piece and wondering how I am going to maneuver this in the race tomorrow. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Swing out wide to the left and make the corner bigger than it appears. Might work, might not. I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out. So I gather myself up and check for any missing body parts and broken parts to me and the bike. Other than the chain coming off, all is well (well besides all of the missing skin on my right forearm).

So I re-establish my chain and my pride again and jump on the bike. I am only 10 feet from the bottom of the hill so I try to use the quick speed gain to maneuver up the next hill. This works out fine until I hit the first set of roots. The trail is not very steep but it is off angle and just covered with roots and some rocks. Every time I hit a root my tires shoot out from under me and I go down. Not hard but down anyway. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I am getting very frustrated with this and wondering why they couldn't have flattened out the trail better. LOL

So I struggle through what seemed to be a "not so hard" section. I reach the top of this short climb to find a rock garden. The trail is lost and looks as though it goes straight between 2 trees that are not wide enough to get my handlebars through. So I attempt to go around the trees and spin out my tire! WHAT? It was as if it was in slow motion. I am fallllliinnnnggggggg... And right into a tree I go. The bad thing about this fall was that it was down the hill and onto big rocks. Luckily the tree that I fell onto was small and I actually rode it all the way down. It broke my fall enough that I wasn't hurt too bad. A little cut on my leg and right chest. Just more frustration than anything.

I am now telling myself that if I fall one more time I am going to pack it up and go home! LOL I would never do that, but it did cross my mind. So after the rock garden I get back on the bike and continue up the hill. With the rocks quickly behind me, the trail works its way into a Pine tree forest. Up and over a small rise, through the pines and onto another long up hill. This time the hill is what we call double track. Simply put it is wide enough to get 2 cyclist on it side by side. This hill is also very clean with no roots or rocks.

The top of the hill brings another flat section and some smooth sailing for a short while. The trail soon becomes rocky again as it starts heading down hill. You can build up a little speed here so I have to be careful again as to not get caught by a larger rock and go down. I hit 20 mph and it is scary just thinking about the crash if it was to happen. Things would break for sure here!

The down hill quickly bottoms out to another steep up hill climb. I am hoping that this is the last one as my legs are really starting to feel the burn. I don't want to over do it today. I have been on the course for an hour and should be getting close to the finish. This hill is a straight up shot. And I mean straight up buddy. No turns, but some rocks scattered around.

The top brings another logging road that meanders through a mature pine forest for a short stint. Another short and somewhat rocky trail and it then opens up to a large clear cut area an a large clay down hill road. It is steep and fast and straight down too. Filled with washes from the rain but not slick. This will be a big mess tomorrow if it does rain. Hard clay and water make for a very slick track. I must maintain my hand on the brakes all of the way down.

At the bottom the road takes a sharp 90 degree turn to the left and continues on for another 100 yards or so. I can see the camp ground now so I know that I am almost through. The road stops and I enter the trail again. This is a new trail that tracks around the left side of the camp ground through the woods. It hasn't been worn down and flattened, so it is off angle and slick. I know that I will bust it here in the race tomorrow because of that. Especially if it is wet.

The trail goes around the camp for about a quarter mile or so and comes out right at the start line. WHEW! I am finally done. Well almost that is. I have to continue on around the bathrooms and camp office buildings and loop around to the actual finish line. Ok! Now I can say whew and I am finally done. Nothing broken, so all is well. I get out my GPS and check what the results will be. 8.75 miles, 1:18 hours, 6.7 mph average, base elevation 662 feet and top elevation is 1112 feet. I am told that the course has over 2500 feet of elevation climb! Wooooooooooo!!!

My next task at hand was to get something to eat and to take a shower. So made a turkey and cheese sandwich and ate it with some corn chips and Gatorade. I then head up to the showers to get cleaned up. The showers looked cold and only had one pipe leading to the shower head. Hmmm I wondered. Can they only be cold water showers? Well it didn't really matter as I had to take a shower. So I pull the draw string and what I feared was right! COLD water. Well this is not going to be pleasant experience. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Well at least I was able to shave and get clean despite the cold water. I think that I might skip my shower in the morning before the race! LOL

So I see my new found friends from Albany getting their fire ready, so I head over to say hey and see what their plans are for the evening. They are in the process of cooking their supper on the grill so we just stand around the fire while it is cooking. They are having steak and other fixins!!! Yum I thought. So they eat and we sit around the fire til about 11pm or so. It is actually getting pretty cold out by now, and I am getting tired so I head off to the tent and call it a day.

The rains start sometime in the middle of the morning before the sun comes up! It wakes me up but it is still dark so I try to go back to sleep. It is not raining hard but it is steady. I think I finally fall sleep but not for sure. The sun comes up and the rain is now off and on at times. I am dreading having to race in it, but I am here and the show must go on. I get up around 8am and attempt to eat something, anything, but I can't do it. Just like every other race I have been in. I just can't do it. We have a mandatory meeting at 9:15am with the race director to go over final instructions. I am in the first group of racers and we blast off at 9:30.

After meeting I head back over the my camp and get dressed and ready for the race. The rain has slacked off and I can only hope that it says away, at least for the start. I am hoping that the course is not too muddy and slippery. Maybe the first groups of racers will make it better for the rest of us by packing it in.

So I am now at the line ready for the gun/whistle to go off. 3, 2, 1 blastoff!!! There are 12 guys in my wave and I am in 3rd position off the line. We are going alone side the river and the #2 guy gets caught up in the sand and goes down. He gets on his bike and starts back going before I can pass him though. Then all of a sudden the guy in 4th passes me. Ok I tell myself this is ok. Maybe I am a better climber than they are and will get them on the hills. I am just trying to get my legs warmed up and my mind into race mode at this point.

As soon as we reach the first hill we run into traffic. The wave before us is jammed and crowding the trail. I have to holler ahead several times for them to get out of the way, which they do. I soon catch up to the 3rd place guy and pass him. I can see the first and second place guys ahead but they have a pretty good lead on me. I tell myself to not worry about it as the race is still early. My goal is make it to the top of the hill without dieing or hyperventilating.

I soon see David Jones from Columbus and pass him. He is having chain problems and is walking his bike up the hill. I eventually catch and pass Mike Nichols which is in the wave ahead of me too. I am also gaining on the 2nd place guy in my wave. By the time we reach the top of the hill he is just a few yards in front of me. The first place guy is now gone.

I finally catch and pass the 2nd place guy after I reach the top of the 2nd hill and are on the logging road. He is not paying attention and is trying to remove the sleeves from his cycling jacket. I guess he is over heating or something. This is good for me and I am ecstatic that I am in 2nd place!

As I am going down the next large hill I here him gaining on me. I am faster up the hills but he fast down the hills. Shoot I think but I will get out of his way if he catches me. Well this the hill where I had my major crash at the bottom, so I am going to swing wide on the nasty corner. Well it just so happens that this is where the guy catches me and wants to pass! Dang it! I swing wide but he is now in my way to cut back into the corner. What to do now? Oh, well I guess I will miss the corner and go off into the woods and hope for the best! LOL There are no trees in the way but no trail either. So I just sit way back on the saddle and hope that I don't hit something I can't see.

I made it!!! Swoop and I am now climbing up the now very nasty rock and root covered off angle hill to the rock garden. I immediately go down on the first root. I decided that if this happened I would just just get off and run up the hill pushing my bike. So this is what I did. I can catch the now 2nd place guy going up one of the next 2 remaining hills I thought.

Going up the 3rd hill I can see him and I am gaining. I hope that I can catch him before we go down the other side but I don't. He and another guy from the wave ahead of us are going down the fast rocky down hill to the last big hill. I have told myself in previous races to conserve energy going down the hills and pour it on going up the hills. The 2nd place is right there in front of me so this will probably be my last chance to get him.

I am flying down the hill and scared out of my wits. If I crash now I will be hurt very bad, I think. Just keep your eyes focused on the rocks ahead of me and avoid any of the big ones that can cause you to crash. I do this with seemingly unwavering out-of-controlness and catch them right at the bottom of the hill. I pass the other guy and quickly pour on the gas. The 2nd place guy has already started up the hill but quickly catch and pass him. I am now in full race mode and no one is going to slow me down now! As I pass him he tells me good luck as I guess he is conceding it to me.

So I never let up again. Coach told me to never look back so I don't. There is only one more down hill and he isn't going to catch me there! I am ecstatic and flying now. I hit the last logging road downhill and I am going as fast I can without being out of control. There are people there cheering me on and taking photos. I holler at them with glee as I am flying down the hill. I tell myself to don't get too crazy and stay in control. There is a huge left hand turn at the bottom and then you have the new trail to manipulate.

So as I am turning the left hand corner I glance back and I see no one! YAY. I turn off the gas a little bit as to not crash on the new trail section. Well just as I thought that day before, I wipe out about halfway through it! My back tire hits a slick root and spins me out. I am not hurt and no one was there to see it and no one was there to pass either. I exit the woods and quickly fly through the loop to the finish line. I can't freakin believe it! I took 2nd place in my very first GSC race of the season! WOW What an awesome feeling it is.