RACER DIARIES: WD-40 Bike

Showing posts with label WD-40 Bike. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Race Report: Sea Otter

Hunting. Photo by Jake Orness (JPoV)

There was no way I was going to do well at this race. Covering Sea Otter for MTBR meant that from the beginning of the week, it was go go go. Not a lot of sleep, a ton of standing and walking, countless missed meals, a few added wobbly pops, and a serious case of scatter brain. But going fast on bikes is fun no matter what the outcome on the results sheet, so I was still excited to line up with the amazing women of the pro field.

#TrailVision: PreRiding the course on Friday

I love warming up at Laguna Seca. And I love having so many friends around, thanks to the expo. Morning of, I did a quick lap of some booths, including sponsors' Rocky Mountain and GU, to get good luck high fives and then hit the track for my warm up.

Everyone was up there doing the same thing but the energy was a little more relaxed. Sea Otter is such a different event. There is a lot going on besides the racing, and the course itself is better with an ally or two.

The start had another level of excitement as the "Little Bellas" young ladies' mountain bike club cheered like maniacs for us, the "Big Bellas." It is so amazing to see all those girls stoked on bikes and the perfect note to head out on.

The whistle went, and we LAUNCHED into action. It was an exciting start as we powered through the first straight away and then settled into "track speed" (there is no point charging on the asphalt) for a lap of the raceway. Just before the dirt, something happened (tire rub? brake check?) and the pack scattered in squealing tires and sharp intakes of breath. I watched Catharine Pendrel sway violently before riding away clean in just a couple pedal strokes. A close call, and the nerves now ruled.

RinseKit + WD40 Bike = Race Ready at Laguna Seca

As soon as we left the track, the attacks began, and we all jockeyed for position, taking up both lanes of the road out, much to the surprise of oncoming Gran Fondo riders. They surely didn't expect to be faced with the World Champion and her friends, National Champions and Olympians. Heck, it's still a shock to me every race.

And speaking of me, my start was as expected: legs were flat, I was slow to respond, and my brain was in about three other places. Once tires finally hit the dirt, I was able to bring back the focus and come up with some kind of strategy (get to the front, get to the front, and get to the front) and even my legs were beginning to wise up. But then, CRASH.

The loosest, finest sand of the day is on a moderately steep descent down to the final asphalt section of the lap. The gal in the front of our four-woman train went over then bars, causing a chain reaction through our group, ending with me.

So here is my Ninja Mountain Bike Skills approved, step-by-step guide to crashing:

1) Try to ride out ...

2) But if you can't, crash sooner rather than later.

3) Dust yourself off and check you, the bike, and that you have all your bits (Garmin, bottle), in that order.

4) Get back on the bike!

Riding out was quickly ruled out as my options became lay down the bike or run over a racer. So I just put it down in the gravel and carried on with steps three and four. A couple raspberries on my elbow and knee, but otherwise, everything seemed to be fine.

And to be honest, I think crashing was the best thing that could have happened in this race.

Sometimes after a crash, I get timid, but in a race, usually the opposite happens and Saturday was no exception. The adrenaline flooded in, and my brain was instantly back from its daydreamy tour of new bikes, parts and apparel found at the expo and screaming just one thing: Get back on the group!! I rode that "fight" response for a good 1.5 hours.

Through the feed zone I had the pleasure to be assisted by Scott from Rocky Mountain Bicycles who I'd Shanghai'd into the gig just that morning once I realized, wow, this is going to be a long race. So thank you to Scott, I heard about racers who missed their feed or lost their bottle and they suffered a much different second lap, so I am hugely appreciative I didn't have to cut any hydration corners.

Lap two was tough. I'd burned out all of the adrenaline from the crash, I was tired of sucking wind on the open sections, and my legs were pretty much over climbing. No amount of beautiful scenery could convince me I wasn't ready to be off the bike. I was still racing, chasing down girls and passing, but I also got caught once or twice, and my mind was back to writing stories for MTBR.

We got to the final long climb on the way back up to the track, and its punky little sister, that final left turn, and my quads felt like they were melting but the the finish line was in sight, and the next girl back didn't have a chance to catch me. Is there a better feeling than cruising into the finish on a race car track, with your nobby tires screaming down the asphalt? Not after almost three hours of racing, there isn't.

Results: Made the top 31 ;)

When all was said and done, I pulled out a 31st place finish, and was feeling like I'd had an unexpectedly great race!

I have lots of people to thank for that, including Drew, Chris, and Julie for fielding pre-race nerves.

Rocky Mountain Bicycles not only for an amazing rig but also for being a super fun group of Canucks to visit with all weekend--not to mention for adding my bottles to the pile in the feed zone.

GU for much-needed energy in the form of delicious Roctane and of course my go-to Salted Caramel -- so great to finally meet the rest of the #GUCrew and our fearless leader, Yuri.

Eliel Cycling for making the most head-turningest kits out there, which are also apparently pretty tough! Survived the crash no problem.

Thanks to Team Ninja, especially Shelly, Paula and Regina for appearing at the start line for high fives, and Coach Richard for helping me with last minute tweaks. He definitely unlocked at least another 10 watts--amazing to feel the difference, thank you!

RIDE Cyclery and the crew there -- thanks for all the support, always.

ZOIC, thanks so much for your energy all weekend ... your booth was the best one there, who else has JENGA?!

Sea Otter is done for another year, and once again, it was the best weekend ever. So much more to share about it but for starters, be sure to check out what I was up to with MTBR here. I'll have more articles to share all week. Thanks Ocean Weasel!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

RACE REPORT: 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo with Wolf Pack Cycling

It has been over a week since I rolled through the exchange tent for the last time at the 2015 #24HOP. And yet, every morning, I’m still blowing desert out of my nose, and coughing it out of my lungs.

A small price to pay if you ask me.

With the cost of admission, you get Arizona sunsets and sunrises, the warmth of the mountain biking community, singletrack galore on the famous course, drum circles, beer gardens, The Whisky Tree, the camaraderie of your team, and as much cholla as you, um, want.

Thanks go out to Dee who first alerted me to the idea – I hadn’t heard of the event before, but now that it’s behind me, I know I’ll never forget it. Sort of a mini Burning Man meets Mountain Bike Race, all orchestrated by the fine people of Epic Rides (who you may know from such events as the Whisky 50 or the Grand Junction Off Road).

I was very happy that the four strangers Dee put me in touch with turned out to be an awesome group of dudes, racing for Wolf Pack Cycling. For this weekend, they let a Ninja tag along, and it was truly Epic, just as advertised!

Wolf Pack + Ninja. Eric, Travis, Stan, Jimmy, and me.

So my biggest thanks go to these gentlemen—Travis, Stan, Eric, and Jimmy—for hammering out a stellar performance. We had consistent laps, we stuck to our order, helped each other stay focused and stoked, and it was all good enough to put us on the podium in third place.

GETTING THERE

A fly joins us on the Queen Mary's rearview camera

The adventure started early the Thursday before when I was introduced to our rolling palace, the Queen Mary (a.k.a. Travis’s luxurious RV). We had a mainly uneventful trip to the venue, with only a couple good blows climbing the mountains on the 8, and let’s not even get into the parking situation at 24 Hour Town. I’ll just say, 38’, pitch black, and not much room for maneuvering. Our apologies again to the cactus we smooshed. But huge kudos to Travis for wrangling all of this [while I cowered in the back].

Most amazing parking spot EVER.

When the sun rose in AZ glory the next morning, I couldn’t believe our spot. STEPS from the action. SECONDS from the exchange tent. What luck! Because lord knows we didn’t do it on purpose. We spent the day getting familiar with the layout of the temporary metropolis that was home to 4,000 people over the weekend before it changed back into its true form as a remote cattle ranch, a 25 minute, dusty drive from the nearest paved road. We spun a couple of laps to get acquainted with the course, and its “Seven Bitches”—a deceivingly difficult section punctuated with extremely high potential speeds over loose/rutted terrain, followed by punchy climbs. And repeat.

ON THE EVE OF BATTLE

Sunset on our preride

The rest of the gang arrived that evening, and we took one last spin of the course together, enjoying those AZ sunsets before digging into a team dinner back on board the Queen Mary. We decided our race order, got to know one another, and snacked on Bliss and Baker’s delicious, custom, salted-caramel rice crispy treats. Then I got my brand spanking new super hero costume all laid out, and made plans to spend some time TLC-ing the bike with WD-40 Bike’s goodies both to help calm pre-race jitters and make sure my girl was absolutely ready to rip. Huge thanks to Eliel for the amazing kits in our respective versions. Wolf Pack’s looks ferocious, and my Ninja edition is actually the nicest kit I have seen or imagined. I love it.

Thank you WD-40!!

Later that evening, Regina and Vanessa, a.k.a. Team Va-Gina, stopped by to share in the pre-race excitement as the drum circle got going nearby. The sounds of celebrations continued long into the night, but I was passed out in queen-size glory, “roughing it” in the desert.

24 HOURS IN THE OLD PUEBLO

For the uninitiated, a 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race is exactly how it sounds, and yes, some people are nuts enough to do it solo. But for those of us slightly less masochistic, you can join a team. The object of the game is to see how many laps you can squeeze into a 24-hour period on the 17+ mile course.

The insanity in motion!!

Eric bravely volunteered to lead us out, including the #24HOP’s famous Le Mans-style start, featuring a [really long] run [if you’re wearing a helmet and MTB shoes]. He was a champ, got out in what we estimate was the top 20, and banged out one of the top lap times of the race. Our hero!

Stan was our “two-seat,” continuing our momentum. I was number three, passing the baton to Jimmy, who waved on Travis, rounding out a full rotation. By the time we all had a lap in, we were sitting pretty in fifth place, but only minutes out of fourth, which was separated from third by only 60 seconds. The Wolves were hungry.

Me and Jimmy between laps. Legs go up. GU goes down.

Through traffic, the constant threat of cholla cacti, headwinds, dust clouds, and fatigue, we battled. “I don’t know if I’ve got another one like that,” we all said after each and every lap. And then we went out and did it again anyway. I think our consistency was thanks to our dedication to good recovery and fueling, thanks to our shared sponsors at GU Energy Labs. It definitely helped us make our move. Because sometime in the three o’clock hour, I was roused from my light nap by Travis’s excited exclamation that we had slowly clawed our way up onto the podium.

When I woke up for my morning lap, I had to ask if it was real. I was so excited and proud of our team, I found the gas for my best lap time of the whole event. And I wasn’t the only one. Once we felt that momentum, there was no stopping us.

To seal the deal, we sent Stan out for the last lap of the race with just 10 minutes before the cut off. We followed him as a team, cheering him past the Whisky Tree, slapping his butt up the last climb, and screaming our heads off at the Rock Drop and home stretch.

PODIUM!!

All told, we completed 22 laps putting us at 11^th place in the overall ranking, and 3^rd in our category (5 person, coed, 200+). Check out our full results here. I was personally stoked to see that I had the 9^th and 11^th fastest female laps of the day, out of a total of 958 female laps. At night, I did a little better, claiming the 6^th and 7^th fastest female laps. I’ll dedicate those to the portable sunlight I was using, thanks to NiteRider.

HIGHLIGHTS

Besides finishing with such an awesome result, there was a lot of amazing things to note about the event. First was the great support from local bike shops. Huge thanks to them because I think I wasn’t the only one who foolishly bent their derailleur right off the bat on one of the bike racks.

SRAM was also there and we had to make a few visits to their tent where they were super understanding and generous about equipment woes. Thanks to the support of 24 Hour Town, we were able to keep our mechanical troubles relegated to base camp, rather than out on course.

The Whisky Tree is also worth shouting out again. On our sunset pre-ride, we accidentally stumbled into a Drunk Cyclist(?) party that was just getting going. A gaggle of plaid shirts, beanies and MTB shorts blocked the remote section of trail. No one was allowed to pass without a drink or a solid heckling (“STRAVA!!”). With bottles tied to its branches—and the occasional creepy character waiting in the dark with additional bottles—you could be sure to get some refreshment if you wanted it every time you passed.

Minor cholla-related surgery for Eric.

One of the most famous features of the course are the thick cholla cacti everywhere. I couldn’t figure out why they included a comb in our swag bags. Then I became educated! From now on, I will carry my comb on every desert ride. It’s the only way to remove those prickles without subjecting yourself to further prickling. Just lift them off, and tweeze as necessary. I got surprised on a pass once and wound up punching a cholla pretty good. My wedding bands still don’t go on quite right due to swelling from what I suspect is one last stowaway. Do not underestimate the value of tweezers and combs in Tucson.

24 Hour Town was also an attraction in itself. Maxxis had a “tire toss” for fun and prizes. Camelbak had a “hot tub” that was creative, but a little scary if I’m being honest. There was coffee, beer, and BBQ so pretty much every need a cyclist has was met.

All in all it was a super fun event, reminding me of all the good times had back in Ontario at the Chico Racing 24s. Mountain biking is fun, and 24-Hour events do an awesome job of capturing some of the very best parts: light-hearted good times combined with lip-smacking competition, friends supporting/heckling each other, night riding, and any excuse to consume huge amounts of calories, all sorts. Will hope to be back again.

Keep scrolling for a few more photos from the event!