Dave's Race Report

As you can see Matt and I finished pretty close...I was only a mere tiny fraction slower. 38 minutes uuhhum and 117 places to be exact...but I will chalk that up to early race team strategy and suffrage. The 24 hours of driving was pretty non eventful and Quinn did a great job in the car. His race went much better than mine as you can see by his medal. Ok, to the nitty gritty of the race. I took it out fast. Really fast. Idiotically fast. On purpose. My race was really for fun as I have taken a slight deviation from my training regimen. I took two months off as I recuperated and trained my life replicant David "V" a.k.a. Quinn. We did a few laps around our favorite mountain bike park for a total of about 5 miles at a time. Pretty easy for me but a real trial for the Qman. We did a 10 miler last week to top of his training regimen. And that was all the riding I did for the last 60 days.

Ok, back to my race. After a grueling lead out at speeds approaching 30mph on the 29 sled with people yelling "watch out, watch out, watch OUT" (who I totally ignored since they were behind me and I figured who better to "watch out" than somebody in my wake) Matt said he could see the bend in my frame and rear derailleur as I poured power into the beast from stand still to 30 mph and beyond. I could only really punch a hole in the group and hope Matt was on my rear wheel. He was. And just to show me who was boss as I was fading from my pure Jackrabbit style start he gave me a quick pull and was off to the races with a wide open view of the single track...your welcome brother. And yes it did take about 45 min to recoup after that all out sprint. Note to blog followers...DO NOT start a 28 mile race with a sprint...unless you are on a team like mine. You know with sponsors and the like who need results. My main sponsor is Dr. Matt...he gets me bike parts off his lovers bike and tosses me entry fees and places to sleep...all in all a pretty good deal for me since the lead out only took a few minutes of pain...I got the better deal.

After about 45 minutes I got the feeling back in my legs and could begin my pacing for real. I knew that last year I didn't have the legs at the end and I dabbed a few times out of fatigue so I really wanted to do the rece with out a single dab...I almost made it. At about 3/4 of the way there are a few single track sections that go through narrow gaps...with over 200 people in my start wave they must have all hit the gap at around the same time...there was a 5-10 minute blockage as over 100 people had to wait to walk single file between two trees that were a choking point. With out that break and the quick dab on Anita's hill at the end due to a guy in front of me running out of gas 3/4 of the way up the hill and just falling down right in front of me I would have ridden the whole race. Main goals met however...lead Matt out strong...have fun...finish passing people instead of being passed. All in all the long training in the beginning of the season paid off...I don't think I was passed on any of the climbs...I passed so many walkers and people incapable of climbing even the smallest hills it felt good. Next year we go for speed and a longer leadout...the team is calling for a 15 minute leadout...I'll be ready...and if you are the idiot yelling "watch out" you watch out bitch! And as we Niner folk like to say Eat My Dust!