Ramblings

I raced the Bump and Grind in Birmingham last weekend. 500 racers turned out for a pretty cool race. Sport class did one big 17 mile loop. Highlights included some swoopy single track, a two mile climb and a descent of about 2 miles including the famous "Blood Rock!".

Blood rock was a section about 75 feet long that dropped 25 or 30 feet. It was like riding off a desk and landing on another, then off it to another and so on, all the while dodging the cracks in the rocks, baby heads and the creek running through the middle of the trail.

I met Kevin who is now living in Mobile and we camped in my tent affectionately known as "the condo. I swear it is as big as a house. The weather was hot and dry the whole weekend until we were breaking camp and the sky opened up. All we could do was pack up wet stuff. Since I have been on the road all week, I just spread the tent out on the back deck to dry a few minutes ago.

The race went OK. I started off 4th in the largest Clydesdale class I've seen in a long time. On the first little descent 200 yards in I dropped my chain. I let out a loud F bomb only to look up and see about 25 people lining the sides of the trail. After engaging my chain and apologizing to the mostly women watching, I chased. I moved from last to about 10th by sprinting through the mile or so before we hit the single track. I lost all contact with the leaders. I hate that because I always think I can ride with them at least for a while. I kept moving through traffic all day and had no idea where I stood until they posted results showing a 5th place finish.

One thing that helped me some was turning the Salsa into a 1 X 9 on Sat night. I prerode the course Sat in SS mode and saw 4 or 5 long fast sections where the SS would be spun out and slow. The course was not a particularly good track to ride rigid. My arms got pretty pumped up and towards the end I had to really concentrate on holding on to the bars. Roots and rocks, roots and rocks and more roots and rocks...ouch.

Kudos to the staff for a VERY smooth event. Lots of staff, water station on course, marshalls at almost all turns and road crossings and a couple of women at the top of the climb with a cowbell beating out a climbing rhythm!

Next week the Mouse Tail Challenge in Linden, TN. then Haw Ridge the week after.