Plume's ride and race blog

I decided to kick start the pre-racing season with a trip out to Charlotte to check out the short track series put on by the Dirt Divas. I realize it's pretty early to start interval training but this sounded like too much fun. One of my weaknesses is simply not having enough speed on the flats. I figured this event would be a great place to train at a high output for a short duration. While I could obviously just do intervals on my own time I need all the race day experience I can get - you can't train for a race better than by simply entering one! My folks live out that way, so it also gave me an excuse to bug them and make them come watch me suffer for 45 minutes. My father is the person responsible for giving me the "racing bug" back when I was just a little kid. He supported me while I raced harescrambles (think XC racing with motorcycles) as a young kid and as a teenager. I had mild success with that but always enjoyed it. I draw a lot out of those experiences as they are very similar to racing bicycles. Thanks Dad!

The day started with unseasonably warm weather. I signed up as soon as we got there and decided that I had enough time to walk the course. I walked the course with my dad while my step mom (aka mom 2) researched the hot chocolate area. Very short course, which is exactly what I expected. Very little climbing. A lot of pavement and dirt road and pretty straight forward single track. This would prove to be the fastest race I've ever entered, which again is what I expected. I felt confident while watching the sport level guys race. I knew I could pedal faster. I also felt really good about the gear ratio I had chosen. I knew I needed a much higher gear than I was used to using in Pisgah (33X20), and I opted for a 33X16 ratio for this event. I felt that I had choosen wisely seeing the only tiny hill I would have to climb.

At the starting line my confidence lowered quite a bit. I didn't realize that there would be such a large number of single speeders, 14 in total. I knew I was in for a challenge at that point. My plan was to get as close to first place as possible and check his speed until I could make a move - that never happened. As usual, my start sucked. I got embedded into 5th, or 6th place and quickly fell back to 8th or 9th. I did a quick assesment and started my "damage" control, or plan B. All I could do was hold on to a pace that I knew I could handle for 15 laps and push it. I lost so much time on the flats and in the woods section and would make up just a little on the very short climb. 3/4 of the way through the race I got lapped by first place, dammit he was flying. I tried to hold on to his wheel for as long as I could and I couldn't even keep him on the climb, he was on another level for sure. Second place was about a half lap behind first and he also made quick work of me.

I did a bit of passing myself but it was mainly racers in the other class. Some of the racers in my class had simply started out too hot trying to hang with the first few guys. While they were much faster than me in the start I reeled a couple of them in towards the end. Of course I felt really good towards the end, but that doesn't matter in a short track event. You need to feel good in the beginning to be successful in that type of scenerio. On the last lap right after the woods section with the only climb I saw yet another rider in my class who was in striking distance, but only if I really hustled. There was no way he was going across the line before me! I passed him just yards before the end. He really didn't seem to care of course because we both knew we weren't even close to the podium. I'll tell you what though, I'm really glad I finished 7th instead of 8th! I think that had the race been longer the results would have been in my favor, but that's how these things go. I got some great experience in, and I had a great time too. Thanks again to my family for always supporting my efforts, even the non-succesful ones.

If I lived in Charlotte I would be racing this entire series. Unfortunately this will be the only one I'll be able to attend as I plan on participating in the ICycle this weekend and can't race on Saturdays. This is a great little series. Check it out if you can:

http://www.charlottemtnbike.com/

thanks for readin,

- ian