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

Gosh I feel so current now that I finally have my own blog! As the descriptions states this will mainly be a place for me to discuss past rides and races that I have been involved with. Living so close to the beautiful Pisgah National Forest I thought this would be a great place for people to keep track of my cycling adventures. While this blog will mostly focus on mountain bike rides and races I'll also be updating this with road rides, hikes, and other topics of personal interest such as my other passion in life, djing. Don't be surprised to see very random "party pics" as well. I want to keep this fun so it won't be all about training rides and racing.

Quick background about me... I recently moved from upstate New York to Asheville. I've been riding mountain bikes for just about three years now, "seriously." Of course I always rode as a kid but never to the extent that I do now. I have a background in motorized two wheeled vehicles and I used to race harescrambles as a teenager. I've always prefered woods riding of any kind which is part of the reason I was drawn towards mountain bikes. I moved to Asheville specifically for the riding. I love it. I work at the best local bike shop in town, BioWheels as a mechanic and as a front of the house employee as well. I'm also very excited to be part of the BioWheels racing program - 2007 is promising to be our best year yet as a team. I feel lucky to have found such a great organization.

My experience in racing is pretty limited as of now. I entered three races while still living in NY and did quite well on the sport level finishing in 2nd, 1st, and 5th - all podium finishes. I quickly learned that things were much more competitive here in the south east and realized that I needed to get much stronger if I still wanted to see the same results. I entered my first south east XC race back in March and finished 10th out of 22 riders, the pace was a lot faster than what I was used to seeing back north. I missed a lot of racing this past summer due to my last place of employment. There was little to no time off on weekends so that put a damper on many summer racing plans. Luckily the folks at BioWheels saved me from that place and I was quickly put on the 2006 co-ed team for the 24 hours of Pisgah! That was one of the best experiences I've ever had - I had never ridden with a team before so that part was totally new, it was also my first endurance style race and I was very nervous. With a LOT of help from my other teammates we managed a very close 1st place victory. I was just happy to be a part of that whole experience. That event comes highly recommended, total grass roots 24 hour racing right there. Next on the agenda was the 2006 Super Swank. I was feeling very confident on race day but the gruling 45+ mile Pisgah course proved to be too much for me that day. I placed 25th out of about 75 riders just missing my goal of top 20 by 20 minutes or so. I learned a lot and had fun, which is why I race to begin with!

I just got back from my first short track race out in Charlotte. That was also a blast even though I didn't get the desired results - I always try to learn from my experiences and apply that knowledge towards the next event. This was also the first time I had raced in the single speed category. I plan on racing as many single speed events as possible this season. It's interesting because the single speed class is usually an "open" class to any level rider so you can have semi-pro level guys racing sport level guys in the same category. Of course single speeders are generally all very strong but strong and fast are two very different things.

My goal this year is kind of simple, to race as much as financially possible. I feel like I need a solid year of racing to really learn, train, go faster, hurt more, etc... in order to be successful. I want to focus on endurance racing because that's where my real passion is but I plan on using traditional XC and other shorter types of racing as a type of training - I plan on being very involved with the local racing circuit.

Besides riding my other passion is music. I love electronic music. I probably won't get too involved with talking about that but I do want to mention it. I have been a dj for the last ten years, plume, my alter-ego simply comes from my life as a dj. It's a name a chose ten years ago and it's been my nick name as well. It's a song title from an alternative band from the 90s. You can research the meaning if you so choose.

I hope you'll enjoy reading about my adventures on my bike and in my life. Next post is the first race of the season... a very interesting experience to say the least.