Shannock Valley Mountain Bike Race, Rural Valley, PA, 7/18/2009

If you asked me today how the Shannock Valley mountain bike race was, I’d tell you excitedly that it was a great race and I had a lot of fun! If you asked me 3 days ago how the race was, I’d tell you eh, it was ok. If you asked me right after the race how it was, I’d tell you it sucked and it was a painfest and uphill battle.

It’s funny how our perception of pain changes with the passing of time. I think that if people were able to vividly recall the amount of pain they experienced in any particular situation, athletes would no longer race, mothers would never have more than one child, and you would never drink more than 2 martinis in a night!

I started fairly close to the starting line, learning from prior races this year. I knew that the field would spread out after the first hill and if there were guys behind me that were faster than me, it would be easy for them to pass before we got to the single track. The race starts out on the road on a fairly flat section for about half a mile, then takes a sharp turn up a steep hill for another half a mile before we turn onto the access road. I was feeling pretty good, ok, actually, I was dying, and I see Ruthy just ahead of me. I knew Ruthy was a strong rider and I wanted to keep her in my sights. Ruthy and I went back and forth a few times up the hill and on the access road, before she pulled ahead of me right before we entered the single track.

We started down the first descent and everything is going fine; Ruthy is keeping a fast pace but not unmanageable. As we approach a 180 degree turn in the descent, my legs start to tremble uncontrollably. I’m not sure if it was nerves or adrenaline, but I knew it wasn’t good. As I come into the turn I pop my right foot out for balance but I lose it and come falling down with my bike on top of me, jamming my pedal into my right calf. The pain shoots through my leg but I hop back on the bike as quickly as possible. 4 or 5 riders pass me and I jump back in line, losing only seconds.

We come across a small bridge and the trail turns up a steady gradual hill. The grade should be a piece of cake but I am struggling to keep up. I can feel my calf throbbing and I start to wonder if I should finish the race. I know what’s coming next; one of the steepest hills in the race. It’s a short hill but if you don’t approach it right you’ll be pushing. During my pre-ride with Paul I had to go back for a do over to get up this hill without pushing, and I knew I had to get my gearing just right. Unfortunately the trail was a little wet this day and there was a pile up starting about half way up as other people were pushing their bikes. I made it ¾ of the way up until I finally had to jump off and push. As soon as I stepped down, a sharp pain shot through my calf. I never realized how much you use your calves when you push your bike up a steep hill, until now. I thought again about quitting, but remembered hearing about guys in the Tour that would finish a stage after crashing and breaking bones. If they can do that, I can live with an hour of pain.

As long as I kept riding really hard and didn’t let my heart rate recover, I couldn’t feel the pain as much. This wasn’t a problem considering the amount of climbing there was. The course took us on hill after relentless hill; our only reprieve being the short sections of single track in between the access roads and quad trails. Most of the descents were sketchy with massive ruts due to the fall line or ATVs. I was careful not to go too fast to avoid getting stuck in one of those tracks.

I rode with Paul for awhile until he passed me heading into a section of single track. Then I rode with my Dad for a bit until he passed me as well. I kept him in my sights for almost the entire ride. He was ahead of me by about 15 seconds with the gap slowly increasing. The race finished with a section of double track that took us across a 30 foot mud puddle; what mountain bike race is complete without a little bit of mud? I finished with a time of 1:03:46, just 3 minutes later than Ruthy who came in first.

Race Stats: 2nd Overall
Course Length: 10.5 miles
Finish Time: 1:03:46
Heart Rate: 23 minutes in Zone 4 and 41 minutes in Zone 5! Time for a retest of my threshold.