Massanutten Hoo Ha

This previous Sunday was the Massanutten Hoo Ha mountain bike race. I have actually competed in this race but it was many years ago. In fact it was 19 or 20 years ago. I was very inexperienced at that time and while I do recollect parts of the race, I really have no idea how long it took me to finish or how long the course was. I do remember pushing my bike up a number of climbs and thinking I was in over my head. I remember that the downhill was so fast and treacherous that I was very glad when it was finally over. I was holding on for dear life just hoping to make it down the mountain.

This time around, it was quite different. I am much more experienced these days and I had ridden the course twice before the race so knew exactly what I was getting in to. That said, the course was pretty brutal. It was very rocky and there was tons of climbing. It took me an hour and 56 minutes to complete the 12 mile loop. To top it off, I had a couple of things going against me.

Sunday morning, I awoke with an upset stomach. I will spare you the gory details but let's just say I was sick and leave it at that. After spending some time in the bathroom, I finally felt well enough to start fueling up. My morning smoothie was tasty but my morning organic egg on organic whole wheat English Muffin was not going down well. I was hungry but did not feel like eating. I progressed as the day went on and had a couple more bananas and a Luna bar on the way up to the race.

The other thing that made the race tough (besides my body not being 100 percent and the nature of the course) was the heat. It was super hot and fairly humid. The heat really put a zap on me I think.

When the race started, most of the field took off and left me. It was definitely not a strong start for me. But that was ok. I knew that I just wanted to finish and not be last. There were a few pros at the front who would be competing for real money so the start was pretty fast and furious. After the first of many long climbs, we leveled out for a mere 100 yards before ascending the next climb. I had ridden this climb in its entirety the weekend before but on this day, I had to stop not too far from the top and push my bike along with a few others including my friend Jeff who was also racing. Mostly I was out of breath. My legs really felt fine. After pushing my bike for a few minutes, I hopped back on and continued climbing. When I made it to the top of the climb, I kicked it up and tried to make up some ground on the downhill. I managed to catch up and pass my friend Jeff. I had ridden the course so that helped me go a little faster on the downhill.

We rode down back towards to start and made a loop through the spectator area. Before making it to the spectator area, Jeff caught up to and passed me which is something he would do again later in the race. We had just completed 1.5 miles of the race which was really just a warm up. Once through the spectator area we started the real climbing. There was a very steep climb back up into the woods. I had ridden the whole thing the week before. But today, I made it about 3 quarters the way up before I had to dismount and push for a little while I regained my breathing. I took the opportunity to take my pulse to get an idea how hard I was pushing it. My pulse was definitely up but not in the red zone. I pushed past Jeff who was kneeling down next to his bike. I asked him he he was ok and he said yes so I kept trucking.

After we leveled off, we hit some relatively flat areas of the course that were very rocky. Jeff had caught up to me and was right behind me. I asked him if he wanted to pass but he was content with following my lead through the rocky areas. I am not sure when he passed me after that but once he passed me, I never did catch up to him again.

After winding my way through the woods on the rocky, twisty, single track, I came out onto a gravel road. It was exposed, steep, and super hot. The course was on the road for a very short time and then it went back into the woods for another long climb up to the top of the mountain. I had done this climb 3 times before. When I had checked out the course the first time, I had ridden this section twice. This section has a lot of switch backs and seems to go on forever. I knew that there was a payoff for making it up through all the switchbacks. What is the payoff? The downhill.

But before the downhill, I had to traverse the rockiest section of the course. Instead of small rock gardens that I experienced on the lower parts of the course, I was now riding over the bigger rocks. Some of these rocky sections were beyond my ability to ride. I jumped off my bike and pushed it over the rocks. If I had been feeling stronger, I would have ran with my bike on my shoulder but I was already zapped so I just pushed like the other 4 or 5 guys I came across. While we pushed our bikes through this part of the course, occasionally an elite rider would come up behind and give the yell "rider up." We would move out of the way and watch in amazement as we were lapped. The guys that were able to ride this crazy terrain not only had great skill but were on their second lap!

I finally made it through the rocky section. Before I made it to the fast downhill, I stopped briefly to wipe down my face and glasses so I could see on the fast downhill. And then I let er rip. I passed a few people as I made my way down. I never did catch Jeff but now that I was through the most difficult part of the race, I really started to enjoy myself. Not to say that the whole thing was not enjoyable because truly it is enjoyable to train for a race and then push the body to it's limit during the competition. But the screaming downhill was way fun!

After the fast downhill sections there was one more steep uphill that I pushed up before the fast descent back into the spectator area and finish. I ended up not being last. I beat 3 people in my age group and I think one other in a younger age group. It was a very fun race but tough. But I felt pretty good afterwards. My legs were not sore and I still had some energy.

One thing that made the race a whole lot of fun was that Melissa and my friends Jeff and Rachel went to the race with me. Jeff finished about 10 minutes before me as I expected. It was nice to spend time with friends. We all ride together in the Richmond area when we get the chance. We are hoping to ride with Jeff and Rachel more often. Rachel took a lot of nice pictures for posterity which was also nice. And having Melissa there supporting me was the icing on the cake. It is great to have her support for all these events and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her again. Thanks Melissa.

Now I will leave you with some video from the race. Click the link below to see the Video someone shot. Some of the video is taken from a motorcycle that was following some of the riders. Pay attention 57 seconds in the video. Notice the pro zooming over the big rocky section. I don't know how they did it.

Click the little play arrow in the middle of the video. You will have to cut and paste this link into your browser as I can't seem to get it working and I am too tired to deal with it right now.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1276113556652&ref=mf

Biker Up

"Biker Up!"

A shout of "Biker Up" is something you might hear out on the trails when one group of bikers encounters another group traveling in the opposite direction on the trail. It is a warning to everyone to look up and be aware of the oncoming traffic. Most of the time, there is a spot where two way traffic can carefully traverse the trail although sometimes there is only a narrow trail between rocks, trees, and 10 foot drops. Each encounter with other bikers is different and there are no rules of the trail that everyone observes. I usually just play it by ear and do what seems right and courteous when encountering other riders out on the trail. But, I don't often have to yell biker up because I am usually biking alone.

About once a week, I manage to hook up with a friend or two to ride the local trails but most of the time, I find that I have to suit up and go it alone which is actually not all that bad. I can pick my own course and pace and take off at a time that is convenient to me. And I can always listen to my iPod.

At the beginning of the year, I decided I would try to work up to biking the Shenandoah Mountain 100 at the end of the year. I worked hard on my rehab after double knee surgery, did some shorter races including two off road duos and 3 10K running races. Early in the year, I realized that I might actually be able to do the 100 but not without a lot of training.

In the last couple of months, that is exactly what I have done. I have done several 3 hour rides on both trails and road, lots of shorter interval training on the trails, and I have continued my strength training. Despite all this training and marked improvements in my overall fitness and bike fitness in particular, I had a rude awakening a couple of weeks ago when I went to the actual mountains to bike around Massanutten Mountain in preparation for the June 20th Massanutten Hoo Ha Mountain Bike Race.

After speaking with the people at Massanutten, I got permission to park and ride on the trails that make up the race. I rode for about 3 hours. Most of that 3 hours was spent climbing, climbing, climbing. And the course was very rocky. In fact there were long sections of "rock gardens" as the mountain bikers them. If you have never seen anyone riding on such trails, you might not believe that people actually ride these rocky trails. But we do. I actually did pretty well on the rocks and realized that all my training was really making a difference. But still, riding the technical trails down at the river, or riding the hills at Poor Farm don't compare to riding trails in the mountains. Of the 3 hours that I rode, I probably climbed for 2 and a half hours with 30 minutes of super fast downhill. The downhill is so fast that my hands started hurting because of my grip on the handle bars and brakes. When I finished, I had confirmed what I already suspected. Mountain biking in the mountains is very different from tooling around the local trails at sea level in Richmond.

That said, I was pretty excited about the race. Mostly because it was a great motivator and training tool for the race at the end of the summer. So the following weekend (this past Sunday), I went back to Massanutten to ride the course again. This time however, the course was marked so I could ride the whole thing as laid out for the race. It turns out I had already ridden much of the course the previous weekend but this time around I found a lot more of the course. After about an hour and a half of climbing, I found myself so drenched in sweat and out of breath that I had to take a brake. I stopped and got off my bike, drank some water, and checked the time. I felt pretty spent already and I still had some more climbing to go. I was rethinking the whole race. Maybe I was not ready after all.

After a few minutes break, I started on the climb again. Towards the top of the climb, I got to a very rocky section that was beyond my ability to ride so I had to push my bike through this section. If indeed I did race, I would have to pick up my bike and run this section. I finally made it to the top of the mountain and took another small break at the overlook where there were tourists parked and taking pictures. I ate a banana and after wiping down my riding glasses, took off again. The banana helped a lot. Plus most of the sustained climbing was behind me.

Riding down was easier on this second time through the course. Familiarity with the trail is always helpful and I was able to brake less and zoom a little. There were a few more shorter climbs and a really fun, fast section at the end. When I made it back to the car, I ran into a few people and we discussed the upcoming race. I felt ok so I decided that I would probably do the race. I did a "deck" change into some dry clothes and made my way home.

Later that night, I heard the weather man say that it was 96 degrees with a heat of index of 100 in Richmond during the day when I was riding in the mountains. It was probably not quite as hot where I was riding but knowing that it was super hot and very humid made me feel better about my performance. I decided that I would go ahead and definitely do the race. Earlier this evening, I signed up for the category 2 race which will be one 12 mile loop. I am not planning to place or even finish in the top 10 in my age group. But I will strive not to be last.

I am taking it easy this week trying to catch up on some sleep and get all my ducks in a row. The race is on Sunday and according to the long range forecast, it is going to be hot again. The race starts at 11:30 and while I will probably be lapped by some of the pros as they do their second loop, it should be a fun race.