Richmond Riverrock Race Report - Part 1

On Saturday I participated in the Richmond Riverrock Outdoor Festival. More specifically, I competed in the Thule Urban Assault Mountain Bike Race. They call it the Urban Assault because the course is on rugged, technical trails right in the heart of downtown Richmond, Virginia along the James River. The course requires skill and stamina and can be dangerous if one is not careful. There have been several bad accidents along the course leading to spinal injuries and even death. That said, it is still probably safer than trying to ride my bike to work down Laburnum Avenue.

The race started at 2:30 PM with the 40+ Expert Men. There were several other divisions as well but I chose to do the 40+ Expert Men so I could start as soon as possible so I could be sure to finish in time to run the Scramble which was scheduled for 6PM that same day. I knew that I would be outclassed but frankly, I did not really care. I was not 'in it to win it' as that would be like me trying to beat Ryan Hall in the marathon. It is not going to happen in this life time. As an aside, Ryan Hall set the American course record when he ran the Boston Marathon recently. He ran each of the 26.2 miles of the race under 5 minutes. If I trained real hard I could probably run 1 six minute mile but that would be the end of it. I can't imagine how these guys do it. Anyway, I had no illusions of being able to keep up with the experts in the mountain bike race.

With a 2:30 start time, I found it hard to decide what to eat and when. I had my normal lunch at Whole Foods and some fruit and smoothie. In retrospect, my nutrition plan for this race was probably not very good and I paid for it on the course. More of that later.

Before I tell you more about the race, I have to mention something else that happened before the race. As I was getting my stuff together at my vehicle parked in the parking garage, a car pulled into the space next to me. When I saw the driver of the car, I thought to myself. "Gosh that looks just like Tim from high school." Tim and I wrestled, played soccer, and goofed around outside in the neighborhood. He was always a really nice guy and everyone seemed to like him- from all walks of life. As it turns out, it was him. He had driven in from Charlottesville, Virginia to see a friend race the very same race I was about to start. We chatted and caught up a little and walked down to the venue with his two small children. He looked the same and was still the nice guy I remembered. Seeing him and talking to him was a big highlight of the whole Riverrock weekend. I am hoping he keeps in touch so we can ride together. Charlottesville is only about 50 minutes away so it is not out of the question that we could get together to ride sometime.

Now back to the race. The beginning of a mountain bike race can be a little sketchy. Everyone gets squeezed into the starting chute and when the gun goes off, there can be some mayhem. In fact, the race started and I pedaled about 4 strokes before I was run off the road by some jerk. I came out of my pedals and was forced to stop. The rest of the field pulled away from me like I was standing still. Well of course, I was standing still for a few seconds before I got going again. I was able to catch up to and pass one guy. But that was it. I never caught up to anyone else in my wave.

The Expert women started one minute behind my wave. It did not take long for them to catch up to me and start passing me. The first lady approached me from behind and yelled, "race leader coming through." I am always very polite and actually one of my best skills as a mountain biker is picking the exact right time and place to squeeze over so someone can pass me. I am not sure if I mentioned it in the past but I am pretty slow compared to most accomplished mountain bikers. In this case, all she had to say is, "can I get by?" But mountain biking is an extreme sport so people tend to be pretty dramatic about things. So I found some room where she could pass and told her to pass me on the left. As a side note, there is no appropriate side to pass when racing single track through the woods. Right side, left side, straight up the middle. It is all fair game.

Soon after she passed me, some of the other expert women were approaching. They were not going quite as fast and I was able to see and hear them coming as I traversed the switchbacks. I recognized some of these women. There were several Luna Chix racing that day. Luna Chix are women mountain bikers sponsored by Luna Bar. I used to eat lots of Luna Bars but have switched to the all natural Lara Bars. The Luna Chix were very polite and asked to pass once I had a chance to move over. I respond well to politeness and said, "ok get ready to pass-now on my left!" It was almost like a NASCAR shake and bake maneuver.

After about 10 minutes of riding, my stomach started cramping. I usually do not have stomach problems but for some reason I my gut was hurting. This undoubtedly lead to a slower race for me as the gut pain really did not go away until the very end of the race. I kept going as hard as I could but I was going at much slower pace than I usually go when I am riding the trail with friends.

I did get horizontal a few times. If I had a cape, you might have thought I was superman the way I flew off the bike this one time. But I am a good crasher and had some soft landings. Since the trails were wet and muddy, the rocky climbs were difficult as was this one climb up a man made ramp. It is very steep and it was extremely slippery. When I was climbing in on the first loop my back tire started to spin and I jumped off the bike. My shoes with their bike cleats don't have the best traction and I started sliding down the ramp. I had to carefully walk sideways to the edge of the ramp and walk up on the dirt. As I started walking up, I was holding my bike with one hand. The bike decided that it would rather be facing down the ramp and it rolled around so it was facing the wrong way. There was a couple sitting nearby watching. One thing about an urban race is there are always people waiting to see what is going to happen at the more difficult obstacles. People really seem to enjoy watching people crash. Anyway, as my bike spun around to face the wrong way, I shouted to the couple watching, "you can start the Benny Hill music now." I am not sure they got the reference as they were on the younger side. They did laugh though. The second time around, I opted to carry my bike up the stairs next to the ramp as that was much safer.

When I got to the Forest Hill Park section of the course, I rode through the culvert and through the creek to enter Forest Hill Park. As I entered the park, the experts had already made it through the 3 miles and were exiting the park through another culvert. I knew they were going to pull way out in front of me but now I knew that they would definitely be lapping me at some point.

As I was finishing my first lap, I did get passed by some experts on the Lee Bridge. When I finished my first lap, I was glad that I was not doing just one lap as I would have been disappointed that the race was already over. My legs felt fine as this point. My gut was still bothering me and I had less than optimal energy but it was a another day in the park and I was getting good training in and having fun.

The second lap was similar to the first. I had trouble with the rocky parts of the course and found myself all over the course. I kept on moving though and ended up finishing second to last in my category. It took me two and a half hours to do the course. When I came across the finish line, I did not stop. I just kept going on into the street and up to the parking garage to my car. After all, I had a race to get ready for.

The pictures below are courtesy of our friend who was there to support me and other friends. You can check out more of her pictures and her wonderful blog at http://dirtdivadynamo.blogspot.com. Not only does she have more pictures from the race but she also has other very interesting things on her blog. She rides too. But also she is very creative and makes the most beautiful cards, bags, and other great items. I invite you to check out her blog!



Culvert leading to Forest Hill Park

Here I come up a difficult section.


I have only made it up this section once and that was during a race. I did not make it this time.


Coming down the switchbacks in Forest Hill Park