The real problem for me lies in the corners. I just don't trust myself, or my tires, to change my direction, and so I brake way too much. Cognitively, it is clear to me that I don't have to brake too much - in fact, the laws of physics dictate that less braking will make me safer. But still I ride the brakes through technical sections.
Clearly, though, I'm a roadie. Granogue has a lot of double-track, gravel, and pavement, which gave me plenty of room to open up the engine without worrying about obstacles. Every time the course went uphill, I just stomped on the pedals and made up time. On the steeper climbs, I was able to pass people pretty handily.
What I need is to find a form of racing that consists mostly of open, non-technical climbs. Egad! Road racing!
Thus, I officially announce a hiatus from the MTB. It's been a fun couple of weeks, but I need to get back into a world where the fitness I've worked so hard on can actually be applied to the pedals. I want to follow wheels and attack and chase and bridge and trade pulls, the poetry of the road race. You can have your single track, Chief.
For the bean counters, I got 7th today, 14 seconds behind my arch-nemesis Jay. Jay passed me with about 1/2 mile left in the 14 mile race, putting a ton of time into me on the last tricky descent. He then held me off valiantly, even breaking out the patented Rutgers "Look, Zip, Shoot" celebration. Of course I despise losing to Jay (loathe, abhor, am nauseated by the very thought of), but Jay gave me a delicious, cold, pre-noon beer, and that made it all better.
Mark and Jay will probably write up their own posts about the race. Charlie is too cool for the blogosphere, so I will take the liberty of encouraging you to congratulate him; Charlie got his first top-10 finish in the Expert Category, putting nearly a minute into 9th in the last 3 miles and finishing very strongly.
For all of the emo whining that occasionally works its way into my race reports, there is one invariable truth that is always worth reiterating. This is a team that I love racing with, and that I'm proud to be a part of.
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4 comments:
This just in, Charlie is not too cool for the blogosphere and posted the Granoogle race report on the Rutgers site.
Also, the scrum is not important.
Um... fitness is important.
Um... I will leave you alone for a little bit, but later remind you that you are going to need to learn how to turn your bike over roots before cross season. (oops... well, I'll remind you again later anyway)
Seriously though, don't be too sore. You had a solid result and are scoring big points for the team. You know what to work on to become faster and put that power to work for you.
The results are already up on the MASS website and you and Jay LEAD the sport singlespeed open standings!
Your result helped Rutgers University surpass the biketopia and durx.org teams this week.
Great title.
yeah--i'm going with the chaz on this one. fitness in mt biking is pretty darn important. it is a different kind of fitness. it's not a full throttle for 38 seconds until i catch a wheel fitness--that's crits for ya. it is more of a i'm riding at 90% of my AT for the whole race fitness.
but then, being able to corner is important. unless you're okay with people like me behind you cursing you for your shitty skills.
come visit! i am a stunningly awesome skills teacher.
or, get tubeless tires and drop your pressure to 25-30 lbs--your tires will grip ANYTHING!
xoxo
m
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