Apr 27, 2009 4
GSC #2 Flat Rock Park
This race was about half as exciting as East Macon. My class having only 6 guys was disappointing to say the least. I’ll choose to believe the threat of rain was the reason for the low turnout. Any other reason would be depressing.
The course was fun with a good combination of short hills, tight singletrack and fast open singletrack. It was a little muddy and slick in the second section of singletrack but I enjoyed it as it was a good test of skill. I didn’t enjoy the bike cleanup though.
At the start I fell in at 3rd wheel with one other guy on my wheel. The four us separated from the other two (haha) immediately. Unfortunately a bio-mechanical came on only minutes into the race. I rode with it for maybe 5 minutes hoping it would stop but reality sunk and and I had to get off and do the ole squat and breathe. Lost about a minute but managed to chase back on to the leading duo who had dropped the other guy along the way. Rode with them through the second section of swoopy singletrack and started the 2nd lap riding 2nd wheel.
Not long after starting the 2nd lap I pushed the pace and got the pass just before the rocky switchback climb. I cleaned it and the crowd went wild. I think that was the highlight of the race. I kept the gas on but when I got into that first section of singletrack another bio-mechanical. I bring the pace down to barely pedaling and doing some breathing tricks. It lasts 4 minutes but at least I didn’t have to get off the bike. I get back up to speed and finish out the race. At one point I was easing the pace back but then I saw the top two 40+ guys dualing hard and coming up on me. My pride could not have handled getting caught by those guys so I picked the pace back up.
I’ve been running the shock a tad soft with some floodgate so the bike takes the big hits but doesn’t bob on seated sustained climbs. On this relatively flat course I kept the fork and shock both wide open with no floodgate at all. I was able to stay in the saddle and pedal through the bumpy stuff and really flow through the muddy and rooty sections. I did add about 5 psi to the shock to make up for not using the floodgate.
The Rocket Ron up front was hooking up real nice. I hadn’t ridden the tire too much before the race so I gained confidence in it throughout the race and by the end was throwing it into the corners pretty hard.
So the most memorable thing about this race is the bio-mechanicals… without a doubt. Very disappointing. I thought the diet changes I made had it under control. I’m positive I ate and drank the exact same stuff as I did before East Macon. The only difference might be that I drank a cup of coffee late saturday morning. I can’t imagine that caffeine would stay in my system that long though.
Funny I had my 1 year checkup with the cardiologist on the tuesday following the race. She wasn’t concerned and said for me it’s not life threatening because of my good health. As long as I can get it to stop it’s ok, but if I want to stop them permanently I’ll have to have surgery again. Ugh. Doesn’t seem like it’s been a year since the first time. Like my sister, I must have had two or more accessory pathways and one did not get ablated in the first procedure. Which is why I have these bio-mechanical’s less often than I used to. Maybe in the fall I’ll give surgery another try.
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