Angel FIre race report
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Klaus Muehlbradt
Jun 12, 2012, 12:00:41 AM6/12/12
to Let's Ride Fort Collins
Most important thing first: I ran into Matt Fix. He smoked Cat 2 XC by
taking 2nd on a single speed.
Angel Fire was fun. Not sure I can do it justice in only a few
minutes. But here I try...
In a clear attempt to do something stupid I've decided to race Angel
Fire. I haven't been on a DH bike in 7 months so a race seemed to be
the perfect way to start the season. And, to up the pace a little I
decided to also hit the XC race. The basic plan was to spend all
Friday training for the DH race, then pre-ride the XC course in the
evening. For Saturday I had planned to do a practice lap, then race XC
and practice some more DH. Sunday was supposed to be the DH race.
Expected outcome: (1) Find out if pedaling from the start helps
winning an XC race. (2) Re-develop DH skills.
Friday: Did 1 run down last year’s race course. Had to stop several
times as I was just running out of balls. Not, that there would have
been any absolutely challenging sections. The mine field of baby head
booby traps simply wore me down. Then did 2 runs down the race
course... Yikes, the course turned out to be a ploughed Irish potato
field turned vertical. Mortal fear on every run. And my hands started
to give. I simply couldn't hold on to the grips. So I decided to gice
the XC course a try.
The XC course turned out to be up and down. I mean actually only up to
the top and then only down back to base. No time to relax either way -
but beautifully build. Climbing turn after climbing turn on the way
up. Very smooth, no obstacles to speak of, but as steep as I could
crank in my 32/34 granny. Do I need to write that my legs were toast
when I made the top? Anyway, the cruise down to base was the last bit
of biking I did Friday. The afternoon saw me mushrooming in a variety
of camp chairs and I turned couch potato as soon as the sun set.
Saturday: Based on Friday’s experience I decided to forego any DH runs
before the XC race. Instead I looked into putting a 22 chain ring on.
No go, though as I had forgotten to bring one IBIS specific part. 32
front ring was what I had to race with. At least I did learn from the
cramps and organized a bottle of water to carry with me.
The lineup for the race was 11:15 am. We got sorted by age groups. 40+
of course at the back of the pack. Didn’t matter too much as the start
was wide enough, it would probably have been sufficient to let every
starter a spot in the front. Yep, the field was small. Probably 30 all
counted. The shot rang and I started to pedal. This time I had decided
to not let everybody go, but to give it a go from the start. I only
held back as much as I needed to be sure to be able to climb that
trail twice. “I won’t be a one lap wonder!” was the sentence I
repeated to myself. However, slowly I did close the gap to riders that
had sprinted off. One by one I did pass them. All but one rider. That
one rider kept working hard on staying 20 to 50 yards ahead of me. It
was a funny pattern. When it got steep I got closer. Given the 32 I
had little choice: Pedal hard or walk. When the trail leveled off a
bit he shifted to a longer gear and accelerated. I relaxed a little to
be able to make the next steep section.
And then I saw a youngster, maybe 12 years old, flying up the trail.
He caught me close to the top and sensing what would follow I actually
stopped and let him pass. You guess it: The trail started to drop and
I caught the youngster instantly. He did what I had done before and
let me pass. So now I only had to catch that other rider…. And sure
enough soon I saw plums of dust still hanging in the air in every
corner. Next I saw the rider. And then I saw a ball of dust careening
into the trees. I called out, received a “all ok” message back and
continued swooping down the trail. Super fun!
Fully expecting my competitor to chase me up the climb of lap two I
kept the pace at my highest personal sustainable level. In other
words, I kept burning my legs. The youngster did catch me again.
Secretly (but respectfully) I titled him chipmunk. He climbed that
fast, passed me and was gone for good. My real competitor never caught
up with me.
That was good news. But it didn’t tell me how I had done in the race.
No results were posted previous to the rewards ceremony. So I went.
And in full DH outfit as the ceremony was in parallel to my DH
practice slot. Funny thing to stand on top of the podium in battle
gear at a XC race. Yep, I took it. Later, when I saw the results I
started to call myself a sandbagger. Distance to the second in +40: 16
minutes. I would have placed mid field in Cat 2.
Bad news was my legs were burned (I knew that before my DH run) and
both my brake levers were loose (I learnt that soon into my DH run –
the moment it got steep). Sufficient to say, this run was a unique
experience. Grabbing a handful of brakes had a total different
meaning. It also made me brake late (I had to find the lever!) and
tired my hands (try holding on with thump and pinky while the rest of
the fingers grapples for the brake). The good thing was the
distraction… Did I just ride that? Wow.
So I packed in early again. After that one trainings run I did two
more fun runs on blue trails and called it a day. Mushroom to couch
potato. You know my vegetable skills by now.
Sunday: Got out of bed early and one trainings run in. Tried to
balance exhaustion and keeping warm. Most importantly I tried to keep
my nervousness in check. The actual race run wasn’t much to write
about. I headed into it knowing that I didn’t knew the lines. So I
wasn’t surprised when I botched one corner at the top and almost
washed out close to the finish line. The pleasant surprise wasn’t
placement either: I came in mid field as 8th in 40+. The cool thing
was that I had found some confidence and comfortably shredded down the
steep rough sections, let fly in the high speed areas and (outside of
the two serious mistakes and some missed lines) actually had a smooth
and fearless run.
DH, I am back!
Now comes the tricky question… Next race, DH only – or Cat 2 XC and
DH?
taking 2nd on a single speed.
Angel Fire was fun. Not sure I can do it justice in only a few
minutes. But here I try...
In a clear attempt to do something stupid I've decided to race Angel
Fire. I haven't been on a DH bike in 7 months so a race seemed to be
the perfect way to start the season. And, to up the pace a little I
decided to also hit the XC race. The basic plan was to spend all
Friday training for the DH race, then pre-ride the XC course in the
evening. For Saturday I had planned to do a practice lap, then race XC
and practice some more DH. Sunday was supposed to be the DH race.
Expected outcome: (1) Find out if pedaling from the start helps
winning an XC race. (2) Re-develop DH skills.
Friday: Did 1 run down last year’s race course. Had to stop several
times as I was just running out of balls. Not, that there would have
been any absolutely challenging sections. The mine field of baby head
booby traps simply wore me down. Then did 2 runs down the race
course... Yikes, the course turned out to be a ploughed Irish potato
field turned vertical. Mortal fear on every run. And my hands started
to give. I simply couldn't hold on to the grips. So I decided to gice
the XC course a try.
The XC course turned out to be up and down. I mean actually only up to
the top and then only down back to base. No time to relax either way -
but beautifully build. Climbing turn after climbing turn on the way
up. Very smooth, no obstacles to speak of, but as steep as I could
crank in my 32/34 granny. Do I need to write that my legs were toast
when I made the top? Anyway, the cruise down to base was the last bit
of biking I did Friday. The afternoon saw me mushrooming in a variety
of camp chairs and I turned couch potato as soon as the sun set.
Saturday: Based on Friday’s experience I decided to forego any DH runs
before the XC race. Instead I looked into putting a 22 chain ring on.
No go, though as I had forgotten to bring one IBIS specific part. 32
front ring was what I had to race with. At least I did learn from the
cramps and organized a bottle of water to carry with me.
The lineup for the race was 11:15 am. We got sorted by age groups. 40+
of course at the back of the pack. Didn’t matter too much as the start
was wide enough, it would probably have been sufficient to let every
starter a spot in the front. Yep, the field was small. Probably 30 all
counted. The shot rang and I started to pedal. This time I had decided
to not let everybody go, but to give it a go from the start. I only
held back as much as I needed to be sure to be able to climb that
trail twice. “I won’t be a one lap wonder!” was the sentence I
repeated to myself. However, slowly I did close the gap to riders that
had sprinted off. One by one I did pass them. All but one rider. That
one rider kept working hard on staying 20 to 50 yards ahead of me. It
was a funny pattern. When it got steep I got closer. Given the 32 I
had little choice: Pedal hard or walk. When the trail leveled off a
bit he shifted to a longer gear and accelerated. I relaxed a little to
be able to make the next steep section.
And then I saw a youngster, maybe 12 years old, flying up the trail.
He caught me close to the top and sensing what would follow I actually
stopped and let him pass. You guess it: The trail started to drop and
I caught the youngster instantly. He did what I had done before and
let me pass. So now I only had to catch that other rider…. And sure
enough soon I saw plums of dust still hanging in the air in every
corner. Next I saw the rider. And then I saw a ball of dust careening
into the trees. I called out, received a “all ok” message back and
continued swooping down the trail. Super fun!
Fully expecting my competitor to chase me up the climb of lap two I
kept the pace at my highest personal sustainable level. In other
words, I kept burning my legs. The youngster did catch me again.
Secretly (but respectfully) I titled him chipmunk. He climbed that
fast, passed me and was gone for good. My real competitor never caught
up with me.
That was good news. But it didn’t tell me how I had done in the race.
No results were posted previous to the rewards ceremony. So I went.
And in full DH outfit as the ceremony was in parallel to my DH
practice slot. Funny thing to stand on top of the podium in battle
gear at a XC race. Yep, I took it. Later, when I saw the results I
started to call myself a sandbagger. Distance to the second in +40: 16
minutes. I would have placed mid field in Cat 2.
Bad news was my legs were burned (I knew that before my DH run) and
both my brake levers were loose (I learnt that soon into my DH run –
the moment it got steep). Sufficient to say, this run was a unique
experience. Grabbing a handful of brakes had a total different
meaning. It also made me brake late (I had to find the lever!) and
tired my hands (try holding on with thump and pinky while the rest of
the fingers grapples for the brake). The good thing was the
distraction… Did I just ride that? Wow.
So I packed in early again. After that one trainings run I did two
more fun runs on blue trails and called it a day. Mushroom to couch
potato. You know my vegetable skills by now.
Sunday: Got out of bed early and one trainings run in. Tried to
balance exhaustion and keeping warm. Most importantly I tried to keep
my nervousness in check. The actual race run wasn’t much to write
about. I headed into it knowing that I didn’t knew the lines. So I
wasn’t surprised when I botched one corner at the top and almost
washed out close to the finish line. The pleasant surprise wasn’t
placement either: I came in mid field as 8th in 40+. The cool thing
was that I had found some confidence and comfortably shredded down the
steep rough sections, let fly in the high speed areas and (outside of
the two serious mistakes and some missed lines) actually had a smooth
and fearless run.
DH, I am back!
Now comes the tricky question… Next race, DH only – or Cat 2 XC and
DH?
Mike Greiner
Jun 12, 2012, 12:22:37 AM6/12/12
to lets-r...@googlegroups.com
Klaus,
Great write-up! Glad you had a good time and it sounds like Coach T(urkey) put you in some good form after all. As always, you are hardcore. What was the distance on the XC course lap? Did Annemarie race?
Curt Gowdy was fun on Saturday, btw. We mentioned you each time we past a "play area." :-)
Mike
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Klaus Muehlbradt
Jun 12, 2012, 12:53:18 AM6/12/12
to Let's Ride Fort Collins
Thanks, Mike. :-)
Annemarie couldn't go to Angel Fire. She had to work. Oh, well.
MSC posted one lap to be 5.5 miles and 1500 feet elevation. Cat 3 did
a full loop and then a short loop. I guesstimate the Cat 3 course was
8 miles and 2200 feet. It took me 44 min to complete a sorting loop
plus loop one and then 23 min for the second - short - loop.
Hey, I hope you actually rode the play areas!
Annemarie couldn't go to Angel Fire. She had to work. Oh, well.
MSC posted one lap to be 5.5 miles and 1500 feet elevation. Cat 3 did
a full loop and then a short loop. I guesstimate the Cat 3 course was
8 miles and 2200 feet. It took me 44 min to complete a sorting loop
plus loop one and then 23 min for the second - short - loop.
Hey, I hope you actually rode the play areas!
Mark Lorie
Jun 12, 2012, 5:41:59 PM6/12/12
to lets-r...@googlegroups.com
We had a hard enough time riding the trails!
Congrats on the XC...very cool. I think you should continue to do both and see if you can podium both!
Mark Lorie
1649 W Swallow Rd, Fort Collins, CO, 80526
410-746-0988
Congrats on the XC...very cool. I think you should continue to do both and see if you can podium both!
Mark Lorie
1649 W Swallow Rd, Fort Collins, CO, 80526
410-746-0988
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