Rayburner 100K

Last Saturday was the 2nd running of Team BUMS' Rayburner 100K. Last year we did 10 laps of what was supposed to be a 6.3 mile loop. It turned out the loop was closer to 6.8 miles. So this year the event mastermind, Scott Nelson, set to work revamping the loop to try to get things closer to 62 miles. What he ended up with is a 5.6 mile loop so we'd be doing 11 laps this year to get us in the ballpark of 62 miles. I took advantage of a break in the weather on Fri and pre-rode the course. It used a lot of the same trails from last year although in a different order. "Bumpy Town" was replaced by a new trail I like to call "Swampy Town" and an actual hill was put in. Note, I didn't say climb. We don't have any climbs on our local trails. We have hills and this was about as big of a hill as you'll find in Rayburn. It was maybe a quarter mile but at around a 9% grade it was steep enough that you'll notice it. Especially as the laps wore on. All in all a great little lap. Scott put a lot of work into it and it showed. The other reason for the pre-ride was because I had swapped rear wheels (for one with a new tire on it) and wanted to make sure it shifted fine. It did and with the anticipated sloppy conditions I was happy to have some fresh tread beneath me.

I'm not sure how much the fresh treads helped, but they certainly didn't hurt

To make up for the great weather we had at both the Weeping Willow and Glocester this year, mother nature dealt us a heavy dose of the ugly side of May with spitting rain and temps in the mid 40's for Sat. Absolutely perfect weather... for lying in bed. Well, at least for most people. While I won't deny I was plenty happy in my warm bed, there's something about lousy weather that makes me one to get out in it. Especially if it's any sort of an event like a race. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe I've convinced myself I've got an advantage since everyone else will be more miserable than me or perhaps I just don't want to be that person who doesn't show because conditions are a little crappy. Whatever the reason it wasn't too hard to get up, make some banana, walnut oatmeal and beat juice and get ready for the day.

I had very little energy on the pre-ride so
I was really hoping for the beet juice to work its magic this day.  

I packed the bag the night before so I was much better at getting out the door near the 7:15 target I'd set. By this I mean I left around 7:30 instead of 7:45 like the year before. Between the tents, tarps and other forms of rain protection people were setting up our staging area was starting to look like some sort of shanty town.

I thought about bringing my tarp, but it's full of holes. Fortunately, Jess Bly let me toss my stuff under his which was a much better set-up than covering my bag with my rain jacket. All set up, I headed over to the scoring table to sign in and drop off my surplus food. This year's selection was blackberry, mint & chocolate rice cakes, strawberry and cream rice cakes, and some beef and sweet potato turnovers. The turnovers were straight out of the new Feed Zone Portables cookbook. The strawberry and cream rice cakes were a bit of an experiment to make ones my daughter, who can't have cows milk or cane sugar, could eat. the sweetener was a little bit of maple sugar and just a little mild goat cheese provided the creaminess. They were pretty damn good if you ask me.

Last year my plan was to carry two water bottles and enough food so I only had to stop every 3 laps to reload. This year, with the slightly shorter lap, I took a lighter approach with just one bottle and planned to stop every other lap. I carried food, but had no intention of eating while I was riding. It was only so I'd have it with me when I stopped each lap to record my time rather than having to stop a 2nd time at my pit to grab it. Did it make a big difference time wise? Probably not, but psychologically having a plan and feeling organized made a huge difference. That and if I did forget to eat, which I did once, I would have something with me.

8:30 rolled around and 14 brave souls lined up for a long, cold, wet day in the saddle. A quick little racer meeting and at 8:35 we were off. The start was semi neutral for all of 20 seconds before Matt Chandler and went to work putting a little gap into the field. With conditions likely to deteriorate during the day, my strategy was to really push the pace early and try to establish a lead while the riding was good. I had a feeling as the day wore on conditions would make it harder for someone to make up a significant amount of time. I thought Matt was going to keep me company through this but he faded a little bit about halfway through then disappeared entirely. It turns out he got a flat on lap one and had to battle his way through the rest of the field for the next lap or two.

The first couple laps were uneventful. The legs felt good. The trail and weather were holding up nicely. You really couldn't ask for much more. There was a guy, Jim I think, manning the scoring table who giving me the gaps back to 2nd place. After turning a pair of 34 min laps to start things off I had a nice 5 min lead over Steve Witkus in 2nd. The course actually passes by the scoring table at a couple points during the lap and 1/2 way through the 3rd lap I learned the gap out to 7 min. Then things got interesting. I hit the ground for the first time on this little right hander in a new section in Scott's Small Intestine. If you couldn't guess from the name this is a tight, twisty trail with a lot of corners. For some reason this was the only one that deteriorated and I went done in a heartbeat. Fortunately it was soft and loamy and no damage was done (at least not to me). Not more than 2 min later I was down again. this time on a sweeping left hander on another new connector trail. It was become clear the combination of wheels and water was starting to take it toll and sections you rail a lap ago were becoming treacherous. The rest of the lap was fine until I got onto the last bit of single track. It turns out one of the times I crashed earlier, probably on the right hand turn, I bent the derailleur just a touch. There's a short, steep section right near the end and as I got ready to go up it the bike over shifted and stuffed the chain in between the cassette and the spokes. It was in there pretty good and took way too long to get it out. As I was on the cart road back to the scoring table I could see Steve on the trail I had just been on. Between the stop for water at the beginning and my "issues" during, lap 3 was 40 min and what had been a 7 min lead was now more like a minute and a half. So that's how it's going to be.

I managed to stay upright through lap 4 but the trail was definitely getting slick in spots. My split was back in the 34 min range and the gap was back out over 4 min. My next trip around the circuit I was starting to figure out the puzzle of where you could drill it and where you had to dial it back and just ride efficiently. Well... I thought I did. Perhaps I was a little overconfident in how much I had figured it out when I came to the rocky stream crossing after the big downhill. I had been riding this smoothly but must have come into just a little bit off line and the front wheel slipped of the first rock and I went down hard in the rocks/stream on my left side. Instead of just being wet, I was now soaking wet and had hit my left knee, hip and hand pretty good. Thankfully, this would be the last time I hit the deck for the rest of the day. I gingerly finished up the rest of the lap and headed out for hump lap. My knee and hip weren't bothering me too much and I turned a 36 min trip around the course after my crash induced 38 min previous lap. Unfortunately, the other Steve had turned a pair of 37s and my lead was hovering steady around 4 min.

By lap 7 I finally had it all figured out. Where to go hard, where to go easy, the set-up for the mud pits and the rock walls, I had it all dialed in. The course even felt like it was drying out a bit. By the end of the lap the lead was up to 8 min. Then it started raining and the temperature started dropping and things got interesting once again. My fingers started getting numb and I was getting cold, uncomfortably cold in fact. I had started the race with a polypro baselayer under my jersey but it just wasn't cutting it. I had a jacket back at the pit, I just had to get through the lap.

There were quite a few people hanging around shanty town when I finished up my 8th lap. Some people who had shown up to put a couple laps in, some who had just shown up to support the idiots who decided to race bikes that day. I spent a little extra time to eat and get my jacket. With just one to go after my 10th lap, I wasn't going to be stopping and wanted to make sure I had everything I needed for the last 3 laps. the real bright spot of the stop was when Karen Potter told me she was moving her Amherst epic to Monday (better weather). While I might enjoy the challenge of crappy weather riding, I really didn't want to spend another cold, wet day on the bike on Sunday. Jess and I tried to petition her to get us some hot coffee, but she politely informed us that once she got into her warm car, she wasn't coming back.

The last 3 laps were an exercise in finding traction. There were two uphill spots in particular where it was being sold at a premium. There was a short little uphill on the secret condo trail that was particularly difficult because the small trees the lined it prevented you from riding the edges that hadn't been ridden during the day. The other section was at the exit from swampy town (what was the start of bumpy town last year). Here you had a few more options taking alternate lines that involved pricker bushes and slippery rocks that still provided more traction than the mud. I didn't know what my lead was, but I felt like I was riding as well as anyone would be given the conditions. As long as I kept the bike upright and avoided any mechanicals I should be able to bring home the win.

My last two laps were almost identical with splits of 39:23 & 39:15 respectively. The total time for 11 laps was 6:56:45 only a couple minutes faster than last year despite the shorter course. Steve Witkus finished up in 2nd with a time of 7:11 while Matt Chandler rallied after his flat to finish in 7:21:57 good enough for 3rd.

Boy did it felt good to change into some dry clothes. I had my chocolate milk and fried rice and waited for Steve and Matt to finish up. After a while I started to realize enough layers for comfortably hanging out in the cold and wet and started thinking a coffee run my be in order. One of the little games we like to play here at the Higginchuk household is secretly turning someones heated seat on and seeing how long it takes them two notice. This is particularly entertaining in my car because the highest level, 6. if uncomfortably hot. Even when it's 0 degrees out. Let me tell you, 6 never felt so good on the ride to Dunkins.

Seat set at 6 and the heat at 75deg.
I see what Karen meant about not getting out of the car once she got in

 After our previous end of lap discussion it was only fitting that Jess Bly was finishing up just as I arrived with a Box O' Joe.

At this point we had 4 finishers and 5 people still out on course. A couple of them would still have 2 laps to go their next time through! The coffee kept me warm enough to cheer 3 more people to the finish including the evil genius behind it all, Scott Nelson. Unfortunately, some shivers started setting in and I had to call it a day before everyone finished up.

Big thumbs up to you, Scott.
Thanks for everything that went into putting this on

On the way out I did get to cheer/heckle Kevin and Mike as they finished up their penultimate lap. In the end 9 people completed all 11 laps and a host of others put significant time on the trails that day. Thanks and congratulations to everyone who came out. Extra special congratulations to Mike and Kevin who spent over 11 hours in the woods just because some knucklehead decided we should do 11 laps.

Results
Steve S       6:56
Steve W       7:11
Matt C        7:21
Jess B        8:24
Rick N        8:40
Scott N       9:04
Jim N         9:15
Kevin         11:02
Mike L        11:20
Russ          8 Laps
Laura         8 Laps
Pete D        6 Laps
Bill D        6 Laps
Brett         2 Laps
Karen         2 Laps
Mike C        2 Laps
John & Max B  1 Lap (maybe 2, it's hard to tell from the score sheet)

I thought about hosing the bike off while it was still on the car because I didn't want to handle it dirty again but the only hose that is currently set up wouldn't reach.

Obligatory dirt bike shot

I hosed off the bike, clothes, shoes, you name it. I got the laundry going, took a hot shower, sat down to a big plate of food and felt pretty satisfied with the day. I was particularly happy to know I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn and do it all over again on Sunday.

Glocester Grind Race Report

I know we've had some nice weather in the past for this race but for some reason I always associate the Glocester Grind with 45 and raining. Given that, I was pretty excited for the mild temps and clear skies we had on Sunday. Not to mention the dry spring and the lack of rain the last few days meant we were in store for the driest Grind we'd ever seen. That doesn't mean it was dry, just not as muddy as we're accustomed to. You only had to go a few feet into the woods to realize conditions were as good as it gets

First mud pit on course. This is usually a soupy mess filled with water

As I was checking out the start Max Beaupre came through absolutely killing it on is way to 1st Junior in the Novice race.

I'm saving this picture for when anyone ever says they are too small to ride a 29er

Pre-riding during the Novice race was being discouraged so I headed out for a quick warm-up on the road. We had a little snafu with one of the kids soccer games on Sat. and I didn't manage to get out for a ride, but the legs felt descent. I put a spare water bottle near the start finish and headed over to staging.

We had maybe a dozen or so in the Vet2 group at the line. Unlike last week where we had over a 1/2 mile of double track to sort things out, the start at Glocester gives you about 100yds before you hit the first mud hole (pictured above). There were also reports of a not so new bridge maybe a foot wide that you had to go over. The alternate lines were taped off and there would be no running through the mud if someone muffed it, so there was a distinct advantage to being in front. I was 2nd wheel when we hit the woods. Fortunately, the guy in front didn't take my preferred line and a couple turns later I was by him and building a little lead. That lasted all of 15 seconds when when a root sent me into the trees. I don't know if there was already a crash behind me, but only Scott Hood passed while I was untangling myself. Scott quickly put 5 then 10 seconds into me and that's pretty much how the rest of the race went. I would occasionally see Scott a turn or two ahead and yell at him to slow down but he wasn't playing my game. I'd also catch glimpses of a couple JRA riders a few turns back, but no-one was closing in on me either. By the time we hit where they had logged the legs were starting to check out as well. It was clear I didn't have the extra gear to chase down Scott. I was going to have to just grind out the next 2 1/2 laps and finish up.

The Masters leaders caught up to me part way through lap two. Bob Bisson came by first and I rode his wheel for a bit until he crashed in the rock garden a little ways into the 2nd half of the lap. He came by me again at the end of the logged section. John Beaupre came by just after the super boney rock garden. I stayed with him for a little bit, but we parted ways just before the end of the lap.

The last lap was uninspired. I started picking lines instead of attacking them as thoughts of don't break something (me or the bike) started creeping in. I made my was around the course without incident and finished up in 2nd place in 1:33:53. Scott was first in 1:31:43. I looked back at the last couple years and 2 min seems to be the standard gap that Scott beats me by here. Business as usual I guess. Brian McInnis finished third not far behind in 1:34:37.

In a reversal of last week, John Beaupre also came in 2nd while Karen Potter won the Elite race. Fortunately, we hadn't come down together so we didn't have to listen to her on the way home ;)

Full results are here and the wicked gnaahly Dirtwire coverage is over here.


Doing things that challenge you is how you get better at something. Unfortunately, despite the fact I've done this race the past 7 years now, the Glocester Grind is still not in my comfort zone. I suppose that's why I keep going back. Well, that and it's only 25 miles from my house.

Weeping Willow Race Report

Last Saturday I headed up to Ipswich for the Weeping Willow. That’s right, a Saturday race. Usually Sat. races in the spring or fall are out for me due to kids soccer, but this was Willowdale. Exceptions would have to be made and rides for my daughter would have to be found. It turned out a couple other locals, John Beaupre & Karen Potter thought Willowdale was the place to be so we connected at the park & ride and headed up together in John’s truck.

I was a little worried about what the day had in store for us when I got woken up at 4:00 to pouring rain, but the skies seemed to be clearing during the ride up. When we got there around 11:00 it seemed like they hadn’t gotten the early morning rain that we had back in Upton. We noticed while we were registering that the people finishing up the Novice/Sport race looked pretty clean. Maybe today wasn't going to be a mess. 

By the time we got our numbers, anyone that was doing two laps in the sport race was already out on their 2^nd lap to we took the opportunity to check out the first few miles of the course and see what conditions were like. Perfect is what I would call them. As long as you didn’t take some of the questionable line selection that had been burned in (and washed out) during the morning race, the trails were like velcro. My legs, on the other hand, felt kind of dead during the warm-up, especially on any sort of incline. As counter intuitive as this may sound, this is usually a good sign for me. If my legs feel super fresh, they often vanish halfway through the race. If they feel a little bit heavy. More often than not it's going to be a good day. I’m sure it’s all in my head, but that’s how I seem to remember it. We rode maybe the first 3 miles of the course before heading back to catch the racer meeting and staging.

The first mile of the loop is a fast, double track, pace lining affair. There’s immediate hole shot to battle for. Things are pretty strung out by the time you make the turn into the single track. That said, with 26 registered in our group, you didn’t want to be too far off the leaders when you hit the trail.. I was front row on the far left with just Aaron Millet outside of me at the start line. The start seemed more peaceful than years past. I traded a few spots here and there but the pace didn’t seem quite on the edge as years past. I took this as a positive sign as I felt unusually comfortable hanging with the lead group. I was on the tail end of a group of 7 going into the single track with Michael McKittrick and Anders Larson ahead of me. Geoff McIntosh was at the front pushing the pace and about halfway through the first stretch Geoff, Aaron Millet, and two guys I didn’t know had started to build a gap. I knew we were going to be on a short stretch of double track soon so there was no need to freak out at this point. When we hit it I managed to get by Michael, Anders and one of the guys I didn’t know, but wasn’t able to completely close down the gap to Aaron and unknown rider #2 in the orange kit. Geoff had a little gap on the two of them and I proceeded to dangle about 5 seconds back through the next stretches of single track. By the time we hit the next long cart road section the lead group had come back together. Try as I might I just couldn’t close down the gap they had on me. I probably could have gotten by on just the Skratch I had in my bottles but old habits die hard and I decided to have a quick bite along this stretch.  I spent a little too long fumbling with the wrapper and lost all contact with the lead group as a result. 

The funny thing about this course is that even with some of the longish straightaways, you’re going so fast on them that there are really only a handful of spots on the course where you can see more than 5 seconds or so ahead or behind you. One of those sections is the slightly uphill stretch by the field coming through the start/finish area. It was at this point I spotted Geoff some 50yds. ahead of me. Maybe it was the potato I ate on lap one or maybe I just had legs today but I quickly started closing the gap to 3^rd place. I saw Geoff take a couple peeks back, so he knew I was coming. It reminded of a couple years ago at the Big Ring Rumpus when Geoff, after losing contact with Alby and Doug on the final lap, sat up and waited for me, rode my wheel for the last couple miles and took me at the finish. Even though there was a full lap of racing left I was determined not to let that happen again. I tried to make the most convincing pass I could but I knew Geoff had latched on and was right behind me. It was time for plan B, reckless abandonment. I railed the turn into single track, carried the momentum up the quick little hill and with the help of a miss-shift by Geoff, quickly put a little gap into him. I proceeded to ride the twisty, turny, roller coaster stretch of trail right on the edge of my abilities, perhaps even beyond them, and had built the gap to maybe 5 or 10 seconds half way through. This is also another section of trail where you get a chance to see the guys that are ahead of you. I saw Aaron and the guy in orange a couple times where the trail loops back on itself. I’d guess the gap was in the 20 – 30 second range. Big enough that it’d be hard to close down against strong riders but close enough that if someone made a mistake it would vanish quickly. Aaron was the first to falter flatting somewhere in the middle of the lap. He did let me know I wasn’t too far off of first when I came through. Unfortunately, I didn’t know who I was chasing. I just remembered he had orange on, but that's it. 

I felt surprisingly strong the entire 2^nd lap with the exception of the one climb where I felt completely gassed. I guess I know what I need to work on. By the time I hit the top I figured any chance of chasing down 1^st was gone. Still with maybe a couple miles left there was no reason not to kick it in since you never know what can happen. After the hill and subsequent descent there’s a short section of cart road followed by a section of single track before hitting the final half mile of cart road to the finish. Just as I was going into that final section of trail I caught up to a guy with orange on his kit and an orange helmet. I honestly didn’t think he was my target since I came up on him way too quickly. It seemed like every other pass it was taking me forever to catch up to and get by people. I was on this guy and by him in a heartbeat. He was incredibly cordial about the pass too. There’s no way this was the guy I was chasing. It wasn’t until I was almost out of earshot when I heard him yelling up to me asking my age group that I had the idea I might actually be leading. With just over a ½ mile to go I wasn’t slowing down to compare notes and just hammered it home to the finish. Sure enough, just seconds after crossing the line the mechanical voice informed me that I had won my age group. A few seconds later the man in orange, Kurt Perham, came across. Yup, that’s who I’d been chasing. It turns out after Aaron had flatted, he kind of went into cruise control thinking there was no-one that close behind him. Whoops. I bet he doesn’t do that again. Between Aaron flatting and Kurt's mental lapse I can't say I entirely feel like I earned the W (my first in an Expert race BTW). I guess being consistent pays off some times. I have made a few changes to the bike since last year: Magura TS8 fork (I was full rigid most of last year), Vredestein tires and a wider bar. Maybe I've just finally learned how to ride a bike, but it's handling like a dream right now. 

Beaupre came through a short while later taking the win in the Masters group. He had spent the entire race dueling Bob Bisson and was able to finally get some separation in the last bit of single track and posted the 2^nd fastest time for the entire Expert field. Fast Old Guys indeed. I looked around for Potter to see how she had finished up but it turned out they had made a start line decision to do 3 laps so she was still out on course. In the end a midrace crash by Karen allowed Crystal Anthony to get a gap that Karen wasn’t able to close down. Despite the fact that her 2^nd place was bringing down the overall average of our vehicle, she still got to ride in the front seat on the way home.

The men's Elite race came down to a three way sprint between Pete Ostroski, Billy Melone and Brian Wilichoski with Melone taking the W. 

Full results for the race are here. Dirtwire.tv covered the race and there are great photo galleries on the Riverside Racing facebook page. If you haven't "liked" them yet, you should.

Although I would have liked to have raced more than 1:20  (seriously, make it longer next year) this is still one of my favorite races. The single track is just so much fun and the race organization is top notch. Thanks to Riverside Cycles, Arron, Capt’n Dennis, and everyone else involved in putting this race on. For me, this is a can't miss race. Just don't keep doing them on Saturdays ;)