Firecracker 50 - race report
The History
This will be my 3rd year doing this race. In 2004 – I did it on a team and had a blast. In 2005 I overtrained, underrested and was super fatigued going into this race(I didn’t know what overtrained felt like – but I DO now!) and had my worst day ever on a bike – I finished but it was a sad sight.
THIS year was gonna be different. I trained smarter, I was well rested, pre-rode the course, had my nutrition dialed in, my legs were feeling spunky, all systems go.
In addition, this year I’ve been working on my weaknesses.
I’m a wussy descender on fire/jeep roads. My fire/jeep road descending technique consists of dragging my brakes and looking for the smoothest line. To fix this – I’ve been working with Lee McComack(he is so awesome) and practicing my descents. Going into the race I was feeling confident on my descents and now looking for the fastest line and not using my brakes so much.
Based on my moderately paced pre-ride time – I felt it was a realistic goal to shoot for a 2:55 1st lap and was hoping to only be 10 – 15 minutes slower on my 2nd lap.
Practicing on July 3rd
In line with practicing my descents – the day before the race (July 3rd) my parents agreed to shuttle me to the top of the last singletrack descent a few times so I could get it dialed in. It poured down rain from 1pm – 2:30pm and I was thinking “yikes – the race is gonna be a b!tch it that happens tomorrow!)
After it stopped raining, my folks dropped me off . The trail had gotten a good soaking, the rocks and roots were slick – but it would probably bode well for the race the next day.
I take off and I’m feeling good and am cruising along really well – I see a branch that got blown in the middle of the trail – I hit it at a slight angle and WHAP! I friggin’ face planted. I was shocked – it wasn’t expecting it. I’ve never face planted before and to add insult to injury my bike lands on top of me. I get up, spit out a mouthful of wet dirt, carefully check my teeth(they were all there), I touch my face and there is only a little bit of blood, everything else seems ok. My head got snapped back pretty good (I guess that’s what it feels like to get punched in the face) and the oddest thing is all of a sudden I felt like I had a sore throat on my right side only. Ughh….I got my bell run for sure. I descend to the bottom and shuttle 2 more times but take it super easy.
Pre-Race
On race day, my neck was slightly sore, but not too bad, nothing that should impact me. I was as ready as I could be. Dave checks my bike, pumps up my tires and notices my front wheel has debris(leaves and a twig) from my crash wedged between the rim and tire. He deflates my front tire and removes the debris and puts it back together. Yikes – I’m glad he saw it. Then he notices that the stem on my front tire is leaking air. I only have 1 tube with me at the start so he uses that and I ask him to be as Aid Station #2 with an extra tube. He uses my extra tube in my front tire and I’m ready to go.
THE RACE
The first part of the race is the most fun – starting at the front of the parade with a crowd of people cheering you on and waving. I heard a few friends calling out my name. At the edge of town we take off.
I don’t want to go all out because it’s a long race – so I stay at a maintainable(but hard) pace on the 1st climb. My friend, Sasha and I are about the same pace on this climb. I am toward the back of the Sport Women group – but I know what works for me and I’m hoping to be able to catch people as the race progress.
I’m feeling good and start passing a few people – some Sport men, my friend Jason (a Clydesdale) and a couple of girls. Once we get on the single track I pass 3 more girls. Ok…now I’m feeling good and getting in the flow. Sasha passes me on the flat singletrack before the Gold Bell Mine climb starts. We start this b!tch of a climb, I pass her and can hear her breathing behind me on the entire climb. We pass a couple of more guys before the descent.
I hit 1st descent after Gold Bell Mine. No one passes me. I turn right on some double track - it’s flat and I pedal as fast as I can expecting to have people pass me. No one passes. I hit Nightmare on Badly - it’s not as loose as it usually is (due to the rain the day before) I ride as fast as I can and don’t hear anyone behind me. No one passes me. I think “Wow – maybe I am getting better” I was shocked but happy!
I spit out at Sally Berber and turn right for the fast and furious descent. I’m feeling good and riding as fast as possible (for me) and I think I feel my rear tire go soft. Oh no! Sure enough – I’ve pinch flatted and have no tube. Aid Station #2 (with dave and the extra tube) is only 2 minutes away but that’s not gonna do me any good now. I have my rear tire off and the tube out and people ask if I need anything and I say I need a tube. A guy stops (#729) and gives me a tube. I’m stopped for about 5 minutes and head off again. I’m almost at the bottom and I’m all paranoid and feel like my rear end feels mushy. I stop, it doesn’t really seem low but i shoot some more C02 into it and make it rock hard and off I go. 2 stops – I’m certain I’m so far behind –it’s very discouraging.
I see Dave at Aid Station #2 – I tell him I had to stop 2 times - he hands me off a bottle, he didn’t bring an extra tube with him – but he said he’d have it at Aid Station #3.
I take off on the climb toward Little French and don’t see a soul. I’m bummed but crank on. My goal is to keep the effort up and see what I can do.
I take a left to start the Little French climb, I see 1 guy. Ok….I’ll focus on passing him. I pass him and see 2 more people, a guy and a girl in a yellow jersey. I focus on catching them. I catch the guy after the downed tree. I see a girl in a yellow jersey up ahead – I don’t catch her before I start the flume trail. I cranking as hard as I can – I want to catch yellow jersey girl. I catch her on the singletrack and ask to pass. (I remember yellow jersey girl at the start. I was impressed because she said she was shooting doing the race in 5:30. I remember thinking "holy moly - this woman must be strong!" Now I was thinking "hmmm..she must've underestimated this course, or never pre-ridden or was having a really bad day and I know what that feels like!") It takes a minute or 2 before she pulls over – but I stay right on her tail so she knows I’m there. She lets me by. I crank it to the end of the singletrack and start the descent. I see 1 guy – ok – I get him… ok….there’s guy in baggies and toe clips – I pass him.on the descent I hit the short steep Lincoln Meadows climb and I see 2 more guys. They hit the singletrack descent before I can pass them but I chase them down and pass both of the before we are dumped out for the Rich Gulch descent. One guy is on my butt on the Rich Gulch descent, but he doesn’t pass me.
Now I’m on to French Gulch Rd. heading to the last climb. My watch says I’ve been out 2:33 – I should be able to hit the top of SallyBerber by 2:50 and it’s an 18minute descent to transition. That will put me with a 3:08 lap. That would be ok considering my issues. So I keep a good cadence and effort – I pass a guy in a bright yellow jersey and blue shorts.
I see Aid Station #3 and Dave and I also see Sasha. ?? I thinking “hmm…maybe after the 2 stops I’m not that far back” I step it up a bit – I count – Sasha is 40 seconds ahead of me. I slow down at Aid Station 3- Dave says “wow – I can’t believe how much time you made up. Sasha was 8 - 10 minutes ahead of you at Aid Station #2. go get her!” this really motivates me - I take off and forgot to get a tube from him.
I’m cranking it on Sally Berber climb – I’m in my middle ring and keeping a good cadence. I pass 2 more guys and am gaining on Sasha. The climb mellows out toward the top of Sally Berber – I click it up a couple of harder gears and blow past Sasha. Damn! I’m feeling good…woohoo - I start the descent – just a few more minutes before I can start my next lap. I’m railing down the jeep road as fast as I can. I’m staying loose on the bike and hitting the fastest lines. I take a rough line and felt like I hit some rocks hard – I hold my breath and then I hear it. “psssssssss”. I pinch flatted again. Crap! Again – I have no tube. I can’t even say how bummed I was – I almost start crying. I take off my tire and Sasha catches up to me, stops and gives me a tube. I ask her if she sees Dave tell him I flatted and I’m probably done.
I’m fixing my flat and use the last of my C02 and I’m thinking. I look at my watch and by the time I fix the flat I’ve been out 3:10 – it’s another 10 – 12 minutes down to the bottom. I know this 3rd stop is going to really set me back even more. Just when I thought I was working my way back up – I wasn’t sure I had the desire to fight that hard again on lap #2. I knew I could do another lap and be faster than I was last year – but I didn’t want to “just finish” – which would be what I would be doing. I’ve already done that - on my way down I decided to DNF.
Aftermath
I guess on the good side – I felt I was riding well and even now I’m happy with the way I was riding and the way I paced myself. Usually I never have flats – I weigh ~105lbs and I’m not a super aggressive descender However, now my descending has definitely improved and since my riding has changed what was working for me in the past(~25-28psi and tubes) isn’t working for me now. I’m looking at what I need to fix it and I guess there’s always next year, eh? :)
This will be my 3rd year doing this race. In 2004 – I did it on a team and had a blast. In 2005 I overtrained, underrested and was super fatigued going into this race(I didn’t know what overtrained felt like – but I DO now!) and had my worst day ever on a bike – I finished but it was a sad sight.
THIS year was gonna be different. I trained smarter, I was well rested, pre-rode the course, had my nutrition dialed in, my legs were feeling spunky, all systems go.
In addition, this year I’ve been working on my weaknesses.
I’m a wussy descender on fire/jeep roads. My fire/jeep road descending technique consists of dragging my brakes and looking for the smoothest line. To fix this – I’ve been working with Lee McComack(he is so awesome) and practicing my descents. Going into the race I was feeling confident on my descents and now looking for the fastest line and not using my brakes so much.
Based on my moderately paced pre-ride time – I felt it was a realistic goal to shoot for a 2:55 1st lap and was hoping to only be 10 – 15 minutes slower on my 2nd lap.
Practicing on July 3rd
In line with practicing my descents – the day before the race (July 3rd) my parents agreed to shuttle me to the top of the last singletrack descent a few times so I could get it dialed in. It poured down rain from 1pm – 2:30pm and I was thinking “yikes – the race is gonna be a b!tch it that happens tomorrow!)
After it stopped raining, my folks dropped me off . The trail had gotten a good soaking, the rocks and roots were slick – but it would probably bode well for the race the next day.
I take off and I’m feeling good and am cruising along really well – I see a branch that got blown in the middle of the trail – I hit it at a slight angle and WHAP! I friggin’ face planted. I was shocked – it wasn’t expecting it. I’ve never face planted before and to add insult to injury my bike lands on top of me. I get up, spit out a mouthful of wet dirt, carefully check my teeth(they were all there), I touch my face and there is only a little bit of blood, everything else seems ok. My head got snapped back pretty good (I guess that’s what it feels like to get punched in the face) and the oddest thing is all of a sudden I felt like I had a sore throat on my right side only. Ughh….I got my bell run for sure. I descend to the bottom and shuttle 2 more times but take it super easy.
Pre-Race
On race day, my neck was slightly sore, but not too bad, nothing that should impact me. I was as ready as I could be. Dave checks my bike, pumps up my tires and notices my front wheel has debris(leaves and a twig) from my crash wedged between the rim and tire. He deflates my front tire and removes the debris and puts it back together. Yikes – I’m glad he saw it. Then he notices that the stem on my front tire is leaking air. I only have 1 tube with me at the start so he uses that and I ask him to be as Aid Station #2 with an extra tube. He uses my extra tube in my front tire and I’m ready to go.
THE RACE
The first part of the race is the most fun – starting at the front of the parade with a crowd of people cheering you on and waving. I heard a few friends calling out my name. At the edge of town we take off.
I don’t want to go all out because it’s a long race – so I stay at a maintainable(but hard) pace on the 1st climb. My friend, Sasha and I are about the same pace on this climb. I am toward the back of the Sport Women group – but I know what works for me and I’m hoping to be able to catch people as the race progress.
I’m feeling good and start passing a few people – some Sport men, my friend Jason (a Clydesdale) and a couple of girls. Once we get on the single track I pass 3 more girls. Ok…now I’m feeling good and getting in the flow. Sasha passes me on the flat singletrack before the Gold Bell Mine climb starts. We start this b!tch of a climb, I pass her and can hear her breathing behind me on the entire climb. We pass a couple of more guys before the descent.
I hit 1st descent after Gold Bell Mine. No one passes me. I turn right on some double track - it’s flat and I pedal as fast as I can expecting to have people pass me. No one passes. I hit Nightmare on Badly - it’s not as loose as it usually is (due to the rain the day before) I ride as fast as I can and don’t hear anyone behind me. No one passes me. I think “Wow – maybe I am getting better” I was shocked but happy!
I spit out at Sally Berber and turn right for the fast and furious descent. I’m feeling good and riding as fast as possible (for me) and I think I feel my rear tire go soft. Oh no! Sure enough – I’ve pinch flatted and have no tube. Aid Station #2 (with dave and the extra tube) is only 2 minutes away but that’s not gonna do me any good now. I have my rear tire off and the tube out and people ask if I need anything and I say I need a tube. A guy stops (#729) and gives me a tube. I’m stopped for about 5 minutes and head off again. I’m almost at the bottom and I’m all paranoid and feel like my rear end feels mushy. I stop, it doesn’t really seem low but i shoot some more C02 into it and make it rock hard and off I go. 2 stops – I’m certain I’m so far behind –it’s very discouraging.
I see Dave at Aid Station #2 – I tell him I had to stop 2 times - he hands me off a bottle, he didn’t bring an extra tube with him – but he said he’d have it at Aid Station #3.
I take off on the climb toward Little French and don’t see a soul. I’m bummed but crank on. My goal is to keep the effort up and see what I can do.
I take a left to start the Little French climb, I see 1 guy. Ok….I’ll focus on passing him. I pass him and see 2 more people, a guy and a girl in a yellow jersey. I focus on catching them. I catch the guy after the downed tree. I see a girl in a yellow jersey up ahead – I don’t catch her before I start the flume trail. I cranking as hard as I can – I want to catch yellow jersey girl. I catch her on the singletrack and ask to pass. (I remember yellow jersey girl at the start. I was impressed because she said she was shooting doing the race in 5:30. I remember thinking "holy moly - this woman must be strong!" Now I was thinking "hmmm..she must've underestimated this course, or never pre-ridden or was having a really bad day and I know what that feels like!") It takes a minute or 2 before she pulls over – but I stay right on her tail so she knows I’m there. She lets me by. I crank it to the end of the singletrack and start the descent. I see 1 guy – ok – I get him… ok….there’s guy in baggies and toe clips – I pass him.on the descent I hit the short steep Lincoln Meadows climb and I see 2 more guys. They hit the singletrack descent before I can pass them but I chase them down and pass both of the before we are dumped out for the Rich Gulch descent. One guy is on my butt on the Rich Gulch descent, but he doesn’t pass me.
Now I’m on to French Gulch Rd. heading to the last climb. My watch says I’ve been out 2:33 – I should be able to hit the top of SallyBerber by 2:50 and it’s an 18minute descent to transition. That will put me with a 3:08 lap. That would be ok considering my issues. So I keep a good cadence and effort – I pass a guy in a bright yellow jersey and blue shorts.
I see Aid Station #3 and Dave and I also see Sasha. ?? I thinking “hmm…maybe after the 2 stops I’m not that far back” I step it up a bit – I count – Sasha is 40 seconds ahead of me. I slow down at Aid Station 3- Dave says “wow – I can’t believe how much time you made up. Sasha was 8 - 10 minutes ahead of you at Aid Station #2. go get her!” this really motivates me - I take off and forgot to get a tube from him.
I’m cranking it on Sally Berber climb – I’m in my middle ring and keeping a good cadence. I pass 2 more guys and am gaining on Sasha. The climb mellows out toward the top of Sally Berber – I click it up a couple of harder gears and blow past Sasha. Damn! I’m feeling good…woohoo - I start the descent – just a few more minutes before I can start my next lap. I’m railing down the jeep road as fast as I can. I’m staying loose on the bike and hitting the fastest lines. I take a rough line and felt like I hit some rocks hard – I hold my breath and then I hear it. “psssssssss”. I pinch flatted again. Crap! Again – I have no tube. I can’t even say how bummed I was – I almost start crying. I take off my tire and Sasha catches up to me, stops and gives me a tube. I ask her if she sees Dave tell him I flatted and I’m probably done.
I’m fixing my flat and use the last of my C02 and I’m thinking. I look at my watch and by the time I fix the flat I’ve been out 3:10 – it’s another 10 – 12 minutes down to the bottom. I know this 3rd stop is going to really set me back even more. Just when I thought I was working my way back up – I wasn’t sure I had the desire to fight that hard again on lap #2. I knew I could do another lap and be faster than I was last year – but I didn’t want to “just finish” – which would be what I would be doing. I’ve already done that - on my way down I decided to DNF.
Aftermath
I guess on the good side – I felt I was riding well and even now I’m happy with the way I was riding and the way I paced myself. Usually I never have flats – I weigh ~105lbs and I’m not a super aggressive descender However, now my descending has definitely improved and since my riding has changed what was working for me in the past(~25-28psi and tubes) isn’t working for me now. I’m looking at what I need to fix it and I guess there’s always next year, eh? :)
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