!Ride Strong!: Putney Race Report

Yeah...so I arrived in Putney around 8AM-ish. It was cold and windy, but the sun was out. I knew that it would warm up as the morning progressed and was looking forward to losing some layers so I wouldn't sweat so bad. Saw Tony and Tina pull in shortly after I arrived. Took my time getting my stuff together, marveled at how the port-a-john had frozen from the evening prior (was the lucky one to christen it, I believe) and went in to register. It was a nice change to be able to register inside somewhere warm! Got my pins, and number, went back to the car, grabbed the bike and started to learn the course.

The first grass section had 2 barriers and I noticed that everything was frozen and slippery upon first dismount. The course wound around a bit, then had a short, steep down-hill to 90 degree turn to steep, log run up. Take a straightaway around the bike shop, through the dirt jumps, down a wicked steep, slippery downhill, to a path, to and around some corn fields (iced and chunky now), then back onto some pavement, up a SUPER steep run-up (probably about 30' long) and back onto the course. Good, fast, FUN course. Got in a few more runs. Retried a few technical spots that gave me trouble. Got more comfortable with the steeps with every lap. Made mental notes of where my lines should be. Had a few issues with the chain throwing itself again, fixed it. Went back to the car and ran the heat to warm my feet up. Was pretty sweaty and decided to loose the tights, instead opted for knee warmers, and pinned up my Ignite jacket.

At about 9:45 decided I'd take one last run, at about half speed through most of it, full speed on a few sections. Lost my arm warmers before leaving the car because it had warmed up so much. The light jacket was more than enough. Opted for a cycling cap instead of a beanie as well. Started getting the blood flowing, and wanted to be ready to go right to the start line. When I made it to the run up, everyone was already lined up. Saw Tony and cut the line to post up right next to him.

Got the 'gun', started my '45mins of Pain' mix on the iPod, and we were off! Spun like a bastard and stayed with the front of the group. Going into the barrier section, one guy bumped arms with me (purposely as far as I could tell). Noted it as we went over the barrier section. Winding around to the first run-up, he tried it again and I went aggro, pushing him back off of me. He tried it again, and I gave him the "watch your line!". He backed off and gave me some lame excuse. As we were going up the first techy run-up, some guy cased it right into the first log. He went straight down, his bike went up, another guy crashed into the brush next to the run-up. Bikes and bodies flying everywhere! I pushed through, and kept pace with who I was with til the cornfields. That's where the chain blew off. Fixed it cursing all the way, and noticed how all the frozen stuff was now a greasy mess! The corn field wound up being a crash fest for a ton of guys every time I went though.

The rest of the race I spent trying to pick off guys ahead of me. I noticed that the only place I really got dropped was on the flat paved section because of my gearing. The rest of the race (in most of the technical sections, especially the mud) I was catching and passing guys. I knew that I wasn't in contention, but I wanted to finish and see how many I could catch. Went hard. By the time I got to the finish, I was choking back vomit. Couldn't really talk. Just coughed a bunch. Tony got worried and actually had Tina check on me to make sure I was alright! Tony did great, finishing 5th!

Got changed, ate a burrito, drank the rest of my water, checked out the shop, watched some other racers, waited for the results FOREVER!, saw that I somehow didn't make DFL, and took off. Stopped in Northampton for a coffee, some used CD's, a new shirt and belt. Then went home. A great day with some super fun riding and good friends. Always a great time!