Dirty Du Race Report December 7, 2006
Posted by riverbrady in : Race Reports , trackbackThis is written a bit hastily and without a read over. Hopefully it makes sense :p
A couple weeks back I ran across a thread on the forums that a friend needed someone for the bike leg for the Dirty Du, an off-road 5k, 12 mile, 5k duathlon. I told her I’d race if we could find me a mountain bike as I broke my last bike (wore it out so much that the head tube was warped) 4-5 years ago and haven’t bought a new one since. Rachel graciously loaned us here bike and I was able to pick it up the Tuesday before the race.
As it had been a couple years since I’ve really ridden a mountain bike, and only been in clipless pedals on one once (a ride around the logging roads with dad a couple Christmases ago), I decided to take it for a quick spin along Barton Creek on Wednesday. It took me all of about 15-20 minutes to wipe out the first time…taking the transition from a creek bed to a paved trail at a shallow angle without rocking back and leading to three jammed fingers on my right hand…nothing too big, and certainly not something to keep me from riding, but an annoyance that would become worse later. Of course, it only really became worse due to me being a bit ancy about getting back into things and gripping too tightly, rather than simply riding along with a relaxed grip.
In any case, the rest of the ride went well, I remembered taking lines on trails, found that the rear suspension really threw me off as I didn’t know exactly where my wheel was, and just generally had fun.
Race morning came around and found the weather freezing again. I’m not sure if it was officially freezing, but it was significantly cold enough that I was downright cold…and this is me, the walking heater. Cam met me at my place and we headed out to the ranch…where we found out it was colder.
With an hour to the race we busied ourselves getting ready, finding Jamie, hopping back to the fire to warm back up, and generally wasting time. We found out we were number 69, for which everyone found a hoot. We also found Fred, who I wasn’t aware was doing the event, and Rachel and Betsy, who were volunteering. Then with a short pre-race meeting and anthem, the called the runners over to the starting line and started the race.
I had about 35 minutes to wait by Cam’s estimates, so I promptly set myself to: double checking what I should be wearing, filling water bottles, debating between the one water bottle and camelbak, wandering aimlessly, and hugging the fire…until the start/finish line scaffolding came crashing down due to the wind. As far as unconventional warm-ups go, putting that thing back upright and together is one of the better ones I’ve been through.
Once the midpack runners were heading in I started stripping down to my actual biking outfit: my tri shorts, running tights over those (still haven’t bought bike tights), my orange wind jacket, and my Texas Iron jersey with my extra tire and patch kit. Thinking that I’d want something dry after the race, I took off and tossed my long sleeve running shirt, arm warmers, and heavy gloves in my bag, opting instead for my light full-length gloves, finishing as Cam ran into transition.
Taking off, I was almost redlining the first mile of the race, working on warming myself up before the hills and preparing for a generally hard ride. As things would have it, I ended up walking up the first two big hills anyways. There were lines of 8-10 people on each hill walking up and while I was pedaling, I was weaving across a 3 foot swatch due to the loose rock, and had to hop off to join them. Two hills later, and the only walking I’d do on the course save for a few feet, and I was off down the trail thanking the hill for the brief break that let me settle back down. The remainder of the first half of the ride fell into a general routine: passing bikes, riding the single-track, and wondering just how long I had gone (I didn’t have a watch or odometer on me). At one point I passed a girl I’d been following for a bit only to hear what sounded like a flat. Stopping to check, thankfully it was merely a leaf caught in the brake and I was back on the trail.
Somewhere around the halfway point things finally clicked. I remembered, my body remembered, how to ride a mountain bike correctly, how to relax. I was comfortable with being clipped to my bike. I was comfortable with where my rear tire was, suspension and all. I remembered just how much I love trail riding, and I realized I was having fun again…more fun that I’ve had riding in a long time.
Knowing I didn’t have to run afterwards I simply took off, breaking through where I was currently comfortable and back to how I used to ride when I was younger, and most of my riding was through the mountains in our backyard. Up to that point I had counted passing roughly 12 or 13 bikers. The second half I would find myself passing another 27-28.
There were three things that stood out on the second half of the course. The first was my wondering if I was riding the same trails: seeing items I could have sworn I already rode through, switching back and forth, and at times for a mile or two without seeing another biker. The second was The Gully, one of the two items I’d been warned against. I kept my speed going down but found myself in slightly too high of a gear coming up, and pausing out with 2 feet to go and no earthly way to put enough strength behind my pedal. Catching a tree as I started sliding I hopped off, ran the 2-3 feet and hopped back on. The third was The Wall, a quick decent and hill with some rocks and roots tossed in. I simply noted that the rider in front of me had cleared (didn’t really need to collide at the bottom), and headed through at full bore, realizing there was a camera at the top only as I jumped past.
It was standard track from there until the last mile. I was behind a group of 4 riders as were coming down the car trails. Realizing I could add another 4 people to my “passed” list, and relishing in the fact that I didn’t have to run, I let out a loud “on your left” and pushed down the left bank and on in to transition.
Funny thing though, neither Cam nor I had expected me in that early, so I got to the bike rack and helped Cam get her sweats over her shoes while she worked on getting the chip from my leg to hers. Jamie yelled that he’s going to tell Luisa on me, adding another quip to the joking surrounding our race number.
Then Cam was off.
The rest of the second run I spent getting into dry clothes and putting a few things away…afterwards moseying over to Betsy until Cam came running in and we both could run across the finish line.
At the awards ceremony we found out we’d come in 4th for mixed relays. As there were no female relays the director extended the placing to the top (and only) 5 in our category, netting us the little mountain bike trophies (as pictured below…apologies, it’s a camera phone picture), which I have to say is one of the neatest trophies I’ve received.
All in all we had a good race. Cam expected to be slow on the run. Neither of us knew how I’d do on the bike. We were 87/88 at the first transition, 47/87 at the second transition (1 person ended up DNF’ing the bike), and kept us at 57/87 overall with a solid closing run. Timewise we were:
Run1: 35:33
T1: 0:47
Bike: 1:13:59
T2: 0:55
Run2: 37:13
Total: 2:28:29
…and I’m looking forward to next year.
The Dirty Du Trophy
Comments»
nice trophy, and congrats! I often find when I’m sick of riding (road) that I find again why I love bikes by jumping on the mtn one.