GCS #3: Ft. Yargo MTB Race

The race was 20 miles over familiar trails from a month ago when they had the SS championships although this race was run in reverse. It was warm, dry and dusty and I felt pretty crumby from coming down with some sort of intestinal virus the night before. I was surprised by how many people attended the race and there were 16 guys in the SS class.



The start to the race took you through two narrow trees and then a nasty, powdered right hand turn. I did not notice this so I lined up on the outside left and after the gun I was way back in the field. I tried to get back up there but lost contact with the leaders on the first significant climb. There are no legs after 5 miles and soon I realized that I was no longer in a race but a fast paced training ride. I felt horrible and each small hill was hard to climb, especially with 1 gear. To make matters worse I had decided to wear the state championship jersey in this race, further embarassing myself.



After 1 lap I was ready to end it but figured what else did I have to do, so I went along for the second lap. I finished 11th out of 16, the race category was "open" and there were some young, fast guys on the single-speeds. The winner was doing 44.5 minute laps while I was doing 52 minute laps.



I spent last night and most of today sweating, shivering and nauseating my way through and hopefully I can get back on the bike tomorrow.



Here is a picture to commemorate the whole ordeal (notice the bloated gut!)

Power Test

After 4 days of 6 hour plus riding from Pittsburgh to DC in early April and nursing an injury after wards, I was skeptical about my power test results would be this week. I did a 15, 30 and 60 second all out effort and then a 5 minute and 20 minute all out effort. My 15 second number was lower than I had hoped but having not sprinted in about 2 months a 1190 watt max and a 990 15 second average was not too bad. The 5 minute effort was about what I expected at 380W and I was happy to get 300W for the 20 minute effort. My FTP would therefore be around 285W and I will have to raise this at least 15-20 points for the fall if I expect to be competitive.

The Pitts-DC trip was about a 7 out of 10. I found the riding to be pretty monotonous actually. The first 130 miles or so was nice because a helmet was not needed. But, I did not mesh well with the group which did not help. The C&O canal leg was not really that fun. The surface was full of holes, roots and sticks and it was not really possible to enjoy the scenery. There was a lot I liked but I probably would not do the trip again. The Belgium trip was a 10 out of 10 in 2004 and that was a hard standard to meet.

I hope I can do well this weekend in the SS MTB race at Ft. Yargo. I will get to wear the state championship jersey in the race which will be fun. I most likely will not do the GTC club championships since I am not any where near ready for it. Too bad because I have always done pretty well. I would like to do the Ranger 34K but it is mother's day weekend.

The end of school is 3 weeks away and then it is off to Nebraska for a week to earn some money.