Saturday was the Lippman Park 38, a 13mi x 3 lap format starting in the evening and ending after dark. Weather was spot on and the mosquitos were out in force. I found out when I arrived and was chatting with some of the Renegade guys that the fairly new park was actually modeled after my local network, Pine Hill Park. Lippman's more technical and the dirt is nice and tight but PHP's got it beat as far as the vistas go. I hope that as Lippman gains users and popularity it can maintain it's rugged, technical single track feel that so many older networks have seen buffed out or dummed down. It was really clear after riding on their network how much time and effort those guys must put into it so i'm looking forward to seeing this race and the park evolve.
This is easily one of the more rugged/rough races i've done. The Renegades put it on, and they have some more cool stuff lined up this season. One event I don't want to miss is the Walnut Mountain Triple Challenge. It sounds pretty cool. On this course there was a little of everything, and lots of roots, silly amounts of rocks, plenty of sweet features, and ~1500ft ascent per lap. Basically take any techi section of your local network and make it stupid long, then throw some killer flow in between and that's the course.
Since Chelsea was pitting for me I got to relax and just ride. It's a good thing I had her there too because I managed to drop my bottle first lap in the quary section (dunno if it was a quarry, but it was cool). We snagged a spot next to the bonfire under a tree with a picinic table right on the side of both the halfway point and finish line of the course so it was prime for quick pits. Normally for a 38 miler i'd not need a pit, but this 38 miles took over four hours. The start was at 5pm and the final last half-lap cut off was some time after 11pm. A truly gnarly and challenging all-mountain course.
After a brief pre-ride of the course I ended up swapping my 17t for a 19t which turned out to be an excellent decision. There were quite a few climbs that were loose and technical, with steep grades weaving up and over damp and gooey rock and root gardens which would have become pretty tedious on the 17t.
We lined up at the start and were off-I find starts on the SS are pretty lame. I managed to snag the third hole shot though which was a big surprise but I must have been pulling a cadence into the hundreds to do so. Once into the woods myself and two other guys settled into a nice pace. Eventually one guy and I pulled away and then I settled into the lead position after he and I hammered off a gap for a bit more. I was feeling fresher then i've ever felt so far into a race, especially given the terrain so I started my final lap with confidence knowing as long as I just rode smart i'd be able to keep my gap and get a win.
Well...first climb of the last lap I popped my crank arm loose, aligning both cranks with each other, which sent the jewls to the steerer tube, which sent me tipping over up the hill wondering what the $*%& just happened. Ever try unclipping with two loose crank arms up a steep ass hill after straddling your steerer tube? I tried to fix it trail side and after I came to terms with the fact that it was not going to happen I started my walk of shame back to the start line. Lucky for me this really cool guy (so bad with names) marshalling the race heard about me on his walki and actually offered up his rigid 29er SS for me to finish on. Could not thank him enough. I hung out at the pit (stewing) for a few while he rode over his rig to me from his marshal station and then off I went but i'd lost about 15 minutes so the outlook was grim. Note to self...next time when borrowing a bike it'd be prudent to adjust the saddle height and brake levers. It made for a pretty brutal last lap and in the end I couldn't catch back up to the lead. Ended up snagging 3rd, and I think about half of the field DNF'd. A testament to the fun but brutal course.
Cranks were fine...BB ended up being the culprit and all is fixed now luckily. Looking forward to some more racing on the Misfit this weekend.
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