Dogwood Road Race

Dogwood Road Race
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

You ever ride with headphones in both ears and the music really loud? I do most of the time. Wicked Smaaht. That's pretty much what the Dogwood Road Race was like for me this weekend. I had no idea what was going on around me.

Things started poorly before the race even began. Any of you who know me know that I am anal retentive about everything. My music, my bikes, my car, counting calories, my facial hair, my sleeping; you get the idea. When I was younger I used to have this dream all the time that I would be getting ready for a hockey game forgot a crucial piece of equipment like a skate or helmet. As I began bike racing the dream changed. I'd forget a shoe or helmet or something major. I'm also OC about all my equipment. If I think a race tire has a minor cut I'll replace it and I always ride my race wheels the day before the race to make sure they shift well out of the stand.

So Jen and I roll into Bradleyville early so we can drive the first and last climbs so she can get an idea of how fucking hard they actually are instead of just listening to me say "Jen, they are really fucking hard climbs."

About 1:15 min before race time were suiting up and oiling each other up with heated oil. It was hot. Then I realize that I grabbed my skinsuit instead of shorts. For a normal person, not a big deal, but of course I freak out. I hate wearing my skinsuit, it is not what I want to be wearing for 53 miles.

Ok so problem 1 is not such a big deal, I cope by putting my jersey on over it so I have pockets for my stuff.

By the time the hot oil session and suiting up and subsequently putting more clothes on when I realize that just because the high was in the 50's doesn't mean it is at 11 am, it's time to line up. What about a little warm up you ask?

So I cruise up to the line and realize that my Tufo S3 Lite which should have 140 psi has about 50 psi and I ask the official to hold on, yes I was THAT GUY, and switch my wheel with a Open Pro Ultegra training wheel which has been rebuilt and I have NEVER ridden since I started using the PowerTap. No time to check the shifting of course. For a guy who has enough computer hardware on his bike to rival Bill Gates in training to go to having nothing at all; no hr, no power no mileage no time, NOTHING- it was pretty fucking weird.

So the race starts out and the man in white attacks and attacks and the people in the field laugh and I remind them that he was a National Time Trial Champion in his day and until they win one to shut the fuck up and chase.

The first climb was MUCH longer than I remembered. That's all I got to say about that. And my rear wheel feels really weird. I keep asking people how far we have ridden and what time it is.

Cruising along a guy rides up to me and is like "Hey man, aren't you the furry black cat?." Pretty funny. Scott Dunsmuir rides for Ozark Cycling Club, is number 2 ranked cat 3 road racer in MO (I'm 3rd) and also has his own blog.

http://rollitupdoestheworld.blogspot.com/

Pretty funny until Scott and a handful of other guys attack close to the top of the feedzone climb, not a blatant attack in the feedzone seeing as how you don't need a feed in a 53 mi race, and I'm still wondering what the fuck is the matter with my rear wheel? Why am I going so slow?

So we regroup and begin to chase. By we I mean me and two other guys (Doug Davis and some DentWizard kid who was pulling his brains out to reel it back in until he was blown off the back. Nice effort though dude!) with about 8 in tow. So we are close, maybe 10 secs and are cruising down this huge downhill at the 35 mi mark. My rear wheel is shaking and I can't tell if I have a flat, my brakes are rubbing or my wheel is in the dropouts crooked?

So I pull the biggest dumb ass move I have pulled in a race. I stop to look. Keep in mind the wheel truck is following the break, my rear wheel is in the truck and flat and we were close to sucking up the break.

Game over.

The crazy thing is I think the only thing the matter with the wheel is the tension. My PT wheel is laced with a little deeper, stiffer DT Swiss rim and my Zipps are super stiff. This wheel was all over the place climbing and at high speed and felt really weird.

Jen on the other hand, got a feeling of what it is like to race with legit pro women (Kelly Benjamin) and finished the race in the money, 3rd in her first race in 10 years. She came up to me after the race and was like, "wow, those are some really fucking big climbs!"

The Furry Black Cat was very happy to be released from my training dungeon when we got home.