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MTB XC Nationals in Macungie, PA

Jimmie, Todd, Wendy and I headed to PA for the mtb xc nationals race this past weekend.  We left after work on Wednesday and stopped in PA to stay in a hotel.  Our first attempt to stay at a hotel was debunked by the fact that we were apparently in fracking country and there weren't any available rooms.  Todd drove us quite a ways further down 80 through some thick arse fog and to a hotel that had some rooms.  In the morning we ate breakfast together and got ready.  I thought I lost my phone and started looking all over for it.  I was accusing the two ladies at the front desk of stealing it and all this craziness when we finally located it within our luggage.  Let's just say regular exercise keeps me sane.  :)

On Thursday we arrived at Bear Creek resort about an hour or so before Jimmie's short track even.  Everyone picked up their packets and Jimmie got dressed and ready to race.  We watched Jimmie's race since pretty much the whole thing was spectator friendly except a small section of SS in the woods behind the announcers booth.  He was doing great for a good portion of the race passing competition and pushing up those hills until he got pulled just before the 20 minutes was up.  The 2 guys who were in the front were super fast and lapped a bunch of people in their field. 

After the short track event we all got suited up and ready to pre-ride the XC course.  It was blazing hot even in the woods.  We headed into the course together and I was off the back not too soon into that ride.  The course was a giant rock garden.  It's not shoulder separation friendly and I was feeling every bump.  There were lots of people heading into the woods at this time and I was just trying to stay out of the actual racers way.  Jimmie would ride ahead and then wait up for me.  I walked a lot of that course.  It was seriously the bumpiest trail I've ever seen.  I would bet $$ that 1/4 of that course was not rocky while the rest of the 6.5 mile loop was.  What was even more crazy was to see that the Pro course was easier and shorter than the "amateur" xc race course.  Seriously?!  Does that make any sense?  After we were all finished riding the course we headed to our temporary gigs in Quakertown, PA. 

The roads surrounding the entire area are super twisty with little to no shoulder and appear to be built around the already existing homes so regular tight turns where the edge of a really old house was at the apex of the turn.  Some crazy roads.  This discouraged me because I was hoping to get a ride in every day I was there.  I opted not to ride the roads due to the lack of shoulder and apparent danger every turn we took. 

Our humble abode was pretty nice inside for a 5th wheeler with a bedroom, shower, toilet, and full kitchen along with a pull out couch for a 2nd place to sleep.  The first night was pretty quiet.  We planned on getting the guys to the course to pre-ride on Friday morning.  Unfortunately we were late and they didn't get to ride.  We found some supposed trails on the map to ride and it turned.  We ended up going to this trail that was in the back of some neighborhood.  A very nice local man let us park on his property and let us ride through his backyard onto the trails.  The trails were also very rocky.  In fact I think that's all they have in PA - rocks.  I opted to turn around while the rest of them rode.  Wendy and I eventually met up and rode together while Todd and Jimmie rode elsewhere.  Wendy ended up flatting on a rocky descent and we tried to repair it to no avail.  We walked back to the truck and met the guys. 

The trailer owners next to us were there for the weekend.  They had some supped up golf cart with off terrain tires.  Saturday morning the fleet of golf carts were covered in mud.  Apparently this is what these locals do - get drunk and off road in their golf carts.  The whole place was weird to be honest.  There were a great deal of over weight individuals.  The guys and boys walked around shirtless and lets just say there was a little bit of an inbred sort of likeness to the people around us.  Of course the people next door did have a Mercedes SUV.  Sunday morning we saw a trailer with a white couch on it strapped down.  This was additional outside seating for guests or maybe they pulled these people around via the bad ass golf cart. 

So to the important stuff - the XC national race:  Jimmie and Todd were set to race around 8:30 Saturday morning.  Wendy's race was slotted to start at 10:30.  All racers were suppose to do 3 laps.  Thunderstorms blew through the area Friday evening.  And as we all suspected the rocky course was a slippery mess.  I don't think anyone was looking forward to racing on the terrain along with blistering hot 100 + degree temps with the heat index.  I believe it was supposed to feel like 106 that day.  We watched Jimmie and Todd start their races and we headed back to the truck.  Wendy was doing what she does before a race and I was getting geared up to go for a run.  While I was running Wendy was hoofing up a hill toward me.  She said Jimmie was back at the truck.  Not good of course.  He was in good health and that's mostly what I cared about but I still had to learn about what happened.  Apparently some douche crossed Jimmie's front wheel somewhere in the start area and we didn't even see it.  Jimmie got up and got back into the race even passing people.  He headed up a hill and went to shift and the chain got thrown into the wheel.  He stopped to straighten his derailleur hanger and bent it one last time to straighten it again and SNAP.  There went his race.  Todd flatted somewhere in the 1st loop and we all got a bunch of flat repair stuff ready to help Todd fix his tire when he came around for his 3rd lap.  Somewhere during his 2nd lap his drive train blew up and there went Todd's race.  So now we had both of the guys done a disappointed with their race.  Listening to the announcer we heard something about like 25% of the field getting DNF's.  The terrain was not nice after the rain.  Wendy felt the pressure to finish since the guys had issues.  She got news that she only had to do 2 laps and that her start time was delayed to 10:45.  She was happy about the lap reduction and on that course who wouldn't be. 

We watched the women racers line up and go off in their waves.  The women's SS was the last group to go.  After they were off we all headed for the shade or inside for some relief from the flipping hot temps.  We headed back out to watch as the women started to come in for their 2nd lap.  We saw a few SS racers come in and figured Wendy was either in 3rd as she came in.  We weren't entirely sure.  As the 2nd lap was finishing we saw an older SS woman finish in the top 4 and then a couple more come in soon after.  Wendy ended up finishing in 4th of 7. 

All in all I would say it was an experience and I must say I was getting pretty riled up watching everyone else race.  I hate being a spectator - it's so much more fun racing. 

A couple things about PA- they do not sell beer at the grocery store but they sell 6 packs at bars (weird) and cases at some beer depot stores.  It's a strange concept to have everything under the same roof.  It's cool to drive hopped up golf carts around.  The trails are rocky and the road riding appears to be dangerous.  Michigan's trails are SO much more fun to ride.

ILRA and Kensington ride

I've dabbled in riding outside a bit.  It took me some time to be able to stretch my arm out comfortably to place on the handlebar.  I'm still uncomfortable on a road bike so I've been riding the SS. 

We had some long harder rides planned over the extended weekend so I made sure Jimmie geared my SS a little taller to make the hills more difficult.  We rode the road together on Friday morning completing the typical Tuesday night loop.  The dump always smells lovely in the summer...not!  Regardless of the smells I was happy to be outside and even happier to be out there with Jimmie.  We don't get to ride together much anymore.  Saturday he met with some friends for a road ride out in Saline early in the morning.  I rode Hines again on my SS.  I ran into Jim Senska (beat the train) and his lady friend out there and I also saw someone from work dabbling in a little MTB riding on the road. 

On Sunday we got up super early with the intention of riding before the sun came out and the temps rose, but for whatever reason we didn't get out to ILRA until 9:30.  It was raining off and on and the sun wasn't making much of an appearance.  I had some long ride planned that needed lots of hills so I figured the best route was the ILRA road plus the evil hills at Kensington.  I completed the loop a few times and before I knew it my allotted ride time was up.  Jimmie completed his super secret training and we were both happy to be headed home to get some food. 

I find I'm always looking forward to the meals after training rides.  Typically the last hour of hard training rides are filled with thoughts of what food I can't wait to eat.  When it's really hot and humid I always crave cold water (of course), salty foods like pickles or chips and salsa, locally grown ripe tomatoes and refrigerated oranges. 

This pic is for Jimmie:

Proof that I do smile while racing.  ;)

Bloomer XC

Jimmie contemplated going to Midland for the Sweat Shaker rather than Bloomer due to the week long rain we had.  I woke up Saturday morning expecting to go watch him race, but he opted to get some sleep instead. 

We rode the trainers indoors Saturday morning.  Jimmie fixed his front break issue in preparation for Bloomer.

On Sunday Jimmie and I got to Bloomer earlier than I expected.  The Mom & Pop Racing/ sweet Bikes team mates were already there getting prepped for their race.  They had a tent set up with some chairs and other needs for an expected day long stay at Bloomer.  Everyone was racing but me even the kids.  :(

I've never ridden at Bloomer and never heard anyone say anything good about it either.  I think the added wet conditions would have changed my mind about racing even if I could. 

Jimmie raced the 40 to 49 expert group and finished 4th.  Todd was 4th in the SS expert group.  Wendy was 3rd in the women's pro category. Seth hated the course.  Emily decided not to race it after Seth's experience was sub par.

Talked to Kati Krikke after her race.  She didn't like the course.  She said Sue Stephens told her she went of course a tad.  I heard a lot of that.  The course was not well marked according to the racers.  As the elite/expert men came around for their 1st lap there was quite a bit of mumbling about the course.  Still the rain stayed away for Sunday and eventually the sun came out and gave way to a very nice day.

Next up is Brighton XC...see you there!