Chapter 3
And were off on the first Mountain Bike leg. Step Smack consists of three riding buddies, so this should be our time to shine. We dash out of the transition area and mount up. A quick ride through the staging area, on our way to the single track. The staging area has a couple of little drops that are kind of fun to catch a little air, and acclimate to the bike on. My legs have been bent up close to my chest for the 45 minutes of kayaking, so my hamstrings are kind of tight. I can feel it, but on the bike the hamstrings dont take too much punishment. We cross an idyllic little bridge about 50 yards long that leads to the first section of singletrack. Keep in mind that we are only about 1/10th of a mile into the bike leg, and our lead rider yells a warning of other competitors with mechanicals, ahead. In the next ½ mile we pas about three or four teams repairing one thing or another. We are also passing riders like crazy. On your left On your left
Make that three, coming through. Our team number is 242, and we decided that it would be better to use our number instead of names during the race. Go 242, good line.
The first climb approaches, it is wide open doubletrack, On your left, still passing people. Step Smack is pushing well into the Co-Eds. As a team we spread out a bit on the climb, you cant always get two or three people through on a pass. I am taking up the flank. A quick down hill, and I can see Kyle and Jim starting the next climb. I big ring it down the descent, it is nothing technical. On you left, On your left the whole way down. God I love my Sugar, I didnt feel any of the ruts that were stopping the Huffys. All I see are a blur of Toe clips.
Maintaining velocity up the next climb, On your right In the Middle, this climb was again doubletrack. 242 Im on your ass I say as I draft in behind Kyle. Jim is still a bit ahead of us, but he climbs like a goat. Kyle, our Clydesdale, is climbing like a fiend, he never does that, and he is setting my pace. On your right he says, make it two, I respond. We catch Jim, 242 complete, go Jim Go! Kyle opens up a can of 200 plus pound whup ass, On your right and he is off. I dont even try to catch up. Kyle takes a great opportunity in lane choices and energy expulsion and puts himself well in front, Jim takes chase. Eventually I find some spare energy, make some good passes. On Your left, I say to a girl in front of me. She gives way, and I power up to her. As we are side by side, I see an off camber sinkhole in my line, Uh oh. Quick bunny hop, and I am clean. Good clear commends the young lady I am passing. A quick thanks over my shoulder, and back to my duty at hand. 242 on your ass as I catch Jim & Kyle again. At this point we are reprieved of climbing with a fairly long stretch of descent. Power up the strong gears and rock. I pass Kyle. We whiz past a course marshall, Hard Right!, she says. Whatd she say? Im thinking in my head. Uh oh, hard right into the singletrack. I didnt make it. I see Kyle enter the woods. I try to pedal in and spin out. Damnit, I threw a chain. Dismount, kneel down fix chain. The whole time I see all the toe clips and tennis shoes of all the people Ive been passing, ****. I hope this singletrack opens up, I havent seen this part of the course yet.
The singletrack stays tight, wet and rooty. I quickly catch the back of the pack, Im thirty passes away from my team. I shouldnt pass, but this is a race. I decide that if I get the opportunity, I am going for it. Time to break out the balls and work it. I see my first opportunity and call it, On your left. I make the pass, it is tight, but clean. Again I get commendation from the guy I pass, along with a request. He says to make room for two next time, I agree. The two of us get past about 10 or fifteen more people, some by passing, some because they are stopping to walk over rideable stuff. I am frustrated with this, and voice my opinion. We are talking about roots an inch hich. Yes, they are slippery, some of the slickest I have ridden in a long time. They were all oriented at an angle to the trail, but isnt that always the case. Soon we come to a bottleneck of great proportions, Something Big is up ahead. I see the rest of 242, through the woods, 242, not far behind, I communicate to my team, I get a call back from Kyle, all is good. It turns out the bottleneck is a big root. You know two or three inches above the soil. People stepping over it like it was a sleeping alligator. I inform the masses, Come on people, that is rideable. Yeah says the guy drafting me. Sweet validation, up until this point I thought I was being an ass. I had the rest of Step Smack in my sights, so I am pumped. I ride to the next bottleneck, which is a log crossing, rideable by the experienced, so I understand the newbies walking it. I do however comment that it could be ridden as I step over it. Still hoping to catch my team, I step up my aggression and search for my next pass. I see it, On your left, this one is real tight, but this guy in front is real slow. I get my front tire past his, I am on the outside of an off camber right hand turn. Trees close in and the trail washes away down a wash-out. This pass was not clean and I got know commendations. I wish there was video camera present. My front tire gets sucked into the whole on the left, I get slammed to the ground on the right, directly in front the guy I just passed. He proceeds to run over me. Let me correct that, He proceeds to run half way over me, then he falls on top of me. He is pissed, and is having a hard time getting out of his toe clips. I apologize, I dont know if I was wrong, but I did cause him to crash. He tells me that I couldnt have passed there. The guy who had been following my lead informed the newbie that I did in fact pass him, just not very well. The comic relief helped forget how hard my head hit the ground. Oh yeah, I concede and let newbie take the lead.
Let me take this opportunity to explain not the origin of our team name, but the underlying philosophy of Step Smack. Step Smack is a proverbial. It is that thing that is going to F up the whole works. Whether it be a mechanical, a cramp, a face plant, or a myriad of things you can all imagine. I have just accurately represented the Aura that is Step Smack, and it felt great. I am worked up and ready to go.
The trail opens up soon after, and I have the opportunity to pass about six people. We are crossing a parking lot and everybody is spread wide. I could go anywhere and pass wide, but not me, not now. Big ring, small cog, mash, mash, mash, On your left as I zip by my crash test dummy.
I catch Step Smack on the final climb, a seemingly long, false summit road climb. 242, Im with ya, says I, whereve ya been says one teammate. Later is the extent of my explanation. A quick climb, a sprint through a muddy parking lot, and a quick drop along the transition area to the end of the mountain bike leg.
Into the TA, for our second Shoe change. Time for running shoes and power gels. Guzzle some Cytomax, a couple of bites of apple, should have had banana instead.
Elapsed time is, I believe, about 1 hour and twenty minutes at this point. I dont know what that is in metric, so you Canucks and Miles will have to do your own conversions.
More to come.
And were off on the first Mountain Bike leg. Step Smack consists of three riding buddies, so this should be our time to shine. We dash out of the transition area and mount up. A quick ride through the staging area, on our way to the single track. The staging area has a couple of little drops that are kind of fun to catch a little air, and acclimate to the bike on. My legs have been bent up close to my chest for the 45 minutes of kayaking, so my hamstrings are kind of tight. I can feel it, but on the bike the hamstrings dont take too much punishment. We cross an idyllic little bridge about 50 yards long that leads to the first section of singletrack. Keep in mind that we are only about 1/10th of a mile into the bike leg, and our lead rider yells a warning of other competitors with mechanicals, ahead. In the next ½ mile we pas about three or four teams repairing one thing or another. We are also passing riders like crazy. On your left On your left
Make that three, coming through. Our team number is 242, and we decided that it would be better to use our number instead of names during the race. Go 242, good line.
The first climb approaches, it is wide open doubletrack, On your left, still passing people. Step Smack is pushing well into the Co-Eds. As a team we spread out a bit on the climb, you cant always get two or three people through on a pass. I am taking up the flank. A quick down hill, and I can see Kyle and Jim starting the next climb. I big ring it down the descent, it is nothing technical. On you left, On your left the whole way down. God I love my Sugar, I didnt feel any of the ruts that were stopping the Huffys. All I see are a blur of Toe clips.
Maintaining velocity up the next climb, On your right In the Middle, this climb was again doubletrack. 242 Im on your ass I say as I draft in behind Kyle. Jim is still a bit ahead of us, but he climbs like a goat. Kyle, our Clydesdale, is climbing like a fiend, he never does that, and he is setting my pace. On your right he says, make it two, I respond. We catch Jim, 242 complete, go Jim Go! Kyle opens up a can of 200 plus pound whup ass, On your right and he is off. I dont even try to catch up. Kyle takes a great opportunity in lane choices and energy expulsion and puts himself well in front, Jim takes chase. Eventually I find some spare energy, make some good passes. On Your left, I say to a girl in front of me. She gives way, and I power up to her. As we are side by side, I see an off camber sinkhole in my line, Uh oh. Quick bunny hop, and I am clean. Good clear commends the young lady I am passing. A quick thanks over my shoulder, and back to my duty at hand. 242 on your ass as I catch Jim & Kyle again. At this point we are reprieved of climbing with a fairly long stretch of descent. Power up the strong gears and rock. I pass Kyle. We whiz past a course marshall, Hard Right!, she says. Whatd she say? Im thinking in my head. Uh oh, hard right into the singletrack. I didnt make it. I see Kyle enter the woods. I try to pedal in and spin out. Damnit, I threw a chain. Dismount, kneel down fix chain. The whole time I see all the toe clips and tennis shoes of all the people Ive been passing, ****. I hope this singletrack opens up, I havent seen this part of the course yet.
The singletrack stays tight, wet and rooty. I quickly catch the back of the pack, Im thirty passes away from my team. I shouldnt pass, but this is a race. I decide that if I get the opportunity, I am going for it. Time to break out the balls and work it. I see my first opportunity and call it, On your left. I make the pass, it is tight, but clean. Again I get commendation from the guy I pass, along with a request. He says to make room for two next time, I agree. The two of us get past about 10 or fifteen more people, some by passing, some because they are stopping to walk over rideable stuff. I am frustrated with this, and voice my opinion. We are talking about roots an inch hich. Yes, they are slippery, some of the slickest I have ridden in a long time. They were all oriented at an angle to the trail, but isnt that always the case. Soon we come to a bottleneck of great proportions, Something Big is up ahead. I see the rest of 242, through the woods, 242, not far behind, I communicate to my team, I get a call back from Kyle, all is good. It turns out the bottleneck is a big root. You know two or three inches above the soil. People stepping over it like it was a sleeping alligator. I inform the masses, Come on people, that is rideable. Yeah says the guy drafting me. Sweet validation, up until this point I thought I was being an ass. I had the rest of Step Smack in my sights, so I am pumped. I ride to the next bottleneck, which is a log crossing, rideable by the experienced, so I understand the newbies walking it. I do however comment that it could be ridden as I step over it. Still hoping to catch my team, I step up my aggression and search for my next pass. I see it, On your left, this one is real tight, but this guy in front is real slow. I get my front tire past his, I am on the outside of an off camber right hand turn. Trees close in and the trail washes away down a wash-out. This pass was not clean and I got know commendations. I wish there was video camera present. My front tire gets sucked into the whole on the left, I get slammed to the ground on the right, directly in front the guy I just passed. He proceeds to run over me. Let me correct that, He proceeds to run half way over me, then he falls on top of me. He is pissed, and is having a hard time getting out of his toe clips. I apologize, I dont know if I was wrong, but I did cause him to crash. He tells me that I couldnt have passed there. The guy who had been following my lead informed the newbie that I did in fact pass him, just not very well. The comic relief helped forget how hard my head hit the ground. Oh yeah, I concede and let newbie take the lead.
Let me take this opportunity to explain not the origin of our team name, but the underlying philosophy of Step Smack. Step Smack is a proverbial. It is that thing that is going to F up the whole works. Whether it be a mechanical, a cramp, a face plant, or a myriad of things you can all imagine. I have just accurately represented the Aura that is Step Smack, and it felt great. I am worked up and ready to go.
The trail opens up soon after, and I have the opportunity to pass about six people. We are crossing a parking lot and everybody is spread wide. I could go anywhere and pass wide, but not me, not now. Big ring, small cog, mash, mash, mash, On your left as I zip by my crash test dummy.
I catch Step Smack on the final climb, a seemingly long, false summit road climb. 242, Im with ya, says I, whereve ya been says one teammate. Later is the extent of my explanation. A quick climb, a sprint through a muddy parking lot, and a quick drop along the transition area to the end of the mountain bike leg.
Into the TA, for our second Shoe change. Time for running shoes and power gels. Guzzle some Cytomax, a couple of bites of apple, should have had banana instead.
Elapsed time is, I believe, about 1 hour and twenty minutes at this point. I dont know what that is in metric, so you Canucks and Miles will have to do your own conversions.
More to come.
