[The Toninator]

Finished building up new bike Friday evening. prerode it Saturday. Went back over the bike with a fine toothed comb to make sure everything was tuned and tight.
Sunday morning re-went back over the bike.
Start long and slow. I started out in the back of a mile long open field start. Everyone was going way slow so halfway through I decided to put the burn on because I needed to have a good race here. Passed 15 people before the single track. Hit a ditch hard, hit a tree hard lost my rear breaks about halfway through (and just let them hang) passed 9 people in my class on trail. Had my best finish ever, 6th.
The Dragon is awesome and i only had that one problem with it. Smooth as butter. Ummmmm butter.

Oh ps. On my continuing back problems. I bought a heating pad Saturday and used it the rest of the day and slept on it at night. I only had slight problems towards then end of this race and it’s the longest I’ve done this year at 12 miles. So I’ll give the heating pad two thumbs up also.

 

[Heidi]

You broke your brakes? You hit a tree

 

[NRSracer]

congrats! no rear brakes? that's crazy

 

[The Toninator]

well i wasnt going to do a big write up but here it is:

My race went pretty well.

Just to catch some of you up. I bent my Stumpjumper (stumpy) frame before the Huntsville race two weeks ago. The shop straightened it back up but told me to throw it away after the race because it was fried. I bought a brand spanking new Jamis Dragon 853 steel hardtail frame but was waiting for the parts to come in so I raced the screwed up frame and really had a horrible race.
I got the Dragon completely built up Thursday night took it to the shop to have the derailleurs adjusted and got it back Friday. Prerode Saturday and only had to do a minor adjustment to the rear derailleur. I went over the bike Saturday night with a fine-toothed comb. I checked everything. Then Sunday morning I did the same thing.
My realistic expectation for the race was just to go out and have a hard ride because everything on the bike was new including tires. I had never ridden them so I didn’t know how they handled and since I built the bike by myself there was no telling what would go wrong.
It was cold and rainy/sprinkly out so we expected the course to be slick. People finishing up their race said it really wasn’t all that bad. The race started in an open field. It went for about a 100 yards then did a tight 180 around back the way we started and went another mile to the single track. I wasn’t going to go hard so I started dead last so as not to hold anybody up. About a half mile in I was only doing about 65% of maximum effort and it seemed like people were slowing down so against my better judgment I decided to push a little extra harder. It was weird it really seemed like people were just yielding to me because they just weren’t challenging me. Kyle a guy who has been whipping up on me big time this year just said “Go get them dude” as I passed him. I yelled for him to jump in behind me so we could work together and whip some buttie but he just stayed back. I must have passed about 10 people and saw the lead group ahead crossing the bridge.

I quickly caught Eric, another guy I compete against often, and passed and told him to jump in but he couldn’t hang but I knew he was just right there. I couldn’t see him but I could feel him. Then I got in a pretty quick group of 3 guys. I kept encouraging them to keep up the good pace. Then the front guy goes down over a bridge so cannondale guy and I ride on. Cannonadle guy and I ride for a long way together and we start catching up to people. I see Shelby just ahead a bit and just a little bit further I can see some of the really fast guys. I’m really felling pretty good at this point. The bike is working really well, it’s not a 100 degrees out and the course is actually pretty dry. My new tires are hooking up really well (getting really good traction especially in corners) so I fell pretty confident and start to surge a little. Cannondale guy seems to be slowing a little so I tell him to just keep it up or let me pass and I’ll pull him for a little while. Right then we hit a really twisty section and he hits the deck. I saw him about to go down so I was able to ride around with out any problem to be “nice” I slowed just a bit and told him to “Come On!” and get in behind me but he just doesn’t have enough to catch back up so I have to go faster and leave him.
Shortly after that I’m going really fast over a fallen tree and was carrying a lot of speed. I tried to slow down to jump it but I didn’t work so I few over it and run right it to trees that were close together. I had to jump off the bike and wrestle with the trees to get my bike back because they were caught up between them.
I finally catch Shelby and ride with him for a bit. I can already feel my rear breaks loosening up but do pay it much attention. Shelby and I ride for a while and I can tell he’s starting to loose it so I tell him to let me in front so I can pull for a little while but he just kind of grunts and stays up there. I finally get my second wind and pass him. By now my rear breaks are completely gone. As soon as I pass him, although I know he’s just right behind me, I see one of the really fast guys and I’m starting to think damn I must be in a really good position in the race or Jim is having a really bad race or a little of both. So I get really close to him but just cant hang because doing turns at the speed he’s going you have to have breaks to help you steer around the corners. So I just start to focus on staying close to him. The breaks get worse. Now not only are they loose but also the pad is getting caught between the frame and the boss so it’s rattling and slowing me down. I do a little switch back I can see Shammer right there. Damn him! But I yell for him to “catch up” so we can finish this thing out in style. I see Jimmy ahead and do the same thing.
With only about 2 miles to go I see Jimmy ahead but I have to stop pedaling and reach back to tighten up the break bolt with my fingers and that is slowing me down. I actually tried to take it off while moving but just couldn’t get it to come completely off and resign myself to the fact that as long is I can pedal it will just be like that.
The trail goes back on to the road and then back into a field and finished up this way. I get to the open field and see jimmy about a 1/4 mile ahead a realized that I’m just to far behind and decided to put the burn on who ever is behind me and try to finish without letting anyone pass me. I have a chance to look back as I enter the start field, again, and there is nobody within sight but decided to go ahead and finish up strong to give the crowed something to cheer about.
It was my best finish even though it was a brand new, not broken in bike and I had the break problems. I finished 6 th but most importantly after the humiliation of Huntsville I needed a really good felling strong race and that’s what it was.

 

[Heidi]

Congrats Tony. Doing good when you don't expect to can be a real confidence booster.

 

[indieboy]

sweet deal dude!! congrats on the great finish. time to take a break n come back in the winter w/ a reeeeeefocused mind for next year.

 

[Serial Midget]

Thanks Dude! We need more detailed reports like this, (I don't race mtb... ) I like to read them!

Congrats on the finish as well. Was that 6th overall or 6th in your class?

 

[The Toninator]

6th in my class/cat. our group was really fast though. I know i passed at least 15 guys from the group that started 2 minutes in front of me and at least 10 guys who started 4 minutes in front of me. I'm waiting for the results to be posted on line to kind of see where i was againts all the other classes.

 

[The Toninator]

well the times were just posted and i did a little number crunching. Had all the beg men in all the different age cat's go off together i would have been 13th out of 130. Probably even better because i would have over taken the guys close to me. I passed all but the top 5 guys in each of the two cats that started infront of me.

 

[Heidi]

That's sweet Tony! I like to peruse the results and check stuff out too.

 

[The Toninator]

out of the sadle, breakless giving it the "Rrrrrr" face

 

[Heidi]

That's a cool picture! I don't really have any race photos of mysefl, just one from Sea Otter.

 

[The Toninator]

Originally posted by Heidi
That's a cool picture! I don't really have any race photos of mysefl, just one from Sea Otter.

I have bunches. I know the race photographer and he know's i like to look at myself so he get's lots. this is the same size it's pretty clear but small. i bet the real photo looks pretty cool.

 

[spincrazy]

Fantastic Tone! Nice write-up too. Glad you like the new ride. I'm horrible about getting used to new bikes. Was this the last race of the season for you?

congrats.

 

[The Toninator]

Thanks.

I have a 12 hour this weekend, a regular next weekend a regular 2 weeks after and a 24 a week after that.

 

[Heidi]

Originally posted by The Toninator
Thanks.

I have a 12 hour this weekend, a regular next weekend a regular 2 weeks after and a 24 a week after that.

Not to gloat or anything....but I'm done with my season.

Sounds like you have some busy times coming up. Good luck!

 

[Serial Midget]

Originally posted by The Toninator
well the times were just posted and i did a little number crunching. Had all the beg men in all the different age cat's go off together i would have been 13th out of 130. Probably even better because i would have over taken the guys close to me. I passed all but the top 5 guys in each of the two cats that started infront of me.

Very cool! I would love to be in the top 10% of the races I do but we are catagorized strictly by age. If I see the top third on a short one I am pretty happy.

I really enjoyed your report and look forward to the next one.

 

[douglas]

congrats & great report! you must have had a blast!

 

[kramerski]

I'm not sure what kind of back problems you are having but I used to have some of my own.

I solved them by doing a whole lot of Ab work. Mostly crunches. I also bought a Ab -roller. Those things really work too. You have to careful with your Ab-roller technique or you could strain your back. Read the instruction or just do plain crunches.

Not sure if this helps

-Kramerski

 

[The Toninator]

Originally posted by kramerski
I'm not sure what kind of back problems you are having but I used to have some of my own.

I solved them by doing a whole lot of Ab work. Mostly crunches. I also bought a Ab -roller. Those things really work too. You have to careful with your Ab-roller technique or you could strain your back. Read the instruction or just do plain crunches.

Not sure if this helps

-Kramerski

thanks I’m going to concentrate on abs this off season