The Pinnacle 2012 - Race Recap

Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  What the hell?  I raise my head from my pillow.  It's 4:00 am on the nose, an hour and ten minutes before the alarm is set to go off.  What's that noise?  Thunk.  Thunk.  thunk.  I look out the bedroom window to watch a car with a flat tire driving down the road.  It's stopping and going, presumably undecided as to how to handle its current dilemma.  It eventually drives away.  Thunk.  Thunk.  thunk.  Thank god.  I roll over.  Maybe a little more than half awake.  I didn't get to sleep until after 10 pm.  I need more sleep before the race.  I put a pillow over my head.  Don't think about the race.  Drifting back off to... Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  The driver changed his mind and is driving back past the other way.  It's over.  I'm doing this on six hours sleep.

It's Father's Day and my wife has magnanimously given me leave to ride the Pinnacle again, but has opted to go visit her own folks with Harry rather than schlep him 2.5 hours each way to Newport, NH, and back. I can't blame her.  She's made that trip with me three of the four previous times I've been up.  I believe that makes her eligible for canonization.

Anyhow, I wanted to get on the road by 6:00 am and had no trouble achieving this goal given my early rising.  A quick kiss on my semi-sleeping wife's forehead, shove a couple of last minute things in the cooler and out the door.  Mission accomplished.

I know racers like to talk about nutrition, so I'll let you all in on a little nutrition secret of mine.  A dirty, little secret.  Dunkin Donuts blueberry cakes.  Two of 'em.  If you show up before 6:00 am, the donut lady may have to go get them from the back room.  You might wonder why they're not warm if that's the case.  I find it better to pretend I didn't notice.  And an XL french vanilla hot coffee with cream and sugar.  There, now you can be middle of the pack in sport, too.  You're welcome.

I learned a lesson last year while driving up for this race.  I'd like to think it's as insightful as the donut lesson, but I think most of you probably already know this one.  Listen to the GPS.  It's better than you at figuring out how to get there, wherever there is.  Last year I struck out on my own against the advice of my Garmin.  An nearly missed the race.  This year I listened.  And you know what?  I was there an hour before the race started.  When you arrive early instead of late you have time to do things like consider your gear as you get it ready, use the bathroom, pre-ride.  All useful tasks in preparing to race.

On my way in to grab my number, lucky 245, I run into Brian Spring.  The only other guy I know there racing sport.  He was supposed to have been at the Grind two weeks earlier, but as it turns out had fallen ill and forfeited his preregistration.  That seems pretty sucky to me.  Here he was not preregistered and was ready to race.  Ever a mystery, Mr. Spring.  He was doing quite a bit better as of late and only had a lingering morning cough.  Things were looking up for Brian.

I grabbed my number, hit the head (school bathrooms beat the not-so-proverbial crap out of portapotties) and went out to do a little pre-riding.  Trying to preserve the delicate balance between working out the kinks and not overdoing it.  I climbed up and did the Plummet a couple of times.  Everything seemed to be firing pretty well and the small section of trail I came across looked super.

Pinnacle Plummet!!!!!!

At 9:15 we headed over to the start area for the racer's meeting.  As we were getting ready to hear what the director had to tell us, a guy came up to me and said, "You're Rob, right?"  Turns out that he had read my blog posts and was one of the two guys who beat me out during the last stretch of the Glocester Grind.  Nate Elder.  He is also the first person I've met who knew the blog before he knew me.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Almost cool enough to forgive him for stealing my Grind podium.  Elder.

When I had first arrived in Newport I recall having been a little chilly when I exited the car.  The early morning clouds were still breaking and the sun hadn't made it in to warm everything up yet.  By the time we were ready to race though, it was much warmer.  76.1 F according to the thermometer on my bike computer.  Most folks were standing in the shade.  I knew it would be plenty warm, but was thankful that most of the course would be shaded.

I found out at the racer's meeting that Sport Senior and Vet I would go off at 9:30 and that Vet II would be out two minutes after that to give the crowd some time to thin before hitting the singletrack.  The Elites and Experts would be going off after our race, at 12:00.  The novices were off on the heels of the Sport groups.  At 9:32 we were off, right on time.


I had lined up well and had a pretty good position as we were about to hit the first section of doubletrack climbing.  At least I thought I had.  Just as we were going in about half the field passed me.  Geesh.  I wasn't last, but was definitely the last 25%.  I started to get worried, but decided to remember that this is a long race and there would be plenty of time to earn my position in the end. I also knew there would be a fair amount of doubletrack throughout the course in which to grab places. 

So I didn't get too caught up having lost those places.  I grabbed a few back in the first quarter mile before we hit the short piece of paved road and about five more taking a slightly gnarlier, but very doable, line up a hill on a wide piece of trail.  That helped clear my head. 

The course is challenging, but fun.  The Pinnacle is about 550' of vertical per lap (I think).  The Sport group was doing a half lap, cutting out the second half of the ascent, followed by two full laps.  Full laps were just a shade over five miles.

The full lap had a steady climb up to begin.  Over a couple of small bridges and dumping out at a pair of water towers.  That's where the course turns to a jeep road that climbs.  And climbs.   The beginning lulls you into a false sense of being able just to drop your gears, drop your heads and pedal.  About a third of the way up though, it gets just a little wet and the turns to large, loose stones interspersed with wet ledge.  Pay attention or prepare to unclip.  Mistakes are generally not forgiven.

After what seems forever, but is probably a third to a half mile, a singletrack forms along the left side of the jeep road and the course veers onto the same.  It's still pretty tough going for a while until it settles into a pattern of very welcome switchback climbing.  The switchbacks eventually dump you back on the road you had been climbing and you follow jeep road up to the Pinnacle.  That's where the fun starts.  There a long fairly straight descent that eventually throws you onto a short piece of fire road before you do a little more singletrack climbing and then hit some fun rock ledge built into the trail.  That takes you into the pump track which takes you into the berms.  From there its pretty much all down to the start/finish area where you start to climb back up and do it all over again.

Let me back up.  I said berms and moved on like they were inconsequential.  These berms, however, are the bomb.  High built rock piles covered with dirt letting riders fly into the turns and out just as fast.  These are berms that you read about.  I know this because you just did.

Jon Modig comes through the berms racing Expert Junior.

2012 Olympic Mountain Biker Lea Davison killin' it.

And Steve Segenchuk, racing Expert Vet II, killing himself to hang on!

 Experts!

I noticed pretty early on that my left hand was killing me on the descents.  My finger is still not quite healed from a sprain about three and a half weeks before the race, but it's really more my palm on the bar that's hurting.  Not sure what that's all about.  I'm kind of falling apart.  Whatever it is, it's stealing away a little downhill confidence, but almost instantly feels better whenever I start climbing.  Of  course then my legs and lungs start to groan.  No injury there.  Unless you allow that I might have sustained a broken will.  To do hill repeats. About 42 years ago.

Other than that, feeling pretty good.  I was gaining a couple of spots here and there and giving up less, so that's got to be positive.

Climbing up the second time, I've got company.  Another guy in my age group I later find out by looking up his number is Colin Johannen.  He was chatty and recognized my Bums kit and we talked about the Treasure Valley Rally.  Really nice guy.  Except for his ability to hold a conversation while climbing like it's no thang.  I didn't like that about him.  Anyhow, Colin said he absolutely adores the TVR.   Nice to hear such great feedback.  Chatty Colin pulled away and I was left climbing on my own.

The rest of lap two was uneventful.  I climbed.  I descended. I rode well.  I rode mostly alone.  Around the top of the climb I was passed by a mountain goat in a unitard.  I'm cool with that.  If you're rocking a unitard, I expect you to pass me.

Third lap was a schlog of a climb, but once I hit the top, I gave it everything I had.  That said, it was tough gaining on the downhill.  I don't think the extra gear has as much impact as it would during the climbing.  As I hit the pump track though, it started to pay off.  I was catching glimpses of folks in front of me and before I knew it I was passing El Unitardo.

Shortly after I started running into the novice group, presumably finishing their second lap.  All were super cool and moved over before I said anything.  They even offered some words of encouragement.  I tried to reciprocate, but was pushing hard.  Hopefully I didn't come off as an ass.

After getting by the novices, I hit the berms and heard a racer coming up on my wheel.  I figured it must have been one of the people I'd recently passed.  I held my position for a little bit and when I couldn't shake whoever it was, I let them pass.  Guess who?  Elder!

I tried stepping it up to hang on and make it a spring to the finish, but this guy's got kick like nobody's business and I was soon alone, my salty tears running down my sweaty face.

I did finish strong and came into the finish a mere 11 seconds post-Elder.  As it turns out, I've been just behind Nathan Elder all season. One place behind him at Weeping Willow.  Two behind at Glocester.  And now one behind at the Pinnacle.  Going to have to work on that.

My final stats:

1.7 mile warm up.
13.368 miles raced
1:40:07 elapsed
    19:39.50 - Lap 1 (1/2 lap)
    40:20:08 - Lap 2
    40:09.42 - Lap 3
32.9 mph max
8.3 mph avg
8th/19 in Sport Vet II

After the race I had a chance to speak with Brian Spring, who came in a few minutes after me.  His cold, it seems, was only abated when not climbing mountains on bicycles.  He said he was coughing like crazy through the course.  Still finished a respectable 12th.  Nice work!

After the race, I put my bike up on the Element and walked the course to get some pictures and video. of the Expert and Elite heats.  Those racers are sooooo fast.  It's awe inspiring to watch.

 Experts!

Steve pays homage to Gene Simmons.  Or maybe Michael Jordan.

Nearing the top on lap 3.  Probably questioning riding 69 miles yesterday.

Alby loves to dress up as his favorite superhero.  Bikeman.

I later learned from Steve Segenchuk that Lea Davison, one of two women on the Olympic Mountain Biking Team, raced the elite heat.  She's the one killing it in red in the video clip below.

All in all, another great time at the Pinnacle.  Maybe I'll work on the hills between now and next year.  Next confirmed race - the Hampshire 100 where I'll be racing the 100K option in August.  May try to get the Hodges race in before that in early August.