Pedal Pushing Patons: Glocester Grind 2013 Race Recap

Well, the 2013 Glocester Grind is in the books. The chatter on the Interwebs before the race was all about how dry it was going to be compared to years past. Last year was a deluge of biblical proportions the day before the race. It was so crazy muddy. Today should really probably have been named the Gobi Grind.

So I woke up at 5:30 this morning as I've been doing for the several weeks. My god-damned cat can't seem to kill those flippin', squawking blue jays. Anyhow, I somehow managed to drift in and out of sleep for another two hours, which is unheard of.

Out of bed at 7:30 am. Rested and ready. Feeling like a million bucks.

I decided to get to the race earlier today and doing a full lap pre-ride. Great idea! I'd know the shape the course was in and warm up the ol' gams. Today, I was a race genius. Only problem was once I arrived I learned that they weren't allowing folks to pre-ride because the novices were already on the course. Doh!

Speaking of which though, I did catch the eensiest-weensiest glimpse of Max Beaupre heading in for his race. He had two laps in the novice category and we were all hoping for good things for him. He's been riding crazy strong. Mad strong. Mad Max.

One thing I noticed in the parking lot is that I'm definitely in the right sport.

It's like two whole worlds there, what with the eight Elements and all. For a minute I thought I was in Burlington, VT. Geesh.

Another thing that was pretty cool was the number of people I knew racing Glocester. It's stupid close to my house. Less than 12 miles as the crow flies, but since I'm not a crow, it was more like 17 miles. Still exponentially better than my next race in NH, 121 miles away. This close to home, all the racers I knew were out - Potter, Beaupre (x2), Segenchuk, Spring, Modig, Dunn, Beriau, Simoes, Chandler, Allen, Nydam, Miranda and all sorts of other racers I've gotten to know as of late. Even Donnie Dauphinais was there. I couldn't turn around without saying hi to someone.

Pre-race Karen Potter

Pre-race John Robertson

Pre-race Jim Nydam

Brian and I grabbing some pointers from Max after he grabs first.

So I happened to be around when the racers meeting went off and stayed to listen. Along with at least six other people. There was nothing new to hear. Sport and Expert, three laps. Elites, four. Drier than usual. Still some muddy spots.

Donnie attentively listens to the pre-race meeting. Not really.

After the racers meeting, I was able to hand the camera over to Cori to capture all of the action. She was happy to have Regis Murphy (Chandler's better half) to hang around with for the duration of the race.

At 11 am, we began to queue up. And literally before I knew what was going on, someone said go. And we were off. The course was the same as last year, riding clockwise for what we were told was 5.35 miles per lap. I was measuring 4.75 on the GPS, so 5.35 wheel-measured seems likely.

Expert Master Start (Beaupre and Nydam)

Sport Vet II Start (that's me, if you wait long enough)

Matt Chandler start - he looks slower because it's a still photo.

Unlike some other races, this course heads straight into some rooty, rutted trail. Not a roadie course. Not a cross course. A real mountain bike course. Less the mountain, of course. What the course designers missed in elevation, they made up for in rocks, roots and mud.

Oh, remember that Gobi Grind comment earlier. Never mind about the Gobi Grind. I've often heard Jay Peak was in its own climate zone. Jay is not alone. Apparently it rained 40 days and 40 nights in Glocester leading up to the race. At least that is how muddy it was. Really?

The course starts twisting and turning through a pine forest. Tricky roots, but rideable. I was, as per my custom, still a little slow out of the gate. Maybe 8th of 16 into the woods, but within the first 1/4 mile had gotten by someone who had dabbed on the roots. Stupid sport racer! I was feeling great. Until I slipped on a root maybe 30 seconds later. Stupid sport racer!

Really though, I was quickly falling into a solid pace and riding some solid technical. Early on I did get caught up following another guy who took a turn wide and botched it. Some jerk got by on the left. I think he was with ZZ Top. Oh wait, it was Brian Spring.

I regained that position pretty soon after and then came up to the bridge that last year was before the big winding mud pit. This year the bridge was not so great. It was a pair of parallel planks, except they were anything but intact at the entrance, trying to force wheels into a crack up the middle. I made it across the first two times and got caught up my third lap. After the bridge though, the trail just hit a little of the omnipresent mud before veering off last year's course and around the majority of the mud.

Cori was at her tried and true photo shoot place as I came up to the sharp rock climb. This year, without rain having made the roots raking the rock unrideable, I climbed up and over with the greatest of ease.

Climb stupid sport rider, climb!

By the time I'd finished the first half lap, I had gained a handful of spots and was comfortably tailing Colin Johannen. As it turned out, Colin and I spent a fair share of the day together. Quite nice actually. He's pretty personable for a redhead.

That first half had a number of tricky rock gardens. Big rocks with a little space between them. Often not big enough to get a wheel through. Some tried to deceive you into fitting your wheel through, but if you looked a little more carefully, you'd see you couldn't fit a wheel and a derailleur through. So you went over if you could, around if you couldn't go over and walked if all else failed.

Speaking of walking, I was really happy with my hike-a-bike sections today. I grabbed the bike by the rear shock and ran most of these places. While I've been doing a fair share of trail running, I've been admittedly remiss in doing it in Shimano shoes, carrying a 30 pound bike through mud pits. I think I'll practice more for that next year.

The second half of the course was tougher than the first. Early on there is a stream crossing with a bridge to the left side, but I learned last year from Pete Dunn that the line was through the stream on the right. The bridge was a trap. The on/off bridge access was waiting to throw you from your bike. I streamed it all three laps.

The second half also included numerous other rock gardens and crazy mud pits. There was one unavoidable mud pit which sprayed mud everywhere. I was coated up to the bottom of my bike shorts and then some. The best was when you finally hit dry ground and picked up some speed and the mud started flying off your wheels EVERYWHERE. You quickly learned to breathe through your nose in these spots.

As always, the bridge dropping you into the mud pit was waiting for us all three laps. Here's a video I took after I had finished up. It's a little funny. Unless you're Cait Dooley. But don't worry about her. She was fine.

And right after that was a mud pit.

Followed by another mud pit leading into a stream crossing.

Liz Chabot Allen hits it with wild abandon.

After that a quick trip back to the start/finish and then out for another lap.

One down.

I had lost Colin somewhere in the second lap, but caught up to him again heading through the first half of the second lap. I kept catching glimpses of him. When I finally caught up to him he was cursing like a sailor. The rock garden was having a little fun with him for a few minutes. I got by again for a little bit a few minutes later, but that pass was short-lived. Colin was riding his new Hei-Hei like a rock star.

I also kept catching glimpses of John Robertson somewhere behind me. Not sure how close though.

I passed a couple of guys lap #2, but was only sure one was in my group. #218 - Sean Godley. It's hard to look back at number plates to see if other folks are in your group. After I had gotten by Sean, I passed Colin again in the expansive clear cut region as he was tightening his handlebars. Before I was very far both he and Sean were chasing though and I was getting worried. I held Sean off and started gapping on him, but wasn't long before Colin was back by me again.

The last lap was pretty uneventful. I was riding alone a lot more, had changed places back and forth with Colin one more time, but lost him on the clear cut never to be seen again.

I finished the three laps in 1:44:38, good enough for sixth place, or so I thought. I caught up with some other folks and took in their experiences on the course. All positive. Beaupre had crashed pretty hard, tearing his knee up pretty good, but still had a great race.

Some of the Bums representing at the Grind.

When they posted the paper results I heard the guy who took first in my age group saying that he should have been Vet I (30 - 39 years old). That moved me up into fifth. For my third fifth place finish this year. I was 4:45 out of first, 1:35 per lap. I was pretty happy with that.

Lots of folks I knew did great. Here are the results from Sport/Expert/Elite.

All in all, another great day at the Grind. But not dry. If cleanliness is next to godliness, I'm pretty sure I was riding with the devil. I was not clean in so many ways.