The story of
"the tortoise and the hare."
It was about 35'F and windy at the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Iowa City; maybe 15 mph out of the North?
And it was muddy
again.
I didn't want to pre-ride
and get my bike(s) all covered in the thick Iowa mud.
Heidi had done so much work for me in the pits Friday night and Saturday morning
that keeping clean bikes (and clothes) seemed like a better idea on Sunday morning.
So I pumped up my tires (to what I thought would work)
warmed up
and went to staging.
I tried to take it easy in the corners on the first lap since I hadn't pre-ridden the course. Turns out that wasn't a problem as I couldn't even hold the wheel in front of me anyway. Pretty frustrating beginning to the race, actually.
As soon as we hit the mud I knew I had too much air in my tires.
So lucky for me Heidi understood my "one pphhhuuuuhhhhh out of each tire!" as I finally went in the pit on the second (of 4 laps).
I felt really slow going down Mt Krumpit
but I was taking it cautiously
trying to keep the bike upright
and on the track; esp. at the transition from grass to mud in the section at the bottom
where we joined the previous day's course.
I gave it pretty hard on the uphill to try to make up time for my slower descents.
Paid off in the end, I figure.
Tom Price is fast. He was gone, as far as I was concerned, by the time we went by the pits the first time.
And Dan Casper is no slouch either.
Dave Eckel was having a great day, obviously. There were several other guys ahead of me, including James Cochran, who I had had a good battle with the day before. (Tim Boundy was missing on Sunday, but he had been super strong both Friday night and Saturday morning.) Leading in to the climb of Mt Krumpit I figure I was 8th starting the run up, and 4th at the top of the ride up. Then I get passed by several of those guys on the switchback downhill, as you can see, in the GoPro/Youtube video; link at the bottom to the first part/lap.)
We started catching 35+ riders pretty quick (by SRAM Pit 1), as you can see by the 700 bib numbers (in the video). Fighting through traffic makes it harder and adds another challenging element to the already hard race.
My sweet new Bontrager Aeolus 5 D3 wheels were light and fast, and with Heidi (and Rich) in the pits I was able to take a clean/light bike a couple times. Plus being able to have my tire pressure adjusted during the race without losing time was super helpful. Thanks everyone!
It was tough sledding, but I ended up in a solid 3rd place - good enough for the podium. Finishing behind Tom Price and Dan Casper is not bad, I figure. I certainly started off slow, but some hard runnin' up Mt Krumpit was enough to undo my slow descents and poor driving, luckily. I absolutely felt like the tortoise as those guys flew by me on the descent!
Thanks to Rhonda for the GoPro, Trek for great bikes, wheels, parts, etc. and SRAM for great components. The Challenge Limus tires were good enough in the mud that my very bad driving couldn't even ruin it, and that's sayin' somethin'!
The folks at Jingle Cross Rock certainly do rock!
Thanks for another great event, Iowa City.
Lookin' forward to next year.
Here is a link to the GoPro/Youtube video from the race. It is Part 1 (of 4, I think it will turn out to be. I had originally thought it would take 5 segments, thus the misleading titling. Oops. Sorry.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InTQYZDvZiw&list=UUb5_mEBxCC0cHKPq9NQsPFA&feature=plcp
