First Rides report

Waking up early on St. Patrick's day usually spells trouble as that is just an excuse to start drinking early.  Well, that is still my plan, but I also had a plan of doing a few laps at the USNWC to really see how the unnamed Marin performed.  I just had one test lap at Shermans Branch, and a race at a course up in VA, but neither of those I really have anything to compare to until this morning.

Breakfast started out as usual, a few eggs, toast, orange juice, I filled up the water bottles with Poweraid and left to get to the trail by daybreak.  Already dressed when I got out of the Jeep I hit the trails on cobweb clearing duty.  With the unnamed Marin being my first 29er I was still getting used to how it handles compared to my full suspension 26 inch ride.  One of the first things I noticed during the damp morning ride was how much less the bike seemed to slip off the side of damp, dewy roots.  Not saying that it didn't slip at all, but it was noticeably less than the Culprit.  Part of that might be me not knowing how to ride good lines, part of it might be the Continental Race Kings 2.2, and part might be the bike is not set up as tubeless yet.  I can probably fix 2 of the 3 easily.  Tires and tubeless being the 2.

Another adjustment in which I had made from the last race in VA was putting more air pressure in the fork, it is amazing what a difference that makes.  In terms of climbing I am still getting used to a hardtail but I think I am making the transition rather seamlessly.  When getting out of the saddle to climb the rear end of the Nail likes to stay planted which is a good thing.  Another thing I noticed is that this bike rewards a nice steady out of the saddle pedal strong.  It even fooled me as I had to downshift a few times to get into a harder gear to stop from spinning out and climbing Goat Hill and the Gas Line climb.  Success.

I am also glad I got this bike as the geometry and long steerer tube makes for a relaxed ride for all day adventures.  I did fit myself on a Rocky Mountain 29er, and decided it wasn't for me.  The Rocky being a very race oriented bike does accelerate out of the gate quickly, but for all day riding, 6 and 12 hour events and marathon races comfort is a major factor for me.

I am already in process of getting the Marin the way I want it, switched out the personal preference items such as grips and saddle.  I also am getting it set up as a 1x10 with parts on the way. I am also liking the huge 185MM rotors up front to stop.  I can't wait until they are completely broken in. Patrick from Sun and Ski was nice enough to swap over my XT drivetrain from the Culprit to the unnamed Marin. Luckily I didn't have to switch out the crankskins to match the new color scheme.

Hey, if you can't beat them in a race, at least make sure your bike looks better than theirs.

So far I am very happy with the new ride.  As of now it comes in at 28 lbs right on the dot with pedals, heavier Ergon grips,  water bottle cages (that match the frame), spare tube, levers, and CO2 cartridge.  After it goes 1x10 and tubeless I will weigh it again, just to see.  But for an out of shape endurance racer like me, I think this is the bike to have.

Up to VA

This past weeks adventure takes me up to VA. This Maxxis Southern Classic Series seems to cover a lot of the south region for some incomprehensible reason. This was also the first time racing on the yet to be named Marin. I was only able to get out and ride the 11 miles on Saturday at Shermans Branch to really see how this 29er handles. Shermans is a great place to ride, but not really a great place to test equipment as it doesn't cover a whole lot of different types of terrain to see how a bike handles. But taking a nice easy lap there I found out my time was only an hour and 1 minute. Not to shabby for a casual stroll around the grounds. I might be able to attribute some of that to a 29er, and maybe most of it to being in shape this year after a mild winter.

After calling it quits after playing drinking catch phrase but before beer pong came a short night of sleep. Not only is it a 2 hour drive to Danville VA, but it was also the start of daylight savings time. Insert cheesy pic here.

 Me and my carpool buddy/teammate Doug e Fresh hit the road at almost exatly 6 am (or 5 am if your counting hours of sleep).  After a McDonalds run, almost running out of gas we made it just in time to register and have Dougs race goof off.  He was racing beginning mens 40-49.  This just gave me extra time to get ready and goof off.  I did end up managing to find the Mutt who introduced me to D-Wayne hunter.  I have been a reader of his mishaps for a while and it was nice to meet him.  He also showed me how pro-creation works.

It was an educational experience for all.

After Doug finished I was ready at the starting line for my race, Sport men 30-39.  Due to my points ranking I was put into the back of the field.  The race went off with a bang and I kept the leaders in my sights for about the first 2 miles of tight twisty full of trees singletrack. I wasn't used to the wide handlebars on the new unnamed bike yet so me an some trees had a few good words.  I did managed to finally settle into a pace and keep going.

 I think this was taken lap one on a very Warrior Creek-ish fun and flowly section.  Thanks to random photographer Mary Whit-Jones who is friends with Mr. crackednipples. 

I felt real good and completed the first 9 miles in a group of about 4 people.  It felt weird actually racing and feeling like I have a chance to beat someone.  I started on the second lap and then felt the dreaded cramp starting in my legs.  I hate when this happens.  I am not used to standing up and pedaling up climbs coming from a full suspension to a hardtail so my legs were not used to the effort yet. 

So an even longer pointless story shorter, I cramped with 4 miles to go, legs locked up, and lost about 4 spots.  I did manage to put together an almost respectable 17 of 26 places.  Still not as good as Doug e Fresh's VA state Championship

 And we drank PBR to celebrate and went home.  Yup, that is all for now.  With the next race being 3 hours away at the 6 hours of Warrior Creek, I really need to get in some major time to have a respectable showing there.  But at least I got a new ride to do it on, with some minor modifications on the way.

With the Winter Short Track season ended it only is a few weeks away from the Maxxis Southern Classic Series. The first race in that series this year was down in Sumter SC. I thought I was more ready than I was, but things didn't turn out so well, racing wise anyway. Coming into the sleep little town was a National Guard Air Force base. When I hit the side road to go to the state park these were posted about every 100 feet.

Ok, this wasn't the actual sign, but I forgot my camera and I still use an old cell phone which doesn't take pictures well from a moving vehicle, but you get the point. Bomb range = bad idea to bike there. As expected I turned away from the range to enter the State park and was was directed by the rangers where to park and set up.

Stock photo of the park ranger. Like I said I didn't have a camera with me.

 I got there early enough to watch the beginner and children's class go out. Teammate Steve Pep's old son even decided to give racing a try, the course was supposed to be around 13 miles for one lap. After goofing around for a little bit more and talking to some of the Charlotte crew that made it down there it was time to get warmed up and ready to go. The race started and went off without a hitch, no crashes and no extreme mad dashes to the front. I guess everyone understood that it was going to be a 26 mile race. You can't win a 26 mile race in the first quarter mile, but you can definitely lose one. As we entered the newly cut singletrack, I should have known that I was in for a world of hurt. The problem with newly cut singletrack is that everything is soft. It takes a lot of extra energy to pedal. But I entered in around 7th or 8th place of 16. After a few more miles the course was a lot tougher than I expected and what everyone led me to believe and I started slipping back a spot at a time. I even started slipping back to the leaders of the old man class who had caught me.

 Continuing to ride seemed like forever as this trail seems to go into the middle of nowhere. There were some short punchy climbs that put a hurting on me, and then long flat stretches over hard packed sand where you could really get your speed up. Being the first real race for the season I tried to conserve energy the first lap and not push to hard to pick up places but tried not to lose them. More twist and turns, and even a fun little pump track section was the short climb to the top of the "hill" where there was a long fire road trail to the finish. Usually not a bad thing to have, but it was long, like a few miles long. It was also the sloppiest part of the course as it had rained the night before. And that water was cold riding through it and it got everything all muddy. 

After that the race was pretty uneventful. Just another full lap of suffering, and oh yeah, they miscalculated the mileage. It was really over 14 miles per lap. At the end of the day I rode near 30 miles of trail. That is a lot more than I was expecting. I started having leg cramps the beginning of the second lap so I tried my best to just keep pedaling. Eventually I did finish. I didn't stay around to wait for the awards ceremony as I knew I was way at the bottom, and found out I finished 14 of 16. The good news is that I finished though. That kind of heavy mileage is just forcing me to get into better shape fore the 6 hours of Warrior Creek.
And in other news, it was time for a ride change. I have a full suspension 26 inch Haro and wanted something different. So I went to Sun and Ski sports test rode 2 different bikes. I save the details, I ended up going with Marin Nail 29er.

Yes, I got the water bottle cages to match the color of the frame. If you can't win, at least be stylish.

I did make some minor changes already, removing the reflectors number one, putting pedals on, changing out the grips and seat, but I forgot the after pictures. Oh well, there should be many more this year as this will be my primary race bike. Now only if I could get to give it a real test ride before my race tomorrow....