Hotcycle Race Report

I raced Hotcycle today which is a race promoted by Go Time Racing and it's held at the Freedom Center in Leesburg, VA.    I've raced Snotcycle every year since they've had the race (same venue) and this is finally the first year I've been able to make Hotcycle.    It's basically the same concept as  Snotcycle...same categories..same race length....just it's HOT instead of SNOT (cold).    Rob and Kelly (also the same promoters of the Leesburg Bakers Dozen which is a super awesome race) do an excellent job hosting these races.  The course is always marked very well, the schwag is great, and the payouts are even between men and women.  
Surprisingly, this year there was a low turnout for Hotcycle.  It was held on the same day as a Bear Creek race which is a Nats qualifier, so that was probably why they took a hit on attendance.  Since they had  low turn out, my single speed female race was combined into the Cat 2 category with Men, Women, and Single Speeders.   I was pretty happy on Saturday afternoon when I got the email showing the categories were combined.    It created a much bigger challenge for me, which I welcomed.   I was the only single speed female registered, 2 other single speed men were registered, 1 geared woman, and 8 other geared guys.    An easy race just turned into something I was really looking forward to....how many geared guys can I beat?  "And we're slow to acknowledge the knots in our laces, heart it races."   I had big plans to go to a Little People Circus the night before the race which I was pretty pumped about.   However, my combined field coupled with the fact that my race was moved from 2pm to 10am made for a short Saturday night for me. I was passed out cold by midnight.   I woke up Sunday morning to 15 text messages and I didn't hear a single one of them. Good sleep is priceless some times, especially the night before a race. For some reason I STILL think that 1 good night of sleep negates and entire week of partying and going to bed at 2am every night.   Whatever works I guess....

Back to the race.   I get to the venue at 9am, an hour before race start, hook up with my friend Dr Bob and I register.    I wanted to do the race I was registered for which was only 10 miles and the Cat 1 race right after that.    My race started at 10 and the Cat 1 race started at 11.   I knew there was slim chance that I would be able to finish my race in time for the start of the next race.   I almost made it...

Dr Bob and I geared up and rode around to warm up before the race.   Normally I'm nervous before a race, but I wasn't today.   I think I was just more focused on catching up with Bob pre-race because I hadn't seen him in a few weeks.   We both have a lot going on in our lives right now and neither of us could shut up long enough to get in a proper pre-race warm up.  Meh....no big.  

We line up for the race start and fast boi Dr Bob lines up in front (he would have finished 2nd had he not slashed his side wall).   I lined up in the 2nd row and he called me up.    I hesitated...then figured why the hell not.    Every one else has gears, the start was a slight double track down hill though.....meh...wtf.  There was plenty of room at the start for who ever wanted to make a pass.  I took the front line beside him.   The race starts and Bob takes off and a few geared guys blast around me.   When we hit the single track, the only other girl (geared) racing was still behind me and so was the other single speed guy. Now I had my goal.  Keep those two behind me.

Token trail shot

The trails were in excellent condition.   The last time I rode this venue in February, the trails were freshly cut, soft, and loomy.   For this race they were hard packed, flowy, and the technical features weren't quite as focky as they were before.   It was obvious these trails have seen some action in the past few months.     My plan was to keep on the gas for lap 1, gap the girl and the SS guy, then settle in a bit on lap 2.  Well..that WAS the plan.  I look back a couple miles into lap 1 and the girl and the other SS guy are out of sight.   There is a guy right in front of me and another on my wheel.     I keep on it for a while and at one point the trail doubles back and I can see the other girl. She's not far behind.  SHIT.   I throw down and try to create more of a gap.  My sleep deprivation and rampant alcohol comsumption catches up to me immediately.  It was a harder push than my body was willing to tolerate.   Fuck.    Nothing I can do.  I concentrate on the music on my ipod to give me motivation. "My black eye casts no shadow. Your red eye sees no pain. Your slaps don't stick. Your kicks don't hit. So we remain the same. Blood sticks, sweat drips. Break the lock if it don't fit. A kick in the teeth is good for some. A kiss with a fist is better than none."    My black eye at the time was being so far out of race shape because I'm a jackass that thinks partying trumps training.   And jezus, the amount of sweat dripping in my eyes was ridic.    I swear for half of the race I was blind in my left eye.   My contact seemed to be pooling the sweat on the inside of the contact.  Was total bullshit.   I tried my best to stay ON the trail as good as I could.    

I take a right onto a gravel double track section and I see a decent climb ahead.   YES.  This is exactly what I need to get gap these two. As I bear down and start up the climb I see yellow tape out of the corner of my eye.  SHIT.  I missed a left turn into the single track.  I turn around and the guy behind me passes me.    Damn it.  I get in the single track and that sealed the deal.  The other girl was right behind me.   At least the other single speed guy was still out of sight.    The girl trails me for a bit and says, 'I love watching you ride.'  awwwww....Thanks.    I was riding really well that day.   I finally feel comfortable with my new cockpit, my new torturous gear choice wasn't feeling too bad finally, I was picking all the right lines, and I was gliding over the technical features...some of which I couldn't clear at Snotcycle in February.    A little while later, she was still on my wheel and she said, 'If I was racing my single speed today against you I would be in big trouble.'   That was sweet.  But the response I thought in my head was, 'you're riding your geared bike today honey and you're still in trouble, maybe just not of the BIG kind.'    I decided to scale the effort level back a bit and let her ride my wheel while I conserved some energy.   I would ride like that until she tried to make a pass, then I was going to throw down.   I knew it was going to take a lot to beat her.   She just got 2nd place in a race I did last weekend.  She normally podiums in Cat 2 races so she's a good rider for me to race against on my single speed.  I had to be smart, race flawlessly, and throw down when I needed to...all with vision out of one eye.  Bah...I can do this.  It's only a cat 2 race.  It was going to hurt, but I knew I could do it and it wasn't impossible.  

We rode for a little while and we hit a climb.   I was still taking it easy and I heard her mention a pass and I saw her creeping up on my left.   Like Santigold says, rarely do I play a game I can't win. "You're caught now by the skin you're in. In a bind now your thoughts go to all your sins. Hits much harder back better count on that. I tell you what we know always holds us back. Now you mutter and you stutter and you putter don't stop." 

BOOM!   Time to throw down.    I pulled away.  In a situation with a geared rider on your ass it's hard to get a good gap.   What gap you create on the climbs, they can usually close on a flat.  Downhills are sometimes fair game.   I knew every climb from there on out I had to kill and I had to tear up every decent.    We were at the end of lap 1 and had only 5 more miles to go for lap 2.   The next 5 miles were going to be hurt though.   There was no skating through it.    Kill the climbs...rail the decents...and completely turn myself out on the final stretch to the finish.   I got this.    For the next 5 miles that's about how it went.      I killed the climbs, she rode my wheel on the flats, I railed the decents as best I could....she always ended up sucking my wheel tit.  I couldn't drop this chick for good no matter how hard I tried.   It's been a long time since I've actually had to RACE a competitor in a race.   Most of the races I do are lap endurance races and I do pretty well on my single speed outlasting a lot of people.   In a 10 mile XC race..ugh..it hurts but damn it felt so good to shut out the pain and push as hard as I could.   She finally stumbled on a technical feature and I lit it up.     I got a slight gap on her and we were about a mile from the finish.    There was a flat double track section before the last short bit of single track.   She came out of the woods behind me and I heard her shift into a harder gear.  Right before I hit the last bit of single track she was practically on my wheel again.  Arrgggh.....note to self...work on high cadence pedaling you lazy fuck....

"They call me a little wound-up. See, I'm upset because I've always been stuck. But I don't know what it is I'm without. Guess I'm in love with always feeling down. It was fully consumed by all of the petty things that I couldn't do."  

I dropped into the last creek crossing and into the last grassy climb to the finish.   I railed the drop and powered up the steep other side.  I didn't know if she was going to go for it at the end and I didn't waste a second looking back.    The climb was short but I turned myself inside out.  I sprinted to the finish and left absolutely nothing in the tank.  I beat her to the finish by 3 seconds.   I pulled to the side of the course and felt like falling over.   We talked for a bit after the race.   I thanked her for the great race and she was pretty happy to have the competition.  In our talking we mentioned that at one point on the course some sucker lost their spare tube and C02 because we both ran over it.    bahahahahaha...sucks for that person.
  
Dr Bob came over as he had finished 6 minutes before me and was already changed.    Prior to the race, we had planned to ride another few laps if we couldn't make the Cat 1 race so I was surprised to see him in street clothes.  He tore his sidewall so more riding for the day was out.    I missed the Cat 1 race...well actually I didn't.  They were lined up when I finished, but I was so spent there was no way I could have started another race right away.  I needed some time to chill.    There were only 3 geared guys in the Cat 1 race anyway, so I most likely would have just been riding solo the whole time regardless which is the suck.    I was content to just chill.   

I look at the results.   12 people raced total.    10 men, 2 chicks, of the 10 men 2 were single speed guys.  I finished 8th.   I was pretty damn happy with that.    The cat 2 chick I beat podiums on the regular and I beat her on my single speed, plus I beat 2 other geared guys and 1 single speed guy.    I felt it was totally worth missing out on the little people circus the night prior.   

The race also earned me some Strava creds :-)

Awesome strap FAIL

Dr Bob and I go to my car so I can get changed and he comments on the tube and C02 laying on the trail just as I load my bike into my car and realize my awesome strap is empty.  Oh hells no.  Awesome strap failure!!!! This NEVER happens.  The tube I ran over on the trail was mine.  Oh wtf.  So our recent post race decision to drink a beer in the lake was changed to drinking a beer and hiking into the woods to retrieve my tube, C02, and tire levers.   It's all just the same when beer is involved.    My shit was finally retrieved and we headed to get something to eat.    Luckily we were able to hit up one of my favorite spots in Frederick, MD....Il FORNOcation as I like to call it.   Superb pizza with an decent selection of IPA on tap.    Rounding out a good day with good beer is always a win in my book.

Post race BOOM!!!