Riding and racing.

USFE Series - Wiesbaden

I was the lone Saber at Wiesbaden today. There was not a huge turnout for this one, but it was interesting. The course was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200m per lap and it had basically two features -- uphill and downhill. The kids went out first and the Overfield children cleaned house each bringing home a similar piece of hardware to the one pictured above (I thought the trophies were pretty cool). Some of the women rode with the kids and some chose to ride with the men, but either way they were held to 10 laps. The men got started around 1215 and the organizers informed us that we would be doing 20 laps. The course was more tough on the brain than it was the legs. After 10 laps I thought "that's a lot of laps," but that was only halfway. There were two things I knew about my chances today: a) I am not faster then Jake Skugrud, so I was riding for 2nd in the Open b) I had no idea who else was in my category. There were some unfamiliar faces in the field today, so I decided to chase the fast guys from the start and hope they would help me separate myself from any competition. About eight of us got separated from the main field right away and I squeezed past one of my suspected competitors on the first climb. The next man I marked was faster than me on the descents, but I was able to pull him back on the climbs. After lap four or five I executed what maybe my first well planned tactical move of my racing career. The above mentioned marked man and I approached about 5 lapped riders on a long but not steep climb. He settled onto the wheel of one of the riders while I selected the big chainring and climbed out of the sattle up the hill. The gap I opened up plus the lapped rider traffic gave me a comfortable feeling about my position. I was able to maintain it until the end and finished 6th overall and 2nd in the Open category. It turned out that the well executed move was unnecessary since that guy was in the senior category, but it felt good anyway. I have a terrible recollection of the finishes of everyone else, so rather than mess it all up I'll wait for the official results.

The ODR guys had a few diplomatic issues (i.e. they were only able to mark the course about an hour before the start and I think they were limited on trail usage) but I thought they did a good job of working with what they had. This race has some potential for the future because the trails in that area are numerous and tempting. Also they had cool trophies.

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Comment by Jacob "Jake" Skugrud on August 26, 2009 at 10:27pm: It is my philosophy that you can overcome rolling resistance with brute force, but once you loose traction it takes a miracle to getting it back. - -thus, knarly knobbies every day of the year for me

Comment by Larry Purdue on August 25, 2009 at 9:52pm: This race felt like a MTB version of a crit. What Chris said held true for me also! By the 10th lap I felt like I had been out there all day! The back dirt hardball was the only real place to recover and it was past before we knew it. Since it started later and went longer than I had planned, I was only hoping I would finish before I got hungry. I went out seventh, passed three early, and ran a very lonely 4th place for the remaining 17 laps. Fred lapped me at 16 and the Jake, Andrew battle got me on lap 18. I felt the dreaded bonk coming on around lap 17 and knew I was in trouble. My small-block 8s peformed beautifully but I had too much air in them. Fred later told me he had his Nevegels at 28 psi. So, I will be doing hills galore the next three weeks. I'll also have some munchies out at Garmsich. That will be an interesting weekend as I've never done two races on adjacent days. I think I'll adjust my training to three hard days in a row with one (or two) off to get used to what that second race will feel like. I hope to see everyone out there!

Comment by TrishWinn on August 24, 2009 at 7:49pm: Sounds like you rocked this unusual course, Chris. Sorry we weren't there to support you! I think we missed a good one.

Comment by Andrew Overfield on August 24, 2009 at 12:05pm: To all that did not make it, you missed out on one of the more unique MTB courses that I have ever come across. My Garmin had the course at 1.4km per lap which Jacob and I turned at about 4:40 per lap. The course had over 800m of climbing felt like more, on this course which really had no flat sections where you could settle down for more than a few second.

Hats off to Jake who overcame a fall, to take me on the hills on lap 19, way to break an old man's heart. Am looking forward to the rest of the series where it looks like Jake and I will be dueling it out (likely for second) as there appears to be another quality rider who has entered the fray, as Fred Proctor fresh from three years of training in Colorado Springs paced the field.

Hope to see all of you at the Garmisch/ Oberammergau weekend, know that real world comitments may cause some of you seasons to end soon for those who can't make it take care and hope to see you all back safe and sound for next Summer (yes I will still be around for one more go).

Time to go train, think I will do a hill workout, got to get my A game back

The Lone Bush Pig

Comment by Jacob "Jake" Skugrud on August 24, 2009 at 9:57am: Tahroma and I did our best to yell "Spangdahlem" at every opportunity when we saw Chris V. riding.
Anyway, it was another epic battle for me against the Overfield. Since it was my home turf, I had a deep reserve of determination to come out on top. With the race being a 20-lapper the spectators were able to appreciate just how close the competition was between us. To my advantage, I didn't have to wake up at 0615 and be on the rode with a family of five, so the leisurely bagel and coffee for breakfast ensured I would be fresh at the start.
The race was fun in the fact that you had 20 times to perfect the fastest line on the downhill, or the smoothest flow around the corners, and there were always other riders around to be used in a tactical manner. (any more riders and it would have been too crowded.) I still think that the Taunus "mountains" hold potential for a pretty good course, it is just harder to get approved because it is not in a US controlled training area.

Comment by Hector Rodriguez on August 23, 2009 at 9:33am: Chrees,
Glad you made it out there to rep Spangdahlem and congrats on the ween. Hopefully next year they'll get those diplomatic issues sorted out.