So, TransIowa was really hard. Sure we knew that going in, but after grinding it out for 12+ hours, we knew we weren’t going to finish the whole ride, so we stopped. We rode about 150 miles at about a 12 mph pace while riding. With very few breaks we made the 135 mile check point around 4:15, well before the 6:00 pm cutoff. We took a pretty long rest/food break at that town and then kept going. By the time we hit the next town(slightly more than 10 miles away) we were pretty gassed, and the route was only getting farther from Decorah. We figured if we lined up a ride at that point we’d be able to ride another 30-50 miles if we needed to so we could get said ride.

Overall I’m feeling pretty good. I know I did a huge effort, but I’m not incredibly sore. I’ve got some weird lingering pains that come and go in my left foot and left hand, and my neck is pretty stiff, but otherwise I’m mostly fine. I’ll write more and post some pictures once things settle down a little, and I get more of the experience sorted out in my head.

Well, in a tad less than 36 hours, I’ll be at the starting line trying to wake up and get mentally ready for 330 miles of gravel related pain. If you didn’t know, TI (as the cool kids call it) starts and the painfully early 4 am. Most of the time if I had to be somewhere that “early” I’d just stay up and have some coffee and deal with being a little sleepy for the next day, but because I’ll be riding a bike for quite likely the next 30+ hours, I can’t do that, and have to at least get some sleep. I’m sure I’m under trained and over packed, but it should be a good time. Until I return…

So, it’s been raining for a few days now, the good news is, it’s supposed to stop for the weekend. Also good news is that northeastern Iowa hasn’t seen as much rain as we have in the Des Moines area, that’s good because Kyle and Mark and going to attempt TransIowa. From the link you can get all the info, and even listen to some internet radio coverage of the event.

Everyone’s been blogging. Kyle, Mark, and Bill have all made recent posts, with Mark’s being by far the longest, recalling his experience at the Sea Otter Classic. Kyle’s and Bill’s writings are quicker reads but fun nonetheless.

In this post I will recall my race experiece at the Sea Otter Classic. I did the Super D and the beginner XC. Super D sounded fun, and I probably should have raced the sport class XC but this was honestly about the fifth race I’d ever done, most of those were on a unicycle during a 24 hour race. Anyway, here goes.

SUPER D

Ideally a Super D race (short for super downhill) is supposed to mix the fitness of a cross country race with the speed and bike handling of a downhill race, minus any serious technical sections of both. The one at Sea Otter was (reportedly) a little weak as it was all fireroad and double track. Regardless, it’s a type of racing we don’t have around here and was a total blast. It might have been the most fun I’ve had riding a bike in a long time. The course was about 3 miles of steep, occassionlly rutted fireroad and double track, with the last half mile or so being on a slightly downhill false flat. There were a few minor climbs but overall it was pretty steep downhill. The start of the race was a mass start, LeMans style where you run with your bike for 50 yards or so, mount up and ride, then there was a 200 yard climb that further spread the field. After that climb the fireroad dropped sharply and (for me at least) hanging on and staying upright were the only things I could do, pedalling was out. The climbs and that last flatish portion were where I shined. I passed tons of people because the bike I was on could actually be pedalled uphill. I rode an Enduro SL, a sweet agressive trail bike with six inches of travel on both ends, and a great set up for an event like this. Lots of guys were on big hit 8+ inches of travel full downhill bikes and there were plenty of guys on cross country bikes, a few hardtails even. I finished 15th out of 40 in the men’s 19-29 age category. I was pretty pumped.

CROSS COUNTRY

The XC race, while full of true beginners and sandbaggers both, was a great time. Not as much fun as Super D, but it went on for 19 miles and I didn’t need a shuttle to get back home. I rode an Epic Marathon (the alloy one, they didn’t have an S-work or carbon one in my size) but I swapped on some better/lighter wheels and ran the Fast track LK tires. It worked great. Climbed as well as a hardtail, with enough travel to bail me out of some stupid lines I took on some downhills. I’m already saving up for one for next year. Back to the race itself, it started on Laguna Seca Speedway, and then dove into a few miles of up and down double track. At this point we started catching the groups in front of us, leading to lots of “on your left” and “you’re doing great, keep it up” to the 14-18 year olds we were passing. At about the 4 mile mark, we went into some single track where passing was impossible. This was an awesome tree covered forest type track. From there we were spit out onto a sandy, rough double track that was surprisingly narrow and there was basically one good line and one horrible line the whole rest of the race. This made passing a tad sketchy. Then there was the sand. In a few places for a mile or so at a time, the whole course turned into a sand pit, a few inches deep and with little to no good lines. Luckily these were all downhill sections. I nearly crashed several times, and got knocked over on a super slow speed switch back by someone else, but otherwise I stayed upright and made pretty good time through the sand. Despite all of that, I never stopped passing people, and got passed fairly often myself. The course was a huge amount of fun and I’d love to ride it when it’s more deserted. I finished 7th out of 65. I made it in 1:43 and some odd seconds, the winner rode a 1:32. I’m fairly proud of myself, in retrospect I could have pushed a little harder and possibly made the podium, but I’m still pleased.

Here’s a shot of a downhill portion of the double/single track. Towards the top it’s wide enough for 2 rides, near the bottom it’s wide enough for one and a half.