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Peavine Challenge |
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I was headed up to Tahoe last weekend and was feeling
bummed about missing the CCX race so I did a little web searching, and
waddyaknow, but there's a race in Reno on Sunday morning called the
Peavine Challenge - http://www.renowheelmen.org/mtb/nevada_cup/2005/pea_chal_05.htm.
I figured, what the heck, sounds like fun and a cool course, with
LONG laps and lots of climbing (Peavine is the name of a mountain that
overlooks Reno so when the say "Challenge", they mean it). I was worried that it would be really hot, given that Reno can we sweltering (100+ degrees) and I totally melt-down in any temperature over about 75 (living in SF will do that to you). However, it was super windy which kept the temp down to a nice comfortable 60-something. I warmed up on the 1st mile or so of the race and realized that it was really going to be a long tough climbing race. There was a decent crowd milling around including a Velo Bella who lives in Mammoth (their "East Side of the Sierras" representative). I lined up to start the Sport men (expert was just too far! - 26 miles with 4400 feet of climbing...) and was chatting with the guy next to me who was on a brank-spanking new Ellsworth Truth. I asked if he raced anything this year and he said he'd raced a few things including the Sea Otter. Turns out he got 3rd in sport in my age group!!! (which at the Sea Otter, means you're pretty damn fast). So we take off, and I'm in the 1st group, Sea Otter guy is off the front. We climb and climb and climb, all single track, some of it steep enough to use the granny gear. Up and up, unrelenting, and I'm occassionally being passed ... probably 5 more people get in front of me over the 50 minute climb... it's completely unrelenting and really... tiring! But cool - not TOO steep and 99% singletrack and people are being cool about passing... and finally, the downhill. I pass a couple teenage guys who can obviously climb but don't quite have their downhill skills yet and then chase this older guy at mach 9 through twisty singletrack downhill alternating with occassional wide-open fire-roads. I'm having a GREAT time and think to myself that going this fast, in such rocky conditions, on my short-travel soft-tail (riding the Dean softtail for this race) that flatting is a real possibility. No sooner do I think it then I feel I'm riding on the rim. I stop and change the tube... taking some time to do it. 5 or 10 folks pass me. I get going again and ride a couple minutes and feel like I'm again on the rim but look down and see I have some air. I stop to pump the tire up some more (time to get CO2 for racing I think) and a guy comes up and asks if I know anything about derailleurs as my chain is skipping. I know I'm way off the back of my pack at this point so I stop to check it out and figure its a stuck link. He spots it first, not a stuck link but a totally twisted link. The guys is bummed as this is his first race and he was fired up to finish... turns out he's also from the Bay (San Jose)... name is Joe. I borrow a tube from him for backup and I'm about to ride off when I realize I have a chain tool and we can just take out the stuck links... and I'm not really racing anymore... So like 10 minutes later (or maybe 20), we get his chain shortened (I also gave him a lesson on how to do this while I fixed it...) He is, by the way, riding a $750 GT dualie that must weight at least 35 pounds... Anyway, I'm off again, rested at this point and being lapped by the experts I think when... yep, I get another flat. So I change to my remaining (borrowed) tube and ride some more weighing my options. I stop to inflate it some more when it again feels flat (might just be the diff between riding a softtail and a full dualie) and I'm pretty worked. At this point, 2 hours have elapsed from the start and I have to decide to keep going or not. I get to the junction of "1/2 mile to finish (DNF) or another 6 mile lap" and due to the encouragement of the course marshall, ride 20 feet up the "another lap" route. Then I realize I'm really tired, hungry, and the beginners are going to be done before me... and I don't have any backup tubes and I'm not sure if the one I put in is even holding air (I thought I had missed a thorn in the tire)... So I go for the caution is the better part of valor option and cruise into the finish. The lead sport guy (Mr. #3 at the Sea Otter) finished 5 minutes later, having handily destroyed the field. Nice work. This might be my first DNF in 15 years of racing... but I'm okay with it. I'm obviously not quite back in real racing shape yet... and if you're going to DNF, this is a good course for it. The course should definitely be on your-don't miss list if you like climbing and classic-long-lap courses. Support, marking, organization were great. The course was super fun... and challenging but not death-defying (like Skyline). Two thumbs up! -John Hillstrom |
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