With a little encouragement, I signed up to do the local Chainbreaker race on Saturday...the nuance was that I signed up on the Fatback big O tired phattie! Webcyclery hosted the Chainbreaker and created a Fatbike category. It was time get my phatt ON!
The race was really fun - I ended up starting towards the back of the heat because of a late appearance at the starting line. This meant that if I wanted to move up, I would have to snake up through the crowd and dust.
The first couple miles of trail put you on dirt road and double track in order to help sort and spread out the field. I immediately could taste the dust in my lungs and tried to find a couple of open slots where it was not quite so crazy.
We hit the first hill and the field started to slow down a little. I got up out of the saddle and picked a line way left in the loose stuff and passed some peeps. The big tires ate up the loose stuff....Pacman tires just kept eating and eating with a voracious appetite.
We hit the downhill and I picked a line on the double track where people were avoiding because it was not packed down as much. The tires spun and we gained a few spots heading downhill with no fear of anything loose. Pacman ate up the trail.
After a quick 'thin out the herd lap', people pretty much found their rightful places in the pecking order. The fatbikes were lumped in with Cat 2 guys which was good because the pace was solid.
The first lap went by pretty well - the legs felt good, the lungs were not caked with dust yet, but it was starting to heat up. As we made our way around the starting area the bike got lots of comments....'Go Big Tires', 'Yeah, Phattie', etc...we were a spectacle.
I noticed the additional rotational weight on anything resembling a hill or an area that needed acceleration. I would watch the wheels in front of me slowly pull away and I would have to work extra hard to reel them back in on the windy singletrack where the bike excelled due to the size of the tires. I still had to pedal harder to catch up but the tires were like velcro to the dirt (both in a good way and a bad way). The tires hooked up well and not once did I feel like the tires were sliding in ANYTHING loose. Amazing traction!
We got to the one little steep hill on the course and I put it in granny and grinded up like a slow sherman tank. Most people around me were hike a biking and the big O Pacman tires just ate it up.
By this time, the heat had dialed up a notch and it was full on HOT. I questioned my decision to only take 1 water bottle and suffered dearly for it. It was a rough 2nd 1/2 half of the second lap. The tires/wheels felt uber heavy but we trudged along and picked off a few more riders along the way. I ran out of water early in the second lap and started to get some serious cotton mouth - the moisture sucking dust caked my mouth and absorbed whatever little moisture in my mouth. I thought I would try sucking down some honey stingers just for a change of tastes from dirt to some other calories. It did not work, my mouth did not create any moisture when eating so it was like eating dry little chalk balls.
The last 30 minutes of the race were rough. I tried to just keep pedaling and reminding myself that the finish was close at hand. We had 1 last little uphill and the wheels felt like boat anchors. I passed a guy who I played yo yo with during the 2nd lap and he was dismounted and trying to stretch out a cramp that had pretty much just stopped him. He looked like he was in pain. I managed a meager 'hang in there' and kept pedalling.
Soon enough we were at the finish and I immediately went to fill up my water bottle...a little water on the head, a little water on the feet and a bunch of water in the mouth. I found some shade for a bit and managed to try to gather my wits about me. After a few minutes I started to feel sorta' kinda' normal again and decided to shoot the shizz with the Bend Velo crew for a little bit and then hit the road to get into my car and crank up some A/C.
I got back home and weighed myself for giggles...I had lost 5% of my body weight from being so dehydrated! doh! double DOH DOH! No wonder the 2nd lap felt so miserable - having those pacman wheels and tires did not help either...man, they felt heavy on the second lap...then again, it could have just been the dehydration too.
All in all, a big thank you and shout out to Kevin and the Webcyclery crew for putting on a great event. You guys rock!
Somewhere along the way someone told me that I had actually won the fatbike category. Sweet! Of course, it helps when the field only consisted of 4 riders.
It was a good day out on the bike and a slap in the face to get some racing in Phattie Sytle - the body got thumped and got a level of intensity that otherwise I would not from a training ride.
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