Prattsburg Rambler

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Kicking the local racing scene off with an age group podium at the Ramble Around Prattsburg.

The race course was a delicious 50 km dose of back roads, farm field crossings, muddy washed out descents, brutal climbs and a few paver sections. Cross bikes were the weapon of the day, but the 29er was definitely validated as they took 3 top 10 placings, and the top mt. bike spots.

Huge props to Pedaling Productions, for putting on one of the most well run and organized events I’ve ever been to. Every single detail was worked out and everyone had a great day. Congrats!!

I’m not a big fan of late afternoon starts. I loathe the waiting game, and would rather just get up earlier, drive and race. It always throws of my nutrition. I can’t really complain though, the race was only an hour away and it drew a huge number of participants. All the racing I’ve done, you’d think I would have this stuff worked out by now.

Racing kicked off with a a nice 4k moto lead out through the town, nice to open the legs up a little bit, chat with some old friends and catch up on the latest racing news. As soon as the moto pulled off the action began on the dirt road climb. The tempo was upped and soon a group of 5 (all on cross bikes) split from the main field. I gave chase with Hanggi and Steve-o and another rider. Our group of 4 kept the front 5 insight for a few k, but chasing in the headwind on the paver sections was a little tough and we weren’t making and ground up (we were all on 29ers). Up the long false flat climb, to the highpoint in the course, our group of 4 shattered. At this point my stomach was just intolerable. All of the blood that should’ve been in my legs was diverted to stomach processing duties. A little too much pre-race nutrition and a little excess caffeine had things grumbling. I tried to discharge my contents as I was riding and keep moving forward. It wasn’t really working. At the 20k mark, I pulled off to the side of the road, stuck my finger down my throat and emptied the tank. A bit of soft-pedaling, and a few moments on the side of the road had me dropping down to around the mid-teens.

A few moments later the legs came around as my stomach was feeling better. I barrel rolled onto Ridge Road for the long descent. I slammed it into the big ring and just jammed as hard as I could, floating over the ruts and rocks, the Superfly ate it up with ease. Maxed out at around 70k and kept on drilling. I made up all the positions I had lost except for 1. Feeling good, I quickly caught Bruce who was right in front of me and then another rider bridged the gap. Lost him on the descent as he bobbled in a corner and Bruce and I worked our way up to Hanggi.

Caught Hanggi on the long windy Hungry Hollow climb, worked together and drove it up over the top. Hanggi and I dropped Bruce on the rough descent and made it out onto the paved roads and were working together. Bruce was still chugging along behind and I moved to the front and ended up losing Hanggi through the onion farm section. Bruce refused to quit, caught and gapped Hanggi and came oh-so-close to closing the gap on myself. Just as he was about to bridge, I attacked through the nasty mucky, muddy sections. Charging right through the center of it all and turned my gap back up to 30 seconds within a 100 yards or so. After that I was able to cruise the final 2k into the finish with relative ease.

I managed to pull home 8th overall, and won my age group. Matt Hanggi came in 10th overall and 2nd in our age group. Results overall and age groups available on the clicking…

This week looks to be in the crapper as compared to the warm weather of the last 2. Hopefully I can get out and get some time in. Thoughts are swirling of heading to the CAT Classic and piggybacking the Michaux Maximus 50 miler the following day.