I was convinced to do the Dark Horse 40 by my friend Marc. He went down to SS-apalooza with me and he was very excited to race in Montgomery, NY again. THis time, the pre-ride was dry, as well as the race. The course was fast, flowy and DUSTY. We camped at a local campground, and I think we were the only people on the premises that were from out of state, and not related. It seemed like a giant family had taken over the campground and partied most of both the nights we were there. Lots of early morning fireworks, sketchy drive bys of our campsite, and car alarms in the wee hours of the morning.
Marc and Andrea looking for more firecrackers.
Anyway, we headed down on Friday and pre rode the course on Saturday. We took it really easy to help Andrea, Marc's better half, through the course. Unfortunately, I only filled my camelbak halfway, not expecting to need all the water for one lap. About halfway through the lap, I was dry and it was hot. Our ride lasted three hours. Not good for me.
We finished up our ride, visited Dark Horse cycles (the shop, and promoters for SSAP and the 40) and found a place to get dinner.
We bought some BEEF, made hamburgers and pasta for dinner, and sampled some local brew.
I tried to drink as much as possible, but the water at the camp site smelled like egg farts and we had more beer than bottled water. So, I went to bed with a nagging headache, and woke up in the same condition.
We headed to the start, making a quick stop to fill up on water, and I started drinking immediately. I threw some nuun into a water bottle and pounded it. The race started and I felt okay at the start, but about a quarter through the first lap, I booted. I felt a little bit better, and kept riding. I drank some more Nuun out of my camelbak, and then booted again. The people behind me were nice enough not to comment, or just trying hard to avoid the puke puddles I was leaving behind me. The headache started to come back, and I was beginning to think I would just finish and curl up into a ball and die.
Every DH course runs through the abandoned cardboard box factory. Creepy.
I continued on, and actually started to feel a bit better. 3/4 of the way through the lap, I caught the guy (IF rider from Philly) I was riding with and another SSer wearing hammer stuff. IF guy passed the hammer guy, and I thought I would go with him. I was feeling good, and went for the pass on a slightly widened section of trail with some brush on the sides. Unfortunately, lurking in that brush were lots of bar-end -snagging vines, which we don't have in VT. The vines grabbed my bars and threw me to the ground like I insulted their mother.
This is the second pair of shorts I have trashed this year. I think I will still wear them though, as they will let everyone at the start line know that I am a badass. Or just bad at keeping my tires down and my bike up right. So, after the crash, and many obscenities, I hopped back on the bike and tried to catch up. Then my chain fell off. I was a bit flustered, and it took a little while for me to get it back on. However, I did, and I was able to catch the Hammer and IF guys before the end of the lap. We headed through the start area and on of the promoters told us we were 3rd, fourth and fifth. I was surprised by this, but it helped me kick the bad feeling after wiping out and throwing my chain, and puking, and feeling horrible. IF guy and me took off on the road section and rode most of the single track together for the second lap. At the first aid station I had a bit of a gap on Mr. IF, but I stopped to fill my camelbak and figured I would catch him again. Once I got through the next singletrack section to a nice piece of straight road, I couldn't see any sign of him. I felt like he had played me, acting tired so I would try to break away. He was hammering and all I could do was hold on. I continued on, feeling dejected, but near the end of the lap I heard someone behind me, and saw Mr. IF. I shouted "I thought you were in front of me!" and took off, hoping to remain in third. I did, rolling through the roughest sections of the course like puppet tied to a bicycle. I ended up 3 minutes behind the 1st and 2nd, and only 20 seconds in front of IF, but I was pretty happy. To top it off, I won a medal with Homer Simpson on it, and the post race beers and barbecue were excellent.
