Snake ride to a DNF

So today I did a mountain bike race. Sort of.

This race was put on by my friends at BuDu Racing (www.BuduRacing.com). The weather was cold but clear. My wife was working at the race (as an employee of BuDu Racing), and it only took a little encouragement for me to decide to toe the start line.

My mountain bike is low tech. REALLY low tech. The frame is a non-badged Nishiki Alien that I got on eBay for $2.25 plus $30 shipping, and a rigid fork for another $6. The rest was pieced together from parts I had on hand from past bikes, and a few new parts I got on steep discounts. No suspension, Cantilever V-brakes (the rear brakes are nearly worthless). A handlebar made from a straight piece of frame tube plus a shim. Oh, and no derailleurs. It's a single speed with a Performance brand chain tensioner.

I entered the single speed class, which ran the same race as the Expert class. Meaning 3 laps. 18 miles. And to top it off, the single speeders went off 1 minute AHEAD of the Experts. So when the gun sounded, I waited a little and then took the following position. Oh, did I mention that I hadn't pre-ridden the course, and I'd never been there before? I had NO idea what the course was like. My friend thought that my gearing was fine, and it was described as "no steep hills, and a few roots here and there".

So within a half mile, we hit the single track. And the roots. And the mud. And the turns. I don't think there was 10 yards that didn't have some combination of mud, roots, 12-inch wide log bridges, or a 90-degree turn (or more).

Then the experts came up behind us. I jumped off the track to let groups by. I ran off the trail from missing a turn more than once. I hugged a tree. I bit it because I could unclip fast enough on the steep pitches.

And then the big hit came. A corner, wet roots at an angle to the trail... I tried to loft the front wheel, but no dice. The bike went sideways, and down I went hard onto my right elbow. Only fear of being run over got me up quickly. But it took me a bit to get going again. Aside from the elbow that felt like it was broken, my handlebars were sideways. I got that straightened out, started riding, and knew my race was over. No way I was going to last through another 15 miles of that. I rode easy to the finish area and called it a day.

If I'd ridden the course before hand, I don't think I would have even started. No way was I prepared for that. In fact, about 2 miles in I was thinking that it would be a great area to run... I may go back with the Trail Gloves instead of the MTB...