Single Speeding the ORAMM

July 28, 2007 on 3:22 pm | In Mountain Bike Racing |

The ’07 ORAMM may have been the most fun race I’’ve participated in to date. Let’s see, long all day course, check, long killer climbs, yes, long bone rattling descents, of course! I usually fair better at longer races because my body is riddled with “slow twitch” muscles. Sadly, this isn’t very helpful for your average XC race but any thing over 3 hours I seem to perform better. I had pre-ridden the course a couple of times and had my strategy planned; take it easier at the beginning, force myself to stop at all the aid stations to stretch and refuel and save myself for the long 9 mile climb up Curtis Creek Road. I’’ve been doing a lot of longer rides and I had been feeling the fastest that I have ever felt on the bike. I was getting really psyched and there was a fair amount of good natured smack talking going on in the shop the days before the race.

I had gotten all my gear ready the night before, got up early on race day to force down some early morning cereal and tea. Driving out to Old Fort I was feeling a sense of peace as the beautiful morning sunrise welcomed me to a fun filled day of riding my bike in the woods with 450 of my closest friends. I arrived at the venue, said my hellos, got registered, and geared up quickly. Shortly after we began to line up at the starting area.

And what a start it was as 450 riders lined up to begin what was for some an all day ride on some of the best single track our area has to offer. I had no delusions of grandeur on this day. My goal was simple, to finish in less than 7 hours without blowing myself up in the process. There was no need to go big in the start and while it was fun drafting behind the riders with gears for awhile I let a sea of riders go past me on the pavement. I knew I would see most of them later on the climbs. I was riding with Kris K, and Eli Day for a good portion of the road but soon I had to let those guys go chasing a faster group.

For what seemed like forever we finally turned onto Mill Creek Road a fairly tame dirt road climb that took us to a surprise portion of single track. Ah, finally some actually trail to ride on. Unfortunately I was behind a train of people walking their bikes up a hike a bike section and we all followed suit. There was some groaning coming from behind me, “get on your bikes or run!” – I quickly reminded that person that we had a lot of racing to go still and none of us were in contention for first place anyway! Chill out. We finally got back on our bikes and were enjoying the first small single track descent of the day that took us up to the top of Mill Creek and on to Kitsuma.

Like most people I was concerned about the climb up Kitsuma as there were so many people in front of and behind me. Going up was slow work. I reminded myself to be patient as a lot of people were simply working way too hard this early in the ride. I watched as some people made vain attempts at passing people only to get stuck behind the next rider. We reached the first descent and I could see that this is where we were separating the skilled riders from the not so skilled. I had to get off at one point because there was a bottle neck of people who had fallen off their bikes. I quickly got past them and found some relief as I was chasing a faster group hauling down the mountain side. I caught them quickly but couldn’t make a move on the narrow single track so I decided to holler out to them instead. “Get off the brakes they’re only slowing you down!” “That’s completely ride able, don’t stop!” – I thought it was funny but I could tell by their glances that not everyone agreed with me.

At the bottom of Kitsuma we set out for another lengthy venture onto the road again. This time we would pass Mill Creek and continue to the trail head of Heartbreak. I saw the first aid station and as my plan stated I stopped to refuel and get off the bike for just a minute. In the past I had made the mistake of blowing through aid stations in similar events only to cramp up badly later. This is not something I wanted to happen to me on this day. I watched as many riders rode past me and I simply let them go knowing that I would see many of them later.

After my quick break it was back to more pavement and finally the turn up to the bottom of Heartbreak. I was riding alone for awhile at this point as much of my competition had passed me at the aid station. I crossed the train tracks and the first big stream crossing and started the climb up to Star Gap. I caught a line of racers on the ridge and fell into the same situation that I had been in earlier on Kitsuma, just waiting to get going again as people were struggling with some technical log crossings that would easily send you off the hill side. At one point we actually stopped which began to frustrate me.

I opted to walk many sections of this climb as well as I wanted my heart rate to remain in realistic zone. Mashing up these switch backs on a single speed was not going to do that. I remained calm and watched a very skilled geared rider negotiate most of the hair pin uphill turns. I told him I was very impressed – unfortunately his skill would not make the race for him though as I simply walked passed him as he spun his way up the hill. This is one of the reasons I love to ride single speeds, I can generally out walk many people who are in their granny gear – I’m stretching out my muscles while on foot and saving a LOT of energy in the process all while overtaking or at least gaining on much of my competition.

Reaching the top of Star Gap I was ready for the fun descent down to the never ending grassy road. I negotiated all the downhill switch backs well and I could see from the clearing dust that I was gaining on another group of riders. This descent is so much fun and it reminds me of parts of Pilot Rock only much faster. I enjoyed this as much as possible because I knew there would be a long time before I saw more single track. I popped out of the trail and onto the never ending road. I had planned to pick up some places here as there was a lot of rolling climbs that I could take advantage of. My plan was working nicely and I was picking off geared riders right and left, literally. All was going well until I felt an all too familiar tingling in my right leg, the beginnings of a cramp. “NO!” I thought to myself, “Not so soon into the race, how is this possible?” I tried to ride through it but it became very apparent that I needed to stop and stretch that muscle out or it would likely give me trouble the rest of the day. I stopped and watched as the riders I just passed went by me. I stretched, got back on the bike and tried to favor my left leg a little more than I had been. It was working, but I had to settle my pace and really take it easy for the rest of the grassy road. I let more people go by me and I had to shrug it off and remind myself to ride my own race.

I finally came off the never ending grassy road to be greeted by a fan fare of bells and yelling. At the aid station I quickly found some electrolyte pills and took what I thought might be too many. This was not the case because it was the last time I would think about cramping that day. I had some time to make up and my strongest part of the ride was coming up, the death march that is Curtis Creek. I hoped to become reunited with some of my fellow single speeders on this climb as I knew some of them simply geared too hard for this race. As I left the station I felt energized as the crowd was shouting words of encouragement.

As I began the long climb up the relentless gravel road I finally caught my teammates Eli, and Kris, we exchanged some words of encouragement and I took off knowing that this climb was where I could really excel. My legs felt good, my lungs felt good, I had plenty of water and food and I pushed my way up the long gravel road. As I removed my helmet I thought about how strong I felt and how great it was to be living in such a wonderful part of the world. I passed a few of my single speeders. Some of them were walking and told me that they did indeed select the wrong gearing. I smiled knowing I wouldn’t see them until the end of the race. I planned my strategy very well and it was good knowing that was actually working. I must have passed at least 30 or 40 riders total on Curtis Creek and I felt as though I was feeding off from their exhaustion. I’m a good climber, it’s my strongest point, but even so I had never felt this good on Curtis before. All that said I knew I would be happy to see the BioWheels tent at the top, and I was. I continued to stick with my strategy and stop to stretch, refuel and visit with my friends for a moment.

After getting some calories in me and rehydrating it was back on the bike for some more climbing which I was obviously enjoying in some sick way. Again I watched as other people blew past the station or rushed out of it, I simply maintained my all day pace and made sure I was comfortable before I got back on the bike. I quickly rode past some more geared riders and started the 7 mile climb up the parkway. I even passed some roadies as they gave me words of encouragement, “hey, he’s doing it on a single speed” I heard them say. I smiled and got another boost of energy. “I’m ready for Heartbreak now” I thought to myself.

After what seemed like almost too long we saw the turn off to the Heartbreak Ridge trail. And so I began a short hike a bike and caught up to a group of geared riders. As we got to the top I felt the need to stretch my sore right leg again. I knew that this was at least a 20 minute descent and I would rather lose a little time at the top rather than cramp up again. As I’m a good climber, my descending skills are not nearly as sharpened. I knew that I would lose some places here but no matter. I rode with in my skill level and surprised myself when I actually passed some folks going down. I did lose a couple of spots but I found that riding a little cautiously at this point was doing me some good. I counted 6 people with flatted rear tires. That would not be me today, oh no!

As you may or may not know Heartbreak might be the best trail ever on the face of the earth. I didn’t let the fact that I was racing get in the way of my enjoyment of the trail either. I glanced over at the views a couple of times again thought of how lucky I was to be here. The upper portion of Heartbreak has gotten really choppy and I suffered through that with my 80mm fork and lack of any rear suspension – I knew that smoother trail lay ahead and I turned off my pain sensors in my brain telling me that my hands would soon fall off. As I got to the bottom section I negotiated almost all the switch backs and actually made decent time to the final rest station. I stopped and chatted with the volunteers and told them what a great job they were doing. I ate some oranges, got some more electrolytes and water in me and started up Mill Creek for the last time.

At this point I was a little worried that the promoter would have us go up the hike a bike section again and when I saw that we simply continued straight up the dirt road I knew it was my chance to gain some more places. I passed another dozen or so geared riders, the ones that had gone down the mountain faster than me were now watching as I passed them back for the final time of the day. I still had to save a little for the last march up Kitsuma but I basically let it go and pushed myself really hard up the road.

The last climb on Kitsuma was a blur. I found myself hiking up the switch backs as my legs couldn’t push on the steep stuff any more. I followed a skilled geared rider once again but as he wasted so much energy staying on the bike I simply ran past and gained another position. I nailed this trail coming down the first hill. I had ridden this once today and I knew all the perfect lines, it felt really good as all my skills were coming together finally. I cranked up the second smaller climb as I had nothing to save at this point and was surprised to find my teammate Mike Brown fixing his chain by the side of the trail. It wasn’t how I would have wanted to beat him and I let him know that as I shouted, “I better see you before the finish line Mike! It’s the least you could do!” Well he came through all right and quickly left me in his dust. Mike can go really fast down a mountain, trust me, I’ve seen it!

As I let Mike go I saw a rider picking his way slowly down the hill and I hollered that I needed to go by, to my delight I noticed that it was another single speeder. I don’t think he was too happy by letting me go, but hey I was actually going pretty fast at that point. I caught the final group I would be in for the day and was following their lines as we were all riding really well. And as we got to the bottom I told them it was a good race and that I couldn’t ride in with them as I would be spinning my brains out on the last 3 mile paved section of road before the finish. They took off and my only goal at this point was to get my butt in there before the 7 hour goal I had set. I also didn’t want to get passed by another single speeder – I didn’t. I’ve never spun out so fast before in all my life and only a handful of geared riders caught me on the road.

Coming into the finish area was surreal. There were quite a lot racers already eating, drinking and socializing but I felt really great about my ride. I had made my goal of finishing in less than 7 hours just barely, but hey, I did it. I think I was the fourth BioWheels racer in that day which was also a surprise as I ride with some pretty strong and gifted mountain bikers.

Ben Poss had the best BioWheels results of the day finishing the race in just over 6 hours! Way to go Ben! I was glad to be done and immediately wanted to get cleaned up and get something to eat. The pasta tasted great. I went to check out my results and I had finished 81st out of 400+ riders 5th out of the single speeds w/ front suspension, and 9th or 10th over all in single speed - a little confusing how it’s broken down. I’m already thinking about next year’s race and how I can improve my time. The first place single speeder, Rich Dillen did it in 5:40 and placed 10th over all. I’m pretty impressed with that considering all the time he must lose on the flat paved sections that I was cursing all day. Imagine if we rode with gears? – But then again why would we want to do that?