Masters 35+
49 miles
49 miles
34th/80
I am resting in my mom’s apartment in Cambridge as I write this. I did my best to refuel and repair the body after the day’s race. I had an ice bath and protein pasta in hopes of recovering for tomorrow’s 60 miler.
I went into today’s event with decent expectations, but I finished it happy to have stayed upright and fairly fatigued! I drove down from Maine right to the race site this morning. The further south I went, the brighter the skies. It was sunny and maybe 70 by the time I was warming up. I played it smart and had the legs shaved, so it was shorts and a shoert sleeve for me!
The course consisted of a 7 mile loop with a couple of nominal hills that we would circuit 7 times. The first couple of laps were uneventful, but I noticed right away the King Zing was going to take more getting used to. It’s possible I was nervous riding in the tight and BIG pack and was worried about a crash that would potentially hurt my pretty bike. But, technically, I think I have to adjust to the lightweight and the unbelievable responsiveness of the bike. On descents I could really feel the bike wanted to be steadied. In contrast, the lightweight and stiffness was very welcome on the climbs.
The bike also performed very well off-road! As I said, the first couple of laps were uneventful. I watched the wheel of Jonny Bold and was part of a brief 10-man break. But the field was pretty packed and it was too early to make big moves. There was a hairy 45 degree turn shortly after the start-finish which is where I first felt grateful I ride a Kona with its dirt racing roots! I went wide in the turn and as I exited the apex, the field came over and pinched me. I couldn’t get on the brakes in time and had to abandon the road and ride through the sand and pine needles. It took some time to get back over the lip onto the road and by then the entire pack passed by. I was about 20 bike lengths back and just ahead of the tail motorcycle so I had to charge hard to catch back on. Then I took a breather and rode in the draft before making my way back into mid-pack.
From there, I vowed to stay on the inside line heading into that turn. We cruised through the remaining laps without incident until the finish. Unfortunately, I felt my quads seize when I would stand on the steepest hill with 2 laps to go, so I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to compete in the sprint, but I gave it a shot. At some point a break of 10 or so got away unbeknownst to me, so turns out we were settling for positions out of the money
The entire pack ramped up for the sprint on a long, slightly downhill straight to the finish. I found some room on the right-hand side of the road and was giving it my all when I heard a pop in the pack to my left. I honestly don’t know what happened, just that suddenly I was once again off road and battling to keep the bike upright at 25mph in the sand and around sticks! Luckily I came out of it OK, but the sprint was a bust and I rolled in where I did.
I am resting in my mom’s apartment in Cambridge as I write this. I did my best to refuel and repair the body after the day’s race. I had an ice bath and protein pasta in hopes of recovering for tomorrow’s 60 miler.
I went into today’s event with decent expectations, but I finished it happy to have stayed upright and fairly fatigued! I drove down from Maine right to the race site this morning. The further south I went, the brighter the skies. It was sunny and maybe 70 by the time I was warming up. I played it smart and had the legs shaved, so it was shorts and a shoert sleeve for me!
The course consisted of a 7 mile loop with a couple of nominal hills that we would circuit 7 times. The first couple of laps were uneventful, but I noticed right away the King Zing was going to take more getting used to. It’s possible I was nervous riding in the tight and BIG pack and was worried about a crash that would potentially hurt my pretty bike. But, technically, I think I have to adjust to the lightweight and the unbelievable responsiveness of the bike. On descents I could really feel the bike wanted to be steadied. In contrast, the lightweight and stiffness was very welcome on the climbs.
The bike also performed very well off-road! As I said, the first couple of laps were uneventful. I watched the wheel of Jonny Bold and was part of a brief 10-man break. But the field was pretty packed and it was too early to make big moves. There was a hairy 45 degree turn shortly after the start-finish which is where I first felt grateful I ride a Kona with its dirt racing roots! I went wide in the turn and as I exited the apex, the field came over and pinched me. I couldn’t get on the brakes in time and had to abandon the road and ride through the sand and pine needles. It took some time to get back over the lip onto the road and by then the entire pack passed by. I was about 20 bike lengths back and just ahead of the tail motorcycle so I had to charge hard to catch back on. Then I took a breather and rode in the draft before making my way back into mid-pack.
From there, I vowed to stay on the inside line heading into that turn. We cruised through the remaining laps without incident until the finish. Unfortunately, I felt my quads seize when I would stand on the steepest hill with 2 laps to go, so I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to compete in the sprint, but I gave it a shot. At some point a break of 10 or so got away unbeknownst to me, so turns out we were settling for positions out of the money
The entire pack ramped up for the sprint on a long, slightly downhill straight to the finish. I found some room on the right-hand side of the road and was giving it my all when I heard a pop in the pack to my left. I honestly don’t know what happened, just that suddenly I was once again off road and battling to keep the bike upright at 25mph in the sand and around sticks! Luckily I came out of it OK, but the sprint was a bust and I rolled in where I did.
Plenty of road to the left, but I was stuck wading thru this sand
Here are my wheel tracks finally finding the road just ahead of the curb and stick!
My reaction post race!
So, it was an eventful debut for the King Zing, no thanks to the rider! Suprisingly, no one commented on the color!
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