Race Report: Root 66 Winding Trails Classic 4/18/2010

First MTB race this year, and it went pretty well save for one minor issue. Cat 3's started at 9:00, the course was 5.5 miles, 2 laps, very fast. Very fun. Single and double track, lots of twists and turns, few logs, couple hard climbs but all in all a pretty easy course.

The minor issue to which I alluded was that I raced the whole way with a broken rear shock. Apparently I blew out a seal or something on my RP23 that came on the mighty Titus. But at any rate, it had no spring at all.

And before the HT crowd starts heckling me, it's one thing to ride a hard tail that is a hard tail. It's another to ride a heavier FS frame dragging a bunch of dead weight with no benefits. And oh yeah, the BB was so low I kept hitting my pedals on roots, rocks, every time I pedaled around a corner.

Oh well, my time was right around an hour, good enough for 6 out of 13 in the Cat 3 19-29 age group.

I took a pic of the start, which was a sandy disaster:



And the finish which was up hill (bastards):





And for the hell of it, here's a couple pictures I took last week of the Wells Ave training crit in Newton, MA. I didn't race last week in this but will this coming week. Looks like fun.

C Group (Cat 5's) at the start:



C Group coming around the lap after a prime:



My big goal for next week is to finish with the pack. This week's goal was to finish and not be DFL. I set my sights low. Hopefully my next MTB result will be better still when I race with a fully functioning damned bike, although five top 5 finishes and they make you upgrade to Cat 2, so maybe I should just be happy with 6th :dunce:

Nice! Where's next weeks race?

Nice work Marc! Sucks about the blown rear shock. I had an air shock that didn't hold air once on my old Rockhopper FSR and that was no fun, I definitely wouldn't want to race like that.

I forgot about mountain bike racing at Winding Trails. Thanks for the reminder, Marc! Way to go for getting it done even with a broken shock today!

WoodCore said:

Nice! Where's next weeks race?

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There's another Root 66 race in Taunton, MA on Saturday, but the Cat 3 is only 5 miles and I have a historical society meeting to go to anyway. I'm doing the Wells Ave Training Crit on Sunday instead on the road bike. Next MTB race I do will probably be EFTA #1 on May 23.

bvibert said:

Nice work Marc! Sucks about the blown rear shock. I had an air shock that didn't hold air once on my old Rockhopper FSR and that was no fun, I definitely wouldn't want to race like that.

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Yeah, I realized after the race the shock is actually stuck compressed, which means the seal between the positive and negative chambers probably went. Fortunately it's a simple fix and about six bucks for a new seal kit.

I thought a stuck down situation was a big deal and required factory service to fix? Or is that something else I'm thinking of? If it is just the air seal that's the problem then at least that's an easy fix (from what I hear).

bvibert said:

I thought a stuck down situation was a big deal and required factory service to fix? Or is that something else I'm thinking of? If it is just the air seal that's the problem then at least that's an easy fix (from what I hear).

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Factory service? What's that? :dunce:

Marc said:

Factory service? What's that? :dunce:

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I'm with you there, but when I read warnings that the shock could explode in your face if you try to disassemble it I tend to listen.

http://www.foxracingshox.com/fox_tech_center/owners_manuals/07/eng/rear_shocks/stuck_down_shock.htm

Glad to hear it's something that can be fixed by mere mortals. :beer:

bvibert said:

I'm with you there, but when I read warnings that the shock could explode in your face if you try to disassemble it I tend to listen.

http://www.foxracingshox.com/fox_tech_center/owners_manuals/07/eng/rear_shocks/stuck_down_shock.htm

Glad to hear it's something that can be fixed by mere mortals. :beer:

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It's not going to explode just because you dissasemble it. The worst that can happen is it will try to fire off the sleeve, but from what I understand, you put a rag through the rear eyelet to catch it. I believe I actually had a similar problem with my smaller, simpler float RL on my GT once. You just don't want to put your face in the firing line. The scary language is lawyer shielding. I should probably get in the habit of greasing these stupid things more often.

Found a pic online that some dude took. I look kinda dazed. And I'm pretty sure this was the first lap. Oh well.

Nice, tossing everyone the bird and all! Looked like a tight battle for last;-)

Yeah, 315 beat me by like 2 minutes, but he was in a different age group.

You look very confused, it's still a pretty cool picture though.

Apparently my confused look is the same as my "don't throw up even though I feel like death" look, which is what it really was.

Marc said:

Apparently my confused look is the same as my "don't throw up even though I feel like death" look, which is what it really was.

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You were worried about throwing up on the first lap?? uke:

BTW - Did you get your shock fixed?

You must of really been confused, looks like you put your socks on your arms

bvibert said:

BTW - Did you get your shock fixed?

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Still waiting for the seal kit to come in.

o3jeff said:

You must of really been confused, looks like you put your socks on your arms

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Well I tried to put them on my feet but they had holes in both ends. But I still wanted to use them so I went with the arm option.