Brian Dickey 2009 Race Reports
Bonelli SoCal State Rd #1
Unfortunately after 6 weeks of training, the last 3 weeks with a low grade infection, I got severely sick 3 days before the event.
After seeing my doctor and getting reluctant permission to race, I was not able to get out of bed for two days. When Sunday came around and I could
barely walk strait, I made the only decision that made since and stayed home. Oh well, I guess I will just have to make it up at round #2!
Keyesville Classic
Keyesville was my first race as an expert and I was a bit nervous not knowing how to prepare for the longer distance. I decided that I should approach it just
as I did for hte sport races last year. After a good warm-up on the trainer I rolled to the line. The conditions were perfect with some mositure left in the ground and about a high 60's temperature.
I started in the second row and and got a goo jump in about 6th place. Up the first little climb, I stayed in this position, but right over the top I passed
5 riders to jump into 2nd before a sharp downhill right hand turn. I followed the leader for a bit as we climbed until I determined that he was pulling away form the field.
I then backed off and until the chase group caught me. At this point we started climbing up the main fireroad climb and the top 10 riders were spresding out a little. I was struggling
a little to match the lead group pace, but was still just hanging on. Close to the top, there was a slight drop followed by a steep uphill. The lead group got past a slower female rider
and I was left to pass her on the climb. I misjudged her and my speed and ended up trying to pass her on the right, but caught her rear wheel in the process. I twisted my handlebars
and was forced to try and straiten them at that point. I got passed by a least 6 riders right there. I jumped back on and rode to the top, but the handlebars were still crooked and I stopped again
and this time got them strait while being passed by 2 more riders. Now very winded and frustrated at myself, I started to hammer the downhill. I started catching and passing riders very quickly, especially the ones on hardtails
as the course was fast with a lot of G-outs that allowed me to make up time. I finised the first lap feeling good and pushing to try and continue to reel in people. On the climb of the 2nd lap I got passed by 1 guy that was
motoring and I could not keep up (most likely the winner of the 45+ expert class), but other than that I continued to pass people.
Starting the final lap I still felt strong and decided to try and pick up the pace. I climbed the main fireroad climb in the big ring and passed 3 or 4 riders in the process. Continuing to push
until the end I caught a very large rider on the 2nd smaller climb a few miles from the finish. When he saw me he stood up and powere up the climb. I followed staying seated and smooth, but couldn make up any distance.
Over the top I put the power down and caught him in a couple of corners. As I was passing he asked me if this was my last lap and not knowing why he was asking, I said yes. He looked relieved and slowed down at that point. Turns out
he was a pro and had another lap to do! I was very happy at that point to not be in that class and know I only had about 5 minutes left. I finished 10 out of 22 riders in my class (30 - 44 expert) and about 18th overall expert. Not bad for
my first race coming off being sick. I can't wait for Fontana!!
Southridge SoCal State Rd #2
Southridge would be my first real test as an expert as it was a national and all the best show up. I got there early and followed my typical warmup routine and just as I finished up on the trainer a man came by and said the start was delayed 1/2 hour. Now that I was fully ready to go and had 50 minutes until the start, I decided to go ride the first part of the course to see if there were any sections that I needed to worry about. I took off expecting something similar to last year, but as we got close to the bottom of the downhill course, the course made a sharp right and started heading up what I later found out was called the wall. It was a steep loose trail directly up the face of the large mountian backdrop of the park. I started laughing inside to think tht this climb was actually part of the course and that we had to go up it in the first mile. I struggled to climb it and there were sections that were only rideable because of the solid granite rock we were on. It continued for quite some time and only got steeper but unfortunately it also got looser. I struggled, but made the whole climb without stopping. After that I rolled back to the start and tried to get my heart rate back under control (ya right!)
I lined up near the front on the second row behind one of the top 5 finishers from Bonelli. The start was fast and I no longer could gap the field like in the sport class last year. I struggled with my clip a little and found myself in about 10 place. Right before the first steep bump a picked up a few places and then right after I got a few more. When we hit the climb I was in the top 5. I followed up the climb until we hit the real loose stuff and then I and everyone else jumped off and started running. Considering this was completely insane, I felt decent. I started down the other side and back up hte next short climb on last years class winner, who seemed content to let the 3 rabbits in front of him go. I stayed with him for about half of hte reast of the first lap climbs, but then started to slowly loose his wheel. by the time I got to the top I had dropped a few more positions. I flew down the down sections and finished my first lap well somewhere around 6th place.
On the second lap, I tried to maintain the pace I had and was doing well. Up the steap section Johnny Omara came by me pounding on the pedals. I expected him to come by very smooth and controlled, but he was snorting and stomping spradically on the pedals like a mere mortal. Of course he was the only expert I saw that rode this whold climb during the race! I was caught by a few riders that would pass me on the climbs and then I would pass back on the downhills. Lap 3 whent basicaly the same except that my bike was acting funny.
On lap 4 I struggled with the hill for the first time having to resort to walking up instead of my slow jog I was doing earlier. I continued to push to the finish, but my fork had quit working and had about 1/2 inch of travel. I blew the front wheel out on a tight bermed corner but got back up rather quickly not loosing any places. I was starting to cramp every time I stopped pedaling to dab a foot and almost tossed it away again when we dropped off an embankment onto a fireroad. I must have looked very funny with my feet out of the pedals and wheels off the ground barly staying up right as I careened to the bottom. Somehow I saved it and started pedaling again. At this point people ware starting to close on me and fearing that I would loose places I decided to throw caution to the wind to save my position. Unfortunately on a slightly fast single track section I hit a bump wrong and my forks refuesed to help me sending me on a spactacular yard sale for about 25 feet. By the time I picked myself and the bike up I notice that my chain had tangled around every part of the bike possible. After about a minute I finally got it untangled and started rolling again. I finished in 9th place out of ~30 riders and lost 2 places during that last fall. It was a good results and it was nice to see a little blood at the finish of the race. After all this is mountian biking right?
Sagebrush Safari SoCal State Rd #3
Sagebrush was a race I would rather forget. On the start line I was talking to a friend that also moved up from sport and David Calta about flats and how I have never had a problem and do not carry air or a tube during the races. The race started and the first 3 miles were paved flat road where no one wanted to try a break. We rode in a paceline and I tried to stay in the top 8 positions. This led into the first of the 3 major climbs on the 26 mile loop course. I hit the bottom in about 4th place. I held that position for a bit but by the half way point I dropped a couple places. Having never raced here before and staring up at a never ending paved road (similar to the Black Bitch but unending) I was hesitant to push any harder. As we neared what was the top quarter,I dropped a few more positions to somewhere around 12th. Dave Calta was the last rider past me and I followed him as I recovered. As he was on a hardtail he waived me by and I proceeded to turn up the wick on the rooling slightly down hill section.
This is the point where everyting started to go horribly wrong. I had lowered my air pressure slightly for this race to try and improve tire traction and unfortunately after having rebuilt my fork very late the night before I routed my front brake cable on the wrong side of the fork arch. As I approached a bump in the trail I accelerated and went to jump it. As my fork compressed fully the brake line caught my front tire and pulled the handlebars hard to the left. I jumped the wrong direction and as the trail turned right I shot up and over the berm, tumbling to a stop. As this was happening, David came up on me and his fron tire caught something sharp on my bike and sliced and blew out. It was quite an unbelievable moment as team Colavita had 2 team members almost in the top 10 one second and then the next we were laying on the ground staring at each other. I checked with David to make sure he was alright, apologized profusly for taking him out and proceeded to go faster to make up for the mistake (I obviously did not know about the low tire or the brake line at the time). About 8 corners later I hit a bigger bump with much more speed and the bike was pulled severly to the left leaving me flying down the trail to take the entire landing with my head. Unfortunately I didn't quite clear the next bump with my head and this really slowed me down. After I picked myself out of the dirt found my glasses and my bike I tried to get going again. I was a little dazed, so I just crused a bit. Finally we started climbing a single track section and my head started to clear. I started to catch and pass some riders and was getting back up to speed when the trail turned back down hill. I immediately noticed that my front tire was low and tried to roll lightly to continue. Unfortunately it was completely flat and off the rim within a 1/4 mile.
At this point, being 7 miles from the car in the middle of no where, I started rethinking the conversation on the starting line about not carying a spare tube! After a 45 minute walk back to the 4 corners pit area, a very nice person gave me a tube and I was able to ride the last 3 miles back to the start/finish. I even got to finish close to my class mates! Since then I have re-routed my brake line changed tires and set up a spare tire kit for race days. Oh ya and I vowed to never talk about this race again!!
Santa Ynez SoCal State Rd #4
Finally something went right this season! Bike setup, weather, course, training all alligned. Off the start I got a so so jump, but stayed tight on the inside of the first turn and dropped into fourth wheel. I was happy to motor along first 1/2 mile of flat double track there. Turned up on ~100ft climb to the ridge and the leader (has won almost every race this year) opened a gap on the pack. The person behind me jumped up to second and I was happy to let him go as my heart rate went to 185 thirty seconds after the start and we were heading strait for the hard single track climbs. We rolled off the ridge back by the start area and were headed up the fireroad the climb where I went by the 2 riders on a short steep grinder placing me in 3rd. So for so good, but still running well in the red zone! As we continued we started up the steep single track climb, the leader was already out of site and second place was ever so slowly pulling away. Content to ignore everything around me and concentrate on getting up the climb alive, I somehow managed to hold my own. Now that I was at the top and completely exhausted, I tried to recover, but to no avail as the next climb came up way too quickly and I was having to spend alot of energy passing the next class while going up in the rough. near the top of this climb I lost a few positions, but tried to keep my head down and continue working. As the last half of the loop was either down or close to flat with one minor climb I continued to work. Traffic and passing riders or being passed made it hard to keep track of my position, so I just continued on to finish the lap.
The course was hardpack, fast with only 800ft elevation gain per lap (but most of it was steep). The second lap always seems to be difficult for me to stay focused, but I put my head down and pulled myself up the climbs fairly well. Once over the 2nd climb I realized I was over half way done and started to push harder. Nearing the end of this lap I caught Scott from Simi Valley Cycles. I started to razz him and he put the hammer down. We worked together trading the lead and pushing the pace for each other. After another perfect pit (Thanks Vince!), I gulped down a bottle in 4 or 5 swigs and Scott and finished lap 2 side by side.
Scott continued to hammer the uphill and I followed as best as I could shouting encuragement as much for me as it was for him. We rode the single track uphill together and by the top we realed in 2 large groups of about 6 to 8 riders each. Up the final part of the climb I passed Scott and buried it to try and bridge up. I caught and passed a few of the first group and closed on 2 platinum teamates at the bottom of the 2nd climb, one of which was in my class. I followed a bit back to not alert them that I was closing, but near the top the stronger of the 2 took off. Since the other rider was in my class I continued to follow. As we crested the top of the hill I shifted up a few gears, stood up, ignored the cramping in the quads and motored by. I powered down the back side of the hill and put some good time into him. As I continued to keep the pace high to keep from letting him close, I kept passing riders. I rolled across the line at 2 hours and 9 minutes and came in 4th place in my class. I even stayed for the podium presentation and got an award trinket! Almost makes all the training worth it, almost!
Big Bear SO#1 SoCal State Rd #5
Santa Barbara Bike Fest SoCal State Rd #6
Rim Nordic SoCal State Rd #7
Big Bear SO#2 SoCal State Rd #8