Kickapoo Bash

A variety of scheduling conflicts this season have led to me doing most of my racing out of state. So, when the Moonlight Ramble ran into my Cape Girardeau plans, I found a race outside Champaign, IL the following weekend to make it up to myself. On Sunday morning, Christopher, the Schweiking and myself loaded up the Subaru and drove north to Kickapoo state park in Oakwood Illinois, not really knowing what to expect out of a race and series I had never attended before.

A bit of preride showcased the trail's tightly knit network of singetrack the wove in and out of trees and doubled back on itself. A few short 25% pitches for some sting and some wide open field sections all added up to make for an exciting ride. I had no idea how much this place would take out of me a few hours later.

The race began and I actually had a good start for the first time this season. I lined up in front and settled into fifth when the race started. As the top three riders began to surge, I moved into fourth before we hit the woods. I was feeling fantastic and weaving in and out of the trees as professionally as possible and when I hit the first section of cornfield, I had a decent gap on fifth. I tried to put it down to make the gap stick and kept my head down until the first major climb. It was so steep that it was nearly unrideable and I had to unclip and run. It didn't do anything to my progress, because everyone else had to do the same thing, but it wasn't the best for my mental momentum. Another little bobble on a washed out creek bed climb a mile or so later had me redlining with anxiety. The gap was still in place at the top of this climb and I tried to stay steady for the rest of the lap. The nature of the trails at Kickapoo can be very confusing as to where you stand in relation to your competition. It twists so much that you can see people ten feet away who are actually two minutes behind you. I have never ridden somewhere where so much trail was milked out of so little land. The result of this design was a trail system that was certainly voluminous in mileage, but lacked a bit in flow. Many sections encouraged high speed and these were often followed almost immediately by a hairpin turn through some tight tress with an occasional log in the middle of the turn for no apparent reason. This constant interruption of flow had me on and off the gas constantly and with no extended descents, there was no place recovery for the entirety of the eleven mile lap.

Toward the end of lap one, I was passed into fifth by a rider on a singlespeed. I tried to hold the wheel, but I was more focused on staying steady for the rest of the race, which was going to be the longest XC race for me to date. The lap continued to twist on itself so I was never sure where the people I heard far off in the woods were in relation to me. The end of the lap featured a brutally steep dirt climb that had me hammering the granny for the first time this year (and actually needing it) and if there had been a bit a of rock or moisture on the climb, it too would have been unrideable. This climb led to the final secition of twists which paralleled the opening twists, adding a new layer of confusion

The lap concluded with a mile and a half gravel doubletrack run through a cornfield before reentering the maze of singletrack. I had a nice clear gap at this point in the race and I entered the second lap reasonably confident of holding fifth place to the line. As the second lap went on, I felt a bit of the power draining and I just tried to keep the 44 turning over as consistently as possible in and out of the turns. I was feeling good until another rider caught and passed me near the end of the lap. I let him go as I knew that going any deeper to hold on would have been an ill advised decision with another thirteen or so miles to ride. I completed the second lap a bit down on my first lap, but still relatively consistent and set about my third and final lap.

If only this race had been two laps. Not only would it have been consistent with all the other expert races I've done this year, but I would have been able to have finished strong and been pleased with how I raced and my result. Unfortunately, there was a third eleven mile lap to contend with and I began it hoping to hold my position and not succumb to the fatigue that was beginning to creep in. Toward the beginning of the lap, I heard someone coming and it took a couple miles for them to pass me. At this point, I was running on empty and hoping to finish what was turning out to be an epic race. As the lap went on, I felt worse and worse, culminating in a cramping right hamstring that made power output a bit of a challenge. I tried to shake it out, but it took about five minutes of soft pedaling before it simmered down. Now I was trying to hang on, finish and hold off any remaining challengers, but I was through. A line from a Ting Tings song that goes "ten minutes to go and I wanna go home" seemed appropriate and circled my brain for a while. I began to curse every twist and turn as unnecessary and wanted desperately to see the cornfield and the finish line. When it finally came, I had completed the third lap a full ten minutes down on my first two and finished the race in seventh place.

Seventh place is a respectable result, but considering how I started and how I lost substantial speed in the last lap, it was difficult to be satisfied. It was the longest XC race I've done and reexamining my nutrition show that a lack of Perpetuem may have contributed to the hunger and fatigue that overtook me on the final lap. In retrospect, it was a decent race and I have been able to identify a few areas to work on for 2009, which can never be a bad thing. Ultimately, I have to be satisfied with pushing myself to the limit and keeping my resolve and still managing a top ten. Hopefully, if the noted weaknesses are addressed, '09 might see more consistency and less power outages. Perhaps with a renewed focus, I will be able to assess my collection of strengths at the end of the next race...