Looking Back/Looking Ahead - 2009 Retrospective The Year of Rain

Once again it is that time of the year where I reflect on the year past, all that was accomplish (or not accomplished) and wonder what lay in store for the coming year.
As always this year kicked off with the traditional New Year’s Day ride and we were blessed with temps in the single digits and wind chill that sent the mercury into negative territory. Despite the conditions there was a respectable turn out and also the start of a tradition of bashing Hawaiian Mike for failing to make the Sunday ride.
The winter proved to be a metamorphosis of sorts where I came to the realization that 26” wheels were now of a bygone era and it was time to step up the singlespeed to a 29er. It was hard to part with my old steed, after all this bike was my first Indy Fab, had carried me to the finish in La Ruta and powered me across the plains of the Klien Karoo to become the first singlespeed to complete the Cape Epic. Despite all of the nostalgia it was time for a new girl and the irony of it all was I sold the bike to the teammate that bailed on me for the 2009 Cape Epic and he was going to take it back to South Africa for a go at the race with gears.

This year all it ever seemed to do was rain and rain and then rain even more. It proved to be a pivotal year that tested the mental toughness as the troops were forced to repeatedly hit the trails of Stewart in downpours and face countless miles of mud before settling into traditional post ride growler debriefs. It was on one particularly bad day that Friar Rossi and C-Dubs were the only ones to show and rather then go at it with each other on the trail (the norm) a true bonding occurred and born out of the loins of bad weather was the newest rediscovered trail aptly named R-Dubs with the featured “Cliff of Death”, a nice 20 foot drop if you missed the line.

In terms racing it was very much an up and down year with the initial disappointment of missing the Cape Epic taking more out of me then I realized. Some of the spark came back with Singlespeed-a-Palooza, a race that is destined to be one of the East Coast classics. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t catch that can of PBR hanging off the front of the bike

The Stoopid 50 was just that – Stoopid – lots of rocks, lots of trees, lots of climbing....everything that is going to hurt and it sure did but it was a great help in building up the technical skills (which is a distinct weakness). Onto the Dark Horse Gallup, personally I hate XC racing but with all of the rain the course offered up the best mud fest around and the opportunity to ambush Friar Rossi at the mud holes was too good to pass up so I rode, got real muddy and had a great time – to me this is what mountain biking is all about – mud, moar mud and then beer with you muddy mates during and after the ride.

Cool wet conditions continued for most of the summer with the heat and humidity making its appearances for the week that covered the Wilderness 101 and Dark Horse 40. Humidity and I have a mutual hatred and on and both races provided a lot of it and my results reflected such with my W101 time 35 minutes more on the course then last year and off the podium. The Dark Horse 40 was the mountain bike equivalent of the Bataan Death March with a heat/humidity index well over 100 and shattered riders all over the course. The saving grace was the Sirens of Stewart handing out ice cold PBRs at the 7 mile mark of each lap. The saving grace for the year was the Shenandoah 100 with its 14000’ of climbing where a good chunk of the Dark Horse team made the journey south to lose their dirty century virginity. It was a massive success with fantastic conditions, a new personal best (sub 10 hrs) and everyone on the team making the finish. The 24 hrs of Moab ended up as expected, all fun and a real beating on the singlespeeds but everyone that made it was in agreement – it was the best mtb trip any of us had ever done. And the grand finale of the year was Beer Cross, destined to be an annual NECS classic.

Now to looking ahead, since I am still sorting out issues with a lame hip a lot of the coming season is up in the air. Of course there will be Singlespeed-a-Palooza where I will be making an appearance as Thor God of Thunder, but new on the horizon is the 6 Hours of Stewart (at long last a nice endurance race early in the year and right in my backyard) and of course there is the Wilderness 101 where I will be going for an 8th straight finish. Still to be sorted is one final shot at a new multi day stage race (think BC) and if all goes well Burnin’ at the Bluff with the rest of Team Seagal. One thing I do know is another year of having fun and riding bikes is in the cards.