Crit’n and Podiums and Such. Or, a mid-summer round up of Loving The Pain in multiple ways in the 513.

Unless you live under a rock or in a cave, you know the Midwest has seen an exceptionally wet spring/early summer. Actually, if your cave or rock were in the Midwest you knew it was wet. You probably drowned. So, thanks to the rain our summer mountain bike racing got off to a late start.

Northern OH was actually blessed with a decent first week of June so the folks racing the Mohican 100 lucked out this year and avoided another mud-fest. A good number of Rogues and Friends of Rogue raced both the 100K and 100 mile versions. Huge kudos to all those who raced! It is on my short list of races I want to do it just has to fit the schedule.
Late June saw the MTB Time Trial series start up at England Idlewild. This being the first year for the series at that park there were a few bugs to work out but overall it was a huge success. D-Train Roosen (nee Grosch) took home 2nd overall! End of June also saw Stephen Huddle depart on his ITT of the Tour Divide (see Prior post and comments).

July is when the racing really started though. July 10th was the East Fork OMBC race. Last season we brought home multiple podiums and a 2 wins so we had plenty to race for this year. The day started with us hanging one ginormous Rouge Racing Project banner on our tent near the finish. Our other ginormous banner was hung on the turn onto the new section of singletrack ON THE COURSE. Yeah, we were that team! Matt stepped up and raced in the big boy race with the experts while most of us stayed put in the sport (cat 2) category. Ted, Barry, and Dave represented in the Novice group. The sport race started with me, Butch, and a group of about 4 others taking the hole shot. With about ¼ mile to go to the singletrack I got on the front and tried to put down the hammer. No big gaps but we all hit the singletrack together with a decent gap back to the chasers. I was slowly moving backward through the field as the 40+ group was catching me. Jeff and Becher came by me about halfway through lap 1. I figured I had settled in to about 10th overall in the 30-39 group and was pretty much all alone in the woods. Oh, did I mention it was Africa hot outside? 95+ with 95% humidity. I exit the 9 miles of singletrack and begin the 2 miles of road with 2 guys on my wheel. I dispatch them on the paved climb and have a huge gap back to the closest chaser. Feeling pretty good I see Evan and one other in front of me. I close the gap to them on road and am about 200 feet back on the singletrack. Knowing I have them reeled in I settle in to a comfortable pace. Except that is when disaster strikes. Exiting a small bridge my back wheel catches a root, handlebars clip tree, I dab my foot to keep from going down and instantly cramp in my calf. DAMN! Stop, rub out the cramp, drink, and take a GU. No one passes me thanks to the gap I had from the road, but I hear ‘em coming. As I struggle to recover a few folks pass me. I settle in on a wheel for a while of a younger racer until we hit the tech trail and I hit a bump and hear a really loud crack from my saddle. Crap, now what? Fearing the worst, I stop and see my saddle is pointed nose up about 30 degrees. Not broken on the rails, only bent (squished is a better description) so I try to pound it level. No luck. I ride home with a cramp, a very uncomfortable and broken saddle, and a 17th place finish. Turns out Butch had the same cramps and wound up top 10ish or so. RRP was represented on the podium though with a win in the 50+ novice from B-Huge, 3rd in Sport 40+ for Jeff, and 5th in 40+ for Becher.

This past weekend saw the running of the first ever Hueston Woods XC Classic. I sat this one out but Jeff was 2nd in 40+ Cat 2, Darrin 2nd and Dave P. 3rd in Cat 2 30-39, J-Roo took 2nd in Expert women, and Butch came in 5th in Cat 2 30-39. We had a few more race but unsure of their final finishes. Again, it was hot, hot, hot! Also, congrats to James Billiter and “local legend” Marty Sanders for their 2nd and 3rd place finishes in expert men.

Sandwiched in between those 2 races was race #1 of the Mainstrasse Crit series. This was the first time racing on the road for each of us 4 RRP racers. We represented pretty well all things considered. Jeff was on pace to score points before an untimely flat, I was lapped with only 4 to go, Butch had a solid mid-pack finish and Ted was super pleased with his race proclaiming afterward “Not DFL! That’s a win, baby!” I figure anytime you leave a cat 5 crit with no broken body parts and no broken bike parts that is a successful race. Add in the fact we were racing on cobblestones (only in the turns, thank you very much city of Covington!) and I will take it every time! Some pics of us trying to fit in with the roadies are below.