Coconut Cup - Markham/FSC Make up Race

After the strong performance at Oleta, I decided to go with the same training program for the Markham race. The temperature was much cooler and made for a very good week of training on the mtn and road bike.

After reflecting on the race at Oleta I understood that I was at a disadvantage in having Tim, Trent, and Sean together because they are on the team and they can really take advantage of the group. I was so new at riding in the front group, that I was honestly not watching the team dynamics unfold. Now, that I have replayed it many times in my head I decided to make sure that I shake things up if my form would allow me for Markham.

On Tuesday morning I went out to Markham and did course how it was set up for the last race we did in March, which was the Hospice 100. I was not really sure if he could run it much different than that without things getting discombobulated. (Damn, that word is complicated). I did 3 laps, and they all were promising laps as the power was good on all three laps. Man, I remember at the end of June when I was as the end of my road racing campaign, and I was just crawling up the climbs at Markham with my legs screaming. Now, I’m ripping up the climbs effortlessly. When I finished that lap, I knew that I would have another good race. How good? I’m not sure. I know that Mark G has performed really well at this course. Tim is the king of Markhum for the 30+ Experts. Sean and Greg are going to ride well just because they are in this serious love affair for the State Championship. Me? I’m this dude that is coming into his form and Markham just happens to be his home course.

Another added variable was Dave was still unsure if he was going to combine the Pro, 19-29 with the 30-39 Experts. Having all of us together can get confusing because we really aren’t racing with them. That means we would all be watching the 30+ Experts that are scattered in with the 19-29 Experts. That will be way more stressful, if someone is in the way when a move is made. Plus, once the FSC Season is over and we continue with the Coconut Cup, most of the racers outside of the South Florida won’t be in attendance. So I was not sure how it was going to unfold, but I would prefer we all start together. In 2004 we had Quietwaters in the FSC, and South Florida smashed it taking almost all spots on the podium in every category. In 2005 we lost Quietwaters due to the Hurricane damage. So we were back to Oleta, but that is not the definitive course for South Florida mtn biking, it’s Markham! And we had been lobbying for a race at Markham, so I was actually happy that the make-up race for the FSC was at Markhum. They would get a chance to truly ride on the course that we are comfortable with, even if it was tamed down.

On Thursday it looked like it was race day as all the top Experts from South Florida were out there. I jumped into a lap with Tim and Joe V, and we put in a really good effort. After that lap was when I found out that the lap would be something like what we have never seen. When Oscar and Adam were explaining it to me, I almost couldn’t believe how ambitious it sounded. Of course everything they talked of was in our favor, but it was the first time that so much of the course was put into the race. And, most of the very challenging sections were added. I decided I would come back out on Friday and do an extremely easy ride so I can get an extra night of sleep at having the jumpstart on the course. I went in and did another lap with Henry and Tim, then called it day.

I went home and decided to give the legs the “Polar Express”, and bought three 20lbs bags of ice. I had road harder than normal, and I wanted to make sure that the legs were very fresh and not stale. I have to say this is a really, really, really, painful 10 ten minutes. This will most likely be my last time I do this, as it is just so painful, but it is beneficial. Plus, Mrs. P gets a real kick out of seeing me suffer. If you haven’t tried it, it’s at least worth a shot. It looks like this before the pain starts.

The next day I get out of work, and drive over to Markham to put in 2 easy laps. Dave W. and Dave Berger and all the other volunteers were out putting down the tape. I get the first hand scoop on all the sections they are putting in. The conflict came at the gun range (also named: Rattlesnake Canyon). They were having a debate, and asked my opinion. They were thinking of starting on the fireroad on the southside then cutting in at the halfway point, but at some point the course would crisscross. When I heard that, I said I was not in favor of anything that would have the riders cross each other. At some point you are going to have 2 riders that are hard charging and neither one of them are going to stop. Plus, I’m almost for sure that it’s against NORBA rules to have the course do that. Then they said they were going to cut across before Fred’s Folley. I finished up the lap and called it day.

I still had this crank problem, and I still had Wes’s Santa Cruz on my patio. He sent me a text saying I could keep it as long as I wanted to, and boy I’m grateful for that. The next morning I went over to Bob’s shop to put back on my Rotor Crank, and he found out what the problem was. The tube that goes into the bottom of the bike was a little too small, and that is were the play came from. So, I went back home, put back on Wes’s XTR crank, stopped by W. Broward Bike shop to have them screw in the bolt, and I was off to Markham. As soon as I got there, Adam and Oscar explained that the course was different than before. They put in Rock Garden, Armadillo backward, and all of the freaking Gun Range. Wow! There must have been some really rough negotiations to get all the difficult section in the race, BRAVO! Now that course has real fangs, 4 laps of that is gonna set you back like a big dawg if you aren’t from here. If you are a local, then you are just jumping for joy. If you are not a local you are not going to like those 3 sections, especially the gun range. It’s difficult, sketchy, technical, dangerous, and anaerobic.

I chatted a bit with Tim, Trent and the single track killer Sean. Tim really wanted for our group to be separated from the young class. I actually wanted the race to be a little discombobulated (Just looking for another chance to use that word). I know he was disappointed about his mechanical last week, and this was his last chance to win a race hands down. So the 30+ Experts racing along was the easy way for those 3 guys to control the action. I would have to give this more thought. I got my riding gear ready and went in with Henry, and Jimbo. It was so much traffic that it was very hard to get a good feel for the course at all. Then at the halfway point we practically came to a complete stop as we rode up on a group of 10 riders trying to navigate Red Rock. I decided to wait a little while before doing my next lap, because I wanted the traffic to die down. About 45 minutes later I went in and got a real feel for the lap, and I was able to get it to flow.

After I got home, I was really inspired about how the course was set up and I started brainstorming. At Oleta I was happy to be able to stay at the group, but I don’t even like that course. I love Markham, so I decided to get a little more ambitious about the race. Then, I thought about how I wanted the race to go down if I could control things. I know that I didn’t want to wait for Tim & Company to set us up, so I want to break that up a bit. It was only one way to do it, and it was to get off the front and put some pressure on the group and hope to shake things up.

I also had decided to change up my meal set-up for Markham. I was reading the blog of Danielle Musto, and if you like my blog at all, then you are going to absolutely love hers. She was talking about this book called Endurance Athlete’s Guide to Success and I found some excerpts on the web. What I did accidentally at Oleta was I ate at 8:30, which turned out to be the right thing. The books states to eat 3 hrs before your race, and I had been eating 90 minutes before my competition my entire career. So for this race I decide to get up at 6:15, and hit up the Waffle House for South Western Omelette, with OJ.

I then spent some time with one of the Biologist at my university to get some real answers about hydration and muscle cramping. I wanted to see what it would be like to hear the information from a purely scientific standpoint. I didn’t want to find out from another Expert what works for them, I wanted an unbiased opinion. Plus, last time I check there are no Expert riders that are Scientist. Professor C. explained that getting any muscle cramping is a result of being depleted of oxygen. The first and foremost reason to be depleted would be because you have not drank enough water, or you are dehydrated already. The next one was new to me, and the other reason that your muscles cramp up is the body can’t deliver oxygen to the deepest tissue of the muscles under a very heavy workload. Wow! We all can say that it has happened, but to hear it that way shined new light on it for me. We all have cramped up, backed off, and it went away. At that heavy workload the body can’t deliver oxygen to that certain part of the muscle tissue, and that is why that particular section cramps up. I can say if I do a really hard road ride, that my left calf may cramp up, but not my quads or hamstrings. It’s not because I’m dehydrated, it’s because at that intensity my body can’t deliver oxygen to the calf efficiently. He explained that side stitches (cramps in the rib cage) in runners is so prevalent, because the oxygen deliver system my not reach the deepest of tissue in the mid section when running at a high speed. He also explained that ingesting (as he put it) gu’s or gels don’t help with hydration at all. That will help with prolonging your ability to maintain power. He also stated that if you had 3 meals the day before, then taking in 110 calories of gels per lap won’t do much good. He thinks that gu’s and gels are a trend that the companies have made up. I’m not sure about that, but I did walk away more enlightened.

I get a really good night’s sleep, and I wake up 10 minutes before the alarm went off and I was up and off to
Waffle House on Griffin Road. There were no customers so I got my omelette in less than 5 minutes. I was back home before 7am, so I laid in the bed and listened to my playlist on my ipod for the race. That’s right I said it, “ipod”. I do listen to my ipod as I have pinned the headphones to my helmet straps and they sit just below my cheeks bones, so “ I got tunes”. I showed it to Dave, so I’m go to GO. I made the second half of my playlist more inspiration since I would need it. By the time I get to “ The Final Countdown”, I’ll be in my last lap. That is followed by the main them songs to Last of the Mohican, Man in the Iron Mask, The Last Samurai, and Batman Returns. I know you had figured me for a gangsta rapper. Nope! Wrong black dude.

I’m feeling so hype and ready to race that I decided to ride over to the park since it’s only 4.5 miles from the house and would give a fantastic warm-up. Mrs. P. would be making a stop at Starbucks, so I could get to the park before her and find a place to park. We both leave at the same time, and when I get to the entrance I roll up like I’m a car, pull out my money, and explain to the guy that I’m paying for a VW Jetta. He points and says, “That one?” Yeap and Damn I said. I need to think of a way to stall her. I then say, “OK, buddy, she has a yorkie in the car. So tell her if the yorkie is less than 1 yr old, then you have to check it for contamination, and I ride off. I look back and say, “Don’t let her go until I have crested that first hill, and I hit it. It works, and they manage to stall her. About 1 minute later she rolls up behind me, and rolls down the window. She says, “So I’ll dog as a freaking contamination. I should run you off the road”. We look at each other and share a laugh. We then park the car and chat a little. She has the most white, pop itunes playlist known to man on her playlist and I want to kill myself when she plays her song. I told her, if I here, “Too little, Too late” one more damn time I’m gonna eat her ipod myself. She says, “Your gonna need some fiber to push that out”. We both laugh, and I say, “Nice comeback”.

I ride over to Bob’s tent to get my shifting dialed in, since it’s a little slow to drop down into the last gear. I was not that concerned with it as I normally don’t use that gear, but he got it halfway operation for a quick fix. I ride around the warm-up loop and realize that the last turn to come back Wes is really sketchy, so I make a note to take it easy turning onto the fireroad. I then go into the rock garden, then up the dump to the end of armadillo. I finish out that section and it’s 9:25, and I had a good flush going so I’m ready. I get to the staging area and Dave is making a decision on if he is going to combine the categories. It’s quick, and decides to split us up. I’m more neutral, but Tim is delighted.

I go over to the starting line, and my thoughts are discombobulated (See, I can use that). Actually, I never get nervous, but I have a little bit of anxiety. I’m about to sell myself out on if I should go off the front. This course has fangs, and if I do too much, I’m going to really pay for it later. So I start thinking about my options. Should I sit it? Should I find a wheel? Should I go off the front? LaRue rides up next to me, and we chat a little as I’m still brainstorming and a little spaced out. I’m half listening to him, and when he says, “If I get to the Rock Garden before you, I’ll get through there pretty quickly”. I come right out of my daze and look at him. I was thinking, “That is not going happen”, but I just shook my head. Now that I know that he has thoughts of going in first, my plan is clear. I’ll be getting in before him, hoping that he will not hold the pace. If I gap the group, then I’m gonna gun it. In the matter of 15 seconds, my race tactics all came into place and I relaxed.

The 19-29 class totally got thrown off guard on the start. He said, are you ready? Then he immediately blew the whistle. He gave no countdown from 30 seconds, or 10 seconds. They actually went off the line looking at each other trying to figure out if it was real. They soon got into place, and started racing by the time they got to the fence. He gave us the 2 min warning, 1min, 30sec, then 10 sec, then the whistle. I roll off the front looking for a wheel. Sean gets the wholeshot followed by LaRue, Luiz M, and myself. We are going at a good clip, and noone is eager to make a move. About 200 meters from the Rock Garden I see LaRue move out of the paceline, “There’s the move”, and I look behind me and Tim is already moving out. I take off and pass everyone and gap them. I go into the Rock Garden first and I can see a Red/Black uniform behind me so I know Tim made his move stick also.

I was riding at a good clip, but not throwing it down and I had a gap. I exit the rock garden and hit the fireroad and I have at least 10 seconds on the group. I keep it going at the pace that I don’t think is all out, but I didn’t back off. I look back and they are clustered together like a school of fish. I drop into Armadillo and I get a nice flow going. I was happy to be in the section by myself because I was more than 1 bend ahead of them because the sections are tight. I have no anxiety about getting held up by anyone, so I just ride. I exit and turn left to the new section (washing machine), and by the time I drop into Alligator Alley I have extended that lead to 15 seconds. I keep it nice and steady the entire time, and after the sharp left turn out of the alley, I actually gun it. I wanted to get out of sight since they were letting me sit out there. I was not hammering, and I think they were waiting for me come back to them. I gun it all the way to Bermuda Triangle. When I come out of that section I can’t see them as I’m about to go into all the by-passes. I do the by-pass for Jet Ski Hill, and at the by-pass for Crime Scene and I lock up the rear brake as I make the turn while I’m sliding. Made it! Then I look up too early, and I hit a patch of sand that throws me off the bike. Shit! I jump back on and try to pedal, but my chain had dropped. I was about to get off, then I shifted to the big chain ring, and the chain caught the middle chainring and I shifted it back to keep it there and I took off. I went into Outback and when I made the left turn up the climb I could hear them rallying through the single track. When I crossed over Outback to go to the gunrange I gunned it again. I looked back and they were still tightly together like a frog’s bootyhole. Shit! Man, someone need to break that up. I think Tim wants the race, so the guys are content with seeing if he can bridge up to me.

I go into the gunrange really inspired, and I wanted to put some really pressure since I was feeling good. If I get a big enough gap, then this would be the section that where the discombobulating may began. I kept my heartrate and effort steady throughout the entire section, and I had gapped them even more as I took the fireroad back. I looked back and Trent and Sean were on the front. If they were on the front, that means they were going to hard charge it to catch me. With it being so much fireroad all the way back, I was bound to get caught if they worked together. So I kept is steady and by the time I got to the warm-up loop, Trent and Sean had bridged up to me. I actually shut it down and kept it steady once we went it, because I felt like they were going to break up the group. I come out of the warm-up loop and get my bottle and I go through the start/finish and I pull through. Trent and Sean surged and when they got through the fence they hit it. Ok, here’s the move and I jump on
Sean’s wheel as they charge it. Trent pulls through just around the Sean takes up the pace making, or sprinting. I look back and everyone is being spread down the fireroad in a scene of color destruction. That is what I was hoping for, to get things broken up and let every man fend for himself. I see Mark and Greg bridging up to us, and Tim is way back. I can tell the pace has been lifted bigtime and when I look down and my heartrate is 178bpm, I know that it is going down right now. My avg heartrate for the first lap was 167bpm, so I knew I was not going to even try to stay on this pace.

So I let them go as soon as we enter the Rock Garden. My mission was accomplish, and that was to shake things up, and there was no T-Wiz in sight, so the front group has lost one of the soldiers, or they left him behind. That means whatever plan they had before had been trumped by what they had put into motion right now. I’m up the fireroad to armadillo and I have a little bit of a gap on Mark and Greg. I want to let them by, because I know Greg is going for Sean, and Mark is good at his course. But I make a mistake at the steps and have to put a foot down, and Greg and Mark have to put a foot down also. We go down and round the bend to do the huge cement climb, and when I come around I see Greg laying on his freaking back. There is a rock that you have to navigate through and he must have hit it. I felt bad, because I know that I messed up his mode. That’s racing, and I’ll apologize to him after the race.

Now, I have Mark in front of me and he his charging it too. Damn! This shit has really hitting the propeller as everyone is riding like they want it. I’m putting myself under pressure trying to stay with him, and I can tell I’m over-reaching. So going into Outback I let him go, and it was smart on my part. Now, I know what it feels like before I blow. I could have stayed with him the rest of the lap, but I would have gave that back and more afterwards. I go into the gunrange and keep it smooth, and since I know every line in that place I almost lose track of things as it was so effortless. I gun it on the fireroad and keep it steady all the way back to the warm-up loop. Just before I get to the dump I see Trent pushing is bike with the front wheel in the air, and it’s tacoed. I kinda of get a second wind as I’m now in 3rd place. I didn’t ask for a free position courtesy of a crash out, but I’ll take it. I ride the warm-up loop with a little bit more enthusiasm. I get my second bottle and when I go through the fence Tim is going through the start/finish.

“There he is!” When I normally see Tim coming, that means I’m about to get caught and dropped. It happened in Tallahassee, Reddick, and Gainesville. The only thing I had going was I was at Markham, so I was going to put up a fight. I was out in nomans land by myself and I found my mode, and kept the pedals moving forward. Normally, I lose my ability to pedal and focus, but today, “I’m in it”. I can tell I’m a little bit slower, but I have not lost any power yet. I come out of the gun range and I can see Greg charging up to me. If he catches me by the end of the lap, I’ll see if I can sit on his wheel. He does catch me and he is hard charging it also. Shit! What is the deal with everyone hard charging it? If he is riding this hard, then why didn’t he catch me sooner. I would find out later from Tim that he a crashed hard in the gun range on the second lap, and that was the reason for the hold up. He goes into the warm-up loop and he immediately has me under pressure. I had just spent the last 45 minutes riding my speed, and he is riding about 5% faster as my heartrate goes up 10bpm again. I get my last bottle, and when Greg goes through the start finish he stands up and sprints out of the grass. Ouch, is what I thought if I were to even try that right now. Plus, no Tim in sight at this point, so I was able to hold him off for this lap. I then try to bridge up to Greg, but the legs are not in the mood, then I feel that tingle. That is the tingle to let me know that my minutes are numbered until something locks up. Shit! Let him go, hit the fluids in the bottle and finish out your lap. It’s time to ride smart now. I get into the rock garden and Greg has not seriously gapped me, but I’m reluctant to bridge up to him. This is also the point that there is a lot of traffic on the course. He is not 10 seconds ahead of me, but if I bury myself to sit on, I’m going to turn this tingle into a monster, so I keep it going. I’m losing power at this point, and before I finish Bermuda Triangle, Tim as almost completely bridge up to me. Shit! I’m caught, so I shut it down and decided if I can withstand the onslaught he is going to throw down in the gun range, then I may be able to outsprint him at the end.

I do all the by-passes and go into Outback, and Tim has not bridged up to me yet. What the hell? He should have caught me by now. The tingle has turned into a cramp that I could ride with, but I was apprehensive about ripping any climbs. As I as exiting Outback I see Tim and he says, “I almost had you”. I would found out later that he crashed on the by-pass to Crime Scene and that gave me at least another 15 seconds, but it wouldn’t mean anything as I know I was losing power That should have inspired me but the legs were hurting now. I go into the gun range to see if I can hold my 15 seconds, and if I can, I’m going to bury myself to stay away. By the time I got to the halfway point of the gun range Tim has almost completely bridged, so I let him pass me on the big climb after the U-turn point. “It’s going down to a sprint if he doesn’t drop me”, was the thoughts that were in my head then. Tim kept is steady, and he did not charge any climbs at all. When we came out of the gun range he slowed down, and I thought he was giving the legs a rest for the end, so I decided that was a good idea. We actually road and chatted, looked back to make sure noone was coming. Then I hear the “Final Countdown” playing on my ipod, and at this point I was counting down the minutes for this damn thing to be over.

Tim had already figured that we were out of the money, and may be that was why he slowed down. He kept saying his legs were hurting, then he said, “Whew”. Was he baiting me to charge it? Hell No that is not happening, as I was in survivor mode. At some point we all shut it down emotionally, and try to get out of there with what we have. We go into Red Rock and up the dump and down to the warm-up loop. On the fireroad Tim says, “Let’s split the money, if there is any”, and I immediately take the offer. Now, we are racing for points. The cramping is gone and I’m feeling like I can take him on a sprint, but that last turn is so loose and he might gap me coming out of there. Well, in the warm-up loop Tim suggested we come in together, and I took that offer also. Man, I’ll take any offer at this point. Anything that would prevent me from killing myself is cooler than a fan to me.

So we come out of the section and all they guys are expecting us to go for it, and at some point we both act like we were going to get out of the saddle and sprint, but quickly sit down. We cruise in and I pat him on the back for being a true sportsman. Most people would still compete for glory, and with both of us out of the money it was really no reason to act the donkey. I did ask him for the 4th place points since we were still trailing Bent’s A Team. Sorry MotoTrace, I still had hope at this time.

“The Killer” Sean took the top spot on our race again, with Mark coming in second. Greg recovered from 2 crashes to take the 3rd spot, and Tim and I came in 4th and a half each. I was happy with my performance and even happier that I was able to go to the front and animate the race a little. I’m getting more comfortable with racing in the front group. I’m going to totally abandon that aggressiveness for Santos, and get back to riding on the back of the bus. My true agenda is over at this point. That was to find my form, and I’m assuming if I keep the same routine I can compete about the same for the remainder of the season.

It really is a blast to still hear how many people actually read and enjoy my blog. I’m shocked to hear people say something to me that I put on the blog, because I can’t believe they remember the details enough to rehash them with me. I was talking with the wife, and I’m shocked that everyone doesn’t have a blog. I was thinking that my blog is popular because I’m one of the few in Florida that has one. My wife said your blog is popular for the same reason I married you. “Oh, because I’m sexy like Denzel. Oh! Ok! I get it now”. She laughs and says, “You’re actually a clown like Will Smith, but it’s because you are transparent”. You have nothing to hide, and anyone can tell that the moment they first meet you. You have no problem stripping yourself down just because. Most people must have a reason for doing it, and you do it for fun. I can tell that almost every rider that is around us are holding back, you can see it in their eyes. You don’t hold back, and that is why it’s entertaining to read you blog, or be around you. Damn, girl, “ I said”. You know I don’t need my ego stroked, but if that is what it is like, then ain’t nobody telling you to stop. I guess I internalize everything, and I was still trying to wrap my head around it. I’m going to lobby for all racers and riders to get a blog. I would love to read YOUR perspective when you are out there on the singletrack, so “Bloggers Unite!?

Team Classification
It looks like we might be out of our run at 3rd place. We had one rider break and chain, and the other rider quit so that pretty much ends our run at trying to make get that 3rd spot on the podium. I’m going to still ride as hard and as inspired as I have been riding, because we have had a great season as a team and I want to finish in that fashion.

Expert Classification
I was looking for another good performance and I got it. So for Santos I’m just going to ride my bike as fast as I can. On Tuesday, I’m leaving for NC to spend Thanksgiving with the family. From, 1986 to 2004 I never spent 1 thanksgiving with the family as I was at the biggest International Table Tennis competition in the world every year. So when I retired I vowed to my mother I would come home from now on. But, I didn’t tell her that I would spend the entire weekend in my hometown of 43,000. I’m concerned about not being able to control myself around all this Southern food, because I lose my perspective on food every time I go home.

Plus, I’m gonna ride with a group on the mtn bike on Thursday and Friday to keep the legs up. I’m not sure how the body is going to like 30 degree weather right now, so I may just hit up a fitness club and find a spin bike if it’s too cold. On Saturday we are coming back South, and I hope that transition from warm to cold, back to warm does not make my body act funny.

I didn’t get many pics from the race, but here is what I got.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Cheers and see you on Sunday.

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