Middle Mountain Meltdown

I signed up for the MMM this year with big-time expectations….I was gonna pass on the XXC race and tear up the SS class. It didn’t work out so well.

Earlier in the week, my back got tight. But I didn’t take it too seriously. Then I started wavering on what class I wanted to race. Once the director confirmed he’d be willing to swap me from SS to XXC, I started thinking I’d have a better time in the XXC race (41 miles, vice the shorter 21 mile SS-XC race). When race day came, the back was still tight, and I was thinking it would be a much better idea to stick with the shorter race. So I did, despite birthday boy’s efforts to change my mind.

So now, let’s talk gears. I’ve been rocking 34x19 with great success for a few weeks. I’ve had visions of taking that gear to the SM100 this year. And when I cleared Flat Top and them some a few weeks ago, I was riding high on 34x19. Well, 34x19 + MMM kicked my butt. I got dropped by two more appropriately MMM-geared folks on the first climb. I hadn’t given up yet though. I was banking on a 2nd wind. I cleared the first hill and was moving along OK. Probably not fast enough to suck anyone up, but I felt good. And then I flatted. Not sure how long it took to get that tube in and inflated, but it sucked. And since I live in fear of pinch flatting tubes, I descended like crap. Rolling through rocky streams near the end, I felt the rim once, so I pulled over again to get another blast of air. That got me through the rest of the race.

On the downside to the downside, I wrecked my back. I put every ounce of k29er into one pedal stroke on a tight switchback, and the lower lumbar didn’t like that a bit. Pedaling was pretty uncomfortable from then on, and now I’m laid up w/ a heating pad. I’m thinking this might take a few days to get straight. Fortunately, it works out well w/ the race calendar to have some time off. Time to re-commit to gym work, me thinks. If I want climb like a beast, I need to train like one.

Congrats to birthday-boy on his 2-spot place XXC finish. That was impressive.