My First Race Ever: Klotz Ironman GNCC rd. 13

[mbosma]

I was in my first race yesterday. The amateur 2+ hour Klotz Ironman GNCC in Crawfordsville, IN. I had a few people tell me in the morning and on the starting line that I needed to have my head checked after the race.

The course: 9.5 miles through the woods, creeks, mud, hills and harvested fields in Indiana. Some of the hardest terrain in Indiana. The steepest hills on the circuit, deepest mud, and a bunch of points chasing maniacs to ride with. There were over 500 bikes in my race alone. Yes, 500 bikes. I ran the in the first year racers class – thinking it would be a smaller class. WRONG! I was lined up with 55 other bikes all headed to the first turn, then the mud pit that followed.

This is what I learned…

Lesson 1: Try to get a good start. First year racers aren’t very good starters. I took it easy on the start and figured I would be in the back of the pack to watch the others crash. I was tenth around the first corner and up a few spots by the time we got to the woods. I should have tried and I may have been in the lead.

Lesson 2: Be patient and choose good lines. Once in the woods, I passed another 50 people in the first mud hole. I’ve always been good at picking lines, apparently others are not. Within the first 50 yards of a mud pit I was passing people from 4 classes ahead of me. That was fun. Edges people, ride around the hole next time. I did and it worked flawlessly. Except when you take a mud pie to the face that covers the left side of your goggles.

Lesson 3: Cary as much momentum as possible. When you’re in a mud pit, you can’t get up much momentum. At least you can’t get enough momentum to climb a slippery hill with 5 bikes on it. It doesn’t help if you’re slaloming around bikes at the bottom too. It took me three tries to make it. A 3” diameter maple sapling found the space between my rear tire and rear fender. I had to push the bike up the hill 2’ to get it out. In the mud. That made me a little tired. The key is to find good traction at the bottom to build speed. They took out this section for the pros in the afternoon, guess it was too hard for them. What a bunch of weenies.

Lesson 4: Make sure your bike is running properly. After the mud pit and first hill, my bike wasn’t running right. It had done this several times throughout the summer already. I thought it was fixed finally after last week discovering a missing o-ring on the float drain plug. I test drove it for about 30 minutes and it was running good before the race. About a mile in, it started missing and would die every 30 seconds. I paid the money to race and was determined to keep riding, not a very good idea.

Lesson 5: Go around the parking lot. There was one spot that everyone was parked on waiting to go down a single bike wide path into the valley. About 100 bikes or so. I was in line for about 3 minutes, then decided to go around. I passed at least 25 more riders by cutting. I don’t know if this is acceptable practice during a race, but it worked. Don’t worry, I didn’t push anyone over or run into anyone. Just went around it to the front of the line.

Lesson 6: Revenge can be a good thing. At the biginning of the race, when everyone was lined up, there were three guys directly in front of me. Each of them put their bike on a stand, placed it in gear, then reved it to the moon, blowing mud off their back tire directly in my face and all over my bike. One of them had 5 beer cans duct taped to his helmet for the mo-hawk effect, and they all had tastles hanging off their grips. Anyway, at the bottom of the one-lane valley one of the guys was stuck. I couldn’t help but return the favor of blasting roost all over him. I was a muddy mess, and he should join me. Now that was a lot of fun.

Lesson 7: Train harder next time. After abusing the kick-starter 2-3 times every 30 seconds my right leg was getting tired. I was getting tired all over. At only 3 miles in.

Lesson 8: If you can’t make it, the fans will help. At the bottom of a hill, my bike died 6 times while I turned it around and picked a good line up. There were 5-6 kids that walked up the hill to help me push it out of the valley if it stalled on the way up. It didn’t, thankfully, and I rode 50’ at a time 2 miles back to the field and to the pits.

Lesson 9: Even if you DNF, you can still have fun. We had a blast watching the pros ride in the afternoon. A friend of ours rode my dad’s old ’98 KDX200 in the vet b class, and was second around the first turn and going into the woods. We weren’t sure if the bike would make the 3 hours, but it did and he finished 5th.

I look forward to doing it again next year. Now I know what to expect, and maybe I’ll race a few local races first to get ready.

[crfjedi393]

That's a pretty freakin' tough race for your first one!

GREAT JOB!

[ccnut]

Awsome right up!! Like Jedi said,I'm impressed !! I've raced three of those type races so far DNF everyone but get closer every time! Got the Moose Run coming up this weekend, They are calling for cold,rain and possibly snow......Jerry

[yzernie]

Most of us have all had that 'first race' scenario. We have to start somewhere and my goal then and now is still the same one....just be able to finish. Sounds like you had a good time even tho the ole DNF showed up. Sometimes those tough races make it difficult to have fun while you are out there but as you get better and your results improve the fun factor keeps going up. Before you know it, you'll be at the track and smiling just looking at the bike knowing the fun is about to start. There just isn't anything as good as having a smile from ear to ear while riding the bikes!!

[mbosma]

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone. This is a video taken of the first mud hole - about 1/4 mile from the starting line. There were at least 100 bikes in this spot when I went through. It was like a parking lot.

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