BustHead-Dirtyburg Ride

This ride is my favorite Dirt Road ride that is easy to get to. The ride is 42 miles and I found out on Sat. has about 4000' of elevation. That elevation mostly comes from small hills with one bigger climb(BustHead) and then coming back over the ridge again towards the end of the ride.

BustHead-DirtyBurg Ride

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We had 6 of us at the start, Unfortunately the boys on mountain bikes, Kent and his friend(Chris?) were riding a little slower and needed to get back sooner. This was the first real ride for me in like a week and a half, and boy did my legs feel it!
The ride is a good one, and we were able to see some real nice foliage, along with some $$$$$ houses that are out there. The Middleburg stop is great with the bakery there(not open on Sundays though). The ride took awhile with like a 15 mph avg so that 42 felt more like a 60 mile ride. The question is my knee good enough for the capital cross dec. 4th?

Some Ride notes:

-Never underestimate the power of a sausage roll for bike fuel

-WTB interwolves are the best dirt road tires around big for cush and roll well for hardpack/pavement sections.

-BustHead is a blast to come down you are flying around 30+ on the dirt

-Bruce almost hit a deer going down that same mountain, must have been the deer running away from the hunters since it was the first day of hunting season.

-Ryan was riding strong, or could have been his cool matching white/grey camo seat that matched his grey Giant.

-Pat was riding pretty good after being off the bike for awhile with his arm issues.

-My knee held up, but I am not in top shape anymore so the last climb I had to let Bruce, and Ryan go up the road.

-This is a great Iron Cross training ride, so next September I will remember to do it.

-Bruce had one of the best lines,"Stomach full of scotchies(oatmeal cookies with buttersctchcream between them) I feel good.

Tacchino Ciclicross

3rd out of 90 in the CAT4 race.
I had this race on my calendar almost after I had done it in 2006. This cyclocross course is one of the most unique. This race has no pavement, has one longer hill than most. I also went with low gearing a 11-34 in back and 34-50 in front. I never used the 34 in back, did use the 28 though for the run up section. I decided with these conditions I would race my bike monster cross style! I had a 42mm Mythos CX in front and a 40mm in back. These tires roll well enough, and I could run them low to help with the bumps. I think I made the back a little too low because it felt like the tire was going to roll off the rim!
I get to the start and there are 90 people lined up for the CAT 4 race! I ask the guy if they have call ups, and he says yes so I get to jump to the front of the line, and am starting with Matt Parse.

Well the start goes off and I am off. I didn't get the best start had to try twice to get in my pedals. Then comes the barriers pretty much right after the start.

I get to the Run up/Ride hill which I rode every time, not that it was faster to do so but I didn't have to unclip.
I get to the back side of the course and I am in the lead after Steve Wahl flatted(bad luck cause I think he would have won) I am in the lead with Matt, and Mike (teamates) behind me I get to the tight turn and over cooked it and went straight into the tape. I should have just went nice and easy though there, and made the guys pass me. After this the two of them were in front of me the whole race. I would get closer to them and then fall back.

I did actually bridge up to them at one point, but I think I used up too much energy and then I could not stay with them. It was cool though having the announcer talk about you for 30 minutes! If sponsors were there they would have had their names announced big time. I could hear him saying things like:
-"Looks like Darren Biggs is losing ground to the tag team of Capital Hill Bikes"
-"The Rubber Band is stretching"
-"This CityBikes rider will not give up!"
-"He is clawing his way back"
-"Darren Biggs of DCMTB CityBikes has made contact with the leaders!"

the lap counter got screwed up so when it should have been 3 laps to go, it was the bell lap. I got kinda messed up there, cause I went into survival mode when I thought I had 3 more laps to go. At the last lap I eased up a bit, and the front guys battled for the win(with Chris beating Matt this week after Matt won last week's DC-DX),

luckily Ryan Bannon didn't catch me. Ryan would have been a hard man to beat, and he almost caught me and he crashed three times, while I had a pretty much solid race besides that one bobble. I had issues with my knee earlier in the week, but it didn't bother me race day so the question is do I continue to race? Also if Mabra counts cyclocross races as mass start races I could move up to CAT 4 for road if I do the rest of the races.



Here are a bunch of pics that I took of the Masters,CAT3/4, and Elite and Jon and Heather took of the Mens CAT 4 race.(Click on Slide Show to go to viewer)

DC-CX

The DC-CX was being put on for the first time this year, and we as a team did a really good Job. I think Matt, and Marc deserve allot of the credit. I think if we are invited back we will have an even better race next year. I started the weekend off by helping the team all day Saturday raking, marking, digging the Brick Walk (gwadzilla way). While I was doing this I found out that I would be racing the "B" race not the "C" race because we ran out of numbers and I was the sacrificial lamb. I was kinda bummed cause I wanted to be in the mix of the race, instead of fighting getting dropped. At the same time this was our race that we were putting on so I wasn't really worried about a good result. I was given a good call-up because I spent a while bringing home the Mabra trailer from the Hagerstown race.
I started really well I think I was in the top 10 for the first two laps.

As usual with cyclocross I started to lose my steam after those first two laps. I was riding with Chris Scott for a bit he even gave my butt a push to keep me going. Chris also had a goof up that cost me a couple seconds, where I did a trackstand waiting for people to get moving again.

No worries there I lost plenty of time on my own. As the race wore on I was falling back and back. Bruce started slow and then caught and passed me, I wish I would have riden with him maybe I would have done better. The course was fast and a lot of people liked it. I was proud of myself for how little I used my brakes, almost wrecked one time because of it. I think I only had one bad barrier jump, and I rode the course strong, but my season has been too long, and my knee got aggravated again(started with the IRON CROSS).

My goal was top half of the Mens B field, and to not get bottom third. I placed 19 out of 32 so I just made my not getting in the bottom third. I think cross racing is like when I race expert at the W@W not really what I train for so I end up not doing as well as when the races are longer (12-24 hour relays). Next year I will race Bs for the couple of cross races that I do, but next week I am going to Cs again at the Leesburg Cross race, which favors my power over speed. Well check out the pictures that Jon Janis from Note to Jon fame took of the Men's B Race in the slideshow below. I give some commentary as well. Click on any picture in the slideshow to see hi-res.

IRON CROSS V

All photos by Charles Armstrong

Darren Biggs DCMTB/City Bikes 51/205 overall 32/97 Men Under 40
Time 4:38:31

The Iron Cross………….. I had heard about this race about three years ago. The longest cyclocross race in America… Well to let you know it is not really a cyclocross race , but a race that is best ridden on a cross bike. The race is framed after the Three Peaks race in England which has been run for over thirty years. I believe the race was canceled this year cause of the scare of hoof and mouth disease. The big interesting thing was the 5 time winner Rob Jebb and podium placing countryman Stuart Bowers of the Three Peaks race in England came to the IronCross V to race the event. The Brits came not to play, but to smack it to the yanks! They got 1st and 3rd I believe.

I had talked to a bunch of people about this race, and last year I was about to do the race with Sid. Sid and I did not do the race, so I vowed to do it in 2007. I have had a long season. I have raced two or three times the amount I have ever raced in a year. So I wasn’t really looking forward to the IronCross, but I said I would do it so I did. I was able to talk Mark into doing the race, after he and I did the West Virginia Logger ride(on our cross bikes) in May
We did the the IC in one day so I had to get up at 4:50am!! We picked up Roger Massi on the way to the race, and he was a good traveling companion, with his knowledge of the race (he has done it 3-4 times) and general friendliness. We got to the start with plenty of time to spare. We got our stuff together, did our drop bags (will do mine better next year) and got ready for the start. The weather was chilly but fine. I wore toe warmers, a vest, arm warmers, and heavier long finger gloves. Mark wasn’t dressed as warm so I gave him my long finger gloves, and I put my lighter gloves in the drop bag.
Mark from my City Bikes team was there as well, so it was cool talking with him and lining up with him at the start. They start you down a gravel road, and I started with slower riders, which I will try not to do next year. The gun goes off and we start off going through the IC lite course that they did the day before. There is a spiral of death they call it in the course. Pretty funny, you basically go round and round for a long time, then over two barriers and you are off to the course.
My ride from what I remember:
So I start out passing a bunch of people, and am riding the road that goes to a walking trail, I am pushing myself but not too much, and I am loosing ground to a lot of people. We are going up this climb that goes a ways, I really pushed it up the climb to the KOM/QOM top with this Hagerstown guy Tim Lung on my back we get to the first trail section and he gets in front of me, but I basically would see him from time to time in front of me with him finishing 3 minutes ahead of me. The first single track I was loving my inline lever on the tops of the handle bar. My mountain biking skills were coming into play as I passed a lot of people in there. There was only one section that I bailed on doing, and I thought I would be faster if I didn’t crash. This went to another road section with some painful long rollers (this would be the case the whole day with the pavement sections). The fire road /trail to the run up I was able to get past several people on the climb with my low gear and power abilities. The run up is no joke! I stopped here and took off my vest/arm warmers. My back was hurting from pushing on the bike, so it was my back that hurt the most for the run up (next year more sit ups!) The run up is long and sucks the life out of you.

After the run up is CP2 (I was 42nd place at this point) where next year I will put a bag to leave extra clothes at. After this part you are doing ridgeline gravel roads and it is pretty scary at times cause you are going over 30mph on the downhills just praying that you don’t hit a pothole, or one of the rocks that has worked its way to the surface of the road. I finally get to CP3, by now I am passing every now and then. I was making time on people by catching them on the down hills, or on the longer climbs especially the trail climbs. At CP3 I was out of fuel, and liquids so I had to get a power bar and refill the camelback. The bad thing was I had to piss, that made me lose like seven spots, or all the people I passed. The next part was a hill that was a doosy! I was in my 34-32 going at times as slow as you can go in that gear. I passed everyone that passed me while I was pissing. One big motivator was passing Steve Wahl from Hagerstown bikes, he beat me at a cyclocross race 2 weeks prior. After the long climb there was a scary downhill that had some tight turns. The course marshalls let you know they were ahead so I took the downhill easy, which was the right move. At CP4 you take a right onto the funniest part of the course, basically double track/single track trail that is totally ridable on a cross bike. I was tired so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have normally. There was a short run up here, then a hill that I rode up very slowly, but passed three others walking. After this was a pavement downhill to the finish, but there three or four rollers that were just killing your legs that you had to get over before going through the Spiral of death again and then doing two barriers and done. Well no more long races for me this year!!

Some observations of the race:

* The race started really fast to me, I was expecting more of a SM100 kind of feel where people just went their own pace. Here people were trying to stay with people they were around or bridge up to others.


* The field was strong I think at least ¾ of the field were on teams, so most of the people racing the event were strong riders that were shooting for a good time, not to just finish.


* I had fretted over what tire/gears I should use for the event, but my bike worked perfect 38mm WTB interwolfs at 60psi with 50-34, 12-32 in the back. I am a spinner so next year I will go with an 11-34 in back.


* For next year I am going to make sure I do some fast road rides, cause I was not able to ride with people on the road, but was able to pass them on the big climbs.


* The course was a good mix of one really technical trail, easy trails, gravel road, and pavement.



* I think I was 24th place for the second part of the course compared to 43 for the first part of the course. So I think next year if I can improve on the first half and get a <4:30>




More Photos

IronCross-V-2007

First Fall Ride!

Fall has come finally, I did this ride before work at 7:30am. Was cold enough to wear the arm warmers and knee warmers. I wanted to ride the cross bike before doing the Iron Cross to check out my custom 12-32 cassette(a ultegra 12-27 with a 32 cog on it). I put 60 psi in the tires and really just road the bike hard though the Lake Accotink area and the Wakefield XC course. It really beat me up riding without any suspension, or the bigger tires that help deaden the bumps and vibrations. I was sore afterwards but felt good about the bike going into the Iron cross.

AVC Hagerstown Cross

This was the first cross race of the season for me and the only second cross race I have done. This was going to be a long day since I was picking up the race trailer with Kent’s Suburban. The weather was to get hot this weekend highs in the mid 80’s and humid, not really cross racing weather! There was a lot fog in the morning, with a good amount of dew on the grassy course when I did my pre-laps. The course wasn’t totally finished when I pre-road the course. I am very happy that I was able to pre-ride the course it helped me kinda get the feel of the course. I made one change to the tires I let some air out so I was running my WTB interwolfs at 38 lbs. They are a big 35mm tire so I thought I could that low without flatting. I raced the CAT 4 race which was allot bigger then I thought it would be. There was 55+ riders and almost no mt. bikes, boy has cross gotten big. Guys were riding the CAT 4 race with bling, bling carbon wheels and all.
At the start I got there kinda late so I wasn’t going to have the best position, but then the announce was like you can use the whole lane, not just the gravel road. Well we started off, and I was like in the top 6 at the first turn so I kept it going. I think after one lap I was in 3rd place. I got on to Matt’s wheel who rides for capital hill bikes I have ridden with him before so I know his ability. I am riding with him and I find out we are 1,2 so I was pretty stoked. We get on this fast downhill section, and his tire came flying off his wheel. So then I was in 1st place, this was short lived, I then started loosing ground to the other guys and was passed by several people. I then road in no man’s land for the rest of the race, and was able to pull off a 4th place. I was happy with the result considering it was my second cross race, and my pre-race predictions was to finish in the top 1/3 and my goal was a top 10 finish. The course was good in that it had a lot of turns and felt like really riding cross. I also liked that the hill on the course was very ridable compared to some courses where it is maybe ridable, so you have to choose to run or ride. I think the sandpit should have been longer to get the whole chugging though the sand or run through it. I ran the right amount of air pressure cause the tires hooked up well. I have at least 3 more cross races for the season will see how they turn out.

Hagerstown to the county and back

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I then went and did a 35-40 mile road ride on the new road bike and that was good but the legs were kinda blown from the race. I got back in time to see most of the Men’s 1,2 race. I was able to support Marc and Chris from the team. It was cool to see Marc do really well, and actually pace himself and past some really fast guys that he doesn’t usually beat. I think Marc was thriving in the heat better then others. All the racers looked haggard, Marc seemed not to get slower as the race progressed, but kept a consistent pace. Marc ended up finishing in 10th place, that being 1st for the masters’ A class. Chris was hanging strong and gave me a couple of smiles so I think that he was at least enjoying himself out there. I think he was able to pass a couple of folks as well.

24 hours Landahl

Me after the last Lap-yes another Darren looks like a Jack-Ass photo


On the way to the venue, Mike and I driving the FOX minivan, and the KC skyline

Well I was a last minute addition to the team for this race. I was feeling sick( I got a sinus infection) It wasn't until Saturday of the event, that I started feeling better. Mike K. and I had a crazy time with FOX car rentals, I will not get into the details, but I learned to keep my mouth shut when dealing with nut job that owns a car rental place.
We got to the race site on Friday, and saw the Athens Wrecking crew there, and ended up hanging out with them a good deal over the weekend. Mike and I got the bikes from a local bike shop where we had them shipped, got them together, and sorta setup camp until Matty and Joe got there around 10pm at night(they went to work on Friday) We got set up in Joe's nice big tent, and then went to bed. There was a storm that came through the area, that was a big help for the trail, and for the weather bringing temps from the 90's to the low 80's. The race order was Matt, Mike, Joe, then myself since I was not %100. Matt pulled a good first lap, but we were in 3rd expert and 15th I think.

Mike K. went out and busted the team's fastest lap(5 sec. faster then mine :-() Then Joe went out and did a solid lap.

When my turn came, I saw that the Athens Wrecking Crew's fourth guy was on the side of the trail. I then knew this was our shot, I pulled my fastest lap without having ridden the course. I wasted allot of effort in that first lap, since I didn't know how to ride the course. The race was the hardest technical course I have ever raced. I wouldn't have been able to do this course 2 years ago the way I did at the race. The training rides I did at Liberty Furnace were key for this race, the ridge lines at Liberty Furnace gave me skills in riding rocks. The rocks at Landahl were a little different in that they were large and flat, compared to being smaller and pointy. There were 2 small sections on the coarse that I never did cause they were danger areas to loose a deraileur or a pedal. After our first rotation we were in 2nd place in expert with The wrecking crew a hour behind us. The Athen's Crew are a faster team then us, but we felt we had a chance if we rode our race which was to be smart and consistent. At some point Joe was feeling ill and sat out, so it was Mike, Matt, and myself doing laps, luckily Joe felt better after skipping a rotation which gave him 5 hours rest. I had the one big mechanical for the team with me breaking my chain, and getting my chain caught behind my cassette between the spokes, also my light fell off. I thought this would be the end of us, but I only got a 15 minute slower lap instead of loosing allot more time like I thought. At one point the Athens wrecking crew was only 2 minutes behind us and we were only 6 minutes behind the first place team. I felt Joe's morning lap where he held off the crew a key point, because it was then just up to the other racers to beat the crew one-on-one. My last lap was actually fun after the frustration that I had at night. I wish I had the energy of the first lap with the expertise from riding the course. The last lap I was riding the rocks allot smoother, and knew where to push it and where to rest a little. From Matt-Athens drove themselves into the ground and would not give up. They started fast, and ended (with the two guys they had left) fast. I think that is what busted them. Had Matt Gentry a.k.a. Big Country, a.k.a. 'Roid Rage not gone out so fast every lap, he probably would not have ended up out of the race on a stretcher with a saline I.V. drip in his arm on Sunday morning. We played the game we play best (our only game!), we're not the fastest, but we're consistent. We turn out times that are within minutes of each other over and over.
Joe Finishing the Race for the team


This race was a good team experience for me and I hope to be able to race with some of these guys next year.

More Photos

24 hours of Landaul 2007

So far so good...

I'm exactly halfway through the 24 hour Landahl race and so far our team is beating our arch rivals from Athens (due to what looks like a major mechanical on lap 4 on their part). But the gap between first and last is less than an hour so this is still any body's race. Follow along live at http://www.grannygear.com/realtime/public/class.php?display_standings_flag=1&class=ME as we (DCMTB/City Bikes) try to win the national title over the Athens Wrecking Crew.

Douthat More Trip.

(all photos by Chris Scott or Steve Riley I forgot my camera!)
I had wanted to do this trip last year, but I wasn’t able to get tickets in time. This year I got extra tickets, and ended up not using any of them cause Bruce and Amy Bailed out and Pat hurt his shoulder(gotta take Pat on some of these trails!).
Ryan and I got started on Friday, we didn’t leave until 3pm which was kind of my fault. We got stuck in the usual traffic, but it wasn’t that bad. We stopped at the big Wal-Mart in Harrisonburg where we picked up some food supplies, and Ryan gave me some hassle because I bought some of those new Fluorescent light bulbs (hey they were a good price and I needed them at home). As we are driving the weather is getting worse the rain is coming down pretty hard at times. We were not looking forward to putting up our tents in the rain. Well we get to the campsite and the rain has stopped which was nice, and we got there before sundown. We drank some beers( actually too many) and hung out with Chris and Rich, and also Steve and Carrie when they got there latter in the night.

Saturday I had planned to do some trail work, in part of doing the work I volunteered to take the Bob up the trail with the tools. I was trying to be all tuff trying to ride fast with the trailer, but I kind of blew up going up this paved road. One we got on the single track I did pretty well and I got up this one longer hill section that I didn’t think I would. My group worked under the guidance of Dan Hudson and we built up a switchback so that you could actually get around it. We had Ryan test it on his 26er, then me on the 29er, and the final test was the 29er with the Bob, I almost made it but the bag got caught in the tire. After working for 4 hours I did a ride with Bryan and Martenez(I might be wrong on the name if you read this let me know) we went down Brushy Hollow and that was fun. We then were going to do the Tobacco house ridge trail to the Blue Suck trail to the Locust Gap trail. Well once we got to Blue Suck I was ahead of the other two guys, and I missed the turn. I waited several times for them, but I figured that I went a different way. So I did this Blue Suck Trail to the top, and boy did it suck! I like climbs but this one was tough, I had to go slow to save energy when I needed it to get over roots,rocks,waterbars. As you can see from the map this trail was steep with all the switch backs. I did get to go on Lookout Rock which has great view, and the Tuscarora overlook as well. I took Stony Run Falls back down and that was a hoot, and then went on the Wilson creek trail back to the camp. So that ride turned into a bit more then I thought I would do, with that climb taking like 45minutes straight. That night we had the pot luck and sat around the fire with most people going to bed early after the long day.(photo Chris Scott)

On Sunday I did a ride with Joe, Mark, Ryan, and Chris.(photo Steve Riley)
It was good having Chris on the ride, since he knows the area. We did Stony Run going up. Chris was leading and I was following him, Chris was pushing me. I was determined to stay on his wheel, and he could have dropped me if we were racing. Once over the top we went out of the park doing the Fore Mountain trail which was fun. We came back on the fire road to this really steep but ridable sandy gap trail. I was able to clear the whole thing which I was proud of. We took Salt Stump back to the camp area. Joe P one fast single speeder!(photo Chris Scott) Mark looking cool(photo Chris Scott)

I really like the riding here, and I think I will be back in April to kick off mountain biking next year.
More Photos taken by chris scott.

Doughthat 2007

SM 100 2007

100 miles Time 9:35
placed 66th out of 360 finishers(450 riders)
placed 50th out of 248 for open Male
Placed 1st out of the 11 DCMTB/CityBikes team riders

This was a race that I had heard of and had always thought that someday I would eventually do. When I joined the DCMTB / CityBikes team I saw that this was one of the Priority Races and so I had planned to have this race on my radar for the whole year. A lot of my friends had done this race so I knew I could do the race, but I had never ridden a bike for more than 6 hours, and I knew that most of my friends finished around the 11 hour mark. My Buds Jay and Sid were doing TransRockies(7 Day Mt. bike race 4-7 hour rides a day) this year and they were always up for riding. I was able to do some good epic rides with them this year from liberty furnace in March with Steve, and Jay, to my Catherine Furnace day with Sid in July where we were out there for 7 hours in 90 degree heat. In doing these rides, I had done longer mt. bike rides this year than I had ever done.
For SM100 I went down on Sat. morning with Mark who is over 50 and still does this race and does it well. The CityBikes team had a good amount of people that were to be at the race and MattyD went down to secure a camping spot for us. We got down to the Stokesville site and we got settled in, and had a good time Sat. night hanging out with the people. I was asking a lot of questions like any Newbie for this race, just making sure I had my bases covered. So we get up at 5am for the start of the race, and things are going fine, but I need to go to the bathroom before the race. Mike and I go to the john and then as I am in there I hear 10 minutes! So I run out of the bathroom, and get back to the campsite to put my clothes on. Mike was already ready to go his words of encouragement were,”you got time just be quick.” Luckily I had my stuff all laid out so I just had to get it on and get to the line. I get to the “line” and I didn’t see any of my teammates so I was going to start from the back of the race.(Photo passing Ann co-owner of Bike Lane)
The race starts and I am in the way back, so there is this downhill to start things off and we had some bunch ups where we had to stop. I am passing people, not being crazy, just going a fast tempo high cadence to warm up the legs for the day ahead. As we get to the road things open up and I am able to really pass a bunch of people.
As we started the first fire road climb I passed Tris, Jake, Joel, and then rode with Brice from Bike Lane, who was also around Joe from my team. I got some distance on people on the last steep section of the climb going into the single track. This was new trail for me I had ridden about 30-40% of the course beforehand. As I was going down I ended up in this group with the second place woman finisher from the Trek team. We get down the single track to the fire road and they really started to pump up the pace, and I felt it was a little too fast for me so I let them go. Joe caught up to me and I decided that I would ride with him for a bit. (photo Joe taking the reins) So Joe and I started the Reddish Knob climb together and that was going good, but I felt a little slow on the climb and I didn’t want to go into the red so I would let people go on up ahead on me. We started up the Tilman trail and I then started getting my climbing legs and was riding good and caught up to MattyD and was able to ride with him and he could tell I was on his tail so he told me to pass and I did. I was moving up the climb until we got to the real steep stuff that you had to walk. At that time I was actually now riding with Ryan Bannon, and we were walking together for a little bit just keeping a good pace then finally I saw some people riding ahead so I thought I would give it a try. I started riding and most people were walking their bikes, so I just yelled out that I was coming through and I ended up gaining some time and was actually by myself for the start of the wolftrail downhill. I have gotten better with the downhills but I am not a fast downhiller, so I don’t like people riding my ass. Well I was doing the downhill pretty good and Ryan caught back up to me, and I then had him go in front since he is faster and we did that downhill that way. At this point I am thinking that I would ride the SM100 with Ryan and see how it goes. Back down on the dirt road I am setting a comfortable pace to the #2 aid station. I left Ryan and then on the pavement section Eric and MattyD from team come storming by in a paceline. I join but realize they are going a little too fast for me. Matt and I end up kinda riding together and then aid station #2 is ahead. The aid stations were great at the SM100 kinda like NASCAR with people trying to help you out and you not having to use your brain too much. I used my lessons I learned riding with Bruce at the Mountain Momma Century and just had some food topped off the fluids and left. That was where I lost Matt I think. I then was riding with Eric and I think the 3rd place women’s finisher. I was trying to figure out what was next on the course and how far the next aid station was for my water consumption. I went faster than Eric up the steep part of the pavement climb(I decided to use Maxxis CrossMarks for the race which was a good pick with their good rolling resistance they were fast and had just enough grip for the downhills). So I am by myself riding with people in the race I don’t know but trying to just race my race and see what happens. We do the fireroad climb up Hankey Mountain and then the single track, and I think this is where things really started to work in my favor in retrospect. I did all of Hanky without walking and was actually able to pass some people. These 3-4 people were the people I would see myself with the rest of the day. Going down Dowell’s Draft I was taking it easy cause I didn’t want to wreck. I saw Kent on the side of the trail working on his bike and he was like,”Go ON Darren” so that gave me inspiration, and made me realize I was doing a fast time since Kent usually rides this race in the low 9’s. I got to aid station #3 and was quick there thinking I would eat and drink on the road to Brailey’s. I was with some riders I had passed earlier and they were in a paceline doing a good tempo. I was riding with them, but then my hamstrings started cramping, so I slowed down and drank a whole bottle of Heed and that seemed to do the trick. It was so dry that there was no river to ford at Brailey’s which was nice. I did Brailey’s better then I have ever done it before only walked the first part which everyone does and like 30 feet later on. I got to the top took some electrolytes( I had taken 4 sport legs in the morning and was taking 2 electrolytes per hour after that) and asked the guys around me who was a fast descender so they could go first cause I didn’t want to be rushed. Going down Braileys I had my only wreck. I was trying to be nice to let a guy pass and I went too high up on the high side the guy wasn’t coming by and then I bit it. I yelled cause I was pissed that I wrecked when I didn’t need to. After that I went a little slower on the downhill. I picked up speed in the gradual downhill part that you need to pedal to keep moving. I rolled into aid station #4 which is a little more then halfway through the race, and this was to be my Long pit stop with a drop bag of clothes. I rolled in and Joe from Bike Lane took my bike and cleaned the gears and looked over the bike, Dharma got my drop bag, and Carrie got me fluids and stuff to eat. This was like having your own Nascar pit, I changed my jersey, got new gloves, and a new head band. I then put on my glasses and got out of the pit stop pretty quick. I hooked up with the people I had been around since going over Hanky. I rode with these people towards station #5 which I knew was the worst part of the race. 18 miles where you feel your life slip away. I was riding good, and I started to think wow I am doing good followed by being scared thinking I was going to blow up. I just kept thinking, ride within yourself and you will be ok. Interesting thing I was seeing in this race, compared to normal Mountain bike races was that I was slower on the fast stuff (gradual fireroads and the paved sections) and faster on the slow stuff (hills). The dirt road to #5 was a back and forth with a group were they would get ahead then I would catch up when a hill came, then people would get ahead, then I would catch up again. Around this time is when you really start feeling the race too. I would lock out my front shock and ride standing to give my crotch a break. I was starting to get some chafing going on as well. The back and forth with the people around me ended when the road took a right and started to really go up hill. I then passed all these riders I was with and had a guy(Jon Posner ) in the distance that I was following. He was in 24 solo I think. I rolled finally to aid #5, I was now 75 miles in and had 25miles left to go. I now knew I could do this! I fueled up and tried to eat which was getting hard to do. The other thing I did was ask if there happened to be any Chamois Butter around. A guy got me some and then I felt golden for the next 5 miles. I started off after David of Bike Lane passed him and was still trying to eat these pretzels that were taking for ever to eat. I decided to get some Clif Bloks and those things just go down easy. I did some fun water bars and started the climb up Chestnut ridge. This was single trak again and a little steeper then the fire road stuff I was on before. I was enjoying the climb cause I knew I was going to get a good time in the race. Chestnut goes on for a bit so you think you are done, then it goes up again. Jon passed me at some point in some technical stuff and I passed a single speeder at one point but besides that I was doing this whole mountain alone. The down hill was a tough one, I was staying within myself and didn't take any big risks. I think I lost some time coming down the mountain but I didn't wreck which would have been more time . The last part of the downhill was double track and you could get to 50mph if you wanted, it was just plain fast. I went through some creek crossings and then was at aid #6. I went in and just got water and left, I had caught up to Joe and I left before he did. I almost missed the turn for Hankey Mountain, cause there was no one around me so I was worried that I would miss the turn the reason I didn't was that I saw a SS in the distance, and then when I looked up again he was gone, so then I knew the turn was near. Going up Hankey a second time, was Ok but I knew once I went left and got up this steep hill it was all down hill after that. I was pretty stoked that I got up this short steep part on Hankey without walking. The three people in front of me didn't, so I was able to pass them there. I got down the mountain, and my back brakes were really soft by that point. I did the double track back to the finish line as fast as I could, I didn't really know my time, cause my bike computer had gone haywire so I knew I had a shot at maybe under 10 hours. I get into the campground and get to the line and Tris, Heather, and Katie are like Darren? Darren!!! I had to check with the people to find my time, and it was 9:35!!!!! Pretty insane I beat my goal by almost an hour.
This race was a revelation for me, it made me think about things and also re-affirmed what kind of racing I am good at. It will be hard next year to beat this time, I think I will need to be 8 pounds lighter, and maybe take 5 pounds off the bike, and shoot for 9:15 but that will be a tough day of riding, and luckly I don't have to worry about that for another year:-)

More Photos by Carrie (Steve's GF)

SM100 2007