As I strolled through the tall grass toward race registration on Saturday, I immediately thought the Shawnee Mission Park race had a really nice setup going. You could see a small portion of the course mown through the park grass and pop-ups already lining the route, ready to race. I was lucky enough to catch Craig as I walked up and we were soon joined by a few of the other
Heartland/
360 guys. They were nice enough to give me the Cliff's Notes version of the course, including Craig's great detail that 'Violet means Violent,' otherwise to be known as rocky as hell.
Mrs. Snob and the crew helped me set a pit right at the crest of hill through the pit area then left me to my own devices. The plan was for them to return roughly halfway through the race and assist if needed, but until then I was on my own.
The plan going in was pretty simple. Ride the majority of the race like a 24, keep steady laps times rolling, and most importantly, push myself in the rocks. I also planned to try some different foods and bar/grip setups. With the temps and humidity high, I also reminded myself I needed to the day for what it was and not think to far ahead of myself. No counting laps. No worrying about placing. I'd ask about it on the last lap or two and go from there.
A lap at SWP fits into a tidy little box; exposed powerline climb which then drops and rises again, semi-rocky single track giving way to 'violently' rocky single track, releasing you to a bit of the semi-smooth stuff until you pop back out for a short jaunt along the power line the way you came and a short bit of trail until the finish.
I didn't take the LeMans start very seriously and hopped on my bike roughly one third of the way back in the pack. After making a dodgy pass along the powerline (sorry, I know I jacked up someone's line behind me), I slipped into the single track with
Matt Dutcher right behind me. We had a great conversation going for a fair portion of the initial sections of single track, which included some insider advice that kept me from sliding out into a tree on one of the free flowing sections of the course. Eventually though, I gave way, primarily due to a lack of confidence in the rocks. It's a head game. If I feel like I am slowing you down, I have to let you pass. Once I slid over, I expected a long string of guys to go by, but it was only Matt and one other guy so I got back on my merry way.
From there, I stuck myself in metronome mode. Tick, Tock. Pit. Grab bottles. Melt in the heat on the powerline. Flow then bounce around the room on the rocks. Flow again. Repeat.
However, on my fourth lap I realized there were a couple of holes in the execution of my little plan. I hadn't eaten anything and the heat was starting to get to me. Unfortunately, I realized the calorie deficiency right before the worst section of rocks so I pounded those out and then stopped and grabbed a bar from the back of my jersey. I was also understandably slopping through the rocks, but just ate and kept turning the pedals over.
At three hours, I stopped in the pop-up, dunked a towel in the water resting in the bottom of my color and threw it on my head. Ahhhh. I stayed the time it took to eat a bar and resumed the game. I was a little surprised the family hadn't arrived back yet, but with some of the construction in the area, thought they were just stuck in traffic.
The last half of the race was pretty lonely going. I bounced back and forth with
Josh a couple of times and but with the three hour race over and that same amount of time to spread out the field, people where few and far between. Work hard on the rocks. Eat. Drink.
As I was closing out one of my later laps, I rode past my tent and into the start finish. I had expected the crew to arrive by then so I stopped, dropped the bike and fumbled around for my phone to find out where they were. "We're just finishing up at the pool," was the word. "Oh, okay, well, I'm going back out then."
Whatever lap I started around five proved to be my best lap of the day, even though I cased it near the end. Because I had just kept a steady tempo through the day, I had some energy to burn in the single track and clanged my way through the rocks in what felt like my smoothest lap of the day. In fact, the reason I wrecked was because I was thinking about that instead of the little tree that I hooked leaving the single track. Classic me.
The crew still wasn't there when I emerged from the trees so I rode down to the start/finish and asked the proverbial question, "Where do I stand?" It turned out, I was fourth and about 20 minutes down from third. There was really no point in going back out, but, after some good banter with the Heartland guys, I went anyway.
As I got to the single track, I got completely overzealous and thought 'hot lap,' then promptly wrecked again, washing out and drilling a tree. I then made a weird decision for me, I pulled off the trail and killed the lap early.
I had a great time. I feel much better on the rocky stuff and gained a bit of knowledge on my setup. If I remember to eat and can figure out when I get so bloated in the heat at times, I'll be good to go.
Speaking of great times, all of the guys who put the race on deserve a round of applause and a thank you. Nothing like going to race and thinking to yourself mid-lap, "you know, those guys would be pretty cool to hang out with."