Roost Racing 5 Points 50
My favorite time of the year has FINALLY arrived! Not only is the Roost Racing 5 Points 50 my favorite race of the year, it normally means fall weather is arriving as well. And boy did it! I had considered riding to the race from my house but decided against it, with the possibility of rain in the forecast. Plus, I knew I wouldn't have near as good of a race if I did that.
After piddling around the house and garage, preparing my race nutrition and liquids and all the little things you have to remember before a race, I finally laid down around 11:30 or 12:00 am. Remember, not a planner. I quickly realized, I didn't really have the pre-race jitters as I normally would. Odd.
Morning time rolls around. I laid in bed awake for a few hours just listening to the not-so-quiet oscillations of the ceiling fan, playing out race scenarios in my head, and stirring up the pre-race jitters. I checked the time time on my phone. 6:05am, which was five minutes after my alarm was supposed to go off. I never set it. Good thing I couldn't sleep.
Out of bed. Espresso, times four, don't judge. Kodiak cake and syrup. Packed all the things. Walked outside to a cool, crisp morning with temps around 50 degrees. YES!!! Love it!!
Arrived at Lula Lake around 8am. Parked next to Clay Tolson, Brad Cobb, and Stephen Lebovitz. Chatting with Brad about the course and tell him my goal time is 3:50 this year. He tells me his is 4:10. Well shit, I've obviously misjudged the course, or my abilities, or both. Oh well, all I can do is ride my bike.
After some morning socializing and taking in the atmosphere, we headed up to the start line at Lula Lake Road and did some warm up laps on the pavement and in the Moonshine Trails. Everyone was happy, laughing, smiling. Ahh, what a great event this was!
Justin gave us a pep talk. Brad showed some hairy man nipple. Scott Brannon pulled up on the most aggressively positioned vintage bike I've ever seen. It was go time.
The 5 mile pavement roll out was pretty tame, until it wasn't. I found myself in about 7th or 8th position, with Nick Bragg in front of me, and Spencer Whittier behind me. Lee Carmichael came by us on a vintage Stump Jumper. He passed everyone, and went off the front, briefly. Priceless. I laughed out loud. Although, I'm pretty sure no one else thought it was as funny as I did. Awkward.
There was one rather short paved climb, right into another that was about 4 times as long. This one usually separates the front group from the rest. It was a comfortable pace; my perceived effort wasn't that high. Then, ole Spencer decided to come around and make a move to the front and beyond (I think? I was kind of seeing spots after countering his move, with everyone else, so I don't really know where he went, other than top step on the podium). I managed to hang on to the lead group, along with Doug Gregorie and James Dunaway. The lead group kind of broke into two or three small groups of a few people each. James, Doug, and myself worked together to catch and pass two very strong juniors about a half mile before entering the woods.
Turning right into the woods, off Lula Lake Road, it was James, myself, then Doug. James was rolling fast. We all stayed together but, in the back of my mind, I was telling myself that I did not need to try to stay on James' wheel or I'd pay for it later. We blast the Cloudland Connector Trail, climb up to the first right hand turn; I let James pull on away, and Doug is riding so damn strong right now, he cut ahead of me on the inside and I was happy he did. It always makes me ride a little harder than I should when someone is on my wheel.
Climb up Windy Shot, left on Slickenslide, which is a rolly, "playful" trail with berms and table tops and whatnot. I kept it steady on the gas all the way through the north side of 5 points. I met a really strong rider named Adam Pulford, who I ended up yo-yo'ing with back and forth, all the way to the final climb of the day. Brad was further back as he was on single speed and can't match the gears on the pavement but I was watching over my shoulder, knowing it wouldn't be long before I saw him. And sure enough, while climbing up cross cut trail, he appears. Hi Brad. Bye Brad. I see James a couple of switchbacks above me and tell Brad that James and Doug are the next two he will catch.
At this time, I estimated that I was somewhere around 7th or 8th overall. My goals for this race included, first and foremost, have fun, get a top 10 finish, and clean the creek at the end of the race. Things were going good. However, I ido realize that I had been riding slightly above my pay grade and would potentially pay for it later.
Up cross cut, over to Bellas trail, down to Mick's trail, and on to cap rock, which is a fast descent into a short but very technical section. Rather uneventful. I caught Adam at the rock tech. I attempted to clean it but had to dab. "DAMMIT!!!" I yelled. Adam asked if I was okay. Me? Oh, yea, just a tantrum over my brief failure. We rolled on towards Ascalon parking lot. I passed Adam. He passed me again. I passed him again. You know, that ole chestnut.
In to Barkeater and Kindergarten trails, two more somewhat technical sections, I passed Adam and caught up to Doug. Unfortunately, I was right behind Doug when he attempted to adjust something on his bike and his front tire decided it did not want to roll over a squared off rock, and shot him straight over the bars. I'm not sure I've ever seen the front tire come off the ground in an slow over-the-bars crash, but it happened this time. Where's the damn go pro?!? The result was Doug, resembling a pretzel, in the middle of the trail, like a contortionist intimately involved with his bike, foot still clipped in to the pedal, unsure what he should do. I was just as confused. I opted to just grab the bike by the fork and lift it off him and his foot came unclipped. He said he's ok. I rolled on, knowing I'd see him again.
A another guy caught up to me, on a single speed. His name was Nick Rogers (I think) from Woodstock, GA. We have some mutual friends. Unfortunately, he knows Avery Glass. Sad. We flowed quickly through Price Branch Loop. I asked if he wanted to pass. He told me no, I have good flow and it's good to have a wheel in front of him, especially one that knows the trails. Him and I ended up together for essentially the remainder of the race. I enjoyed racing with him. Super strong single speeder. He was in second in his class at that time, behind Brad.
Back across Ascalon parking lot and into more delicious single track, which is in phenomenal shape, by the way. (maybe a tad bit dry) Now there was a third guy with Nick and I. I never did catch his name, possibly because he never said anything. Just a silent, fast rider hanging on to our wheels. I'd give it a little more gas, Nick would stay with me, and I'd look back to see if we shook him. Nope. Never. I finally came to the conclusion that he was just chilling back there, along for the ride, until it was time for him to go in for the kill near the end (not really).
Hit South Hogsback trail which is short, narrow, and created over old coal mines so it has a roller coaster feel to it. Super fun! Nick was behind me and witnessed a pedal strike that sent my rear tire a good 3-4 feet into the air. I managed to ride it out on the front wheel, briefly, and regain control without crashing. Whew. He laughed and gave props. The rest of 5 points proper, including Shale Flats, North Hogsback, Peacecan, and Tailings/Coaltrane were rather uneventful.
Nick, quiet guy, and myself crossed Lula Lake Road to the Long Branch Connector trail and were told we were in 7th, 8th, and 9th places overall. Rather uneventful connector ride. I liked all the work that had been done on the trail, but it was tough in this race. The entire 25 mile race group had gone through there before the 50 milers and it was so dry and fluffy. The dirt on the newly worked sections was akin to piles of ash and soot in a fireplace.
This is where I felt the uh-oh coming on. As we started a somewhat lengthy climb on newly cut trail, I felt some quad cramps start to show themselves. When that happens on flat ground, I can back off and they will go away. Mid-climb? No chance. One leg, then the other. One muscle, then two or three others. "SHIT!!!" I yelled. I had to let Nick and quiet guy go on. I hopped off and walked as to keep some kind of forward progress, while fishing around in my jersey pocket for salt capsules and endurolytes. I looked down through the woods and there was ole Doug, creeping back up on me. The cramps slowly went away and I got back on my bike and finished the climb, save for the final switchback at about 15% grade, which I walked. Skip the aid station at the top, hit the pavement for a fast ride over to moonshine trails.
I caught Nick on the road, and Doug caught both of us on the road. The three of us worked together. Going into moonshine, I had Doug lead because he's riding so strong, I know he's about to be gone again. And, he was. Nick and I flowed, chatting about random crap. Moonshine trails went by pretty quickly. Nick pulled ahead of me because my cramps would come and go and I had to take it easy. Another rider caught and passed me. It was Eli Orth, a ridiculously strong single speeder from Ohio, who just clinched the NUE series SS win. Huge props Eli! And, see ya later, beast! I estimated that this had likely knocked me out of the top 10, but, oh well, I was having fun.
I was alone through Firewater, CCT, and White Lightning trails. I would say I was jamming out to some killer tunes, but, I wasn't. My music, or bluetooth headphone, for whatever reason, had cut out in about the first 10 miles. Dammit.
I crossed Lula Lake Road alone and climbed the Bluff Trail solo, up to a spectacular view at, you guessed it, a bluff! It continued to climb to the top of the ridge, paralleling the bluff line. In my training ride, Clay Tolson had us take the first right into the single track. Wrong. That was actually about the half way point of the climb, and so it continued on up up up. Thank you for that surprise, Clay! Hahaha.
Just before I reached the single track, I looked back, and there he was. Adam Pulford was back, because, climbing beast. I thought he was ahead of me this whole time! I let him go on and he was out of sight fast. The Lula Lake trails are SO MUCH FUN!!. Tight, technical, twisty, flowy. I absolutely love these trails, and the new course uses them as the last section, which is SWEET!
The second to last trail was very tight and technical and I was looking forward to it. It's a newly cut section with narrow bar-banging trees, small rock drops, and an assortment of other small trail features, connecting down to the creek trail. I just kept smiling, thinking how that was such an amazing way to end a race. And then, I see two people. It's Nick and Adam. Adam was jammed up in a tight spot and Nick was behind him. Nick got around and Adam let me go by. From here, it was technical and then a climb. I felt that if I could get enough gap on Adam, before the climb, I could hold him off. Wrong. Just out of the creek trail, I look back, and there he is. He's on my wheel before we even start climbing. Oh, hey cramps, welcome back. Nick gets jammed up. I go by him. My legs jam up. Adam goes by me.
I top the hill, bomb the descent to the creek crossing, not far behind Adam. I knew the line was far left. I barely touched the brakes, banging through the large slippery rocks. The creek was very low but still had a foot or so of water on the far side. I reached that point and the rocks just chose to steer me to the right, through the deepest portion. I mashed the pedals, pulled off a track stand, and was out the other side. Two of three goals accomplished! Adam was right there, starting up the gravel hill out of the climb but, I was no where near hanging on to him. He flew up the gravel hill, nearly out of site.
At the top, sharp left downhill to the finish where I was greeted with live music, a food truck, keg beers, friends, amazing weather, and a beautiful landscape, which was the Lula Lake Land Trust. Unfortunately, I was not greeted by sweet Melissa and our pup, because she had to work that day. First one she's missed in the last three years. All the sadz.
The next several hours were spent telling race stories, listening to other peoples experiences, drinking beer and champagne, listening to live music, catching up with people I haven't seen in a while, and just having a genuinely good time. Justin Mace/Roost Racing LLC put on one of the best races here in town. And the new course layout and new trails were incredible. Also, thank you to all the volunteers who make events like this possible. Thank you Lula Lake Land Trust. Thank you Rescue Racing and all of our sponsors. And thank you all for reading!
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Oh, results. I just missed my top 10 finish, with an 11th place overall and 3rd place in my age group. I'm very happy with that. Until next time.
Very entertaining read.
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