 ANGRY MONKEYS RACER Murphy Davis Race Report- Where do I begin with this weekend? It was a nice warm break from the cold weather, so I was ready to break out the short sleeves and leave the base layers in the car. I signed up for both the bonus time trial on Saturday and the XC race Sunday, and I was lucky enough to get the chance to stay with a friend, gratis. I was pretty excited for the TT, probably equally as much as the XC race, partially because I thought, since most of my riding consists of: hammer out a hard, sub 20 minute lap and hunt some PRs, stop, rest, hydrate and chat, rinse, repeat once or MAYBE twice, and go home. I usually leave the trails within 2 hours of arriving, and only when I go visit trails far away do I end up with more than an hour and a half of ride time. Anyway, after warming up some on the park roads, 64 of us lined up for the TT at 3 on Saturday, and even though it's only in the mid 70s, based on how it's been it feels HOT. I started 13th (12 minute offset from the point man, so I wasn't the unlucky one) and, like I had in my warm ups, I set a pretty fast pace up the road climb to the singletrack. Maybe it was race nerves, maybe it was an off day, but I felt like maybe I started a little too hot. By the time rubber met dirt I was breathing hard. Not great for 1/2 mile in. In the end, the 3 SS riders finished close together, 18:01, 18:32, and me at 18:39. It wasn't what I had hoped for, but not bad, and it made for 31/64 so I was able to tell myself I was better than MOST guys there. On Sunday, after getting some good rest the night before, I lined up without too much expectation. It was cool when I first got to the park but just about perfect by race time. There was one other SS rider that hadn't done the TT, and the 4 of us lines up to start after the elite women. Going into the beginning of the first lap, we set a decent pace but it was no sprint, and I took the second wheel as we rolled through the first of the singletrack. I told myself I was gauging the other riders, and I'd try to stick with at least one other rider for the first lap or so, then make a decision from there. It wasn't long however, before we hit the powerline section and the obligatory steep climb, which was, of course, a little rutted and muddy, but not too badly. The first rider started to slow, so I decided that I'd drive the group pace for a while, and if one rider dropped off, all the better for me. This was not to be. Behind me, one of the riders shouted "Get it man!" and get it I did. It was a few hundred meters before I realized nobody had kept with me, so I decided to commit to my early attack, and over the course of the first lap I caught stragglers from the womens and elite men groups, and always assumed that SOMEONE had to be hot on my tail. Once I finished my fast first lap, I told myself I'd try to keep a strong pace but ride a little less aggressively on steep climbs and try to conserve something for the last lap. When I didn't see or hear any of my competition for the second lap, and didn't immediately lose sight of the fast elites who were passing by, I started to let myself believe I was strong enough to make this work, and that I was going to win if I kept it up. I had a bit of a scare at the end of the second lap when I saw the the eventual second place SS finisher in the finish area as I was leaving it, but that was probably the push I needed to keep on it to win. In the second half of the third lap, I was glad I had managed to get down an energy gel, because I started to feel my earlier efforts, and by the last few climbs I started to cramp. I wasn't going to let that stop me then after I had led for a huge majority of the race though. I just kept myself pedaling at a decent pace and tried not to dwell on how much it hurt. By the final downhill section second place (David Marbut) had caught sight of me, but it was already over. I rolled in, and I was able to savor it even though all my body wanted to to was curl up in the fetal position. I WON! David finished only 7 seconds back, and had he known sooner that he was that close, he may have been able to catch me. As an avid Strava user who totally forgot to record the TT, I was very pleased that my phone's uncharged battery had lived until about 10 minutes after the finish (for those who care, I got a suffer score of 165 with ~1:30 at 180+ bpm and a max of 200bpm) Strava Link I had fun, rode my own race (literally) and learned the importance of hydration! I can't wait for round 2, but I imagine I'll fill the interim with lots of training and maybe a LITTLE bragging!- Murphy Davis.
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