Race Report: La Tierra Torture
April 30-May 1, 2011
Santa Fe, NM
After practicing riding the miles of trails at La Tierra, west of 599 on Camino de los Montoyas, it was time for Team SpinDoc to head to the races. Kirk, David Sammeth, Ramleen, and I all registered for Saturday’s short course event in addition to Sunday’s cross country race. This dual registration also scored us cool Primal event jerseys.
The weather, in true La Tierra Torture tradition, was cool and windy, with snow forecast for Sunday. Hmmm. I guess that’s where the Torture part of the name comes in.
David’s son Torin rode the 1-lap fun race. He rode hard and had fun, finishing strong in his first race. Congrats, Torin!
Ramleen and I rode at noon, both as Cat 3 but in (very) different age groups. The group, ranging in age from teens to 50s (I was probably the oldest, or one of the oldest, to ride it, which I found surprising), was probably about 25 riders strong. I hung out at the back, and after a very casual countdown, we were off. The course, which was probably about 3/4 mile long started with a gradual but steady climb up to the start/finish, around to the left, down a jeep trail and out along a singletrack. It wasn’t that technical, and Ramleen took off like a shot. Speed is not my forte, so I literally took my time, and rode the ride as simply taking a bike ride. It showed in the end results, as I was dead last (a first, even for me) but as I wasn’t racing it was good. Ramleen, on the other hand, rode hard and strong, finishing first, in her first-ever mountain bike race, and from the start I suspected she would dominate her age group.
Kirk and David were to ride later, so I came home to hold down the fort at the shop. Kirk had been swamped at the shop, culminating in a food intake deficit for him – never a good way to start a race. I wasn’t there to witness it, but understand that Kirk got “the hole shot” (the ideal spot in the front line-up that enables a rider to immediately pull out in front of the pack) and took off. He and David rode hard, fast and strong, with Kirk pulling out the stops by riding on his cyclocross bike. He got lots of “atta boys!” for that, probably with some bemused shakes of the head, too. (Ah, but those folks haven’t seen him ride a cyclocross bike!) Somewhere on a fast turn he had to put a foot down which was all it took for David to move out into the lead. The guys ended up finishing 1-2. The SpinDoc men dominated their age group, with one-tenth of a second difference between them, and a full 12 seconds faster than the third rider.
Sunday dawned cold and overcast, with a 30% chance of snow showers in the forecast. Sure enough, it did send some fluffy white stuff down on us.
The crosscountry race was a totally different ball game. Instead of heading out fast and furious, the cross country race is all about endurance, handling on technical sections, and climbing. The course was approx. 9 miles, and the Cat 2 men were slated to ride two laps, and the Cat 3 riders were to go once. Cat 1 riders started first, riding three laps, at 9:00 AM. It was cold, occasional snowflakes drifting by, and all the riders lined up on a dirt road leading up to the actual course. Five minutes later the single speed riders started, followed shortly by the Cat 2 men and women. That left us Cat 3 riders to take off at 9:20. Having waved off Kirk and David, Ramleen and I positioned ourselves to start. Ramleen had started to suss out where she wanted to be, realizing that seeding herself too far back simply meant she had the challenge of passing that many more riders. I, on the other hand, maintained my back-of-the-pack spot. At the count down we pedaled off, the serious racers going hard, and me walking my bike up an extra few feet so I could get an easy start on flat road. Even so, I passed several riders right away climbing the ascent to the actual course.
Ramleen and the bulk of the riders were long out of site, but it didn’t take long before I was catching up to and trying to pass riders – usually on climbs. The funniest moment was when five women all hit a sandy ascent at the same time, but one had stopped, which meant we all stopped. I skirted around knowing I’d end up behind them trying to pass again, but then couldn’t get enough purchase to get rolling. Someone else tried with the same result. After all of us trying multiple times, we ended up sorting out the order by who could get rolling. It was straight out of Laurel and Hardy.
I played tag with a lady for a while, passing her on climbs and she passing me on descents, but I finally hit a long enough climb that it put me out ahead of her for good. I rode hard, and felt I did pretty good, but was very aware of the fact that it was inevitable that Cat 1 guys would start catching me as they rode their fast second lap. Sure enough, one by one they started to catch me, then a few at a time, then a group of six. It was frustrating to have that happen – my focus was shot as I had to pull aside or find a place for them to pass, and on technical stuff where I wanted to take my time I worried about them barreling down on me and literally running me down. I lost much time at a particular set of steep (to me) “woop-de-dos” worrying how to handle it should a Cat 1 rider come plowing through. Finally I just went, stopping in the middle of them as I do (I never quite make it up the other side, and end up pushing my bike to the top, gather my wits, and head down the next one) and was extremely thankful to remain on my own.
Eventually, still passing other riders (by now I was passing riders that had left well ahead of me, which made me feel good) I was approaching the finish, which I wasn’t sorry to see. I went as hard and focused as I could, and was proud of my ride. Ramleen was waiting at the end, which was nice particularly since Kirk was still out on his second lap. I may have finished last in my age group, but I finished faster then men and women younger than I.
Ramleen and I then hung out at the finish to cheer Kirk and David in. Both had good rides. Everyone had fun, successful rides, and that is ultimately what it is all about. Or is it the big plate of Huevos Rancheros, over easy, at Plaza Southside? I think that’s what it’s all about!
While at brunch Natasha called – who also raced both days and I believe took the gold in our age group for the combo event – to let us know she’d picked up Ramleen’s first place medal for her age group in the combination event, David’s first place, Kirk’s second place, and my third place medals. Pretty good for Ramleen’s first ever mountain bike race, eh?
Team SpinDoc did good. Most of all, we had fun and rode hard.
Till next time, keep the rubber side down and a smile on your face.
Chandler, Kirk and Team SpinDoc
