Measuring Stick

I had only owned a mountain bike for maybe 6 months when I started wondering what it would be like to race.  How do you pass someone on narrow single track trails?  Will I even have to worry about that?  Just how fast do these guys ride anyway?  I don't have to wear tight shorts do I?

I was riding at least 3 or 4 times for every time my friends got out - mostly because I lived pretty close to the trails but also because I was really hooked on mountain biking.  As a result I was getting stronger and learning to ride a little faster.  I would climb tough hills that used to give me trouble and find myself waiting for my boys.  This got me thinking I must be ready to race - at least against other 40 year olds.  It was fall of 2010 and I decided to read up on the local mountain bike race scene and figure out what I had to do to get ready.

But as fate would have it, I wrecked my bike hard one day that fall and wound up in the hospital for the day.  I was off the bike for the whole winter healing up so racing in the spring of 2011 was not going to be an option but eventually I was healthy and ready to ride.  It was a great spring and summer for riding but a real reality check - my buddies were kicking my butt again, my strong legs and lungs were history.  Sitting around healing all winter had taken its toll.

By the end of the summer 2011 I thought I was back in form.  There was one race left in the season.  It was at the Bear Creek resort in the Pocono's.  A notoriously difficult, rocky race course that numerous riders cautioned against as a venue for a first time racer.  But I had to try and I was feeling good - I was sure I would do well but really had no idea.  I entered the Sport class and, in retrospect, I should of entered the Beginner.  The beginner course was one 7.5 mile loop and the Sport course was 2 laps for total distance of 15 miles.  (Expert would be three laps).  Fifteen miles didn't seem like much since I routinely rode 20 and 25 miles on my weekend rides.  I came in 17th out of 25 racers in my class (Sport Men 40-49).  Not exactly what I was hoping but, hey, I met some cool people along the way and now I had plenty of room to improve.

First bike race.  Basking in the glow of...well...17th place....out of 25.

So that got me thinking.  Those guys were REALLY fast.  Much faster than I thought.  I would like some way to measure my progress against these guys so I could would know how much more I need to train and also to just go in with more confidence knowing where I stand.  But how?  I could try to make friends with some fast guys and ride with them but that just hadn't happened.  So I kept training and riding and geeked out on the internet here and there and here is what I came up with:


Step 1: Find a solid GPS map of a bike race.  I was able to find this on the internet.  A racer had tracked his route in a previous race.  I was able to load this one on the EveryTrail app on my iPhone and take it out on the trail to learn the route. 

Bike Line Fair Hill Race 2009 at EveryTrail



Step 2: Come out with fresh legs and hammer out a lap.  I used the Strava app to track this ride - it has some other cool features to track other users times on marked segments like tough climbs - this loop has a climb segment called "Race Course Climb to Tunnel".  I ranked 9th out of about 25 riders that have used the Strava app to track their ride on this segment.  I rode the race loop in 38 minutes.



Step 3: See how you stack up.  Pull up an archive copy of the race results from the year before and check your time against your classification.  According to this I am sneaking up into the top 10.  This particular race has a field of 80 for this class (I'm only showing the top 30 below).

http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2011/04/10-Bike-Line-Spring-XC.asp

Division: Sport Men 40-49

Place  Name               Bib   Laps  Total    Start     Lap 1    Lap 2   

1      KEN OVERK          460   2     1:15:06  11:12:00  0:37:32  0:37:34

2      DOUGLAS SZABO      374   2     1:15:18  11:12:00  0:37:25  0:37:53

3      DEAN PIERSON       1483  2     1:15:25  11:12:00  0:37:23  0:38:02

4      PETER PHILLIPS JR. 294   2     1:15:48  11:12:00  0:37:40  0:38:08

5      SCOTT MCGILL       1444  2     1:16:01  11:12:00  0:38:06  0:37:55

6      Louren Reddick     1246  2     1:16:44  11:12:00  0:38:24  0:38:20

7      SHAUN KENNEDY      441   2     1:17:42  11:12:00  0:37:57  0:39:45

8      JOSEPH KOSA        1417  2     1:17:46  11:12:00  0:38:27  0:39:19

9      DAVID FUNK         424   2     1:18:09  11:12:00  0:38:45  0:39:24

10     SCOTT SAMOYAN      1507  2     1:18:21  11:12:00  0:38:51  0:39:30

11     DONALD DOWGIALLO   1364  2     1:18:29  11:12:00  0:38:50  0:39:39

12     Daniel Offuh       1278  2     1:18:33  11:12:00  0:38:29  0:40:04

13     TODD MELNICK       453   2     1:18:47  11:12:00  0:38:49  0:39:58

14     CHARLIE KNIGHT     222   2     1:18:56  11:12:00  0:39:23  0:39:33

15     BILL PIPES         226   2     1:18:57  11:12:00  0:39:19  0:39:38

16     MICHAEL SINKLER    230   2     1:19:25  11:12:00  0:39:18  0:40:07

17     MICHAEL BONSBY     1318  2     1:19:25  11:12:00  0:39:34  0:39:51

18     JEFF KAMMERZELT    1408  2     1:19:39  11:12:00  0:40:34  0:39:05

19     MATT BRAUN         1321  2     1:20:38  11:12:00  0:39:17  0:41:21

20     TODD SCHNEIDER     1513  2     1:21:01  11:12:00  0:38:50  0:42:11

And finally, I've continued to use Strava to track my rides and see how I stack up against other riders.  It gives me something to shoot for and I can see measurable progress.  On this ride I was second fastest of all rides tracked up a segment called "Up Five Bridges".



I will try racing again on April 22, 2012 at the Fair Hill Bike Line event - hopefully with better results than last year.  At least this time I know what I'm capable of.  Now I just need to get out there and have a gnarly ride....dude.