Mountain Bike Race - 2/12/12 Lake Crabtree & Umstead Park

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Wed Feb 08, 2012 2:56 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

I went to Warrior Creek last week for a couple laps. Have a trip to Pisgah planned for May with my riding group. Here's my likely trip schedule:

Feb 12 - Crabtree/Umstead 35 mile MTB race (registered)
Mar 10 - Hanging Rock 10MTB/13Road race
Mar 24 - Harris Lake 6 Hour Race
Apr 7 - Warrior Creek 6 Hour Race (registered)
Apr 21 - USMC Mud Run (registered)
Apr 28 - Harris Lake Duathlon (5 mile run, 5 mile MTB)
May 6 - Raven Rock road century (registered)
May 19 - 4 Day Pisgah riding weekend
Jun 17 - Wilmington White Face (NY state) MTB 100K (Leadville qualifier for a buddy)
Jul 22 - Off Road Assault on Mount Mitchell (100K MTB) (registered)
Aug 11 - Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race (registered)

--Donnie

That's quite a bit of riding.

Are you trying to go pro or do you just have nothing better to do with yourself?

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:04 pm

MarcusMcRae wrote:

That's quite a bit of riding.

Are you trying to go pro or do you just have nothing better to do with yourself?

Leadville is a bucket list kind of thing. It's hard. Damned hard. And just trying it is not enough. I want to make sure I finish it, and finish it in under 12 hours.

I'm also sleeping in an altitude tent in preparation for it. Yes, a tent, in my bedroom. Only not with my wife...she wouldn't do it. So I'm in a separate bed for...a while. *sigh*

--Donnie

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:11 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

MarcusMcRae wrote:

That's quite a bit of riding.

Are you trying to go pro or do you just have nothing better to do with yourself?

Leadville is a bucket list kind of thing. It's hard. Damned hard. And just trying it is not enough. I want to make sure I finish it, and finish it in under 12 hours.

I'm also sleeping in an altitude tent in preparation for it. Yes, a tent, in my bedroom. Only not with my wife...she wouldn't do it. So I'm in a separate bed for...a while. *sigh*

--Donnie

So you just have nothing better to do?

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:27 pm

That's hilarious but my good friend that is co-sponsored by Specialized/Dumonde (and past 6 Hours of Warrior Creek winner) says altitude tents are 'the heat'.

You're on the path to put in more race miles than my total miles this year. :lol:

Then again I just signed up on Strava and if I can link my Garmin HRM watch (hope so) it's going to be a summer like no other. With a hitch for the Yakima on each car, there are no excuses to get out and explore new trails.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:49 pm

MarcusMcRae wrote:

So you just have nothing better to do?

Essentially.

I'd consider going pro if I had a snowballs chance in hell of competing at that level. The only thing missing from what I do now and what pro cyclists do is eating better. If I did that, too, I'd go from 200 pounds all the way down to a svelt 185, at best. And I'd still be 6'2" and much wider than the average pro cyclist.

The problem with that is I would still weigh 50 more pounds. My aerodynamic issues compared to them probably aren't TOO much of a problem at MTB speeds (but would be huge as well on the road). But 50 pounds is a huge amount of weight to carry up a hill, and cycling is all about how well you can climb at the end of the day. Particularly mountain bike racing.

So what I'm saying here is I have no shot at that. If I got to where I could put out the same power as Levi for 6.5 hours, he'd be finished with Leadville and I'd probably still be somewhere near an hour behind him. Could I potentially put out more power than a guy like that? With the right dope and ten years ago, still no.

But here's the thing: I enjoy biking and I enjoy it a lot. More than racing cars, in fact. So what the heck...might as well scratch the itch while I'm still young enough to kick a few local tails, maybe. MAYBE.

--Donnie

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:48 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

But here's the thing: I enjoy biking and I enjoy it a lot. More than racing cars, in fact. So what the heck...might as well scratch the itch while I'm still young enough to kick a few local tails, maybe. MAYBE.

--Donnie

I feel the same way about skiing but I'm never going to be good enough to do it full time.

Pete Guthrie · **Posted:** Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:25 pm

I have a TKD forms clinic on saturday morning. 10 am saturday morning, i am yellow belt now. There fore i have a new form to learn.. So I am encouraged to go.. But you all go hard, dont hurt yourself.. and get a win!

Best of luck my freinds!

come to the rallycross!

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:04 pm

My goodness, it's going to be insanely cold on Sunday morning. *sigh* Wind chills maybe in the single digits, and definitely that far when you're coasting down a hill in Umstead at 25MPH+!

Bundle up folks, it's toe-losing weather.

--Donnie

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:49 am

I just checked Weatherspark and it's looking like 28° @ start time. Brrrr!! I had a hunch that it would get cold right on or around race day with the awesome winter we've had so far, unless you ski or snowboard of course. :wink:

Definitely adding shoe warmers to the list when I go to the shop after work tomorrow as I'm just now getting around to picking up 29" tubes after ~10 rides on the new bike. Testing fate I guess?

I'm going to turn on the ipod and make the best of it but it's gonna hurt!

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:12 pm

Marcus, thx for the cheers man. You got over to Ebenezer quick!

I didn't feel as cold as I thought I'd be. Last time I raced there the temperature was over x3 the start temp, 27.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Sun Feb 12, 2012 5:06 pm

Nice work, Matt. Looks like you beat me by about 17 minutes (following you on Strava now). Data is showing 19 minutes, but I didn't stop mine at the finish for a couple minutes. I had a terrible race going out way too hard and never really recovering, but even if I hadn't done that I don't think I could have gone more than maybe 10 minutes faster today.

I actually over-did the gear and lost some time in Crabtree trying to unzip the vents in my jacket and such, but not too much. Was completely soaked when I finished, though. Definitely had too much on. Ugh.

--Donnie

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Sun Feb 12, 2012 7:44 pm

Thanks Donnie, I've got to be totally honest and say that I left nothing out there. I appreciate the strava add as I started my phone (don't have the bar mounted GPS yet) a few minutes before the start as I didn't want to be that guy to have a smartphone in my hand when they say 'go'. My bike computer read about 4 miles more than the strava distance. It's such an awesomely simple program for numbers people and it will definitely make me want to ride further, especially when it warms up.

I'm sore already! :twisted:

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:05 pm

Matt McGrain wrote:

Marcus, thx for the cheers man. You got over to Ebenezer quick!

It gave me an excuse to take the race car out for a spin.

You were in the top five or so coming out of crabtree. How did you finish?

It was funny to see all the different techniques for crossing the creek. Bunch of pansies worried about getting wet. :lol:

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:14 pm

MarcusMcRae wrote:

Matt McGrain wrote:

Marcus, thx for the cheers man. You got over to Ebenezer quick!

It gave me an excuse to take the race car out for a spin.

You were in the top five or so coming out of crabtree. How did you finish?

It was funny to see all the different techniques for crossing the creek. Bunch of pansies worried about getting wet. :lol:

There will be photographic evidence posted soon that I bombed through that water. It was fun and refreshing!

--Donnie

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:24 am

Hahha! I crept throught the creek crossing worried about the water. When I see my creek crossing photo it will probably look like I'm standing still. :wink:

Looking at the times, I think I got 11th so I'm pretty happy about that.

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Mountain Bike Race - 2/12/12 Lake Crabtree & Umstead Park

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