Author: April Parrish

Dwight and I raced Potato Creek on Sunday 06/01/2014. It is one of our favorite mountain bike trails. (Potato Creek is located in North Liberty, IN. about 12 miles southwest of South Bend) It is fast flowing single-track with about 8 miles of fun whoop-di-doos and rock gardens. It also flows through open fields and has some fast, sandy corners that can be challenging! I love it because there really is not any climbing!

We arrived a good hour and a half early to cheer on Cylone and warm up. During our warm up Dwight couldn’t resist the concrete drainage ditch on the down hill and needless to say he had a couple scrapes starting the race.

We raced sport class so we had 2 laps, approximately 16 miles with temperatures in the 80’s. Believe me,  you felt every degree when we hit the open field and there was just sun and sand!

I did my usual mingling before the race but was disheartened that one of the girls who I raced against at Bendix seemed to completely snub me when I said “hi.” Maybe she didn’t hear me or was having a bad day, but oh well, I guess I was there to race and not chit-chat (besides, that got me a little fired up and eager to hit the trail). There were only four of us racing Sport women, the official category has ages from 0-99, but out of us girls, we were 19-40 yrs. I was the oldest and these chicks all had 29-inch tires! Out of the girls, I had my eye on who I thought would be the strongest rider, so my strategy was to let her lead and hopefully wear her out or try and keep up!

We took off as a pack through winding, grass fields before we hit the single-track. To my surprise, there was more screeching of brakes through the downhill than what I would have expected with the caliber or women that were racing that day, but oh well. Entering the single-track I was sitting in third place. I knew the racer in front of me and she made the first move and asked to pass the lead rider. I chimed up to make that two passing! Well the leader got over to let one of us through, but that was not me! Her bike came back on the trail and ended up cutting me off. I asked her three more times to pass, finally I said, “I need to pass! You might be stronger on the hills but I have better technical skills.”

We reached a sandy climb enough for both of us to go through and of course everyone knows you do not take the middle of a sandy climb right? Well… she went up the middle and I called, “on your left” she reared to the left. I was forced to the left, just skimming a tree stump. I have never been so fired up during a race before, so that really got me going!

 

A little while later I saw the winner and gave her a shout out that she was awesome and rocking the trail. I counted 15 second from her spot but that must have fueled her, because I didn’t see or hear her again! I came in second but excited to report… I beat the next closest rider by 8 minutes! I guess in this case, my little tires were helpful on the corners.

~ April Parrish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dwight had a great race as well; he came in 2nd place single speed. It is hard to beat the locals, but we give them what we got!

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/wsicycling

 

Impromptu race day ~ Yankee TT was not on my list of races to do. It is usually held in April when I have finals and no ride time, so I tend to opt out of it and stick to the NIMBA series. This year the race was rescheduled and Dwight decided that morning he was going to do it. I was itching to ride my bike but did not want to race it. A good group of our teammates were racing so I figured I would take pictures and follow little Jacob Goff out while his dad and brother raced. Unfortunately for us, his trail was cut from 9 miles to 2 miles…he wasn’t a happy campier.  

For a millisecond, I considered following Dilan Goff but realized that might be embarrassing to him and there was a strong possibility he could be a stronger rider. Those Goff genes are crazy!

          After going back and forth drumming up my excuses with my teammates they solved my issues and left me with no excuses but to look like I “wussed out.” By that point, I already gave myself prerace jitters and just needed to pull it together and warm my legs up! As usual, I did more of the warming my mouth up then my legs, but that’s just another reason why I love racing…mountain bikers are just awesome people!

That’s Me!

 I made my way to the start where sport women were taking off in 10-second intervals. Cyclone was just two people in front of me and she had had her game face on eying the women on the white Niner. I hoped I could use Cyclone as my rabbit but only had a glimpse of her after takeoff. The women in front of me started strong, passing a couple others but by mile four, she bonked too and I had to pass. The 10-second intervals were ideal for me because there was always someone else to try to catch and chat up. It also gave me a big boost when I am doing the passing.

 On that note, I had just passed a girl who was a strong climber but couldn’t handle down hills and turns. I assumed she would get on my tail and follow my lines. Well… we hit the big, black, rubber mat climb. I charge it, my front tire started spinning out, and I thought she was blowing up my back tire. I didn’t think I was going to make it and moved to the right so she could pass. To my surprise, I heard a familiar male voice say, “Damn it!” Apparently, just as I reared off, Dave was passing me in the same direction and I messed him up. (No sad feelings… he still won his class and learned the lesson of calling his passes!)

Towards the end, I shifted to climb a hill and my chain fell off. It was a quick fix with the front ring and a spin of the peddle but the fact that I was at the bottom of a sandy hill with no momentum sucked! My legs were screaming all the way up and I just wanted it to be over…luckily I got some encouragement from a few spectators and cowbells, which felt like a gu shot, giving me that extra push I needed to finish.

To my surprise, I came in second!

 

 

I really have to give Dwight kudos here. He gave me his Gatorade and hit the racecourse without even bringing a water bottle. Since he didn’t preregister, he had a great deal of racers to pass and could have used those electrolytes. In the end, he was literally seconds from 1st place against our very own Keith Wilkinson!

 

Keith Wilkinson  (1st) and 

Dwight Denisiuk (2nd)

 

The first race of the NIMBA series was held Sunday at Bendix Woods. This mountain bike trail is in New Carlisle, Indiana. It is approximately 6.5 miles of twisting trails. Although the largest visible hill is on the pavement crossing, I swear the majority of trail is deceptively on inclines! We were both racing sport so we had two laps to do. 

We arrived a good hour before the race and it was 40 degrees, dark rain clouds and windy. Little did I know, it would be sunny and 60 when we finished. I dressed as if I was doing the Iceman wearing my normal team kit, under armor, coat, long pants etc…I was still shivering! I quickly recognized my competition; she was warming up on the side trails as I was warming up in the jeep.

Before my 10:20 start time, I forced myself to spin those legs getting about two miles in. I was still freezing so did not opt to take any layers off. This was a time trial race. At the start I was very intimidated by the girl who was taking off behind me, she was doing jumping jacks, full of energy and singing along to the music. Considering the fact that I have only been exercising my brain and possibly had 50 miles on my wheels the past 3 months…I was regretting the beating she was about to deliver. I took off not knowing where the other girls were but thought this girl was taking off 30 seconds behind me. By mid lap, the sun came out and I was overheating. I unzipped it all but could not pull coat off with the camel back strapped to me. At this point, I was    wishing I wore those arm warmers, which would have been easy to slip down. While I was riding, I was trying to figure out how far back the girl was. I picked locations and counted the seconds that I would see someone hit it, but didn’t at all the first lap. I assumed I was in the lead so when I dropped my gu packet, I quickly stopped to pick it up. At that time, I should have taken off a layer but did not want to waste that much time. I eventually heard her on trail, I knew she wasn’t far behind, I tried to take off my gloves while riding and slip them in the pocket. Sadly, I dropped one and weighed my options, a $45 Pearl Izumi glove, or a $25 race.  I stopped and picked up the glove. It was not long after, she caught me! Any other time I would have fought for it but I was toasted/roasted/depleted… I told her how awesome she was and allowed her easy access to pass. At the end of it all, there were only three girls preregistered for the Sport class. I came in second.

           

                   Here is Dwight going through the rock garden like a pro…  and then there is me, doing the rookie move looking down.

Oh and about Dwight…his start time was just 15 minutes before mine  and when I reached the above rock section, he was actually on the the return trail next to me! At the start he had concerns about not changing the gearing on his single speed, but already seeing him there, I knew he made it work! He came in first place, beating his competition by 1:02! Unlike me, he was still full of energy and actually wanted to ride the course again before we went home!

                                                                                        And as you can imagine…