Race Report - Smithville Lake

I've been a bit hesitant to write a race report on the race I attended a few weeks back because...well, cus it kinda sucked. The race I'm speaking of was the Bone Bender which was rescheduled from a rainout that happened a couple months back. I am appropriately going to rename this race Bike Breaker, for reasons that will be clear.

The race was in Smithville, actually it was in a little town called Paradise, no joke, which is about 45 minutes north of Kansas City, I left Columbia Friday afternoon, and made my way to KC to stay with a good friend of mine that lives downtown. Friday evening we went out and enjoyed some pizza at a bar/restaurant in Westport, and headed back to his place to relax since I had to get up early. The rain had been beating down Smithville for most of the latter part of that week, but the race directors(Cowtown Cycles I think) decided that the show must go on regardless of the weather. I decided to make my decision on Saturday morning.

Morning rolls around, I feel good, pretty well rested for having slept on the floor, and sure enough, look out the window to see a wet street. The rain had been on and off through the night, and was taking a break at the moment.
I paced the apartment for a few minutes, and finally said f*** it, I came to race, I'm gonna race. So I packed up and headed north, getting beat down by rain the entire time. After arriving at the lake, I checked in and sat in my car for about 20 minutes to avoid the wet. Once it stopped, myself and most of the other racers got out and started getting prepped. After a brief racer meeting, the bikes were staged for a Lemans(sp?) style start, and I headed to the start line and hung out there with a friend of Chris's from Momentum Cycles.

Gun shot, race on, starting through some grassy stuff before entering the single track. The racers shot into the woods and I started feeling pretty good, just following the guy in front of me, getting passed by a few guys that belonged in the front, but having a pretty good time just following the pack. The trail was soaked and we were all getting muddy, but so far the mud hadn't kicked me off my bike, and I was keeping up pretty well. After about a half mile of this(in an 11.2 mile loop) things took a bad turn. Once one person dismounts, many people dismount, and soon enough it was a line of people struggling to carry they're now 60-70 lb bikes across muddy, munched up, nearly impossible to ride terrain. I felt somewhat lucky to have a singlespeed drivetrain, but I still had issues.

Lets skip ahead. There was alot of walking, and if I had to guess, I would say that at least 80% of my race was spent off the bike. There were plenty of times throughout the race where I would stop walking and clear off the mud and ride for a bit, but through most of the trail the mud was the kind that just stuck to everything, and built up really quickly. There were trail intersections where many racers bailed out, but I had told myself that I didn't want a DNF next to my name no matter how bad it got. After 3 hr and 26 minutes of trudging through boot sucking mud, pushing a 60 lb bike with a locked up rear wheel, I finally got near the finish, onto paved path, and I knocked the mud off my bike, hopped on and rode to the finish as fast as I could,trying to look pro, like I was really fast and not pissed at all.

Looking back I think I could've done much better with more training beforehand, because most of the guys that did really well were on singlespeeds and just plain strong. I saw many trashed deraileurs, and busted chains, and 1 guy whose middle chainring was missing a chunk, but overall happy attitudes. Personally, I don't think the race should've happened, because the trails are really, really messed up now, but I chalked up quite a few mental victories that weekend, and it got me excited to do some more races, and gave me a new appreciation of fully functioning bicycles.

Myself and Chris's buddy from Momentum Cycles in front of me, can't remember his name, nice guy. He found me.Already winded coming up the grass hill, bit nervous at that point, but I settled in, until the mudfest started.Pro Finish

Dingleberries