Commonwealth Games Pre-ride

Ok so last Tuesday night Paula and I tried to ride part of the Sport Course for the C.Games Mountain Bike Race. We had to do an abbreviated version due to timing. So today I decided to go back and try again. It's been a couple of years since I raced at the Cove and then I was just a beginner. The jump to Sport class last year wasn't easy, and everyone knows the saga of trying to ride so far this year. (If not, go back and read some previous posts). I wasn't quite sure if I was up to this challenge or not. The other complicating factor is that one of the trails (Hemlock Tunnel aka Clownhead aka Hemlock Tunnel of Death) the race goes on is very difficult in my opinion. Today would be only the 4th or 5th time I've ever ridden the crazy thing. It's just that bad. We noticed on Tuesday that it doesn't appear as though it's getting ridden as much as some of the others, so there is quite a bit of greenery encroaching on the trail as well as a lot of branches and junk on the trail.

So all of the races start off on Songbird. Great trail when it's dry, but of course we had a lot of rain on Saturday; so today it was mucky, muddy and slippery. I managed just fine, but picked up alot of mud and splatter as I journeyed across. After Songbird, all races will take a right on the fireroad for a quick jaunt to Enchanted Forest, which is not at all Enchanting. It's rooty, muddy and there are a ton of weeds and greenery along the trail. There is a mud bog or two right now. The stream is if nothing else refreshing.

After this it's Comet back to the fireroad. I honestly think poor Comet needs to be shut down and rerouted in a more than a few places. There are crazy roots. One of the big dips has at least 4 options to cross the small stream that sometimes holds water. This will be a big PITA during the race. Awhile back, several well-meaning, hard-working volunteers attempted to armour some of the stream crossings. This worked well for a while, but with the rains that we've gotten many of them are washed out and tricky. Most all of Comet (the lower part) is rideable - the only exception for me is the V-ravine. Completing Comet brings all racers back to the foot of the 1000' climb. Beginners go up and take the 4Gorges back, Sport and Experts continue on to Hemlock Tunnel.

Hemlock Tunnel. Ah yea. This trail gets my attention. Why? Because I suck at switchbacks, and it is a technical, steep descent. So the top of the trail starts out with a lot of lose rocks, not small ones either. They clunk and roll as you do. There are (I think) 4 switchbacks which you have to negotiate. Most of them have small drops off of tree roots entering them. Then, there is the downhill run which is rutted with similar lose rocks. I did fine on it Tuesday, but today I freaked out about halfway down and stopped. This hill absolutely kills my hands. By the time I reached the bottom, both are aching. From there this trail really isn't that bad. Like I said before, there is a lot of overgrowth on both sides of the trail. The trail meanders through the woods and crosses a stream bed a few times. There are a few log hops and an uphill or two. Eventually you arrive back at a fireroad (Kerncliff). Here you take a left and head up hill to the trailhead for Comet.

Once at Comet, I was wondering what I would face. It's been a long time since I rode Comet as well. I remembered it to be worse than it was honestly. The downhill wasn't too bad. There isn't one good line. You just have to pick your spots and ride it. The bottom left hand turn is very rideable for me now. The climbs out of Comet are not easy, nor were the water crossings for some reason. Anway, I found that if I stood up and climbed I did much better on these. I did have to walk one hill on Comet - have never ridden up. There are logs and plenty of mud on Comet ride now, but I did enjoy what the trail had to offer today. Eventually you come back to where you were the first time through on Comet and you follow it and the 1000' climb (quarter mile of it this time) up to Four Gorges. Riding 4G this direction is a lot easier, and today I felt like I did good on it. I did have to stop at one point because I was having trouble catching my breath - probably because heart rate nailed 172bpm. This had happened on the end of Hemlock Tunnel too. A quick stop this time and it went right back down. I arrived at the bridge much sooner than I expected.

I'm trying not to get overly confident about today, but I felt good for the most part during the ride. I walked when I had to, but even that wasn't all that much. I started the GPS's timer at the parking lot, but I did stop it at the top of 1000' at Hemlock Tunnel while I heeded nature's call. My ride time was 2:13:43. I did stop once or twice to see my ever ringing phone. Maybe I can get the ride under 2 hours, but I doubt it. I think I'll aim for sub 2.5 and see what happens. It should be fun. Not looking forward to heat and humidity. I was done by noon today, and the races start around 11am. Hmmm, hydration....

Good ride, lots of grime: