I arrived in Puerto Rico on Friday evening, just before the Sunday race. My first check of the course was Saturday. Conditions were very slick but not muddy. The course received some rain early Sunday, keeping things slick…
Race Day. I had a good first few pedal strokes but unfortunately made a bad shift a few seconds into the race and broke my chain. I got myself to the tech zone and installed a fresh chain, heading into the first single track 3-4 minutes down on the rest of the field. As I entered the first single tracks I realised the course was more than slick. It was full on peanut butter mud, completely clogging tires and bikes. It was a challenge to keep wheels spinning, riders were stopping to pull mud out of their bikes at the top of climbs. CRAZY conditions. So crazy it was a debate if you should remove mud from the bike or not.
I raced the Zerouno AMB, a hard tail bike. It was nice as mud would not collect in the rear shock linkage, keeping overall weight to a minimum. I ran some of the lowest pressure I ever have for this race. If I was racing these conditions again I would definitely make a few adjustments… First, I would run a 2.2 or 2.0 old-school mud tire to minimise mud clogging, I would stop more often to take the shit out of my bike and likely go for a more cyclocross-style shouldering approach to keep my wheels out of the mud whenever possible. I ended up 20th on the day.
This weekend's races were located in Salinis, Puerto Rico. It is just out of the mountains on the Southern side of the island. The climate here is super dry and HOT. The course is fully exposed to the sun with a lot of sharp bump rocks, and loose over hard soil. There are 3 climbs per lap, two flowing descents, one man-made jump line and one techy rock section. The course really has everything and can be very unforgiving due to the heat, tech, climbs and lack of recovery.
My week's lead in was typical for a race week. I had limited training hours on the schedule, with one hard set of efforts, and some activation. The riding on this side of the island is beautiful! Long 30+ minute climbs up into the jungle, warm weather, ocean views. I came into the short track excited and motivated to preform
The short track was early Saturday morning… 830 am! It meant we beat the heat but was a throwback to youth racing days. There were 65 starters jammed on the course making the first few minutes fairly hectic. I had a mediocre start but was able to hold around 30th in the first lap. I battled back a little bit throughout the race but would finish up in 23rd. It was nice to get a clean race under my belt and open the legs up for the XCO on Sunday.
XCO was Sunday at 3pm local time. A few more starters than the XCC had just under 70 riders on the start straight. Starting fast was going to be important. I had a nice start loop, rolling around 15-20. Pace was high in the first lap but I wanted to be sure I didn't over overextend early as recovering from the 30 + degree celsius heat is not easy. I put together a strong second lap. Unfortunately, my back went out at the end of lap 2. I was unable to put any power down and suffered badly on the descents. I flew back through the field and finished a disappointing 35th.
The trip has not been a very great start to the season. I didn’t have high expectations for results coming in and wanted some good hard efforts early in the season. I put a hard effort in but feel I under performed. I have 3 weeks until my next race and I will be looking to put in some hard training in this March.
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