Gypsy Moth is two weeks ago now. Today was the Black & Blue, but I'm just getting around to catching up on an entry for G.M. tonight.
Again this year, the SRCR club was able to use the very nice property at Whelen Engineering for parking and the start. When I pulled the bike out of the trailer, I noticed my first mechanical problem of the day....no e-start. This was a surprise as my last ride a week earlier there was no indication of any problem. I was hoping that this was perhaps due to the cold weather: the bike was outside in 30-degree weather overnight. Unfortunately this was not the case and the e-start was out all day. In the end, I'd guess that this cost me 2-3 minutes on the day. I realized that I'd gotten used to not worrying so much about stalling and just relighting the bike with my thumb. Lesson learned.
We left out the back of parking to do the "Airport Section" first. And that's when I noticed my second mechanical problem of the day. I had almost no rear brake action. Before the start check, I tried to adjust the pedal to get a little more leverage and pressure. Over the course of the first section, I got a little more brake action. I guessed that there was probably some water in the line and it froze, blocking the flow of the fluid.
Out on the trail, we got out of the start check and the terrain was the typical for the Airport Section: rocky, technical, fun. Ed tipped over just a few corners in and I got past him and put my head down. This section is on the side of steep hill and it requires constant attention. A couple miles in is the now-infamous porno-hill: a 30-foot rock face preceded by a few choice centerfolds tacked to trees. I remembered the good line from last year and passed a couple guys here that were stuck on the face. The rest of the first loop was a really good mix of technical stuff with good resets to keep your brain and body in the game.
About halfway through the morning loop I think my brain fell out of my helmet. I've never made so many time-keeping errors in an enduro since the first couple that I ever did. On the day I had two burned check-ins, one late check in, and lots of stupid lines taken. Not sure what's up with my brain. At Palmyra I kept missing turns. I need to sharpen up the mental side of my game. It seems like my trail speed is slowly coming up each race, but my brain is lagging behind.
About halfway through the first loop my forks started to leak....badly. I'd just gotten them back from Gilles with new seals. I feared the worst, that maybe there were internal issues causing new seals to leak. The left leg leaked so bad that oil got all over the brake rotor, giving me about half the normal breaking power.
At the end of the race there was a very sneaky check on the dirt road transferring to the last A/B section. It wasn't 100% of a legal check, the crew did not have the signs facing the rider - in fact they only had one sign (that I saw) and the crew was hiding off to the side of the road - not that that part's against the rules.
I had a pretty good pace going in the last section until one hill got the best of me. I made it 3/4 of the way up, a very steep, rocky hill then slid backwards until I got tossed from the bike and landed with my left hip on a pretty good rock. I just laid there for a couple minutes as two guys I'd been competing against all day rode by. I got up and struggled to the end a couple miles away.
So, my riding was generally pretty good, but I ruined it with too many stupid mistakes.
Had to miss the following week's Jack Frost enduro, went to a NEASC visit in Leominster, MA.
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