GSC #1 - HELLitage Park

ADDENDUM: And as you read this keep in mind that the restrooms at Heritage were closed and NO port-o-pots were brought in. The below video was footage of the ITT finish. This racer was two or three spots ahead of me.



Oh my . . . where to start. So I drove up to Heritage Park Saturday to do the ITT for some extra points and get a look at the course. I haven't been there in two years since the last "weather event" but who's counting. I actually said I'd NEVER go back and here I am, pulling in to Heritage Park for a 4 mile ITT and a 20ish mile XC race on Sunday. And guess what. It's about to rain.

I get a pretty good place to park, but not under the shelter because those have all been taken. I set up Bill's eazyup, which I realize has two broken cross braces. Registration goes pretty easy. The kids get their ITT under way. I'm kitted and ready to go and I here thunder. The experts are on the course and I'm standing in line waiting to start when the bottom falls out. Hard rain, then light rain, then no rain, then hard rain, etc. As I was getting the countdown there was no rain.

This was the first race on my new bike and in retrospect, probably not the best race or course to break it in on. Two miles in and the flood gates open. Five minutes later the lightening starts popping. I'm climbing a switchback that more resembles a class IV rapid when a flash of lightening overhead damn near blinds me. I literally prayed the remainder of the way back to the pavilion. I didn't stop to check results because I was worried about my stuff and the eazyup collapsing. The water was so deep around the truck my shoes were completely submerged. As I lowered the eazyup, the side that had the broken brace completely crumbled and the canopy came down on my head. I folded it up and stood it under the pavilion. It took some creativity to get dry and changed but I did, and then within seconds it quit raining.

I drove into town to get a propane canister, stopped at a carwash to pull under the cover to organize and dry my gear, drove back to the park and was able to grab a parking place under the shelter. I cooked myself something to eat, listened to some Pearl Jam, and waited on Gene and Woolard to arrive.

So let me lay it out for you. There is absolutely, positively NOTHING fun about the Heritage trail. The entire trail is littered with nothing but roots. There seems to be twice as much climbing as descending, but it doesn't matter because the descents are actually washed-out root-pits any way. If someone were to ask me "What's your favorite part of the trail?", I'd have to respond NOT RIDING IT! Don't get me wrong. I believe every trail needs a technical aspect and I like to climb. I don't think any trail needs to look like the sidewalk they built in England for the 2012 Olympics but COME ON. Not only do you have to navigate endless amounts and varying sizes of roots, you have to deal with the mud, and it doesn't matter if it's rained or not, Heritage always has a muddy section. Fortunately for me it rained ALL NIGHT LONG. The whole damn trail was muddy. So you make it through the mud and roots into the pines which my handlebars on Bike #2 can barely fit through. (Oh yeah. I not only had to use my back up bike, I had to wear my back up shoes and helmet.) And then there's the creek crossings which were running at about 18-22 inches in my estimation. I didn't stop to measure because I was afraid of getting swept off the waterfall to my right. Then all you have to do is cross three bridges that are slippery as goose shit, climb out of hell and back to the pavilion. That's ONE F-ING LAP!

As mentioned before, I was using all backup gear because either my stuff was still soaked from Saturday or I didn't want to ruin it today. Bike #2 had too big of a gear but I was too cold and too lazy to change it. Plus, I don't think I had a chain that would fit If I went bigger, so guess what . . . run what ya' brung. Gene and Woolley at this point have walked over to the registration booth six times to see when the cut-off is. They're on the fence, but they're facing the side that says "I'm not racing this shit!" Yee Haw. It's 9:30 and time to start.

Good start. I sat on #1 and #2 all the way through the first section and felt like I had a technical advantage on them. I slid out of one corner but was able to come back pretty quick. All was good until the first real climb. Muddy ground, wet roots, and wrong gear equals by-by to the leaders. The next climb was the same but this time it was by-by to #3. Eventually I watched #4 pass me as well. I finished lap one and Gene gave me the time splits from the leaders which in reality was a mute point. I knew with the gearing I had that I'd still have to walk three, if not four of the climbs and that wasn't going to catch anyone. I hadn't taken a sip from my water bottle; one because there's no where you can relax long enough to grab a bottle and two I was scared that I might contract giardia from all the crap that was now riding on the cap of my bottle.

The second lap was an exercise in mental torture. I was wet, muddy, cold, and nowhere near the leaders. I finished. Gene and Woolley headed back to Jay and Lisa's to pick up their gear. I cleaned up as best possible and loaded up for home. I was shivering all the way to Perry and then the temperature went up 20 degrees which is really good for the sinus infection I'd just gotten rid of.

I've washed my kit three times. I don't think it's coming clean. I refuse to look at my bike for the next several days. I will NEVER go back to Heritage Park!