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O-Hill Race Report

Saturday was the beginning of the race season for myself and probably close to a hundred other brave souls.  A quick glance at the race schedule showed the only race of the weekend was the 16th Annual O-Hill Meltdown.  I ventured out of my northern VA suburbia and pointed the family truckster south to Charlottesville, VA.  A quick 2 hour ride and I was registered for the singlespeed class and ready for some racing.

About the time I was to be racing, we got wind there was a delay and the sports/experts/ss classes would go off about an hour or so later than originally thought.  Nothing really to do, but chat with the other racers and try to find some shade on this 85° degree day.  Before we know it we are lined up and ready to go.  All other classes go before the singlespeed class.  When we step up to the line it’s all business…right.  A quick look around yields a few familiar faces.  Next to me is fellow fixie racer Tim Richardson, a Contes rider, a Pedalshop rider, and a few others I’ve just met in the parking lot, hailing from Lynchburg, VA.  The countdown begins and then we take off.

The first 300 yards of the race course is a steep paved road.  Before you reach the top of the road you cut off onto one of the few flat sections of trail.  It’s less than 5 minutes into the race and my heart is maxed out!  At this point I’m just trying to keep the leaders in sight, after all, the biggest mistake you can make is riding someone else’s race.  After the climb we are rewarded with cheese grater downhill along a fenceline with rocks big enough to keep you on your toes.

At this point I’m starting to get a feel for the course.  It’s got roots like Lodi and rocks like Gambrill, well maybe more like Greenbrier.  The hills aren’t very long, more Fountainheadish than anything.  Steep enough to require max power output, but not quite long enough to burn you out…right away.  Take Wakefield’s twisty trail and Fountainhead’s hills and you’ve got O-Hill.  About half way through the first lap the heat starts to get to me.  My body isn’t used to the 85° weather, as this is the first 80°+ day of the year.  When the occaisionaly cloud rolls through and blocks the sun, a nice breeze can be felt sweeping through the shadows.  Head down and mashing the pedals, this was going to be a hard day in the saddle.

Somewhere along the course I managed to either miss a turn or make a wrong turn.  I only realize this as I seem to be in the middle of a whole lot of geared riders and I’m somewhat doubtful that I have caught up to the sport/expert classes.  Stranger things have happened, but the simple answer is usually the correct one.  When I see the race director I tell him what happened and tell him I figure I should be DQ’d as it’s not really fair to other people in my class.  Evidently I’m not the only one who “accidently” cut the course.  I believe a pack of expert/pros got a little lost themselves.  We’ll just chalk this one up to riding so fast that I missed the signage, yea that works.

After all was said and done, I think I ended up with only 1.5 of the 2 required laps and a nice solid DQ for my first race of the year.  Could have been worse, I could have been stuck inside on the couch watching television…  What’s good news is this race gave me an idea of where I am fitness wise, the bad news was…seeing where I am fitness wise.  It felt good to be out on the bike and pushing the body, even better that it was on a course I’ve never raced.

DT

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