After going out to the Tyson's Corner Crit yesterday and looking at the course and then cursing myself for not signing up I wanted to ride some kind of bad yesterday. Weather was perfect, mid 70s little to no wind I am sure it would have been great except I had some other things to take care of. Anyways, congrats to Luis who got his win in an uphill battle to the finish with Nick, not sure of his last name but we have been in some races earlier in the season.
Well with a peek of the weather before bed I knew that the first part of the week was suppose to be very nice, add that to with not sleeping well, when the alarm went off at 4am I really didn't feel like getting ready to head to work and wanted to go for a ride instead. So back to bed I went for a few more hours of sleep and the got up and took Christian to daycare. I had planned on doing my regular Clifton loop but with this kind of weather I made the decision to put that off until tomorrow for a pre dentist ride. So I got everything ready to head out to Marshall to do my regular Naked Mountain / Mount Weather ride, hoping to go sub 3 hours solo...
Well after not leaving as early as I wanted I ended up arriving around 1030, it was starting to warm up and there was a light west wind, which meant a headwind out tailwind back. As arrived to the parking lot though I was looking to see if anyone else was there out for a ride on a perfect day as well. Well I noticed some one getting ready so I walked over to introduce myself and ask what route they were taking. I recognized the kit he was wearing, Batley Harley Davidson, I knew most of their riders Cat 2 and 3's so I ask him if he raced and what cat, we he did and replied Cat 1. He then went on to explain the route he was doing, a lot roads I was familiar with with some climbing, and about an hour longer than I had originally planned to be but thought what the hell this an opportunity to ride a top notch racer.
As we started down Rectortown Rd we started some small talk and he introduced himself as Chuck Hutcheson and went on to talk about his racing background as I asked questions and picked his brain. I am sure that it was getting annoying having a cat 5 n00b like myself ask all the questions I did, but he seemed totally cool about it. We ended up heading down Carrs (sp?) Rd which had a ton of a gravel, no idea how long it was but damn it was almost like rocks instead of gravel in some spots, but Chuck kept insisting that riding on this type of terrain would improve my bike handling and reaction skills as all of the big races have something similar to this.
We eventually made our way to Leeds Manor to head over Naked Mountain, down to 55 and over to Feezeland Rd to go up and over Blue Mountain. I had never been over this way, as the first 1.5s or so was going to be gravel on the descent with some hairpin turns. Going up the mountain the first time Chuck said that he wasnt that good of a climber and more of a crit guy he sure as hell could climb, but I suppose he wouldnt be a cat 1 if he wasnt above par in everything. Well I didnt want to go all out on this climb because we coming right back over it and he didnt either, the climb up was about 3.5 miles he said.
The descent down was quick the gravel wasnt too bad as I was getting more comfortable with my handling on such surfaces. And then the descent on pavement was awesome makes the climbs worth it. We stop at a store at the bottom to grab something to drink and eat, and after a few minutes we head back up the mountain. We started a little quicker as he said after this climb its pretty much downhill from there, we would just be taking an off road route that cross the Appalachian Trails at times.
Well Chuck set the pace pretty high going up and I was with him most of the way but then he just took off and I would try and hang and he would just pull away again as I would get closer there would be times where I was sitting and spinning and he standing and I would think I could catch him. As we approached the top he waited for me and said that he said no matter what he wasnt going to let a cat 5 beat him up that climb and then complimented that I can climb pretty well.
We then head down this grass, rock, dirt, rut filled, branches thrown all over the place, thorn vines road for the next 20 minutes or so. We had to jump a couple fences to make our way down there but I swear part of me thinks it was the longest 20 minutes of my life. He kept looking back to make sure I was still upright and would then ask me if I was having fun. I tell you what I was, it was scary as hell but it was an eye opening experience in handling skills. I mean he was flying down this hill just riding around huge rocks and boulders in the ground and I was following his trail. We eventually made our way down, we got to route 50 right at the bottom of route 601 which goes up Mount Weather.
With our climbing done we head down 50 to Paris and back over to Carrs rd. Again more gravel, yay. I was actually feeling very confident in my skills at this point. Even though I was cringing as I totally didnt have the right wheelset for this, riding carbon wheels, I had a good clip going then all of the sudden ppppssssssssssssssssssssss. Front flat after I hit a rock. Well Chuck offered to change it for me and did a hell of a job in a very fast time.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful as we headed back to Marshall and he kept giving me pointers and sharing his experiences in racing. Truly awesome, one of the best rides I have done and right up there with training camp.
Heh the interesting thing is, he actually heard of my blog, not sure if he read it though but hey, just pretty cool how quickly the word can spread in a couple weeks. Well Chuck it was nice riding with you today and thanks again for putting up with all of my questions, hope to see you on the tarmac.
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1 comment:
dude - Chuck is awesome. Glad you got in a good ride! stoke!
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