2014 Durham Forest XC/MTB Race Series #1

Pre-Race
This is the start of the 20th season of the Durham Forest Race Series by BikeNXS. It's interesting that Eric has had this series going for so long BUT it is thanks to his spirit and energy that this series stays "FUN" and competitive.

Over the long winter I started attending Spin classes at my local Goodlife Fitness Club once a week and worked out on free weights 2 times a week. Although I was not dedicated to the program, I still see a difference in the strength of my core muscles and my legs of course. You can track my workouts via my bodyspace account. In the end though I still weight the same lol.

As for my bike, I will be starting the season on my awesome 1999 Kona Hahanna in the state I left it in the fall. I've had little to no time to play with it before this race. All I did was change the chain and give it a quick lube. With home renovations and wedding preparations, free-time is non existent at the moment.

Thanks to the long winter thaw, the start of the season was pushed and for this first race we got the chance to use private trails of SkyTop since Durham Forest is still partially snow covered and very wet.

Race
Weather is nice this time of year. 7 Celsius, feels like 5 as per the weather network. Perfect opportunity to test the kit I bought from DHGate over the off-season.

Getting to the race and trying to park on the side of the road I ended up teeter totting in the ditch. I missed judged when I was backing up and the side of the dirt road was extremely soft. Thank god there were others around to witness my embarrassment and help push me out.

Getting to the start line was a bit of a hike, a little over 1 km from the road. So you had to make sure you brought everything you needed for the race. My jersey had deep back pockets so it was easy to hold my Cliff Shot Bloks. It's too bad they don't sell the caffeine ones in Canada. I was also riding with my first aid pack and tools. With my luck in the past I would never leave without them.

I rode to the start, and since I was too late to do a warm up lap, I would take the 1 km to the race start as a quick warm up. Got to the start line and registered for the season. I will be number 29 this year. I figured I wasn't going to snipe number 1 this time around as it was too much pressure last year

So I had about 10 minutes to spare and I decided to ride up and down the hill to the start line to get my legs ready for the race when my chain broke off. When I replaced the chain last time I reused the master link. As it turns out the master link I used wasn't a reusable one and would undo with and slack or chain slap. Rather than try to ride with it as is, I took it out and fixed the chain to itself. By the time I had the chain back on, the third wave of racers were leaving. I was already at least 2 minutes behind. I went on at regular pace and testing the chain at the same time. About 8 minutes in, this happen:


There must have been an issue with the link that got stuck while I was powering up a large hill. End result, XTR Rear derailleur exploded, OH and it bent the frame a little:


Needless to say my first race of the season was short lived. I simply turned around and walked back to the start line to confirm my DNF and walked back to the car. It really felt like the walk of shame and to be honest it happens to me way too much!

Next Race
Well if I felt unprepared for this first race, it won't be any different for the next race. I would maybe want to skip this race and take the time to fix the bike but because they confirmed it would be at SkyTop again, I don't really want to miss it! The trails looked good for what I saw and wouldn't mind seeing it in it's entirety. The upside of the day was that the kit was quite warm while riding but don't get caught standing around for a long period of time.

I ordered some parts online from Chain Reaction Cycles to fix the bike. I never tried them before but I am hoping they ship quickly. They had a $20 off any orders over $150. So I ordered more parts to bring it up to $150. I will still need to order new tires at some point and then I should be ok.

In the meantime I bent back the frame. I am hoping because it's steel that it will be fine. I also found a broken XT rear derailleur so I pieced up the good parts from both and made one that works 90%. I just can't use the bottom ring as the tensioner on the rear derailler doesnt work properly and in turn gives too much slack in the chain. Fun times ahead for the next race!


Savings for my new bike: $448.00 -$151.00 = $233.00