Attack on Swayback Race Report

Jeff Dorminey 2nd Place Sport Class 50+
Brooks Gant 19th Place Sport Class 30-39
Carl Viars 2nd Place Beginner Class 50+ (4th 40+)



Photos by Ed Hamilton

Jeff Dorminey

Every now and then something happens that makes me think; maybe I have learned a little something about setting up my training plan after all. This past Sunday I raced in the sport 50 + age group. As I have mentioned in the past, this is one of the two targeted mountain bike races that I want to do especially well in (the other one being Bump and Grind). The funny thing about following a systematic training plan is that if you don’t have faith in what you’re doing, sometime you’ll think its not working. Example, after lifting heavy weights all winter your legs feel heavy and hurt, you go on a group ride and you have a hard time keeping up, the other guys seem to be flying and your not , you wonder am I that slow? Have faith, follow the plan and if it’s a good plan with the right amount of stress and recovery, BINGO your ready! Ok, back to the race. As I said I raced the sport class 50+ and as usual we were the last sport class to go. Riders ready GO!!! I had told myself this time get a good start, but started in a wrong gear and got smoked to the single track , nothing like making it hard on myself. I followed the other competitors for the first mile or so, letting things sort themselves out. Ok time to go, I told the other guys I needed to pass and thanked them as I went by (us old guys realize we have to go to work the next day, so not to much shoulder rubbing in our group) , and starting moving up through the field. By this time the group had strung out and I was able to really start pushing a big gear (thanks to my winter weight training) and keeping my pace right at my lactic threshold (due to me spending long, boring hours on my trainer doing lactic threshold rides). I was feeling good, having a great time. Nothing really happened unexpected; just keep trying to push as hard as I could, without blowing up. Although a couple of times I would go over my lactic threshold (LT), sometimes way over, but because I have also been doing anaerobic threshold work, I knew I would recover, so I was able to keep pushing. Somewhere near the end of my first lap I really stated catching and passing other riders in different age groups. This got to be fun! One of the things that made my day was that I caught up with a younger guy, I told him I needed to pass. He said “is that you Mr. Dorminey” yep “man I’m getting my butt kicked by an old guy” I still don’t know if that was a complement or not (old guy?) . I finished up the first lap with a time of 45 minutes. Sid, from CycleEscape handed me a fresh bottle and a Gu (thanks Sid) as I started my second lap. I knew I was running in second place and was hoping to catch the first place guy on the second lap. Again nothing really happened unexpected during the second lap, still passing younger age group riders, having a good time, but never seeing the guy in first place ( and after seeing his time, no wonder, that guy was gone, great ride Henrik) I finished out my second lap in 47 minutes for a total ride time of 1hour 32 minutes and finishing in second place in the sport 50+.

Am I happy with my results? Very much so. I feel as thought I could not have done a better race. I was able to push a big gear, averaged a 171 heart rate (right at my LT) go way over LT a couple of times per lap (max heart rate 181) and recover, and finished second in my class to boot!

Plan to take it easy this week, then start building up towards my next target event, Bump and Grind!

Carl Viars

One of my 2 goals for this year was to become a more competitive mountain biker...actually it was more like get out of the unofficial "novice" classification,which is more of a personal stigma than anything else. To do this I planned several MTB races prior to AOS hoping to have improved skills and know-how. All this almost came unglued with a couple crashes during a pre-race ride at Columbus last week. I didn't get to race last Sunday, but managed to heal enough to ride this Saturday and race AOS on Sunday. My race strategy was different than previous years...actually race in the race. Well I went pretty hard and but still couldn't beat the MS Bulldog Swim Coach on the old rigid Trek MTB, he has beaten me in the last 3 races, to include the 2007 AOS. I felt pretty good with the 4th place in the SCRCS Beginner 40+ group and 11 out of 25 beginner men. Maybe I am starting to shed that "novice" label. I have to give a big thanks to my personal coach and advisor Jeff Dorminey. The 9.8 average MPH was a personal best for me. In the post race analysis I have to say it was a tremendous amount of fun and a large satisfying challenge. For me MTB riding and racing is a big thrill, source of great peace, and enjoyment. But! The socializing with a the other cyclist is the icing on the cake.

Brooks Gant

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together...

Last Friday I spoke of a plan that I had meticulously put together for the 2008 Attack On Swayback that marveled the likes of Johan Bruyneel of Discovery Channel for it's tactical precision and absolute ingenuity. It went something like this...

Go as hard as you can from the start and see what happens. Forget about pacing yourself. Well, mission accomplished! But I paid for it dearly by the end.

My race started at 10:30 am so I arrived at the venue about 9:45 to give myself time to get ready and warm up a bit. Lined up and surveyed my competition. Thinking in the back of my head.. he looks fast, he IS fast, so is he and him and him and him and him... this is going to be interesting! This was only my third Sport class race but I was feeling good and ready to put myself through some serious pain. I was telling myself, when the whistle blows, go! Don't wait and see who goes where, just go. And I did. Entering into the woods, I was still about 10 spots back but that was a lot better than my usual starts where I am fighting my way back from second to last place.

Once in the woods I was able to hang on and keep with the group which really surprised me. My heart rate was looking good and I just stayed on the guy's wheel in front of me. We made our way about 2 miles in and some guy up front was holding everybody up. Everybody was nice the first 10 times they asked if they could pass. But after that, it started getting a little ugly. Patience was wearing thin but this guy wasn't budging. I guess he didn't get the memo that if you can't hang at the front, get to the back! After about a mile or so, he finally realized he was holding things up. Duh. But each time somebody passed him, he would scream at them! Not exactly sure what this guy's problem was but he was definitely not having a good day. When it was my turn to pass, I just put my head down (knowing he was going to scream at me to pass) and floored it. I am not a big of of crazy people! And that was the last I saw of him thank goodness.

The rest of the first lap went great. We eventually spread out but my first lap's time was the fastest I had ever ridden that trail, 47 minutes, averaging just over 11 mph. My plan was working out beautifully!!!! Or at least I thought.

Coming out of the woods to the fire road to finish out the first lap, I sucked down a hammer gel, rode past the parking lot and entered back into the woods to start my second lap. I was feeling my earlier efforts but still had some spunk left. I figured I was about mid pack and saw 2 guys up ahead that I eventually caught and passed. Everything was going smoothly till one of those 4 inch trees literally jumped right out of the ground and leveled me flat on the ground! Well, not really. I took a turn just a little too hot and caught one of the trees and went down like a load of bricks. I knocked my right ankle against the frame of my bike and for the rest of race I really enjoyed the sensations that was providing!

Anyway, a little slower and a lot sorer, I kept pushing it. Coming around the lake for that quick uphill that took us to the Zippa, I look up and there stands Ed, photog of the day, catching everybody coming up that climb. Luckily for me, I spin out on a root which literally almost sends me over my handlebars!!!! And Ed is there clicking away with that fancy new camera of his! (thanks Ed) :) Mark Vickers comes up behind and passes me as I am getting back on my bike and I hop on his wheel for about a mile. Not long after, he drops me and I feel my engine start to cough and hiccup and sputter and I am losing power fast. I eventually hit the wall and have nothing left. This was about 13-14 miles in so I knew I still had about 5 miles left and I had to figure out a way to recover. It took about 3 miles of easy pedaling to get my legs working again and by that time I had lost about 4-5 spots. Things were not looking good and I was feeling the hurt. Once I went back into the woods for that last mile of singletrack, I knew I could hammer through there and just try and not loose any more places. Once out on the fire road, I shifted into the big ring and turned it into a time trial back to the finish. I was very happy to be done with this race cause I was done.

Not sure of my place yet, but it was somewhere near the bottom I am sure. But I am very happy with my performance even though I bonked toward the end. This was the fastest I had ridden this trail and I know my results will improve as long as I continue training. Just have to work on my endurance. Looking at my Camelbak when I got home, I didn't drink nearly enough liquids as well. But I can honestly say I think it was because I was having so much fun. It just caught up with me at the end. Once I cooled down, I hung out with some of the guys after the race from Cycle Escape and Chain Reaction. It was good to see such a large number of locals coming out to support their local race. This is such a great race and they have really done a great job with it. Can't wait till next year!