holy cow. i’ve been done for over 24 hours and i’m still sore/tired/confused. We managed to beat 2 or 3 four man teams and a few solos. wooo. Here’s the break down on laps
Kai: 7
George: 4
Mark(me):3
Ryan:2
team total:16
Kai did 5 of his laps in a row in the dead of night. no idea what kept him going or what the hell is wrong with him. The course is a super hilly 6 miles. Now here’s how my laps went.
Background: I got off work at 5:30 am on saturday, packed all my stuff, the crashed for ~3 hours before i had to leave to get to the race. Somwhere in there i forgot to eat very much. Showed up, napped a little, talked to everyone, then around 3:30 started my first lap, 4th team lap. the whole course is singletrack, making bikes passing us slightly tricky at times. anyhoo, here goes…
Lap 1: Started out okay. trail is flat and rough for the first 1/4 mile or so. The muni i borrowed from george feel a little strange but good, the 175s give me tons more leverage than my 150s. I begin the first climb, still feeling okay, i power up some fairly steep stuff and impress a biker who passes me easily. I begin the decent feeling confident but starting to have some stomach pains. I’m amazed at how much more control i have with the longer cranks. legs feel good, stomach hurts more. once at the bottom i’ve got a pretty long/flat section before a climb, i slow my pace a little and figure i’ve been pushing a little too hard, and that’s why my stomach hurts. no such luck. stomach hurst because i haven’t eaten much. somehow i kinda forgot, also i’m kinda sleepy. oops. the climb back out is dusty and steep, i push most the hills. I got tons of positive comments from bikers, everything from “holy crap you guys are awesome” to “you’re such an aminal” etc etc. Once i get to the top, there’s a small downhill section, a slight climb then a few miles of fairly flat “easy” trail. Finally i start feeling better, head starts to clear, stomach eases up on me, but now my legs are out of gas, they start to get sore and bothersome. several smallish bumps cause several UPDs, most of which i run out. Then as i’m 10 minutes from the end i UPD badly and get 2 steps into my runout and my right calf cramps up completely. totally locked up for 10 seconds or more. i rub it and eventually i can move it again. i stretch and get back on. Not 200 yards later i UPD, this time my left calf cramps and locks. not fun. i gimp the last little bit in, riding but taking it very easy. i’m glad to be done. time is around 90 mins. (george and kai’s laps were 1:02 and :50 respecively)
Back at camp i start eating like crazy. bananas, bagels, gatorade, everything.
night falls and i begin lap 2 in the dark.
Lap 2: feeling much better than i did for lap 1 i head out. my headlamp isn’t super ultra bright like a good bike headlight would be. it’s enough light to ride on a sidewalk with or to walk in the woods with, but on a bumpy trail at night, it’s woefully underpowered. i feel better but manage to push more trail. I UPD constantly, only actaully falling over 3 times. Comments from the bikers become even more encouraging. 2/3 of the way through i stop and slam back an energy drink from my camel back. i feel pretty good for the last 1/3, the flatter/faster 1/3. Constantly wishing i had more light, i ride as fast as i think i can without a catastrophic UPD. I curse my poor planning and poor bank account for my lack of light. i finally finish with a lap time of around 1:45 mins.
I vow to not go back out there without a better light system. i eat and hang out, eventually i attempt sleep around 2:30 or 3 am. woken up around 5 am with the sound of rain, just sprinkles, but lots of lightning, might get worse, get up stow all my gear, crash again. woken up around 8:45 my george who has just completed a lap, he informs me that Kai went a little nuts and just rode 5 laps in a row during the night. I wake up and eat some food and start my lap around 9:15, hoping to get back in time for Ryan to do another lap. I attempt to pace myself but i still feel like crap, my legs are totally dead, and with every UPD comes the feeling of not wanting to climb back on. I have no motivation to work hard, just to finish. i figure maybe i’m just a little tired and crack open an energy drink and push the uni and sip on it for literally 25 minutes until i feel better. Still feeling like crap i go as quick as i think i can. My goal is no longer to ride fast, just to stay on and ride what i can, figuring that slow riding is faster than my dead legs trying to push the uni. as the course gets flatter/easier, i go faster and am able to stay on for a surprisingly long time. the bikers are very surprised we’re still out there at all, the comments are incredible. most of them can’t believe we can even do a single lap let alone more. i tell the ones that slow down and talk for a few seconds about kai’s 5 night laps. all are astounded. they tell me that they didn’t even ride 5 laps in the dark. more impressive he ran around an hour for each of those in the dark. most bikers were running 45+ mins. i finally starty feeling a little better about a 1/2 mile from the finish. i push it a little and hope ryan has enough time to make another lap. I come it around 10:45 and ryan’s not feeling quite up to another lap, so we finish collectively at 16 laps.
i know that was really long, hope you enjoyed it. I’ll try to get the other guys to post something.
