The beginning of the race is much a blur. I remember arriving a few hours early to make sure all of my things were in place for the night, but in no time it seems like we were at the start line waiting for the “GO”. The pace was pretty slow around the gravel roads with several people trying to push towards the front. I kept thinking “man, this is an 18 hour event, who cares if you enters the woods first.” I was nervous to say the least and kept remembering what Todd had told me just before the start “don’t blow your load on the first lap.” No doubt that was the mindset of me and everyone around me with a few guys seemingly struggling to make it through the roots and up the short steep climbs that litter the Scout Camp.
The course this year was awesome!! Ed really did a nice job of adding a few miles of trail (several of which I was able to help build) and Billy insisted on adding some gravel around mile 7. This was a nice welcome on every lap, as was the vuvuzela that one of the camps was blowing on this short gravel section. The real relief to the gravel section was that you knew only a few miles were left once you re-entered the woods.
At the end of lap 1, I started to panic when I looked over at our camp and saw somebody sitting. This person had dark hair, and that was all I could see. I immediately started yelling “hey Todd, hey Todd”, but the person didn’t move. When I got to timing, I yelled for Todd and he was of course there waiting for me. Todd was off in no time at all; “check” first transition went smoothly. Turns out that Matt Juaneza had come to join us for a few hours to hang out at the camp and he was the dark haired person that didn’t moved when I yelled.
When I got back to camp I was thinking the laps would take about an hour. Then I got to thinking, how the heck would I know when an hour was up? I started mixing my drinks to consume over the next hour and Heed for the next lap. As I sat down, it hit me that I had luckily brought my watch that had a chronograph on it. So I grabbed that and sat down for the quickest 30 minutes of my life. Soon it was time to get to the transition area for lap 2. I checked my tire pressure and was out. This turned out to be my routine for the next several laps.
While waiting for with the Bike Factory guys for Todd in the staging area for lap 3, I was listening to them talk about how fast they were turning laps and how they all felt great. (I had no idea how fast my laps actually were at this point) There was a vibe that the leaders (Gordon and Jay) would not be able to maintain their fast laps and these two Bike Factory teams would soon be catching them. When Todd appeared, he said he had passed one of the other teams to move us up a spot. I picked off one of the 4 man teams during my 3rd lap so I was thinking we must be doing alright. But then I realized that I hadn’t looked at the standings and had no idea what place we were in. Lap 3 came and went as did lap 4. I felt pretty good as the night set in. I knew my laps were getting slower, but felt it was a pace I could maintain.
After lap 4 (or so??), somebody told me we were in second. I thought cool, but didn’t know if this was second overall or second in class. Either way, I was happy with that. At the beginning of the race, I was talking with some friends and we were discussing the strong teams in the duo field. Seemingly heavy hitters for sure and I was thinking Todd and I may finish somewhere in the top five, or may get lucky and squeak onto the podium.
During lap 5, it was dark and it really hit me that I wasn’t sure I could continue to do this for another 8 hours. The air was thick and the roots were slick after the dew had fallen. This also had the affect of making the trail nice and tacky so you could really rail the turns. I had become much more comfortable with the short downhill sections of the course and was really flying down them. These were a blast! This was the first lap that I hadn’t really seen anybody on which would become the norm for the rest of the race. I saw several huge frogs around the lakes. It was crazy!!
I saw Paul in the pits after lap 5. He was hanging out and about to call it a night. Since there was only two singlespeeders, he figured 2nd place was locked up for him. Paul said he was going over to the showers in the fort, so I headed over there as well hoping the shower would straighten me out a bit. It was a nice break from the hectic pit area for sure. Unfortunately I came back just as screwed up as when I had left. I was mentally drained and physically hurting from some serious chaffing I had picked up. I have never had a problem with chaffing so I didn’t bring anything to prevent it or treat it. Serious mistake!! During lap 6 I could hardly let my ass touch the seat. It was burning bad. When I came back around, I told Todd that I would have to sit the next one out. I just didn’t have it in me. I felt HORRIBLE for screwing Todd like that!! Todd is a machine and powered through though.
I could see the sun starting to peak over the horizon when Todd entered the transition area to pass me the chip for my lap 7 (as it turns out, I really didn’t know which lap I was on at this point). My legs and lungs were still strong, but the chaffing didn’t let up. I decided half way through that this would have to be my last lap. Looking back on it I really feel like I gave up on myself and Todd. Paul mentioned that I would feel really bad if I gave up. You know, he was right and I still feel bad about it.
I will be better prepared for my next endurance race due to this experience. The key is to make the most of your down time and the only way to do that is to prepare everything before hand. I didn’t do enough of this so I ended up doing bike maintenance, mixing bottles and picking out food to eat during my breaks. While it would be nice to have someone do your bike maintenance for you, this is inevitable. But mixing your bottles and organizing food is something that can be done ahead of time. Preparing for any sort of medical problems is a must and any rubbing must be addressed immediately before it goes too far. Food, can’t say enough about food. You HAVE to eat to maintain your energy. I felt nauseous during lap 3 and never ate enough after that. I also found that I didn’t finish my bottles during the laps like I had planned on doing. I'm looking forward to entering more races like this one next year and will be at the Camps Honor for sure. Hopefully Todd and I can improve for next year.
BTW: Paul is awesome and woke up to do a few more laps to win the singlespeed category.
PS: I will try and get some pics up for my next post..doh.
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