A Not so Current Event Part 1

I realized just the other day while contemplating the idea of taking an easy week or throwing in an extra rest day now and again that I may not have ever gotten around to writing a race report for last season’s Tahoe Sierra 100 race. I know I’ve read a few reports through the eyes of other competitors but I can’t seem to find my own thoughts on the race written down in detail anyplace. Huh. Well, I remember it like it was yesterday, so there’s no time like the present to write abou the past, I suppose.

The reason that the notion of adding some rest to my present day life brought up thoughts of Tahoe Sierra is that I was convinced to take an entire week off the bike right before the event. At the time, it was a pretty foreign idea to me. Rest? You mean, like don’t ride my bike? Wait, for more than one day per week? Yeah right! You gotta be crazy! However, it appears that the advice of my peers to take some time off the bike was indeed good advice as I was able to finish off last season with some respectable results.

It seems like there are a couple of weeks in the middle of the season when there just aren’t a whole lot of events going on. Seems like Nationals has something to do with it. Everyone (racers and promoters) are off searching for the stars and stripes jersey and when Nationals happens on the east coast, it seems like the race scene dries up out west until the dust settles and everyone returns home. Now, it would seem that this break from racing mid season would be the perfect opportunity to take a little time off or to ease up and recover for a few days, but to me, it was the perfect opportunity to soak up the sunshine while in the saddle and log some friggin ridiculous miles for a few consecutive weeks without worrying about being overtrained for a race taking place the coming weekend. Things got a little out of hand….

I think I put in like four weeks with 40 hours in the saddle in July/August of 08. Dumb. I had a girlfriend who lived in Foslom, I lived and worked in Nevada City. So, I did what any cyclist would do, I commuted! Although I rode back and forth from NC to Folsom many times last summer, during July/August I rode to work from Folsom (about 70miles), then rode back to Folsom after work like three times a week for three or four weeks… And rode at least 4 hours a day three other days every week too! Needless to say, by the second week of August, I was totally cooked. Just in time for a 12 hour race in Humboldt.

I managed to limp through Humboldt with the help of a certain Sean Allen. I was not looking at all forward to the SSWC that was happening the following weekend though. Although I was exhausted after Humboldt, I wouldn’t let up on my training and continued to ride all week leading up to SSWC. I sucked at SSWC. Bad. Really, really bad. I was genuinely dissapointed in my performance, I had a lot of fun at the race, don’t get me wrong. I just felt as though I was capable of a much better finish than whatever I had managed. I felt like I hadn’t stopped racing at Humboldt, like I’d been racing all week long, heck all month long and the boys at work the next day could tell I was not feeling stoked about my bicycle….

A retired Roadie Pro named Chris who knows a ton about all things cycling (because he’s done ‘em all) said to me, “Dez, you’re diggin your own grave man. Diggin your own grave. Take some time off….” What, like a couple of days? “Don’t ride until Tahoe Sierra.”

He couldn’t be serious, could he? That race was like, two weeks away. There was no way I was going to stay off my bike for longer than a couple of days, and while I pondered the idea of not riding, I was going to go for a ride! I got dropped by a couple of sixtie something year old roadies on a climb a couple  of days later and I couldn’t deny it any longer…. I needed to recuperate.

I didn’t ride for about a week and got on the bike only for a couple of hours a day or two before Tahoe Sierra, just to make sure I remembered how to ride. I was freaking out the first couple of days of rest, then I began to embrace it and I actually wanted to go race by the time the event rolled around. Always a plus.

As most of you know, the start of the race was in B.F.E. and I was driving solo to the event. No worries, loud music and AWD made the enless curves of Mosquito Ridge Road pretty tolerable on the way out to the race. Teammate Garth of Sobe Cannondale was coming out to the event from Ohio and I was looking forward to hanging out with him again. I’d met him the year before down at Interbike and he was a heck of a character and a damn good bike racer too. I was impressed to see just how many big dogs were on hand at the camp ground. I saw Chris Etough for the first time in real life! I thought that he would be smaller for some reason….

The night before the race was pretty low key, some killer soup was brewing over at the finish area and I made my way over to hang out with Garth and Jim and enjoy some hot food. I was just looking for some grub, but before I knew it, I was chatting it up with Tinker Juarez… Oh what?! It didn’t hit me at the time, but now that I think about it, that little bowl of chicken tortilla soup with Tink was far more amazing than I let myself beleive at the time.

Consider this: In September of 2006 I went to the Interbike trade show in Vegas and waited in line to have an autograph signed by none other than Tinker Juarez. He was my hero, I saw him as somehow more than human, like Hercules with his god like strength.  I was able to say little more than a few words to Tink during our first meeting as I was so nervous to be in the presence of such greatness. In May of 2007 I competed in my first solo 24 hour mountain bike race. In September of 2007, I DNFd my first (presently only) event at the 24hr WSC in Laguna Seca and watched Tink win the solo world title. Later that month we met once again briefly in Vegas and I mustered the courage to strike up an actual conversation and congratulated him on his recent victory. And then,  there I was…

…. In September of 2008, only two years after getting an autograph from my hero I was sitting in a camp chair sharing a meal and chatting it up with that very same person. Like I said, I didn’t realize it then, but it’s pretty crazy to think of how quickly things can change in our lives. I never could have imagined my pre race meal with Tink way back in 2006, not even in my wildest dreams.  Amazing.

Even more amazing is that in January of 2009, somehow I found myself in the same arena as my hero, I wasn’t just watching in awe anymore. Suddenly I felt as though I might one day be Tinker’s competitor. Weird. But that’s another blog entirely, let’s get back on topic.

After dinner I grabbed some school books and returned to the finish line to do some studying in the lamp light. I had a gnarly big test the following monday and I knew that Saturday was out and Sunday was basically shot as well so it was now or never. I ended up dropping that class a couple of weeks later… All that work for nothing!

As bed time approached, the nerves began to kick up a little. It kills me that I get so incredibly nervous before events. I think I’m finally to the point where I only freak out and don’t sleep before big races though. I remember that I used to be too nervous to sleep the night before a Prairie City race and I don’t get like that anymore, so at least it’s getting better. Maybe a few years from now I’ll actually be able to sleep before a big event. Who knows? Maybe a well rested Dez can ride faster!

The alarm sounded at 5:30am, but I was already awake. Ugh. I dressed in tons of layers while still curled up in my sleeping bag. I snacked on some dry cereal for breakfast, packed my pockets full of goodies, and headed off for a little bike ride….