Okay, so I’m the guy who pulled up the rear of the race. I didn’t set out to win, I just wanted to finish in what I figured would be somewhere around 12 hours. Alas, I did not, but man, what an experience! Literally escorted by the ATV crew, (even the sweep had called it a day), to the last bridge before the last climb, I made it to 8 miles from the finish in pitch dark with a huge smile on my face and still some sense of accomplishment. After bonking at the second last aid station just 10 minutes before the cut-off time, I got a second wind after a banana and a ton of encouragement from the crew at the station and my coach who had paced me on the race. In the time since the race I have felt quite defeated and like I let myself down but at the time I know I did the best I could. I am determined to come back next season and try Jimmyboy’s course again.
I only started mountain biking at age 40 and racing 2 seasons ago at 45 so my experience is somewhat limited but I was pleasantly surprised to have the volunteers at the race be so patient and understanding of the caboose, long after the train had gone thru, having a little meltdown and pity party while trying to decide about going on.
The course was incredibly well marked for such a remote location and the aid stations so well staffed, I know I lingered too long chatting with them. The food offered was so wide-ranging and unexpected, (pickles? I don’t even them at the best of times…but I see their value now.)…I just should have eaten more of the offerings…I was concerned with hydration and I had that covered but the calories just didn’t go down as well and I failed to keep up.
Any race I’ve ever been in always has a long climb to space out the riders off the start, who knew a long dusty, rocky downhill could do the same…that was SO much fun…tricky, but a ton of fun….then the climb up to the first aid station….’okay’, I thought, ‘all very ride-able, this day is going to go well’. Jimmyboy had said at the pre-race meeting that mile 21 to 37 was the toughest part in his opinion…again most of it was ride-able and the single track along the ridge just begged for pictures to be taken….but the ‘I love you Jimmy, I hate you Jimmy part’….PLEASE…who rode that rock laden climb!?!?!?!
Still, I was in good spirits at that point thinking I could still meet my target of not being DFL. Wonderful quiet trails in the woods…exactly why I enjoy riding so much but then that long gravel uphill road from hell, and the obvious fact I kept going over and over in my head ‘I have to do this again’….that’s where I kinda turned the race into a ‘geez, I don’t think I’m going to make the cut-offs’ That’s also where we saw the little baby bear running in the woods the first time we passed by. My average speed just fell to nothing on the gravel uphill from hell…there were people walking and I knew getting off would be a mistake but geez, 3 miles an hour was very disappointing, but I just couldn’t go any faster.
Thunder was beginning to rumble and it continued on for quite a while. It did cross my mind that people DO get struck by lightning regularly somewhere in the world, but I never saw lightning -only rumbles and cracks of thunder. It finally did rain when we were out on a road part of the course….it felt so good, so refreshing and cleansing and then the dappling of sunshine afterward…no better place to be than on a bike in the mountains.
The single track along the Western States Trail was spectacular….just like at home in my local ravine….right on the edge….I was able to pick up some more speed and was feeling great again…then we come out onto the real cliff edge trail…THIS was not like at home…it was terrific….and of course, we had to stop for some pictures…breathtakingly high and right on the edge….
The next aid station had me eating Pringles and watermelon and it was delicious…it was just the riding part in between the aid stations that had me feeling queasy and a little dizzy. That’s the station where the margaritas were offered!!!
The next part was just a little too much up and up and I did get off….BIG mistake. If I had thought 3 miles an hour was too slow to be racing then the mile and a half pushing my bike speed was truly pathetic. But again, when the climb evened out there was the woods with the huge trees and the deep brown dirt that got me rolling again and we got into the Robinson Flats aid station with time to spare….put on the lights and set off again. Oops, forgot to eat at that station….tried a cliff bar on the bike and it felt like poison!! and the gel…well, that was just slime to gag on….at this point I knew what I had done wrong earlier in the day but I wasn’t ready to give up. It took forever to get to that next station, in fact too long to be able to finish the course. But it was still light out with the sun just setting and like a I mentioned the truck was there, the sweep was there and motorcycle was there and the ATV’s all politely cleaning up and joking around giving me space to decide and support that it was ‘Okay’ if I wanted to make it to the bridge ‘it really is just a big downhill from here’ they all said encouragingly…so we went for it….not exactly all downhill I might add, there was still some up to go but what a great last 7 miles to the best day of the summer of ‘09.
We got to that bridge, the last part was downhill as promised and we just flew in the dark. We piled into the white truck that was waiting, driven by Jimmyboy’s brother, ( sounds like he had sure had an interesting day, complete with news of a forest fire near his home sparked by that thunderstorm earlier in the day and he’s waiting in the woods for strangers to drive us safely back to the start. Thank you.). We drove up the same road we would have biked up had the day gone as planned…man, was that a rock’n rolly road…needed two stops along the way, (the queasiness had finally caught up with me, very polite, kind men in that truck that night, again, Thank you.) We finally made it back to the start/finish and were driven under the finish line in the truck at 14hours 20 minutes or so.
A truly fantastic experience. Thank you to all involved. See you next year!!!
Melinda from Toronto.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Okay, so I’m the guy who pulled up the rear of the race. I didn’t set out to win, I just wanted to finish in what I figured would be somewhere around 12 hours. Alas, I did not, but man, what an experience! Literally escorted by the ATV crew, (even the sweep had called it a day), to the last bridge before the last climb, I made it to 8 miles from the finish in pitch dark with a huge smile on my face and still some sense of accomplishment. After bonking at the second last aid station just 10 minutes before the cut-off time, I got a second wind after a banana and a ton of encouragement from the crew at the station and my coach who had paced me on the race. In the time since the race I have felt quite defeated and like I let myself down but at the time I know I did the best I could. I am determined to come back next season and try Jimmyboy’s course again.
I only started mountain biking at age 40 and racing 2 seasons ago at 45 so my experience is somewhat limited but I was pleasantly surprised to have the volunteers at the race be so patient and understanding of the caboose, long after the train had gone thru, having a little meltdown and pity party while trying to decide about going on.
The course was incredibly well marked for such a remote location and the aid stations so well staffed, I know I lingered too long chatting with them. The food offered was so wide-ranging and unexpected, (pickles? I don’t even them at the best of times…but I see their value now.)…I just should have eaten more of the offerings…I was concerned with hydration and I had that covered but the calories just didn’t go down as well and I failed to keep up.
Any race I’ve ever been in always has a long climb to space out the riders off the start, who knew a long dusty, rocky downhill could do the same…that was SO much fun…tricky, but a ton of fun….then the climb up to the first aid station….’okay’, I thought, ‘all very ride-able, this day is going to go well’. Jimmyboy had said at the pre-race meeting that mile 21 to 37 was the toughest part in his opinion…again most of it was ride-able and the single track along the ridge just begged for pictures to be taken….but the ‘I love you Jimmy, I hate you Jimmy part’….PLEASE…who rode that rock laden climb!?!?!?!
Still, I was in good spirits at that point thinking I could still meet my target of not being DFL. Wonderful quiet trails in the woods…exactly why I enjoy riding so much but then that long gravel uphill road from hell, and the obvious fact I kept going over and over in my head ‘I have to do this again’….that’s where I kinda turned the race into a ‘geez, I don’t think I’m going to make the cut-offs’ That’s also where we saw the little baby bear running in the woods the first time we passed by. My average speed just fell to nothing on the gravel uphill from hell…there were people walking and I knew getting off would be a mistake but geez, 3 miles an hour was very disappointing, but I just couldn’t go any faster.
Thunder was beginning to rumble and it continued on for quite a while. It did cross my mind that people DO get struck by lightning regularly somewhere in the world, but I never saw lightning -only rumbles and cracks of thunder. It finally did rain when we were out on a road part of the course….it felt so good, so refreshing and cleansing and then the dappling of sunshine afterward…no better place to be than on a bike in the mountains.
The single track along the Western States Trail was spectacular….just like at home in my local ravine….right on the edge….I was able to pick up some more speed and was feeling great again…then we come out onto the real cliff edge trail…THIS was not like at home…it was terrific….and of course, we had to stop for some pictures…breathtakingly high and right on the edge….
The next aid station had me eating Pringles and watermelon and it was delicious…it was just the riding part in between the aid stations that had me feeling queasy and a little dizzy. That’s the station where the margaritas were offered!!!
The next part was just a little too much up and up and I did get off….BIG mistake. If I had thought 3 miles an hour was too slow to be racing then the mile and a half pushing my bike speed was truly pathetic. But again, when the climb evened out there was the woods with the huge trees and the deep brown dirt that got me rolling again and we got into the Robinson Flats aid station with time to spare….put on the lights and set off again. Oops, forgot to eat at that station….tried a cliff bar on the bike and it felt like poison!! and the gel…well, that was just slime to gag on….at this point I knew what I had done wrong earlier in the day but I wasn’t ready to give up. It took forever to get to that next station, in fact too long to be able to finish the course. But it was still light out with the sun just setting and like a I mentioned the truck was there, the sweep was there and motorcycle was there and the ATV’s all politely cleaning up and joking around giving me space to decide and support that it was ‘Okay’ if I wanted to make it to the bridge ‘it really is just a big downhill from here’ they all said encouragingly…so we went for it….not exactly all downhill I might add, there was still some up to go but what a great last 7 miles to the best day of the summer of ‘09.
We got to that bridge, the last part was downhill as promised and we just flew in the dark. We piled into the white truck that was waiting, driven by Jimmyboy’s brother, ( sounds like he had sure had an interesting day, complete with news of a forest fire near his home sparked by that thunderstorm earlier in the day and he’s waiting in the woods for strangers to drive us safely back to the start. Thank you.). We drove up the same road we would have biked up had the day gone as planned…man, was that a rock’n rolly road…needed two stops along the way, (the queasiness had finally caught up with me, very polite, kind men in that truck that night, again, Thank you.) We finally made it back to the start/finish and were driven under the finish line in the truck at 14hours 20 minutes or so.
A truly fantastic experience. Thank you to all involved. See you next year!!!
Melinda from Toronto.