My Boggs 8 hour race,
Boggs has always been a tough place for me, I really love the trails but have always done poorly at races there. This time I decided to try to not race the race but use it as a test run for my 24 hour pace and fueling plan and have fun on the outstanding trails that Boggs offers.
Julie and I drove up to Clear Lake on Friday to get a hotel room and get registered for the race. I had heard that the weather up on the mountain had not been good, when I got there it was far worse than I had anticipated. Endless mud, melting snow, cold temperatures and pouring rain, I knew that this was going to make for a tough race. I quickly got my race numbers and got back down to Clear Lake before I had too much time to dwell on the conditions.
Over dinner I discussed my race strategy with Julie. I wanted to go out at the pace I wanted to hold for the 24 hour race and work on my nutrition plan, eating enough has been a problem at past endurance races for me. My goal for this race was to stay on the plan for the first 6 hours then go all out for the last 2 hours if I felt good. Julie agreed that this was a good goal for this race and she would help me stick to it.
Saturday morning started of well I had gotten a good night of sleep and I felt ready for the upcoming torture fest. As I was getting my things together I found that I had forgotten my electrolyte tabs, not good, I am a heavy sweater and need to keep my salt levels up or I cramp. Thinking outside the box I swung by McDonalds and got a whole bunch of salt packets. Julie would put a half packet into every bottle of drink for me, not my usual system but I figured it should work. Good news it did work only one cramp the whole race at the very end and I was able to ride trough it.
Once we got to the race site it was 0715 and time was flying by, luckily we were able to find Dawn and the team pit and get set up. I was unable to get any warm up in and when I finally got over to the start line everyone was packed up in a huge bunch. I got as close to the front as I could but was still way too far back in the crowd. I told myself to stay calm and just stick to my plan no need to worry about everyone else. The temperature at the start was about 30 degrees and I was cold this was going to a tough day.
Off we went for about 100 feet then stopped and started and stoped with people running into each other and the cars parked along the start road. Finally the road and pack opened up and I started working my up through the mass of riders, I was way back at this point. Stay calm, don’t stress, ride you own race I told myself. By the time we hit the single track I had made up some ground but I was still allot further back than I wanted to be, I made passes when I could but the pace was slow this far back in the group. Again I told myself to relax and stick to the plan. Finally the first lap was done and things were moving along better, it wasn’t a perfect start but I felt good and had not done anything silly.
On the second lap the frozen mud had turned into not frozen mud and my tires started loading up with mud, it was at this point I realized I had made a big mistake with my tire choice, I was out of control on the descents and had no traction on the climbs. To make things worse my fender fell of twice and I had to stop to reinstall it. More lost time. Finally at the end of the 3rd lap I took the fenders off. This was the low point of the race for me, way off the pace of the leaders out of control on the descents and mentally ready to quit. Julie gave me a quick pep talk and got me back out on the course.
On the 4th lap it started to come together for me. The mud was firming up just enough to be able to hold some speed on the downhills and I was eating and drinking enough that my energy levels felt good. I comfortable I could maintain the pace I was going for a long time. After the 5th lap I ate some extra food at the pit and by the 6th lap was passing riders at will. I was feeling good, my pace and fuel strategy were working. At the start of the 7 lap Julie told me I moving up fast and it was time to open it up and race hard. The 7th and 8th lap were a blur I felt strong and was passing SS’ers like crazy. I missed the cut for the coveted 9th lap but my last lap at 57 minutes one of the fastest of the race for me. At the finish I felt strong and ready to do more. 4th place SS pro, not too bad.
In hind site I could have done allot better if I had raced it at an 8 hour pace but I needed to gain the confidence that I would be able to fuel and pace properly for a 24 hour race. So based on the criteria I set for myself before the race it was a great day on the bike.
Next up the real test, 24 hours. No mud please!
Zol
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