The Second Half

Suffering builds character?....I think somebody said that before

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo…

I packed 3 days before the event based on a weather.com forecast of high 50’s to low 70’s with mostly sunny skies throughout the weekend. As they say in Wisconsin: “If you don’t like the weather – wait 10 minutes”. Well out here, change happens slower but when it does, it doesn’t relent.

It rained after midnight on Thursday so we arrived at the road to the race course Friday morning knowing it would be muddy – but not quite this muddy. Cars were all over the place, and the washes were pretty soupy. The camping area was already clogged up with RV’s stuck in the dips in the primitive roads, and most of the campsites occupied. We managed to find a pretty good spot and had about an hour to set up a tent, and get situated. Then it started raining – and didn’t stop for 6 hours….turning to snow overnight. Eck rolled into camp around 6pm to find two dudes (me and Josh) in our tent drinking Fat Tire with sleeping bags covering our legs in camp chairs shivering to stay warm. Eck brought a tarp, a couple of 2x4’s with rope and we strung a shelter off the end of his pickup tailgate. His Toyota is usually gold, but it was dark brown now – the whole thing. He also brought an above-ground firepit with enough wood to get us through until 10pm. Oh – and two cases of Sierra Nevada which kept us sane and warm until Jeff arrived late.

We woke up Saturday morning to snow patches on the ground and a heavy fog. Talk about no motivation to ride….but, you could feel the weather changing and by the 12:00pm start we were all pretty jazzed to rip it up. Jeff started off – being a rookie and a good runner – he was nominated for the LeMans start. The dude left our team baton in a port-a-john so he was running like a house afire after the gun went off to be the first one back to the port-a-john to get his baton. He found it, and was probably the 25th rider to get on the course because of his sprint! There were no less than 450 riders at the start line so he put us in a good place. He rode a steady lap, and we were mid-pack by the time he came in.

Being a brainless dumbass I tried to get us back into the top 20% immediately – forgetting due to overloaded amounts of adrenaline and testosterone (and some HGH that I got from Sylvester Stallone) that this was a 24 HOUR event. I gunned it over the bitches (a series of 7 consecutive “bumps” in the racecourse), rode my big-ring for the next 40 minutes and then my legs exploded on the final climb before the drop into the start house. Great strategy considering I haven’t ridden at a heart rate over 160 in four months while attempting to build a base of fitness for the year. As Gwen Stefani might spell out in one of her stupid songs S-T-U-P-I-D….B-A-N-A-N-A-S….I had a good lap time, but I was dehydrated, my thighs were cramped and it took a long time to recover. Josh and Eck followed with fast laps and we were in 36th place after we had all finished one lap.

Night laps creep up quickly, and we were into them at 5:30pm. My first one was horrible as it turned into a recovery lap for the first hell bent lap – but I didn’t realize that until mile 7. Of course, I started out way too fast again and floored it over the bitches, kept the gas on until mile 7 and then EXPLODED again….Women, children, cats, hamsters, invalids, you name it…..they were passing me on the final climb. I rolled into the starthouse gassed, and starving with a slow time. I went up to the camp, got a $20 bill and spent the whole thing on hot food at the EXPO area. Two steak sandwiches with everything on them and a hot bowl of soup with bread. It was probably 2500 calories in 15 minutes and it felt great. Back to the campsite for two handfuls of cookies and 24 ounces of water and a 15 minute nap…..massage the legs a bit, and I was ready to ride again. My third lap concluded at 3am and this time I spun out a smaller gear, stayed steady and never got out of the saddle EVER. It was a much faster lap time, and I felt great again. Josh, Eck, and Jeff all rode solid lap times throughout the night without any major mechanical or lighting issues. This kept us around the top 40 all night.

Daybreak – sun, no clouds, and by 7am I felt the warmest I had felt in what seemed like forever. My last lap started at 8:15am and I again, rode sensibly, but took some chances when I had the opportunity. I didn’t leave everything I had on the course, but that was OK because we were inevitably finishing with 16 laps regardless of how fast I rode. I ripped a good time, and crossed that line feeling great – knowing I had a few hours to eat, sit in the warm sun, and cheer on my teammates as they completed the final laps. Josh and Eck tore it up and we managed a 33rd place finish out of 134 teams. Damn fine results for 4 d-bags who normally don’t ride well until mid-summer. Eck had a great line: “I was only getting passed by guys with tan, clean-shaven legs so you can’t feel bad about that”. Indeed – the dudes from the desert occupied the top spots as they have been riding all winter long.

4 guys, 16 laps, everyone pulled their weight, and nobody bitched about the weather. That’s a recipe for a good team. Ordinarily I’d probably tell a better story about fighting it out tooth and nail with a guy for a placing….but I was really only racing for my own goals and to not let my teammates down. Good times – can’t wait to suffer again!

pics to follow, once I find my camera.