Dusk Til Dawn Update
We got a late start leaving Flagstaff on Friday, and I neglected to remember that New Mexico is on Mountain time - one hour later than AZ. I rolled into El Rancho hotel - the host hotel - at 10:45pm.....I thought I was there at 9:45. The timing chips were gone, and I was SOL with regards to getting myself and my bike set up the night before. We crawled up to our room, which was a dump - but at $40/night, what do you expect I guess. Asleep at 11:45pm and up at 4:45am to get some cereal in my system before heading to the race venue at 6:00am. It was 19 degrees when we got there, and DARK.......that was just awesome for my morale. Dana was freezing, and neither of us spoke for about 30 minutes. I finally got my timing chip and race number 10 minutes before the start of the event - which was 1/2 mile down the road. Quick change, cruise down to the starting line, and the gun went off within 1 minute of my arrival.
The sun was just up when we started, and I could feel its warmth coming through my jacket. I felt good, and I dialed the intensity way back so I didn't blow up early. As it turns out, since the entire course is singletrack - we were herded like cattle for the first 2 miles of climbing. You couldn't pass anyone if you wanted to, and it actually made for a really good warm-up. The climb was steep, but the trail was made so you could crank a singlespeed up it. I was talking with some fellow SS'ers as we were herding uphill and almost everyone was running a 32 x 20 gearing....I was on a 32 x 18 - which was way too tall for me about 7 hours later.
Things opened up at the top of the climb and the packs spread out. Two yahoo punks passed our group with no warning on the left......and I just kind of shrugged my shoulders - it was 7:20am, and we had a LOOOONG way to go. As it turns out, both of these windbags were so deflated on their second laps that they were getting passed by everyone.
The course was Grade-A. The trailbuilder gets a gold medal for creating a work of art. The trail was hard, but tacky for traction, and super fast. You could climb the tough sections if you are a good technical rider, and the support from volunteers was great. It was 61 degrees by noon, and the riding conditions were excellent.
I gutted out 4 13-mile laps in 7 hours (including about a 10-15 minute rest between each lap to re-fuel the gas tank). I was on the verge of not feeling good, and it was a good time to stop and call it a day. I was in 54th place out of 110 solo riders at that point, and I was in 4th out of 30 singlespeeders when I turned my chip in. The results should be up in a couple of days, and I probably slipped into the high teens, or early 20's since I bailed after 7 hours. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get 5 laps in, but I just didn't want to suffer that much to complete it. I do feel good about the fact that its mid-April and this is probably the fittest I have been this early in any given year. Next stop is probably the Whiskey 50 in Prescott next month. A few things I learned:
1.) It takes a special person to push themselves through serious pain and suffering. I do not have that ability because I am very cautious about causing long-term damage to my knees and back. Yeah, I'm a wuss.
2.) No matter how fit you feel, or are - your race day can be a disaster without solid planning and rest. I could have handled the 24 hours prior to the event much better and I will in the future.
3.) I find myself in a difficult spot. I'm not fast enough to win normal races (ie 2 hour events) unless I sandbag by entering an intermediate category, and I don't have the intestinal fortitude to always finish 12 hour events. So - I'll probably never make this a career.
4.) Today was the first time I actually put a timeline on the number of years I have left riding competitively. I mean realistically, you don't see a lot of competitive dudes out there in their 50's - some, yes, but racers in those categories drop off like a cliff compared to those in their 30's and 40's. I hope I don't only have 10 years of this stuff left. That would only be about 1200 more rides and less than 36,000 competitive miles to go. It makes me sick thinking about it.
So instead of thinking about it, I'm planning for Prescott....I can't wait!
CB
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