The Second Half

Sufferfest Volume II

The Whiskey 50 concluded for me on Saturday at approximately 12:20pm. 5 hours and 20 minutes total. 20 minutes short of my goal. Honestly, at mile 42, I could not wait to finish - and I even started going into that anger phase - completely bypassing any sort of euphoric feeling that I usually get at the end of a race. If I had a morphene drip at the finish line, that would have been great.

It was a gorgeous morning, with the race starting at 7am - temp around 60 - sunny and little wind. I would estimate that there were 200 people in the 50 mile event, with maybe 75 in the 25 mile event, and less than 30 in the 15 mile event. Everybody was pretty laid back at the starting line, and we had a police escort for the first 3 miles to the dirt....that was pretty cool. The "warmup" was atrocious climbing out of Prescott - and I fell into the middle of the pack because of it. We all hit the first singletrack and there was nowhere to pass, which was fine with me. I took 5 minutes and sat in my place in line recovering behind a singlespeeder who was having a tough time on the technical stuff. Once I got my wind, I passed some dudes and chix, topping out at the first climb, and then plummeting about 1000 feet into a creekbed. It true Precott fashion, once you hit a gulch, you start climbing back up immediately, So back UP UP UP to the first aid station....I blew past that because I had suffered on the climb to it - and wanted to make up some time so I headed down the 10 mile descent to Skull Valley. It was fast and I got in a paceline with some dudes and we ripped that section apart. This part of the course kind of played with your head, because we passed the race leaders as they were coming back up the climb - so you could see just how far you had fallen behind. I was around 15 minutes down from the leader at that point. At the bottom, I again blew off the aid station, and then headed back UP the climb that we just came screaming down. I was doing great until....

Cramp. My right hamstring sent my brain a message I did not want to hear. I stopped immediately, stretched my leg and right then a buddy came by and handed me 3 E-Caps. The potassium in those was very helpful but of course, not right away. Psychologically it helped, and I hopped back on, but physically, I was dealing with cramps that I have not experienced before. The road back up was steep enough to force me into a 22 x 30 gearing in many spots, and with my legs hurtin', I could have never pushed my singlespeed up that hell hill. The climb was 12 miles and 3000 feet - so by the time I hit the top I was shot. There were many people sitting in shady spots on their bikes taking breathers from the steep road and the heat. The ONLY reason I stayed on my bike was because I would have caught a rash of shit from my teammates if they saw me hunched over. 42 miles in - 8 to go, and mentally I was done. Fortunately, the rest of the way was primarily downhill singletrack, which I blasted through as fast as I could. There were 2 short climbs over those 8 miles, and I walked one of them because I kept cramping up when the terrain changed. When I got off my bike, my right hamstring again seized and it took me a few minutes to shake it off. Walking helped - so back on the bike, and down a nasty little creek bed. After that, the FU*KING ROAD! I felt bad for one dude who flatted 50 feet from the road....that's bad luck.

I coasted down the road, and still no euphoria. My ass was on fire, both quadriceps muscles were cramping when I stood up to climb, my hammies were tight as guitar strings and I was was just done. They routed us back to the finish line through town, and I could feel some A-hole gunning it to get past me - I was thinking 'dude - what are you rocketing it for? We're talkin' about 75th place here - if we're lucky'. So I gunned it, and beat him to the line by about 3 seconds. We probably looked like idiots, but he wanted to go, and I wasn't gonna lay down and let him.

No damage to the bike, which was incredible on a rocky course like this. My tires are pretty wrecked, but no flats, broken chains....whew. What I did have was a constantly rubbing disc brake, and a rear hub that is done - it was dragging and I could feel it on the downhills when I had to pedal to stay with guys who were 20 pounds lighter than me.

Minor mechanicals aside, even if I had not cramped, I would not have made my 5 hour goal. It was hard, dusty, hot...........but now that I'm one day removed from it, I'll have my name on the start list for 2008. To improve I'll need to focus more on core strengthening exercises so my back won't be so tired, and I have to do a better job of pacing myself and not getting caught up in the testosterone frenzy. I still have a lot to learn regarding these long endurance rides, and it makes me realize why the best endurance riders are usually in their 30's and 40's.