This past weekend, I decided to go down to Ocala Fl and ride the 12 hours of Santos and spend some time with my wife and parents. I would be racing in the 6 hour solo open class.
On Saturday, race day, I arrived at the venue in plenty of time to get set-up and warm up, no stress. My parents showed up as I was putting my bike in the staging area, giving us some photo time. At this point, I had no idea that there were 97 total 6 hour riders, 76 in my class! I went to the start line to join the mob to do the "LeMans" start. We were not doing the technical part on the first lap, I figured that would let me take it a little easier on the start. I WAS WRONG! It was the biggest log jam I have ever seen in an endurance race, we weren't just off of the bikes, we were standing still! I knew this was going to cost me massive amounts of time, so I settled into a very up-tempo rhythm, but nothing too hard. I was catching people groups at a time, with the slow guy on the front of each group being dumb about letting people go, I mean come on, we have at least 6 hours more of this, 5 seconds to let some of us go is not going to hurt your position. Anyway, I passed about 50 people on the first lap, through the middle (easy) section, but I stayed with my group through the technical section at the end of the lap.
As I started lap 2 I was feeling good, but I hadn't figured out the technical sections at the beginning and end of each lap, this let a few guys close on me, and some got around me. I was patient and did not worry, I caught them on the middle section, put some time into them and made up some more spots. This went on for almost 4 laps.
This is where it went a little south, I didn't eat like I was supposed to (got too cocky) I started feeling week, even though my legs felt good. My right thumb was getting raw from not wearing full finger gloves and having to move my hand so much. I stopped in the pits to get taped up and eat a bite (too late). My wife did a great tape job, but unfortunately, it stiffened my thumb and caused my hands to cramp from having to white knuckle the grips with my four fingers. I finally couldn't take it any more and decided bleeding thumbs would be better than cramps. Now I had glue from the tape on my right grip!!! This made my thumb stick to the grip and very difficult to shift. (come on!!) I went back to the pits and put on some full finger gloves and tried to hold my spot. I lost 10 places on the end of my 4th lap and beginning of my 5th, but I didn't want to lose anymore. I never got back the energy to run those guys back down, but I didn't lose any more spots. I putted home with 7 laps and 25th out of 76 places.
I loved the course and felt good about my fitness for the race. I need to listen to my wife/pit crew, about eating, maybe I can nail down a top 10 next time.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Short Track #4
This weekend was a good one. Not only am I finally starting to get some speed and move up, but I had a chance to race/talk with Jeremiah Bishop.
First for the race, The temp was 73 and sunny (perfect. I felt ok for the start, but got better as the race progressed. After lagging towards the back for the first few laps, I finally started to pass some guys in the field. I worked up to 11th looking for 10th and feeling good. As the race got closer and closer to the end, I realized that 10th was too far ahead and the 12th place rider was on my wheel (we were together for 25 min). I knew that he was saving some energy for the last lap and I was losing some snap with 2 to go, but we stayed together with one to go and I tried to attack before the last run of the singletrack. I didn't create enough of a gapand we were back together on the trail coming out of the singletrack. He attacked hard for the last 500m or so and I had nothing left to challenge, so I wound up in 12th, but felt awesome that I have started to get speed back. (peak is not until June) Also, I didn't break anything today.
Next for Jeremiah, it was awesome to line up with an elite for a race. Although I didn't see much of him during the race it was still pretty cool. After the race I had the chance to get some pictures with him and talk to him for a few minutes. What an awesome guy! He gave me some posters for our youth cycling program and some souvenirs to bring home. He took time out for everyone it seemed, telling us "this is my job, it is the best job in the world." Jeremiah turned out to have pr skills just as good as his riding skills (that's saying alot!) He was just as motivating to talk to as he was to ride with and he is a definite asset to our sport. It was hard to believe that someone that rides for a living could be so passionate about it. He truly is a class act and could probably recruit just about everyone on earth to ride mountain bikes if he spent about 5 minutes with them. He definitely gave me some more motivation. Thanks Jeremiah! I'll be pulling for you!
First for the race, The temp was 73 and sunny (perfect. I felt ok for the start, but got better as the race progressed. After lagging towards the back for the first few laps, I finally started to pass some guys in the field. I worked up to 11th looking for 10th and feeling good. As the race got closer and closer to the end, I realized that 10th was too far ahead and the 12th place rider was on my wheel (we were together for 25 min). I knew that he was saving some energy for the last lap and I was losing some snap with 2 to go, but we stayed together with one to go and I tried to attack before the last run of the singletrack. I didn't create enough of a gapand we were back together on the trail coming out of the singletrack. He attacked hard for the last 500m or so and I had nothing left to challenge, so I wound up in 12th, but felt awesome that I have started to get speed back. (peak is not until June) Also, I didn't break anything today.
Next for Jeremiah, it was awesome to line up with an elite for a race. Although I didn't see much of him during the race it was still pretty cool. After the race I had the chance to get some pictures with him and talk to him for a few minutes. What an awesome guy! He gave me some posters for our youth cycling program and some souvenirs to bring home. He took time out for everyone it seemed, telling us "this is my job, it is the best job in the world." Jeremiah turned out to have pr skills just as good as his riding skills (that's saying alot!) He was just as motivating to talk to as he was to ride with and he is a definite asset to our sport. It was hard to believe that someone that rides for a living could be so passionate about it. He truly is a class act and could probably recruit just about everyone on earth to ride mountain bikes if he spent about 5 minutes with them. He definitely gave me some more motivation. Thanks Jeremiah! I'll be pulling for you!
Pics from ST#4
Ray Billings 
Neal Boyd
Me coming up the short hill
Jeremiah and Robert racing it out.
Ray chugging along
Neal Boyd
Me coming up the short hill
Jeremiah and Robert racing it out.
Ray chugging along
Monday, February 2, 2009
Short Track #3
I felt better in this race than I did in the last 2. I am still lacking a little of the top end from doing mostly base miles, but the few efforts have made a difference. Unfortunately, as I was gaining rhythm for this race I caught another rider who slowed going into a turn and caused me to hit the deck and mess up my front wheel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
