Chumba takes 3rd at 12 Hours at Conyers

This past weekend was the 12 hour race at Conyers, GA. The race was the 3rd race in the Chainbuster racing series.

The weather was going to be extremely hot and humid, making it a day for survival. I got down there with my wife ( #1 pit crew) and my friend and teammate John and his wife Ashley. The temp was in the 80s at 10 pm Friday with high humidity, this got me really thinking about the temps when the sun would be out tomorrow.

We got up Sat morning and had a great breakfast and started loading up with the ice. We made our way to the race, saw Adam and Dave on the way, and got there in time to get a good spot in the shade away from the crowd ( for the dog). Registration was fast and I was being uptight about everything being perfect on my bike. The heat was firing up already, and I was starting on my hydration heavy already with my EFS. The top 3 racers in each category got call ups, this let me start up front for our parade lap.

Started with the front guys, but got pinched out by an abrupt change to the trail, losr about 30 places immediately, but it made no difference. I rode a steady first lap not worrying about other riders, I had a plan for the day to ride for 6 hours and race for the last 6 because of the heat. I felt good, but hot. The 1000 ft of climbing in the 7.5 mile lap was going to be a test by the end of the day. I stayed steady for the next few laps just making minor adjustments to the air pressure in my tires and fork on my bike, while drinking all I could and putting ice in my helmet to stay as cool as I could through the first part of the day. At the first placing check that I got, I was 10 out of 12, ugh! I kept my pace, then felt some rain move in, yes! It rained for 5 min and just raised the humidity, ugh. I kept steady until the 6 hour riders started finishing, then I started to feel pretty good. First and second put a lap on me already and I could see 3rd coming. I decided it was time to lift the pace, I put in a hard lap, the the lightning, thunder, and rain came right as I finished my lap. My wife decided I should wait for the storm to lighten a bit before I went back out, as soon as it did, I left. I was stopped and told the race was neutralized, so I went back to the pits. Meanwhile, everyone that was out was making up time on me. I took off as soon as they let me go, now Adam was on my wheel after getting 15 min or so back becuase of the rain. I got a little frustrated because the time gaps were all closed on me, because I just happened to come in at the wrong time. Adam got by me and we rode together. I was feeling really good and decided that I had to go. I lifted the pace and got back by. I put in a 3 hour charge to see what I could do. I found out this put me all the way up to 5th! The effort drained me, but I stayed out of the red and knew that I had enough to finish the last few hours of the race.

My wife and friends were motivating me every lap, so were all of the "GO CHUMBA" screams I got every lap from neutral support and many of the campsites along the trail. I kept pedaling steady, trying to keep enough energy to finish, and to possibly put in attack if needed. I came through after about 9 hours and saw Adam sitting down. This meant that I had made up my lap on him and moved up one spot. This added a little more motivation. I rolled out another steady lap on the Chumba, and came through tho find out that the other guy in front of me quit, now I was in 3rd, sweet! One more time around I went, and got stopped by the scoring table to check on my position, I had just been lapped again by first and second, so I knew exactly where I was. I also found out that Adam found the strength to go out again from some other racers (thanks guys). So I got some fresh EFS and rolled out again. My rear tire started sliding but looked ok, also the fog was rolling in, so the dark spots in the woods were hard to light up for any type of distance, oh well, I wasn't setting the trail on fire at this point anyway. I came across the line at 9:03, and learned that everyone behind me had shut it down. I could relax because was not going to be able to reel in the top 2 today.

I found out later that the lightning had fried the timing chip system, that is why we had to make sure we were all in the correct places. The promoter did a great job with a very trying day, and my pit crew (Lindsay, John, and Ashley) were awesome. It was a super tough day, but all worth it to get on the podium!