rockboy
Posts: 2086
Location: Newport
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Posted: Thu Aug. 13, 2009 2:24 pm
As I arrive at base camp I'm still pondering the question, why did I agree to this?
Once the tent was up, the rain stopped, as Dan mentioned a bunch of us went out for the pre-ride. I'm sure the course was in better condition then last year but for a first timer I found the single track to be lacking with plenty of mud or places you knew would be mud to suck your wheel. Originally hoping for a lot more technical single track, I was grateful to see all the double track carriage roads and in great condition. I knew the course was going to be fair but the single track tough, not the first lap or the second but at some point I knew I?d be walking a lot.
After the pre-ride I was starving and expecting as Ken had mentioned to head out as a group to Mr Pizza. As I am trying to round up willing participants I discover the Master's team is pulling out all the stops with their winning strategy, not only do they have some of the biggest castle's furnished with the finest gear and gadgetry, obviously to firmly place me in my virgin status and squash what delicate ego I have, but now I find two of the biggest steaks I've ever seen along with all the fixin's being prepared at Taj O'Neill. Slinking out of there with my tail between my legs :) I head off to Mr Pizza with Todd & Jason to meet up with Ken and his family.
With a satisfied tummy, I preceded to finish setting up the inside of my tent with air mattress, clothes, and such. Before I know it, the time is 10:30 and all are in bed, what am I going to do with the next two hours? Normal bed time for me is 12:30 and I didn't bring anything to do. Heading to bed early, I found sadly enough, the racer packet entertaining enough to transition me to sleep.
Now onto the race.
Very anxiously awaiting my 4th position first turn, I try very hard to keep output in check for the first lap. I worked harder that first lap than I wanted, mostly because I was trying too hard and kept messing up along the way and that was very frustrating. Moving into the second lap the ants in the pants had resided a bit and I was able to ride much more efficiently with not a lot of loss in time. I was still concerned about my energy output levels and my ability to maintain them through to the finish but felt confident about my night skills and optimistic I wouldn?t loose a lot more time then I did on my previous laps. Apparently I had not ridden much at night and in muddy conditions, because I found it difficult to judge what was safe and what wasn?t so I was more cautious than anticipated. Eventually a combination of energy conservation and survival kicked in slowing my night laps significantly but that seemed to be standard for most.
With the first truly night lap down, Chris starts the night doubles.
So far the race was going great, not only was the team riding very well and extending our first place lead but I was starting to believe I might just survive this thing. Only issue so far was due to a lack of maintenance time on my bike pre-race. Each lap my bike was having increasing issues with automatic shifting especially in the middle gears where I wanted to be the most. At this point it was a toss up, do I try to rest more or do I fix my shifting problem and avoid what currently is an annoyance turning into a mental frustration game later. I know I?m not going to sleep, so I go for fixing the bike. Experiencing this issue before I was pretty sure it was mostly being driven by a gunked up shifting cable. Planning ahead I had picked up everything I needed for this repair, and others, prior to leaving for GG. Took an hour or so in the dark but was able to replace my rear shifting cable and housing with little effort and boy did that make a difference later.
Actually looking forward to my night double, I rode pretty well my first lap but could just tell there was looming energy issues that threatened my second lap. You want to conserve but also want to not lose any more time per lap so I probably pushed too hard that first lap. No sooner than I left the check-in station on my second lap I could feel the beginnings stages of a bonk coming and knew that was going to be a problem. I was pretty sure I didn?t have any food or GU in my pack so I start pounding the liquids and tried to ratchet back and conserve as much as possible but it was clear I was a sinking ship. When I arrived at the first long single track entrance I just had to stop and get off my bike before the bonk got too bad to finish the lap. After relieving myself, I start digging into the CamelBak and MUCH to my happiness 2 GU packets appear from the midst, THANK GOD! Pounding both GU and sucking down some more liquid, a little confidence is starting to come back, so with the anticipation of the GU kicking in, I get back on my bike and start noodling it. Just about the time my energy is starting to return, I run out of water. Crap, so much for that recovery, I know if I push it too hard now I will be toast for the rest of the race so back to the noodle fest. Finishing my double I have completed 5 laps and VERY happy to be done with the last one, it?s back to the base camp to start the cycle all over again.
Bike is running well, rear shock is holding air, and the auto shifting issue is gone. Unfortunately my body is not doing as well. Finding it necessary to lie down after every lap now, I am really starting to get fatigued from lack of sleep and of course the biking. Laying there in my tent hoping for some energy to return I am really starting to think about just how much I?m not looking forward to lap # 6, especially after the bonk on my last one. Finding the motivation, perhaps from the notion I will no longer need the added weight of lights, I get to the transition zone one more time. This time I know there is plenty of GU in my pack, one in my shorts cuff, and 2 in the easy access exterior mesh pocket on my pack, and some food too. I take a GU while waiting and keep another in my short cuff on reserve. I?m off on number six and feeling, not too bad after all. Half way through I take the reserve GU just for GU measure. I?m noodling the uphills but still maintaining a nice rhythm in the pedal stroke and much to my surprise for the first time I am actually able to ride most of that last climb to the plummet. I ride the last half of loop 6 as though it is my last.
Back to base camp to eat and crash. Well I pretty much spent what was left on lap # 6 so as I lie there in my tent and the time for another lap approaches the concept is weighing on me HEAVILY. This is a team effort and I know I have to do my part but there isn?t a single part of me that thinks doing one last lap is a good idea. My body is all messed up from lack of sleep, biking, GU, and mental weakness, every part of me is saying ?JUST DON?T DO IT, DON?T DO IT, you know if you go out there you might end up in the hospital?. And yet there is that tiny voice in the back of my head saying, ?You Candy A.., get your sorry butt out of this tent, and get to that transition zone!? As I exit my tent very slowly, I realize I must look and sound about as bad as I feel because Chris & Tim are there to greet me and let me know I don?t have to ride this lap if I don?t want to. Thanks guys, I really appreciated that, but in my heart I know that really isn?t an option, I signed up for this, and I?m NOT going to let the team down, I?m not going to give up, despite my fragile mental state. I get my stuff together and head to the transition about as fast as I can, which isn?t very fast at this point. I am over hungry, over tired, and super anxious about having a complete melt down on this last lap. So much so, I think I?m going to puke, even if I puke I?m getting on that bike, because quitting just isn?t an option, even if it feels like the right thing to do. I take a GU or two while waiting because I have to do something other than focus on my current mental and physical state. Finally I start telling myself, it?s only one last lap and I will feel better once I?m on the bike, I will feel better once I?m on the bike, I will feel better once I?m on the bike? Fortunately once I got on the bike, I did settle down a bit, and did start to feel a bit better. I was in full blown noodle mode on the uphills but kept saying to myself if I can save enough for the single track and ride smart with less errors I can make it up and happily I was able to do so.
After being so unhappy to start lap 7, I was never so happy to finish.
I kept a nice fast cadence, high HR, and rapid breathing the whole time I was racing and never really had any leg issues, I had the leg strength to probably push bigger gears, but I most definitely did not have the energy to do so, despite best efforts to eat right between laps, I don?t think I could have turned faster more consistent laps with my current conditioning except, perhaps for lap #5. Real Time Scoring was awesome, it really helped to know I had stopped the bleeding at about 55 minute laps after bonking on my second night lap.
I am happy to have participated in the race and very happy to have been part of a 3 team first place sweep. WOW, that doesn?t happen every day!
Thanks to all the families, friends, teams, and support for which the race just wouldn?t have been the same.
Ryan
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DanaW
Posts: 567
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Posted: Thu Aug. 20, 2009 7:59 am
Edited: Thu Aug. 20, 2009 2:34 pm
This was a great event for team work. Thanks Mark for signing us up and taking on team captain responsibilities, also for lending me a front tire to race with.
Thanks Laurie for driving me home after the event, otherwise I would have slept right there in the field till the next day. Chris, I hope your ribs heal quickly.
Laurie and I arrived up there on Thurs and rode up Mt Washington on the Cog. It was great, you should try it if you haven't and aren't afraid of heights. It was a beautiful day on top with great views.
My Friday warmup with group was more eventful than I had wished. With less attention to riding and looking at the views, my front tire hit something hard and tacoed, while I went over the top doing a head dive into the ground cracking my back (kinda like a chyropractor would). Laid there for few seconds, got up a walked my bike back to camp while the others finished their warmup. Laurie was out riding my other bike, so I waited for her to finish, then went out finished up the rest of the loop. That night my legs cramped as result of being wacked by my bike in the crash and I wasn't sure if I'd have a very good race, but by morning all seemed to be well with just a little soreness.
The race was fun and of course my earlier laps were faster than the final laps. I was first to go on our double night rides and by the second lap I wobbling over the narrow bridges, but kept my laps under an hour each time according to my watch. Between laps though, I missed checkout for the second lap because the checkin person asked me for the baton, which threw me off. They fixed the times, but had them incorrect, because there was no 8 minutes gap between Mark and I. Although they had me at 49:52 for the first night lap, I had 58 and 59 for the second lap.
I was glad to see sun light as I was the first on our team to right without lights. My last two laps were steady in the 54'. As a team we had pretty good connections between laps with minimal down time. With Dan's broken chain and Chris's crash, we did well completing 26 laps and could have done 27 if needed. The winding up and down fire roads and single track were great, the mud was not.
The camp atmosphere with the teams and families was fun. The excellent weather made the event enjoyable, especially the camping and racing part. The mud was not enjoyable, but there were plenty of hoses to wash down our bikes after every time out.
The RealTime scoring is the way to go. They had four laptops setup for racer viewing with very little wait time to get to them, especially in the wee hours of the night/morning.
Overall this was a great time being part Team Pinnacle/CCD history with three teams capturing first place in their division. As it was said earlier, we couldn't have asked for better teammates. Everyone put in a hard effort and was rewarded well.
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