Someone (Brian) told me that this event was really a road race on mountain bikes. He lied. This was a very challenging mountain bike race. Sunday PJ, Mark and I left PJ's at 4:30am to make our start time of 6:20am. I don't usually get up that early even to go deer hunting. We arrived there in the dark and none of us brought a flash light. As the sun started to come up the racers went off into the mist. This was one of if not the hardest races I ever entered. It was all up hill. I kept waiting for the trees to get shorter and shorter but it never happened, we just kept going up. On those rare occasions a down hill did arrive you were not happy either because you knew it would be followed by more climbing. Each of us had issues to deal with during the race. I had several chain drops and one flat and three crashes, two really hurt. I went through over 70oz of fluid plus several gels and Fig Newtons in the 6 hour ordeal. I made one stop for about 30 seconds grabbing more water. Otherwise riding the entire time. This was some of the best single track I have seen too (not my strong point) I think I would have done better with a more open course. Finished 11th in the 45-54 Master division and 177 out of 650 total field.
Dan

Let?s hear from Mr. Cramp (PJ)
and Mr. I have a flat but I can really climb (Mark)

Nice work Dan. I have not done the race since '01, guess they have changed it a bit. It was atleast 75% road and snowmobile trail at that time. Glad to hear it still has all the climbing though.
 
[img:7c60f52a7e]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/albums/bc_personal/120x90.png[/img:7c60f52a7e]

Brian I think there was quite a bit of dirt road and certainly more than anything we are all use too. Being the mountain goat you are I can see how your memory of the event was "gee there was a lot of road there". But there was not enough road for me to make up the time I lost in the woods. Anyway the night before I changed my tires from the cyclo cross to the knobby and I am glad I did. I was thinking it was going to be rain and mud. I would have had real problems with the other tires. Your recomendations on getting to the woods first were followed and it worked to a point when I had to enter the long death march to the top.

Well, there was a significant amount on singletrack, it wasn't really singletrack. It was a beautiful worn in path on a doubletrack road, downhill, so it felt like singletrack. It surely was fun and fast on the downhill.

It was a day of making and breaking plans.

Plan - Ride together with Dan and Mark and try to pull Dan to a good finish.

Result- I had a 5 minute gap on Gurney and 10 on Dan at the start, so I noodled the start. Gurney flew by me uphill, "I yelled you wating for Dan?, didn't hear a response as he pedaled away. Finally Dan caught me and we started working together.

Plan-Pull Dan so he doesn't tire

Result-Dan was pushing the pace uphill, trying to keep up with anyone who would dare pass him, finally caught up to Gurney changing a flat, I stopped to check on Gurney. Dan pulled out my left lung, instead of me pulling him.

Plan- Catch up to Dan and guide him through singletrack

Result- Took me 20 minutes to catch Dan and we worked together a bit more. Working those hills with Dan is not fun, he goes too fast. I lost my second lung.

Plan- Stop and eat a sandwich to get more gas too keep up with Dan.

Result- After removing my sandwich from my sandwich bag, only 1 person got inbetween Dan and I, that was enough. I couldn't catch him.

Plan- Don't get passed by Gurney

result- Winding single-track downhill, funnest of course, I hear "Lovely!"
Now at mile 35 or so. Gurney passes me and offers goo which I accept gratefully

Plan- Finish

Result- Finished

Plan- Never do the race again unless I meet the following requirements.
1. Under 185 pounds
2. Train more than a White mtn. ride and Kingdom trail ride
3. Figure out my nutrition/muscle cramp issues.

I would still consider this course a Roadies heaven, though. Well marked with enough arrows and x's to pay for a new school. Great race, great teammates, and a sweet pulled pork sandwich.

Pj

Check out the VT. 50K run of Bob Herrin
6:13:25 Herrin Bob Claremont NH 50-59/Male 3 222 1178

If I do the 24hours of Great Glen again with him I am going to pick out one of those tiny kids biks he sells at Claremont Cycledepot and put it in a back pack for him to make it legal and have him run the course.

He would be better off carrying an adult carbon fiber road bike. Those tiny kids bikes weigh almost as much as my MTB.
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

While I was punished for letting my ego get the best of me and being a lousy teammate, I still had a great race.

With a forecast for rain, I wasn?t looking forward to racing fifty miles in the woods. ?Great ? ankle deep in mud for eight hours ? I can?t wait.? But Dan and PJ showed no sign of wavering, so I set my alarm clock for 3:40. I had such pre-race anxiety that I barely slept an hour, if that.

Try taking care of business in a pitch black porta-potty sometime. Tell me it isn?t scary?

The plan was that PJ and I would pull for Dan on the gravel roads; helping him maintain his energy, maybe get him on the podium. I worried that I would be an anchor. PJ started five minutes before me; I started five minutes before Dan. We were to soft pedal until Dan caught up, maybe meet at the first rest stop.

Riding slow in a race when everyone around you is tearing up the road? It?s not easy! Brian Highhouse went by me like a bullet. I found myself settled in with Clint, a racer I know who won overall Sport in Webb?s this year, and was four points from being bumped to Expert. I was staying with him, at a pace I thought I could hold for a while. We seemed to be passing more than being passed. Hey, I?m in fast company, keeping up, this might just turn out pretty well for me.

And the drafting idea, while noble, was not good. This race is all about climbing. You either climb in Granny, or bomb downhill hanging on for dear life, but drafting was not on the list of things to do.

I went through the first support station, no PJ. He?s been climbing well this year, I figured he came to the same drafting-won?t-help-Dan conclusion, and was having a good race. Good! It?s unanimous! Every rider for himself! Dan who?

Wouldn?t you know, in another few miles I came upon an obviously soft pedaling PJ. Didn?t he hear about the new ?to-heck-with-Dan? strategy? As I went by him, I slowed down and the group I was riding in rode away from me like I was stopped. That hurt. PJ yelled out ?Are you waiting for Dan?? I was wracked with indecision. Wait for Dan, so I can (probably not) pull for him? Keep going? I answered ?I don?t know? which was a perfectly useless, non-teammate answer for which I now apologize. But it was the truth; I couldn?t decide what to do. I picked up the pace a bit, not really soft pedaling. PJ wasn?t catching up, but my group was riding away from me. I didn?t hear from PJ again, and I slowly reeled my little peloton back in. That was my first punishable mistake.

At the next aid station, Clint stopped for some support. I grinned an evil grin, and thought ?Gotcha! A Gurney never stops! This is my race! This is my day! I am God?s gift to cycling! HA HA HA HA! That was my second punishable mistake.

Punishment came in the form of a flat halfway up the next big hill. The punishment wasn?t the flat, it was watching everyone (it sure seemed like all 650 riders) go by me. Clint offered condolences. PJ stopped to check on me. Thankfully, he mentioned something about drafting not working, which relieved my guilt. When I complained about losing 100 places, PJ, the eternal optimist, said, ?You?ll get them back ? you?ll catch up.? He offered to wait for me, but I urged him on.

PJ was right. I did catch up. In the five minutes that it took me to change the flat, though, the race changed, at least for the next hour or so. Rather than staying with some speedy riders, I now had to pass bunches of slower riders, who got by me while changing the flat. I stayed on the bike getting up over steep stuff that most people were walking. Many of them offered compliments of ?nice work?, even one ?good job, Climber?. I even got stuck on single track behind Pokey McSquirrel a few times, which, while frustrating, made me feel like I was racing well.

My first stop was at mile 30. I wasn?t planning to stop, as I had some water left, but a very nice lady with a running garden hose specifically asked me if I wanted to refill my hydration pack. The refill took mere seconds and I was back on my way.

I finally saw PJ on some switchbacks maybe at mile 35, but I didn?t catch him until about mile 37 when he was off the bike suffering from leg cramps. I stopped and offered a gel, which he took, but told me to get going. He wasn?t alone, the trail was littered with riders off their bikes in various phases of rest, stretching or massaging.

In case you didn?t catch earlier comments, this was a climbing sufferfest. There?s 7500 feet of vertical in 50 miles, almost 40% more climbing per mile than a lap of the Pinnacle, and even a little more (7%) climbing than a lap of the Pinnacle with a Coit climb. And then the downhills were furiously fast and very hard on the bike (not to mention the biker). Some of them were an absolute blast!

I saw Dan on some switchbacks at about mile 42. He looked strong. He was maybe a minute or so up on me, but I couldn?t close the gap any further, I didn?t see him again until the finish.

The last five miles were reported to be especially tough climbing. It was tough, but no tougher than the rest of the climbing we worked through. By then I was still turning the pedals over OK, but mentally I had had enough. I dropped my chain twice from not paying enough attention to what I was doing. And I finally had my first crash with about ? mile to go. I tried to bunny hop a pair of slick (it started raining at mile 49) iron water pipes. Duh.

I finished 35th out of 120-some-odd. I was thrilled with my finish, it far exceeded any expectation I had. Brian Highhouse got 4th in my Division ? Nicely done! Dan did very well, despite the lack of promised support from this teammate. And PJ finished well even though he was cramp city ? you should have seen his quad muscles doing the ?Vermont 50 twitch? even after he was all done, off the bike getting cleaned up.

Thank you to PJ and Dan for a great race. We?ve had a good run of great rides and races lately, and this was right up there with one of the best.

MG

This was my first VT50. My goal overall goal was to get through it. My secondary goal was to make it under 7 hours. The plan was to use the new Yeti 575. The result was using the old Spec Stumpjumper (1996) with old warn tires, warn v-brakes and a out of tune Duke in front. The 575 Float rear shock went bad on Saturday evening (stuck-down)! The first 30 miles went well for me. I was feeling strong and was able to ride most of the terrain. The second 20 was rough, particularly the last 12. I began to weaken on the downhills. The bike was bouncing all over the place and the tires, front fork and the brakes were all now gone. I felt like I was riding on grease, squeezing the brakes all the way back to the bars. The rain came with 12 to go. I hit a root at a turn/downhill and dislocated my shoulder...screamed and put it back in place. Pain went away. Got on again and rode. Steep downhills were no longer rideable for me. Climbs were OK as long as it wasn't too steep. With about 5 to go, I began to bonk, and got a who-care attitude. Climbed pretty well with 3 to go through the ski area. hit the woods again and got weak all over again.

Finally finished. 8:12.

Happy I did it, had fun. Might do it again...who knows??

Thanks for listening!

Brian
 
When in doubt, ride

You guys might have lost a few battles but you all won the war, Congrats to all.

Ryan