When I went to Pine Mountain Sports on Friday to pick up my
race packet, I was feeling pretty good.
I had my nutrition dialed and had been “tapering” (ie not doing much)
for the two weeks prior to the race.
There were only two women signed up online in my category. That is, until I went to go pick up my
packet. A team racer from California had
since signed up, as well as a woman from Portland who had done about every race
listed on the OBRA website last year (yikes!) .
And then a Pine Mountain employee and another woman had registered late
as well, putting 5 of us in the open women category. Uh oh.
No time to back out now. On
Friday night Tiago helped move the Airstream into position and I got the car
all packed up. Was a little nervous
about the tires I had just replaced Wednesday, since the back tire was taking a
while to seal up completely, but it finally seemed to be holding air. I also threw “Kermit” in the truck as my
backup bike, my green 9zero7 fat bike inherited/stolen from Tiago. He suggested that it might do well in sandy
conditions.
On Saturday morning I got through the Lemans start jogging
slowly so as not to hurt my recovering ankle and got into line on the trail.
Everything was a cloud of dust for the first lap, which I knew would be the
worst. I concentrated on controlling my
heart rate and riding steady, and finished my first lap (11 miles per my
garmin) in about 1:10. My race plan was
to do each lap including rest time in about an hour and a half, and since the
laps were so short, I did two at a time.
Also because I had two cages on my bike so I had to refuel after two
anyway. The second lap was almost the
same pace, so I made myself come in for a break even though I didn’t need the
rest yet. After all, it’s all about
pacing.
Went out for the next two (laps #3 and 4)and still felt
okay, and lap times were holding within 10 minutes or less, which I thought was
a good sign. When I came in for the next
break, I was feeling a little more tired than I had hoped- after all, I had
only ridden 40 miles- not even close to my long rides yet! – but I took my
obligatory break and Tiago was there to help me swap out nutrition/water and
clean the bike off. It was also time to
eat dinner (ramen noodles=salt and carbs) and drink some mountain dew for a
little caffeine (but not too much or it would cause abdominal cramping). Feeling refreshed, I thought about how my
mother would be appalled at my race diet, but hey, it seemed to be working. I also ate almost an entire bag of grapes- cold and high water content- yum! My new favorite race food.
Laps 5 and 6 were a little harder still, but it was starting
to cool off so by the end I was feeling a bit refreshed. I concentrated on drinking the Infinit (my
sports drink of choice- no GI distress with this one and electrolytes
included! Big fan. . . .) and was
rehydrated enough to have to pee.
(hooray!) The light was fading
though and it was time to turn the lights on.
Lap 7 was rough. With
the fading light, and more so the fading legs and worsening sand, I had a few
falls -on the derailleur side of course.
Remembering that the reason I started singlespeeding in the first place
was because of my tendency to be hard on derailleurs, I started to get a bit nervous. Sure enough, after only 3 miles I shifted
into granny going up hill and the chain fell into the spokes so hard it threw
me off the bike. I couldn’t get the
chain out no matter how hard I pulled.
One biker asked if I needed help and when I said yes didn’t stop (!),
but finally somebody else came and helped me yank the chain out, requiring
removing the rear wheel to do so. I said
thanks and got on the bike again, figuring if I avoid the easiest gears I
should be able to get back . I just
hoped it was the hanger and not the actual derailleur. Luckily it took my focus off how loose
everything was and I finished the first night laps (close to 88 miles at that
point) just at 12 hours into the race. I
remember wishing it was a 12 hour race, because even though I was exhausted at
that point, I still felt relatively okay.
Tiago took my bike to the mechanic’s tent to get the derailleur fixed
(luckily it was just the hanger) but meanwhile had helped me get the fat bike
ready. I figured the loose conditions in
the dark would lead to slow lap times anyway, so why not try the fattie? Besides, I had taken an extended (1 hour)
rest to reward myself for keeping on schedule.
I was feeling pretty worked, but happy with my efforts up to that point.
So I set off on laps 9 and 10 on the fatbike around
1am. Unfortunately I had asked Tiago to
make some coffee before I left because I was really cold at that point, and I
didn’t even think about the fact that so much caffeine was not a good thing. I had pretty bad stomach cramping on that
first lap, but they eventually went away and I was able to drink water. My right knee was starting to ache though,
and pedaling around alone in the dark made me wonder what I was trying to prove
here. I did realize though that my
uncertainty about not being able to finish a 100 mile race was silly, and that
maybe next year I should sign up for a race with a definite finish, which
mentally seemed easier to deal with, rather than having to keep pushing myself
to go out on laps simply to see what I could accomplish, since I knew that I
was 4th place (second to last!) at that point and really wanted to
sleep, and if I am just racing for me then wouldn’t sleep really be better for
me? I had mantras as I was riding to
keep my mind off of the pain, and created songs in my head to distract/amuse
myself as I went along.
The good news is that by the end of lap 10, I had ridden 112
miles (about as much as last year) and the fat bike was actually perfect! Though people thought I was crazy (after all,
it weighs about 35+ pounds), the tires were incredibly stable on the loose
washout and I was able to keep more speed on the fatbike than the blur.
(Speed being a relative term when you
are going as slow as I was at that point.
I only wished I had more pep in my legs to convince others that the bike
really was a good choice- I’m afraid my pathetically slow riding was not really
selling the bike’s handling abilities) I
would hesitate to say it was fun, since I was exhausted at this point, but I
did wonder why the heck I didn’t start out riding this bike. An added bonus was the gripshifts, since my
wrist was starting to hurt as well from shifting.
I came in around 5 am (with a quick stop between laps to fix
the limit screw-- lying flat on my back on the asphalt looking up at the stars
while I talked to Mark from Pine as he worked on my bike and acted like my
behavior was perfectly normal). I planned to take a quick nap and then take a
dawn ride. The dawn ride was my goal- I
knew if I could make it to daylight it would be over soon. The problem was there were still 7 hours left
to race and I was hurting- upper back, knees, skin on my backside. Ouch!
Luckily my husband was there at every lap to help me get the bike ready
for the next lap, feed and water me, and generally help with my requests as I
lay pathetically on the couch. He made
me some oatmeal for breakfast and I cuddled up with Otis for warmth for my nap.
The alarm went off at 6:00 and I hit snooze. Then about every 5 minutes I would look at
Otis and say “I have to go now”. I just
could not motivate- it was really cold out (and my puppy was so warm and soft!),
I was really sore, and I was at a motivational low. The thought of getting back on my bike made
me want to vomit. By 7am though, I
couldn’t put it off anymore and set out for my first morning lap.
Yeah! Great write up and great seeing you out there. You were still smiling big time on lap 4 or 5.
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