Two Wheel Blogs

Well I'm glad that's over. It was a rough year for me down at Syllamo this year. Not sure exactly what happened but what did sucked. No big stone for me this year, probably won't even place in the overall Marathon standings with my incident of the tacoed wheel at Ouachita either. Arkansas was not good to me this year.

So I rode down with Brett and Shawn, we arrived at the Best Western in Mountain View. Unloaded, did some bike prep, and took a pre-ride. I felt great during the short, humider than hell ride we did. I was worried because I hadn't been feeling all that hot the last week or so, and my legs had been tight even though I had been doing very easy workouts.

We lined up at 8 in the morning to start the race on Saturday. It rained like hell the night before, and the course was said to be real sloppy. Whatev, wasn't the first time I've shelled brake pads this year. The mile long climb was easier this year do to all the hill training. I still managed to ramp the HR up. Rode behind Doug Long for a bit before I noticed I couldn't clip in easy after the tree dismounts. They got hit huge with ice and we had probably 30 or so dismount spots throughout the 46 mile race. Stopped to check out the problem after completly not being able to clip in, and had a right cleat that was turned sideways. Great, no multi, and it was early so I figured no one would stop. One guy did, thank his soul, and helped me out while we procedded to get passed by trains of riders.

We were back off and eventually I made my way past him. Not 10 miles later and the opposite shoe started to act up. Had to stop, and found out I lost a bolt to the cleat. Just my luck, absolutely no problems EVER with cleats, and now two in one day. Luckily Shawn caught up and let me borrow his multi. The only luck of the day would be me somehow putting a extra cleat and bolts in my pack. Glad I had the extra bolt, or that would have been the end of my ride. I did manage to fall over like an idiot in front of a couple of guys on a dismount spot because I couldn't get clipped out. Thanks to the guy who pulled me from the pill of trees. I was stuck like chuck.

I rolled fine for awhile. Caught a stick in the deruiller, managed to stop in time but not before stretching the cable and screwing up my shifting. No biggie I can deal. About mile 20 I noticed I had no front brake, and I was working off about half power in the back. I spent 10 or so minutes at checkpoint two checking the pad situation and deciding whether I'd push through. The front was to the metal, and the back didn't have much. I trudged on...

After the second checkpoint is where I started to lose it. My body shut down like never before... I got sick to my stomach, dizzyness set in, and I lost all ability to keep pedaling. I'd feel good for a mile or so, and then it was like the lights would get shut off. I started to get the shakes, and started to feel real tired. I somehow managed my way to the third and final checkpoint. At this point Lyle R and I talked about calling it a day, but Lyle took the high road and keep moving. It was here that the same guy that helped me out with my first cleat problem, gave me the words of wisdom to keep going. I think it was something along the lines of, "I didn't pull over to help you, only for you to be a pussy and quit. Your GOING to finish!" That was all I needed.

The next two hours were a blur. I rode fine, had to stop to much due to the light thing again... On, off, on, off. It was unlike anything I'd experienced. I managed to finish though, 7 hours and 20 minutes later. It was horrible, the time I mean. I was hoping for a sub 6 hour race which I was totatly confident in. I put in the training, I paid my dues, and I wanted a top 3 finish in my age group damnit!

Overall I think I finished 60th or so out of 300 starters. Something like 8th out of 30 or so in my age group. It was an abortion, but looking back, I'm super stoked I didn't DNF! Just glad I pulled it together to at least finish. It was the longest saddle time I've ever threw down, and the hardest effort givin my body malfunction. I think it was multiple problems that led to my failure. One being stress at work and home. Way to much of that two weeks leading up to the race. The second being a viral infection that didn't allow me to recovery properly during my rest and recovery week. I'm bummed overall, but it's over, nothing to do about it now.

Mark it as a fluke. Hopefully the next few races show some sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. Give me a reason for all the time and effort I put forth in training. Something to show me it's all going to be worth it. These last few weeks have really sucked, and now I'm ready to move past them and start having fun. It's easy to take this shit too seriously, but at the end of the day I'm not getting paid, so it's about time I start slacking off a bit and enjoying myself. Heres to dry trails!