The race was really fun, but I am a total chickensh*t in the dark and it ended up being way more a long training day then a "race" for me. Although I do spend quite a bit of time on my MTB in the spring it's mainly training for gravel grinder racing. I don’t ride much single-track and it's easily been 6 years since I rode it in the dark.
The race started with a short run up the beach to the bikes. I started in the back and figured I'd let the crazies out front. Up a steep hill and then onto the single-track. Wham. 5 minutes in and I'm already laying on the ground. Couple of nice bruises, but shake it off and where'd everyone go? Get on the bike and get after them. I was really tense at night and over steering and just death grip on the bars. I spent quite a bit of time talking to myself "Stop being a chicken", "Relax you moron", "Don’t fall into the lake", "Come on, easy now, you can do this", "Big hill… ugh", "Don’t freak… RELAX", "Chicken chicken chicken".
Somewhere in the second lap I started to get passed and I'm sure that folks were confused by the muttering, slow gal. The other racers were great… only a few meanies (like a guy who came up on me in a twisty narrow section at night and just started screaming "Trail trail trail"… I got off and out of his way at the first opportunity but he just passed by with a hmmph noise…). Most of the racers were quite nice and I tried to be as minimal of a moving obstacle as possible throughout the race. As the race went on more and more realized I was riding solo and were quite positive and supportive as they sped past.
Around 5:30am the daylight started to show and I finally was able to relax my grip a bit. My hands, shoulder, and arms took a beating though in the early hours. Got in about 6 hours of good riding, and then started to get tired. My quick drinks between laps started to get longer and I started really watching the clock. This style of racing was a big change for me, short steep hills, twisty turns, a fun sweeping banked section. There were 6 big hills on the course, 4 major (that I only managed to ride up occasionally) and 2 minor (that I went into an easy gear and worked hard but consistently made it up) along with a whole lot of texture. I'm much more used to a steady state pace, and as the hours ticked by I could feel the mental and physical debts ratcheting up. Finally it was 5:15 and I knew I had only two to go… they were two of my faster laps all day.
Finished in 5th place… not that it really matters because from the beginning I knew I was in over my head as far a racing went. All in all, a really solid training day. If I did it again I would want to do some training at night, and a good amount of single-track riding so that I could actually race it. I never felt like I was really "on" and working the course, so much as getting through the laps. It was a fun challenge to be so out of my comfort zone and just do as best I could to survive.
Both shoulders, both hands/wrists, and my triceps are sore today. The rest of me is pretty good muscle-wise. While I'm overall tired, my legs are not at all muscle sore. I am a bit bruised though… I did not hurt myself but I did fall a half dozen times and the bruises added up to a colorful Leslie in the shower this morning.
Here’s a picture in the sweeping bermy section:6 miles of pretty sweet single track, midnight start, as many laps as possible in 18 hours, 6 solo women, this somewhat inexperienced mountain biking gal among them...
The race was really fun, but I am a total chickensh*t in the dark and it ended up being way more a long training day then a "race" for me. Although I do spend quite a bit of time on my MTB in the spring it's mainly training for gravel grinder racing. I don’t ride much single-track and it's easily been 6 years since I rode it in the dark.
The race started with a short run up the beach to the bikes. I started in the back and figured I'd let the crazies out front. Up a steep hill and then onto the single-track. Wham. 5 minutes in and I'm already laying on the ground. Couple of nice bruises, but shake it off and where'd everyone go? Get on the bike and get after them. I was really tense at night and over steering and just death grip on the bars. I spent quite a bit of time talking to myself "Stop being a chicken", "Relax you moron", "Don’t fall into the lake", "Come on, easy now, you can do this", "Big hill… ugh", "Don’t freak… RELAX", "Chicken chicken chicken".
Somewhere in the second lap I started to get passed and I'm sure that folks were confused by the muttering, slow gal. The other racers were great… only a few meanies (like a guy who came up on me in a twisty narrow section at night and just started screaming "Trail trail trail"… I got off and out of his way at the first opportunity but he just passed by with a hmmph noise…). Most of the racers were quite nice and I tried to be as minimal of a moving obstacle as possible throughout the race. As the race went on more and more realized I was riding solo and were quite positive and supportive as they sped past.
Around 5:30am the daylight started to show and I finally was able to relax my grip a bit. My hands, shoulder, and arms took a beating though in the early hours. Got in about 6 hours of good riding, and then started to get tired. My quick drinks between laps started to get longer and I started really watching the clock. This style of racing was a big change for me, short steep hills, twisty turns, a fun sweeping banked section. There were 6 big hills on the course, 4 major (that I only managed to ride up occasionally) and 2 minor (that I went into an easy gear and worked hard but consistently made it up) along with a whole lot of texture. I'm much more used to a steady state pace, and as the hours ticked by I could feel the mental and physical debts ratcheting up. Finally it was 5:15 and I knew I had only two to go… they were two of my faster laps all day.
Finished in 5th place… not that it really matters because from the beginning I knew I was in over my head as far a racing went. All in all, a really solid training day. If I did it again I would want to do some training at night, and a good amount of single-track riding so that I could actually race it. I never felt like I was really "on" and working the course, so much as getting through the laps. It was a fun challenge to be so out of my comfort zone and just do as best I could to survive.
Both shoulders, both hands/wrists, and my triceps are sore today. The rest of me is pretty good muscle-wise. While I'm overall tired, my legs are not at all muscle sore. I am a bit bruised though… I did not hurt myself but I did fall a half dozen times and the bruises added up to a colorful Leslie in the shower this morning.
Here’s a picture in the sweeping bermy section:
Next race is the Dirty Kanza 200 mile gravel grinder at the end of the month… I'm really looking forward to it this year and I should be prepared to "race".
Still grinning tiredly,
Leslie
