Post by viking on Aug 19, 2009 8:57:40 GMT -5
Hey guys. I hope you're all enjoying the summer heat. Here's my re-cap that I posted on NYCMTB from the DH40. Brutally hot and tougher than expected.
Hope to see you soon!
After two long months I was excited to get be back on the SS. I knew I had way to little riding lately to be competitive, but it seemed like a good way to get back into the groove.
On the way up I got a nice recap of lushizzles W101 experience. It put my worries a little more at ease, knowing that he had a great first endurance race and managed to put all those miles behind him.
This was my first long race(relatively speaking in this group I guess). I didn't really do any food planning, I knew there would be plenty of water, gel, heed at the aid stations and figured that will do. The warm up wasn't great but we got a couple of miles in riding between the car and registration a few times.
The race started at a good pace, definitely slower than the h2h races I'm used to. This made me very happy. I was probably heading out around 15th and after a little pile up on one of those slippery puddles on the first double track I picked five or six guys. Luis, still high on his Wilderness experience took the lead and apparently held it for ten minutes or so. But like he said, a little too optimistic.
It wasn't until I had passed the three mile mark I started to feel good and decided that this will be my pace. No chasing or getting chased just keep a steady pace throughout. I finished the first lap feeling pretty good. Going out on second I continued switching positions back and forth with some guys. I would get them on climbs, they would pass me on the flats. I had just filled my bottles at the 3-4 mile station and thought to myself: d**n there's a lot of people fixing flats, I'm lucky I never got a flat during a race. Forgot to knock on wood cause two minutes later I'm fixing my first race flat. I was done in 5-10 using CO2 for the first time. Is one cartridge usually enough for a 29er? The tire only got half full so I had to top it off manually. No biggie.
After this I probably made my biggest mistake. I tried to make up for lost time and started chasing. Going out on third I could feel the power leaving my body. The meadows felt like a toaster oven. The climbs felt longer and steeper this time around. What I cleared on the first/second lap seemed impossible just walking now. I stopped and helped a couple of people that crashed during my third lap. The heat was really getting to us all.
On the road leading out to the last lap I was seriously considering throwing in the towel. I had gotten brutally lapped and just wanted to be done and have a cold beer. Then I came to my senses, I was only tired. No serious body issues, no mechanical issues. Just keep pedaling dammit! A mile in on the last lap I caught up to Luis, who was suffering pretty bad. We decided to keep going to the aid station where we would replenish our bottles and bodies. Had a banana, filled the bottles with water and Heed. Took a minute. The last five miles felt better than the previous ten. It was most likely "knowing it's almost over euphoria". Coming out on the last fire road Luis left me in the dust. Very disappointing. I though we had something going. Wink
Once I recovered a little bit post race was awesome. Cold shower, lots of cold brew, good BBQ and even more BS.
Good job Darkhorse. Congrats to all that raced and special props to our local podium guys!
I ended up 9th out of 31 registered but they only have 18 listed in the results so I don't know how many actually started. Lots of DNF's though.
Hope to see you soon!
After two long months I was excited to get be back on the SS. I knew I had way to little riding lately to be competitive, but it seemed like a good way to get back into the groove.
On the way up I got a nice recap of lushizzles W101 experience. It put my worries a little more at ease, knowing that he had a great first endurance race and managed to put all those miles behind him.
This was my first long race(relatively speaking in this group I guess). I didn't really do any food planning, I knew there would be plenty of water, gel, heed at the aid stations and figured that will do. The warm up wasn't great but we got a couple of miles in riding between the car and registration a few times.
The race started at a good pace, definitely slower than the h2h races I'm used to. This made me very happy. I was probably heading out around 15th and after a little pile up on one of those slippery puddles on the first double track I picked five or six guys. Luis, still high on his Wilderness experience took the lead and apparently held it for ten minutes or so. But like he said, a little too optimistic.
It wasn't until I had passed the three mile mark I started to feel good and decided that this will be my pace. No chasing or getting chased just keep a steady pace throughout. I finished the first lap feeling pretty good. Going out on second I continued switching positions back and forth with some guys. I would get them on climbs, they would pass me on the flats. I had just filled my bottles at the 3-4 mile station and thought to myself: d**n there's a lot of people fixing flats, I'm lucky I never got a flat during a race. Forgot to knock on wood cause two minutes later I'm fixing my first race flat. I was done in 5-10 using CO2 for the first time. Is one cartridge usually enough for a 29er? The tire only got half full so I had to top it off manually. No biggie.
After this I probably made my biggest mistake. I tried to make up for lost time and started chasing. Going out on third I could feel the power leaving my body. The meadows felt like a toaster oven. The climbs felt longer and steeper this time around. What I cleared on the first/second lap seemed impossible just walking now. I stopped and helped a couple of people that crashed during my third lap. The heat was really getting to us all.
On the road leading out to the last lap I was seriously considering throwing in the towel. I had gotten brutally lapped and just wanted to be done and have a cold beer. Then I came to my senses, I was only tired. No serious body issues, no mechanical issues. Just keep pedaling dammit! A mile in on the last lap I caught up to Luis, who was suffering pretty bad. We decided to keep going to the aid station where we would replenish our bottles and bodies. Had a banana, filled the bottles with water and Heed. Took a minute. The last five miles felt better than the previous ten. It was most likely "knowing it's almost over euphoria". Coming out on the last fire road Luis left me in the dust. Very disappointing. I though we had something going. Wink
Once I recovered a little bit post race was awesome. Cold shower, lots of cold brew, good BBQ and even more BS.
Good job Darkhorse. Congrats to all that raced and special props to our local podium guys!
I ended up 9th out of 31 registered but they only have 18 listed in the results so I don't know how many actually started. Lots of DNF's though.
