This was a 3 lap race and I decided to use Perpetuem on only the first 2 laps, I tend not to not drink it later in a race. I also had decided to try and do the race with only bottles, I didn't want to carry the extra weight of a Camelbak on my back if I didn't need to. I had a Camelbak ready to go just in case in between laps. I had 2 bottles on my bike and then a 3rd bottle in my Mountain Feedbag on my handlebars.
As far as my bike I was riding my Haro Mary SS, I was riding her all rigid. I was running a 32 x 18 gear combination and I had a new set of Specialized Fast Trak tires as they are a low profile fast rolling tire. For the start we had to ride about 1.5 miles down the road for a rolling start. Many of us were freezing on the ride to the start line, my arms were a shade of purple and I had lots of goosebumps. I wasn't really looking forward to the start as I knew I would get dropped while spinning out. We took off and I was getting passed by a lot of geared riders, the lead pack had got out of sight rather quickly. I just did the best I could and knew it was a long day of riding to make up ground. Soon we were turning into the parking lot and the next turn would take us into the start of the single track.
As with any endurance race the early part of the first lap was congested, not much anybody could do but just try to be patient until things were able to speed up a bit. The slow going was tough on me riding a single speed, I need momentum to get me up some of the hills and it wasn't happening early on. After a couple miles I was able to get around a few riders and then pick up some speed. Soon I was behind 3 tandems in a row and their climbing was very slow. When we got to a short steep climb I did a cyclocross dismount and ran my bike through the weeds around them and took off again. A few miles later we hit a road section and I was surprised that I was able to pass so many riders since I was riding on a single speed. The rest of the lap was pretty good, my calves were getting tight but other than that I was feeling pretty good. I finished the first lap 9 minutes off of last years pace but I was okay with that, I didn't know what to expect riding one gear.
I was in the pit for less than a minute and back out on the course. I was making sure to stay on the fluids and trying to keep endurolytes in my system. A couple of the climbs seemed a lot longer on the second lap than they did on the first. The run up to the fire tower seemed a lot steeper and I was pretty sure it would seem even worse on the third lap. I came in from the second lap 1 minute faster than last years second lap so I was pretty pleased with that.
I was in the pit for 3 or 4 minutes this time, got new bottles and took some Endurolytes and Ibuprofin and had Molly put some Biofreeze on my lower back (oh and had to lube the chamois again). As the third lap progressed I could tell I was slowing down but I wasn't wiped out totally. I was walking some of the steep climbs and parts of the long sustained climbs. I would climb until I could feel the lactic acid building to a certain point and then I would walk a bit and then back on the bike. I decided to stop at the aid station on the last lap, it was about halfway through the lap. I still had a full bottle and I topped off my other two bottles, I also got and orange wedge which was really tasty. It wasn't until just as I was leaving that I realized the water they put in my bottles was a little skunky. Not a great tasting water but it was wet. I ended up going to my full fresh bottle and saving the other bottles until I had to drink them. The last 10 miles of the last lap was tough, I was really having to dig deep. Finally I knew I was getting near the finish line and I was going as fast as I think I could, this section of the course is fast and flowy. I passed two geared riders with about a mile to go and could see another rider ahead of me shortly after that. That rider was another single speeder and I went around him as fast as I could in case he tried to jump on my wheel. He didn't make a move but I stayed on the gas as much as I could to the finish, I looked back a couple times but didn't see him coming. I rolled across the finish line in 9 hr 40 min. This was 21 min slower than last year but I didn't care, I was very happy with that time.
As I went through the finish chute I saw Molly and I heard Emma but I didn't stop. I grabbed my finishers patch from a volunteer and just kept pedaling to our pit area. I felt bad for not stopping but I was looking for a chair to sink into. After about 45 minutes of resting and talking about the days adventures I went up to the food tent. I was hoping they had orange juice again this year and that was about all I really wanted but instead I found a huge burrito and a corn/black bean combo that was really good. We also went over to the timing kiosk and found out I was 28th out of 47 in the Single Speed class and I was 152nd out of 337 overall.
While I was still out racing Emma got to meet womens pro rider Danielle Musto, Emma got her autograph and also got her picture taken with her. As Mark and I was loading the van Danielle tracked Emma down and gave her a brand new set of Optic Nerve racing glasses, how awesome is that???
As much fun as the race was I was glad that it was over. I think we all slept very well that night, then it was a long day in the van on the way home. I had a great time and I was very pleased with my results.
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