There are a lot of things I could say about this race. It was a beautiful day for a race 85 degrees and not a cloud to be seen. Mike had convinced me that this race had enough gravel roads that I might be able to finish in around 10 hours. So, 10 miles/hour for 10 hours, I can do that. At least that’s what I thought. We got started at 0712 and I was excited to get started. I was feeling strong and not starting out too hard. Everything was feeling good until 0900 when I got my first leg cramp of the day. Things went down hill from there. Between checkpoint 1 and 2 is where Mark Nicoll caught me for the first time. I heard someone behind me shouting “hello pretty lady” and then BOOM! For a second I thought we were riding through a hunting area or something until I realized that it was Mark’s tire. After my first cramp all I could do was soft pedal up hills in my granny gear. I managed to make it to checkpoint #2 and refuel with hopes that I would start feeling better.
When you leave checkpoint #2 there is a hill that seems to keep going forever. I don’t know how long it really was but I heard someone say 6 miles and it felt like it. I was really starting to hurt at that point and I couldn’t even make it up the hill soft pedaling and had get off of the bike and walk several times. It was on the following downhill, single track section that Mark caught and passed me for the last time. I arrived at checkpoint #3 at the 60 mile mark in 6 hours. I was hurting but I figured I was still making pretty good time so I grabbed a hearty snack of some orange slices, apple slices, half a banana, and some gummy fish. I refilled my water and I was gone. The way I had things figured I needed to save time and hurry through the rest stops because moving forward slowly is better than not at all and it may make the difference between me finishing and being pulled out of the race.
This is the point where my race started to get really long and really started to spiral downhill and out of control. The hill leading out of checkpoint #3 was the only quasi-technical uphill that I can remember in the whole course. It’s too bad that I only rode about 150 feet of it before I was off my bike and cramping for the rest of the climb. After the climb there was some relatively easy and nice flowing single track but once again I was cramping too bad to ride any of it. From this point on it was all about walking up hills and coasting down. The only good thing about this was that I figured that I needed to make up time on the descents and I did this by simply refusing to use my brakes. It greatly improved my descending ability and speed. Most of the journey from checkpoint 3 to checkpoint 4 was a blur deep in the pain cave. I thought about quitting a lot during this time. After covering 60 miles in the first 6 hours I only covered 15 miles in the next 3 hours on my way to checkpoint #4. I ran out of water a couple miles before I arrived at the checkpoint. Luckily for me from the time I was out of water until I arrived at checkpoint 4 it was all flat and down hill. When I finally reached the short downhill road section leading up to checkpoint 4 I was relieved to finally have a break and figured I could recover a little. I got on my bike and started pedaling easily down the hill. Then I cramped in my left leg and had to unclip and only pedal with my right leg so my left one wouldn’t seize up. I finally arrived at checkpoint 4 at 1600. I refueled on apples, gummy fish and as much salty food as I could get my hands on. Once again I tried to make it a quick stop to avoid missing a cutoff time.
When I left checkpoint 4 I coasted the rest of the way to the bottom of the hill and then cramped as soon as I saw the next large climb that lay ahead. I spent the next 40 minutes walking up that hill. I stopped walking a few times and tried to get on my bike but my legs seized up when I tried to lift them over the bike. I don’t really remember much of what else happened between checkpoint 4 and checkpoint 5. I only remember lots of cramping and hoping that the cramping would stop. I managed to make it from checkpoint 4 to checkpoint 5 in a little over 2 hours.
I arrived at checkpoint 5 (final checkpoint) and my spirits were instantly lifted. At the checkpoint I filled up with 4 endurolyte capsules and more gummy fish. I must admit that I’ve never used them nor did I read the directions (great healthcare professional that I am) but I just wanted lots of anything that may help me stop cramping. Then I asked one of the aid station attendants about the remaining 12 miles. His reply, “it’s an easy trip from here on in, except the big hill.” It didn’t really matter because whether it was the excitement of finishing or the endurolytes I was flying out of checkpoint 5. I was in my biggest gear and flying. I was able to pull back everyone who had passed me coming out of checkpoint 4 by the middle of the last climb and from there on I was on my own. My legs were finally functioning again and I was able to pedal again. On the final flat section to the finish I was pushing hard and I started to cramp again as I was hitting the finish line. I fell over right after finishing and lay on the ground with both legs cramping again, but it was OK. I had made it through and I’d like to think that all of the day’s adversity has somehow made me a stronger person, but it’s been said that adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it. On that note I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has done their part of torturing me and helping me complete this.
Random thoughts during the race:
1) I’m quitting at 1900 no matter what, I figured Mike told me I’d be done by 1700 so why should I keep going after that
2) If I quit and don’t complete this I may have the urge to do it again someday just to see if I can do it
3) I really miss my grandma who died 4 years ago, she wouldn’t want me to quit
4) I’m selling my mountain bike once this is over
5) If I sell my mountain bike I’ll just want to buy another one and why would I ever want to buy another mountain bike
6) I’ve still only got 2 testicles (you’ll have to ask Mike if you want to know the story behind this)
7) I’m going on a diet
*If this sounds like rambling and doesn’t make sense that is because my thoughts were jumbled during the race and they didn’t make sense then either.
**If any of my descriptions of the course or events described are incorrect it’s because I was delirious.
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