The race started promptly at 7AM with a 1.5 mile paved road roll out that found me sandwiched in the middle of the pack behind Mike Simonson and Jeff Schalk. It was a bit nerve racking to be stuck there but in the end it worked out when one of the Quiring Cycles riders asked if I wanted to get to the outside. I said yes and just at that time Jeff went to the left of the pack and pulled me right to the almost front of the race. I found it a little weird that he set up just before the singletrack and let a couple of riders in front of him. I was not complaining cause I knew this would keep the pace a little lower and let us all settle in! When things calmed and the splits were made we had one rider at the front running a very conservative pace so we ended up with a group of about 15 riders at the lead of the race! Way different than norm, usually the selection is made early and you fight to be there! At one point during the first lap I had Lee ride up to me and ask me how I was feeling and what was up? I was a bit confused by his questions but after talking to him after the race he thought he was in the chase group until he saw Jeff, Mike, Christian, and I all in the same group. Kind of funny cause he said he was moving up to go to the front of the group!
The first lap stayed pretty chilled and things started in the pits at the start of the 2nd lap. I was fortunate and had Cam, Molly Wolf's son, giving me feeds!! With a rockstar feed I was off in under 5 seconds and it was a good thing cause Michael attacked out of the feed area and the group went from 15 down to 8. Michael hammered up the first couple of hills then it looked like he put the anchor out. I thought about going to the front to see how much he had left, but decided against it and just settled into Robert Marion's pace since he seemed to want to sit on the front and control the pace. Then about half way through the 2nd lap, I guess Christian had enough and decided that the last 50 miles should be run at a XC race pace. I made the decision right then to just go for it! The last races I have been conservative and rode my own pace knowing I would pick up straglers to maybe grab that 4th or 5th spot. I hung in there as riders were falling off the back at Christian's eye bleeding pace, after about 20 minutes of his pace I was the next casualty and I went into that bad spot to finish off the 2nd lap. Coming in for the 2nd lap I could barely keep the pedals turning and if I could of found a chair I probably would of taken it. Cam was there again with my feeds and Chuck Naughton gave me a Coke, that turned out to be my lifesaver!! The other interesting thing in the pits was Scott and Mark's mom! As I was getting my feeds she introduced hersefl to me and asked if the weather was warm? Really funny and I must of had a really weird look on my face because it became a conversation piece later at dinner! Either way, thanks to Scott and Mark's parents for coming out to watch! Spectators are always good!
Now onto the 3rd lap and my 33 mile death march! I knew that I had settled into 8th spot, but had no clue how well anyone was riding. I knew how I was riding and it was not that well! I was way off my original pace and had to get the demons to go away! I continued to push through the head games, the thoughts that I made a wrong turn, the cramps after my Heed at the aid station, and the continual noises in the woods of other riders that I thought were catching me! Even though my last lap was almost 15 minutes slower, I still managed to hang on for the 8th spot in a solid field of riders.
The whole day the Specialized Epic was awesome and made it easy to carve the singletrack by smoothing out all the bumps. The new scrub rotors and scrub pads are a huge improvement over running Kool stop pads. Thanks to the rest of the sponsors, No tubes for keeping air in my tires, Optic Nerve for keeping the dirt out of my eyes, Crankbrothers for keeping my feet attached to my bike and that wicked light, sweet looking seatpost, and also thanks to the Hostel Shoppe for keeping me equiped with all the goods needed to do this every weekend!! Also to Bossman for keeping the enging going! Also thanks to Michelle for putting up with me as I get cranky during the later parts of my training blocks and coffee no longer helps!!
Also to the rest of the team for making it fun! One of the best things from the weekend! Scott and Mark's mom telling me that she reads this blog! I told here that I hope I was never offensive! Right at the time she said no, Lee pipes up and says that she must not read his blog cause she would find it offensive! She looked at him and said I did not know you had a blog, what is the address? Lee " Scotts n ass .com !! Too funny! Here is Mark doubled over when we told him!! This is also after his feat of being the 3rd ever to finish the 2 half pound patty, bacon cheeseburger with fries at this restaurant in Manistee so..... I think it about came up.
So how many of you went and looked for the site??
2 comments:
Great to see you at the race. Your bibshorts looked like you tangled with something out there when you came through for pit #2
Yeah, it was good to see you and Dennis!! Thanks for cheering! As for the shorts, I was hot so I decided to make them breath better using the sign post at the top of the firetower climb. On a plus note I didn't walk it the first lap!!
Post a Comment