August 3, 2009

• Laramie Enduro

  So I signed up for the Laramie Enduro MTB race this year.  I have never done it before and it sounded like a reasonable goal to motivate me be strong enough to enjoy riding with my fiends that were training for the Leadville 100.  Well,  that sorta worked, but I was never able to really enjoy riding with folks that were doing  250 - 300+ miles per weak.  Yeah, I could do most of the group rides, but I ended up being the Whipping boy for most of them.. but I digress....

  So I go to bed the night before at about 11:30, cause I was working on the bike and getting my stuff together.  I wakeup at 3:30 in the A.M so I could make the drive to Wyoming so as to meet Bob Binckes and get my race # that he was kind enough to pickup the night before.   It's dark driving up there,, but the sun came out before I had to park the car.

  I get the bike ready, head down to the start where I see Janet (Leadville buddy).   I also meet some folks who thought they knew me.  How many black guys named Steve's who race mtbs and have dreads can there be in this world....

  Time for the race and I am pretty relaxed, but a bit cold.  The gun goes off and I am way back in the back.  I don't care cause this is a long long race and it won't be won in the 1st few minutes.   I settle in with the folks around me and the legs are feeling pretty good.  My HR is much higher than I thought it should be given the perceived effort, but  I figure this won't last too long.

  This 1st few mile were pretty easy,   I hadn't ridden in 10 days prior so I was sure that I was well rested.   I wasn't sure what tires to run on this one, but at the lat minute I had decided to ditch the Pythons and go for the CrossMarks.   I don't think these things rolled as well as the Pythons but I was hoping they would make up for this in some sketchy areas...

  A few miles pass and I am holding my own with the group I am with.  The legs are still feeling good, and I am trying to meter my efforts so as to be strong the whole way through.   There are some really fun sections of East Coast type riding, and I am realizing that the suspension might be a bit too stiff for some of this course.   Early on this is not a problem, but later I might be cursing this choice as well as the choice of bike.  I had chosen the old YSL vs the Yeti 575, mainly to due to weight...

  I come to the 1st big water crossing and the course volunteer says it was OK earlier but the dirt bike escorts had ripped it up pretty good.    So I tried to ride it, cause it didn't look too bad.  Well that was a mistake as the front tire just stuck and over the bars I went, tweaking my left hand in the process.  Ouch!  That sucks!  Oh well,   So I get up and get going, only after a bunch of folks that I just passed went by me again. Oh well, it's still early...

  Mile after mile pass and there is some sweet terrain.    I  see a bunch of folks that knew me from town,  Jim from the 450 crew, and Libby from the Full Cycle Shop ride,  Dave from HP, Kevin from TTH etc.   Everyone along the way is really friendly and I am having a really good time.   

  I really didn't know how far I had gone as that Polar unit doesn't have distance in the display.    I had to ask folks how far we had gone and before I knew it  we were about 1/2  way.  I began to recognize the terrain from last years pre-ride of the course with Ron.   I am really really glad I knew what was in store because that could have broken my will, not knowing the horrors to come.

  It had rained a lot recently and there were some really swampy mucky, black soil, ugly stuff to ride through and these were areas one did not want to get stuck in.  This is when I realized I had made the correct tire choices.  Luckily I was able to ride all of this and not get my shoes too muddy.   I suppose that wouldn't have mattered too much as that wasted deep stream crossing would have cleaned all of that mud off anyway.  When I 1st say that wasted deep water and the guy in front of me go through it, I was thinking to myself, "You gotta be kidding".   Deep water is bad, but not knowing what's in there allows the imagination to go wild.   If this wasn't a race there's know way I would have been going through all of that.

  Some this the terrain was not even freshly bush whacked, and  I was getting weeds kissing my legs a lot.   On one descent a stick got stuck in my rear rear, but I realized this quickly enough and was able to stop and pull in out before any real damage was done.    I kept leap frogging Kevin as he was a much stronger rider, but didn't have the skills to match....    It was after passing him that I lost my bite valve on my camel back!   This sucks,  but luckily I had a shutoff valve, but it was a pain to open and close that thing.

  At about the 45 mile point or so,  I started to cramp and figured I would just do some more Sport Legs.  Too bad I left them in the car! Argh.   My legs felt strong excerpt the right leg hamstring was trying to cramp every chance it got.   I did some PowerGels and Hammer Gels which helped some but I didn't want to push too hard, so I just settled into a comfy pace, knowing the worst was yet to come.   As some luck would have it,  Kevin came by me and offered me some Endura lights!  Yeah, Thanks Kevin.   I did 5 or so of those and that helped quite a bit, but I still didn't want to risk pushing it too much.

  I was starting to get passed by folks I had done so to earlier.  That was OK, since all I wanted to do was just finish this thing.   The terrain was much tougher now and being tired, it was too easy just to get sloppy.   My hand still hurt, so I couldn't really bomb the sections like I wanted to.   

  Finally it' only 20 miles to go, but there are tough.    Shortly after the 2nd to last rest stop I saw these arrows saying to make a right turn.   This didn't look right but I went on for about 89 yards before having some brush snag the front tire and send me over the bars again!  Ouch as I landed on the hand that was already tweaked!.  Now it's really hurting , but it's not broken.  I  chat with the guy behind me about where the course goes.   We should have just stayed on the fire road!   Those arrows were really misleading and the only bad thing I can say.  Wouldn't have bee so bad but I crashed, which also bent my right brake lever.

  OK, all I want to do now is finish and be done with this.    Some guy reels me in but I pass him when the grade steepens.   My legs still felt pretty good and I was able to stand and climb some tough stuff without much trouble.  I was using much more hamstrings for most of the earlier climbing, so my quads were pretty strong at this point.  

  The terrain now is really rocky and rooted.  With my stiff suspension and tweaked hand the ride pretty much sucks.   There are a few sections that I would normally ride, but I just walked due to fatigue and not having full control of the bike and I really didn't want to crash again.

  Finally I am close to the end and it' all down hill from now.    I see the finish and folks are doing the supporting cheering thing.    I was so happy to get some food and sit down. 

  Will I do this one again!   I don't know, but I will think about it.  I might take the Yeti next time.   I have no chance of being competitive, as these old guyz are scary fast!    Anyway a good time was had! 

  You can see the pic of my polar data.  It lost about 15 mile somewhere in there but you get the idea. Avg HR 1 was 162 which was about 10 beats higher that for Leadville for me. Oh,  here are the race results.   I finished
  in about 8 hours 30 minutes.  Next time, if there is a next time I would take the Yeti 575 just to be able to enjoy the descents! 

  • 10:42 pm
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