2014 Baker's Dozen

the Annual Baker's Dozen Mountain Bike Relay Race is a 13 hour, super fun, and fast race that sells out in minutes each year and attracts racers from all over the Midatlantic area and beyond.

This year, meet our team:   Stewart's Sublime Tillmanator Prom consisting of me - aka Tillmanator, Chris Newell aka The Duke of Sublime Athletics Coaching, and last but not least, Mr. Stewart Miley --- we were his prom dates!

We registered for the race at the beginning of the year and have been counting down as the Baker's race approached 4/12.   But of course there are always snaggles in the best of plans.   Stewart, our Prom Captain, had to go "race" train on his mountain bike the weekend before the race and not only bruised his ribs but also developed a severe sinus infection a few days after his "cartwheel" mountain bike wreck which added insult on top of the injury.   2 days before the race, the Duke learned that Cheryl Sornson would be available to race.  Yes, we secured "Churtle the turtle" to step in as a substitute.  

There were 27 co-ed teams registered for Baker's as well as many other 3-person, 2-person and solo categories.   But, we were the only co-ed 3-person team that consisted of two women and one man...and well, we were up to the challenge of posing a "real threat" to all other 3 person co-ed teams.  Game on! 

We were going to Tillmanate the competition.

7:00 - 9:00 - Arrival and Race prep
Thanks to Joe, Patrick, Angela, Theresa, Wrona, Ethan and Bob for staking out a super cool spot for our base camp compound.   We were parked in the perfect place in my opinion.  Thanks team!

Joe's Bike Shop Racing Team Base Camp

The Race: Basically it went something like this and then rinsed and repeated for over 13 hours

The Duke rolling down the rocks

• Cheryl starts in first position and does what she does best --- races her arse off (with lap times that rivaled the best among the men)
• Chris the Duke is up next and he awaits Cheryl's arrival in our base camp staging area.  When Cheryl arrive, I take her band and fasten it to Chris's bar and he's off.
• Chris proceeds to race his arse off pushing his new Superfly to its limits 
• In the meantime, Cheryl rests which generally means a cool down on the bike and nutrition...



Tillmanator in the Pines (thanks Gary Ryan Photography!)

• Before you know it, it's time for me to stage.  Chris arrives, Cheryl fastens the band to my bar and I'm off.

Cheryl hopping up the rock ledge

Cheryl taking the rock section fast

Tillman #2

We raced at our limit and beyond.  Panting, yes, more often it felt like gasping.   We all suffered.  We all suffered beyond our normal suffering limits as we knew our teammates were fighting as hard as they could out on the race course, leaving it all  out there.   We wanted to win.  We wanted to set each other up for each subsequent lap.  We wanted to Tillmanate the competition.

and, we did!

Mid Afternoon Photo Break (Me, Angela VavaVROOM, and Sheehan)

During the day, we enjoyed the awesome atmosphere of our base camp.  We lounged around. 
We recapped our laps.
We had Joe in the mix, yeah!
We told each other to eat and drink.
We stretched.
We smiled, we smiled a lot.
We cheered all our teammates as they raced around base camp.
We helped each other get ready.
We made sure lights were working right for night laps.
We wrenched on bikes.
but most importantly, we had a freaking blast.



Many of the Joe's teams rocked it this past Sunday. 

We had a 3-person male team take 2nd....
We had a 2-person co-ed duo team take 3rd...
And last but not least, Stewart's Sublime Tillmanator Prom with Churtle the Turtle took 1st in the co-ed 3-person team.

It was a great day.  Baker's, we'll see you again next year.

AFC Sugar Hill Women's Expert XC MTB

Figured for this blog, I'd share my post-race report summary.  Maybe you will get some ideas of how I re-play a race, maybe you can share insights with me.

In the end, I'd say:

• I should have suffered harder and tasted more blood going up the waterbar to chase down that 5 second gap;  maybe I could have held on, maybe not......  easier said then done but maybe an extra 30 seconds of mega-suffering would have helped me stay on the lead group
• More calories.  My little Tillmanator engine is like a small 4 cyclinder revving at 1000 rpms.   I need serious high octane high calorie food intake when I rev that high.   I am going to experiment with bottles up to 400 calories.   This race, I took in 700 calories.   I think I could have easily drank another 300 calorie bottle.

*********************

Sunday morning:

·         Woke around 8:00A to coffee and breakfast

·         Had time to run BJ’s errand with T

·         Got back, mixed up my regular veggie/ fruit / protein vitamixer shake

·         Packed car and was off by 11:00

Sunday pre-race:

·         Arrived 11:30, got registered

·         Parked on my stuff at team tent

·         Got sweet parking spot closeby

·         Continued to sip on water and my shake

·         Got on trainer at 12:15p or so and started warmpu

o   Warmup felt good.

o   Intervals felt do-able.  Really focused on power # more than HR.

o   Finished early with time to pack road bike away in car

o   Put on race shades

·         And got geared up

o   Had 2 water bottles with 3 scoops (300 cal) infinit in each bottle

o   Carried one gel and one set of gu chomp gels

·         Pedaled around on my MTB to stay warmed up, easy zone 2.

·         Pedaled up to starting line right around 1p

·         Didn’t really socialize on start, retained focus on race ahead and just didn’t feel like jibber-jabbing

The Race – start:

·         We had 2 minute warning then 30 second warning. 

·         I was positioned on left, 2^nd position.

·         Had solid start immediately clipping in and powering into the pedals

·         Tracy Posner, on my left started to ramp up speed on first road hill

o   I easily matched and took lead and better line

o   Stacy Barbossa (Cyclocross expert start – Colavita) and Carolyn Popovic (Team CF expert CXer and MTB) were both behind

o   Stacy and Carolyn were the ones I had targeted as “my” competitors from the get-go

·         I was first onto the gravel/dirt and leading up the waterbars.

o   Heart rate was off the chart

o   Legs were burning

o   Nearing the top, Stacy made a pass and hit me with her wide-arse (new-to-her) handlebars which forced me  to put a foot down to recover balance.

o   I cussed her a bit saying:  “Why the hell are you pushing me down this early in the race Barbossa…”  she apologized.  IT’s racing.

o   I made it back.

o   Stacy led, Carolyn right on her wheel, me in 3^rd

·         At the top of the bars, Stacy put the hammer down even harder and forced the gap. Carolyn was on her and I was now at a 5 second gap.   Ginni was behind me by 5 sec and two behind her.  (we only had six racers)

·         I was at my red limit and pushing 180’s the first lap of the purple Rockburn loop lap

The race – 1^st lap

·         Into the first Rockburn lap, I was as hard on gas as I could.  Def anaerobic and at my max.  

·         Tasted blood whole lap.

·         The gap grew to maybe 10 seconds halfway around that first loop.  Stacy was still in my sights leading Carolyn

·         I just didn’t have any more “go juice” to chase them down and close the gap.  I was at my limit.

·         Ginni also fell farther behind me.  By the time we were finishing the loop making the left onto yellow trail (morning choice) near spectators, I had probably put a 20 second gap on her, that only grew the rest of the race.

·         I felt strong throughout Morning choice trail (yellow) all the way to Landing road.   I knew the lines I wanted, where I wanted to stand and power (and lock out my suspension) and where I had to push harder to get back up to speed.  

      I loved the twisty areas leading into Landing area.  I nailed the log piles eliminating the wide angle turns and taking more straight, fast lines.  I stood up all the hills leading up to the big tree that had fallen right as you reach Landing.

·         I crushed the landing descent and all tracks leading up to bridge stream crossing to Cascade bypass and the first muddy area and rock garden.  I took the line up the big rock that I had been practicing.  No issues.  

      I pushed and pulled hard up the short steepies.  I felt good.

·         Rock garden back on Cascade, I nailed the left line each time cutting a second or two off (I def thought that line was faster).

·         Back up Ridge, I felt strong too.

·         I drank 1 bottle the first lap, no problems sipping here and there along the loop.  300 calories

2^nd Lap

·         This is where I felt like I started to get into no man’s land.   

       At this point, I could no longer see Stacy.   I was fearful the gap was much wider than what people were telling me on the trail.  At the spectator intersection, people were yelling 20-30 seconds but I could not see her.

·         Meanwhile, some solid SSers were now passing me on lap 2

·         Lap 2 time was slower than lap 1.  I felt good though.  Rode clean.

·         Feel like I could’ve gone faster on the downhills and twisty sections, had I trusted my equipment 100%.  Sometimes it is hard to balance caution and staying upright with outright crazy race speed.

·       

         Overall lap 2 was good.  I had a few moments of ahhh ouch this hurting but I quickly moved through those race moments.

·         I took in probably ½ a bottle (150 cal) and one gel (100 cal)

3^rd lap:

·         3^rd lap hurt.   I could feel my upper body tense and my right hand, the “hold on” muscles as I refer to them.,   really focused on core stability and posture.  To race fast, you have to engage the whole body. This was my focus.  Ride clean.  Ride well. 

·         On last lap, I actually started picking up a few guys that were moving backward so to speak.

·         I would catch tehm all on the uphills where my steady power and push was there.   

·         I could feel the rocks more, the roots more and I was def not as aggressive with the downhill speed.  

·         I took in my last ½ bottle (150 cal) on last lap.  Bottle was dry by the time I hit water bar descent. 

·         Rode solid last lap but never did catch Barbossa. 

·         Rode solid into finish with last push. 

·         As I got off my bike, legs/calves started to twinge (early warning cramping sign).  I was out of it but intoxicated by the race…and glad it was over.  

·         I finished 3^rd, one minute behind 2^nd and about 10 min behind 1^st 

·         I took in 700 calories, I don’t think it was nearly enough at that intensity.  I could have easily drank a 3^rd bottle and mixed them stronger.