Had dad, stepmom, sis and her boyfriend over for early dinner and fun. Had one beer and lots of really goods food: steak, potatoes. Squash, Ts homemade nondairy icecream.
10:30PM - to bed
04:00AM - wake. Eat oatmeal rice farina breakfast blend, 500cal
05:00AM - met kathleen near Reisterstown beltway exits
08:00AM - arrived ate yogurt. 120cal
09:00AM - race start. Started third row and held lead pack up hill. hR went high into 170s up the road climb. Climb was long enough to spread the group out. About 20 riders in front began to push the pace and I couldn't hold. Quad had a TNTT kind of feeling from pushing hard. I knew it was going to be a long day. Settled in. Pace was still hard, hr continued to remain in 170s until we hit single track.
Into the first single, trails got clogged, nowhere to pass. I remained patient, still long day ahead. Some of those boys were fast on road but sucked ass on technical trails. There were a few jams throughout rocky sections. I passed a few guys. tussey trail was awesome, gorgeous. Trails were just pristine and the views overlooking the mtn ridge were incredible- made my day!
Once we spread out, I set a tempo hard pace and rolled. In general I found the single track so fun and the fire road climbs so HARD. Tons of climbing at the Stoopid, wow. First aid station was mile 12.
By then, i had downed one full bottle of Infinit 300cal. And I took in a gel, 100cal. At the aid station, lady refilled my bottle with hammer. ( I was carrying camel w 1.5g of water + 2 bottles with Infinit). I ate Four fig newtons, 200cal.
Rode w Helmers for awhile after aid. He was on single and had to standing climb eventually passing me as I was grannying. Helmers, btw was riding 32x19 full rigid. Freaking nutcase hardcore man!!. I watched him stand and climb away and once again settled in.
Mile 20 - THE WARNING!! Quad cramped mildly. Early twinge. I was like: oh jack!!! Last time that happened, I was at Curse of DH, @hour 4 or so and whole lower body eventually cramped in unison. It was horrific. I was off the side of the trail laying in the grass moaning. Well this time I answered the "early clue body phone" (aka body warning) by:
--dialing back effort to lower tempo feel
--kept hr closer to range of 140-165
--focused on the left leg pull/ push (right side cramped)
--breathed a lot
--stopped briefly to swallow 4x endurolyte pills (was drinking camel w GU electrolyte 0cal salts, figured I needed extra)
--kept drinking and drinking
Lesson: my first hour, I went really hard. Dial it back for ORAMM & SM100. I think holding 170-low180s that first hour stretched my body.
Other than some mild twitches, I was ok less the final few miles when the twinges came back.
Mid race single track was my favorite, so beautiful. More up and down rolling compared to big climb/descends.
2nd aid station was mile 32ish. There, I took a small can of coke and new Infinit bottle and apple sauce from my feed bag. It was spectacular. Sugar rush amaze balls! The volunteer Dude hooked my camel up w fresh water. Nearly 2gal. Heavy as hell but it Was now sunny and open on tHe fire roads. = hot and salty sweaty.
The Last 20 was so hard. A lot of fire road climbing, a lot. Not as fun. Painful. Hard. I just kept pushing on. Paced a few guys for short times until they pushed on slowly ahead of me. At least I had company. The entire race from Tussey ridge I had sat in 3rd. I knew if I kept riding clean and smart and didn't fallout I should make the finish in 3rd.
I did! That last descent into the camp area was mega rocky. Doing that at mile 48-49 really took confidence. I walked a short bit at the top and lost confidence. A guy, also walking his bike, came up on me and asked if I was the third place woman. He said woman 4 was about a 1/2 mi behind. That was all it took, I road that descent. I just needed a push. :-)
Sweet day on the bike. So hard. So beautiful. And so fun.
All the racers that showed up were hardcore. All of them. And I was proud to be among them.
Big shout out to Kathleen, who was an awesome travel companion AND met one of her goals to arrive before the keg kicked. ;-). I owe her and Lane a special thankyou for nudging me to sign up for this race (among other endurance races). I am so looking forward to spending more time with them and other teammates and friends riding sweet epic trails this summer. Thanks guys!
PS: I was more ZenJen than Tillmanator, except at the start.
PS2: Sublime Athletic's Chris Newell is def dialing the coaching in for me, thx Chris
pS3: Vicki and Missy were rolling! Our podium had some awesome super cool women on it.
Ps4: beer tastes so good after a race
Ps5: Chris Scott's race was awesome, thankyou!
