Excruiation Exam Mountain Bike Race

Excruciation Exam

I arrived the night before at about 7:30 pm. I was excited to pitch a tent and roast some marshmallows but never got around to it after flapping my mouth. I bumped into a great mountain biker named Christiana. I met her once before and she took me on a bike ride that I walked most of. She had a huge RV with 3 cute dogs in it and so I hung out there and met some other team members.  By the way I am on a great team called the pedal mashers.  The three dogs were really cute but it was not long before they cleared all of us out of the RV with their gas from eating the cow paddies.  I am not sure if any boys slept there but it was really nice outside.  You could see all the stars but I could not see the moon…boohoo.

I was wrong about the race. It was only 85 miles (40 trails) instead of over a 100. I know that I am an ultra cyclist but I was glad to hear I would be done in daylight.  The race started with us laying our bikes down in the grass and we ran around a tree. I walked with Jay another pedal masher and brought up the rear. Speaking of cow paddies I almost laid my handle bar down in one …that would have been a long smelly bike ride if so.  I am sure that I would have had poop all over my face after the race.   We hopped on the bike and there was another girl that said she would ride with me named Kelly. Jay took off as soon as he got the ok.  He was going to ride the first part of the race with me but I told him to get going.  I made it though the first section of trails and was dead last.  Kelly and I grouped together for the road section to head to Smithville. I took off on the road part thinking that Kelly would catch back up on the trails.  I was feeling really good and followed a guy off course but the race director tracked us down and turned us around. The race director was honking a bunch at me and he almost got flipped the bird until I saw who it was.  I hated that I was off course but I was glad that the race director caught us.   It was not long and I was at the Rocky Hill Ranch to start a very hard loop.  I was stoked that I was not last…thank goodness we had some road stuff. I could have drafted a couple of times but I was not sure if it was legal.  I do not pay attention to rules most of the time like I should.  It is legal.

Rocky Hill Ranch-  This is where I did my first mountain bike race of 66 miles.  I was hoping that I was better then a year ago but the truth is that I am not.  I am not used to trees and I hate tree roots!  If you ever go out on a trail and find that the tree roots have been axed it might have been me.   I would get going in at a nice pace and then I would hit a tree root and come off the bike or trail. It is a good thing I am not a guy because there would be serious damage between the legs.  I struggled for most of the ride.  The first part of it was in trees with the roots but the second part gets a little rockier and that is where I actually passed some people.  I did have my heart rate monitor and could of pushed it some more but it is hard to when you don’t know what the heck you are doing.  The trail was covered in pine needles and sometimes it was hard to see where it went.  I did get off the trail some and would have to stop to figure out where I got off….like I said I am not used to the woods.  We do not have trees here in Lubbock, Texas.  It also got warm and I was dressed like it was in the 30’s. I thought about taking some layers off but I got to thinking and was good training for Badwater to keep the clothes on.  It seemed like the trail was never going to end.  I do not see how I did 66 miles on it before. I came to part that had a bridge and was going to ride across it but chickened out.  Good darn thing I did!  The bridge was wobbly so when I stopped I had trouble balancing to get off my bike. Just as I put my weight on my foot to start walking I fell into the creek with the bike on top of me. I had both my feet on the bridge and my arm in the water so I was in a weird position. I was not quite sure how I was going to get out of it.  I had my bike on top of me and it was hurting me so I threw it into the water so I could figure out how to get up.  I did end up all the way in the stream so I was cooled off.  I got my bike and walked out of the stream examining the bridge. I did not see how anyone could go over it.  The last 3 feet were missing. I think I could have built a better bridge myself.  My nerve in my arm is hurt from it and so is my hand from putting it down. I hope it is just strained.   This got me shook up but I did keep going. Even though I was riding better there was still some stuff up ahead that I hated.  There was a part called “the grind” and there was also “the wall.”  I did not make it up any of these but did make the cut-off time to leave Rocky Hill Ranch.   I was going to make it. The sad part is that it took me almost 3 hours to complete 22 miles…this is pitiful.

The last part of the ride was road and then 3 miles of trail so I was in good spirits that I was going to make it and sort of took it easy.  I should have took in some more food but I still do not have an apatite for anything.  Food just does not taste good to me so I am forcing most anything I eat down.  I was a little bonked in the end but very glad to be done.  I was not last but almost. I guess you could call me a pro-beginner in mountain biking.

  I admire the mountain bikers the more I get around them. They are incredible athletes and I do think that they could covert to ultra cycling easier then ultra cyclist can convert to mountain biking.  They have to think the whole ride and use their upper body too.  They also are anaerobic for most of the ride unlike us ultra cyclist.  I am going to still race at mountain bike races but I do know that I will never be at the front of the pack. I just want to keep it up so that I can race in the Gigathlon again.  It will be another 5 years before the 900 mile Gigathlon happens again and I think it will take that much time to learn how to skate and mountain bike to be competitive.   Mountain bikers rock!