Reclaimed 6 Hour Race: A Lesson In Positive Thinking
It’s easy to think the world is conspiring against you. Like the balances of life have tilted against you for no other reason then to laugh at your suffering. The weeks leading up to Reclaimed have been marred by this; especially the last week. Since buying the Top Fuel my life has been thrown into a bit of disarray. Weather, work schedule, errands, saddle sores (thanks to my shiny new bike), and problems sleeping have thrown a monkey wrench into my training as of late. The week leading up to Reclaimed was no different…and possibly even worse.
On Monday I’d planned to ride to work, only to forget to set my alarm. I could’ve rode my mountain bike after work, but I had to mow, do laundry, clean the house, and had a post work conference call that delayed me getting off work on time so I pushed off riding until Tuesday. Work was pretty stressful all week anyway as everything I did seemed to not work or go slower than anticipated. I rode to work on Thursday, but the ride home was miserable because I couldn’t get comfortable on my road bike, which previously didn’t bother me. Jordan came over that night and we had a great dinner, but suddenly my less then 2 year old HVAC stopped working. It was close to 80 degrees in the house. After trying to get it working for an hour, we made a late night dash to Jordan’s house so we could get some sleep….which didn’t come for me as I was stressed out because of my HVAC.
Jordan and I had taken a half day on Friday so we could head to Cloudland Canyon State Park early to squeeze in more time at the campground. That in and of itself was uneventful. The drive up was smooth as was the setup. Jordan’s son was having a great time running around the camper, watching Megamind and Space Jam, and finding places to hide from his Mom in the camper. You’d be amazed the small spaces a 7 year old boy can fit into. Dinner was steak fajitas cooked in a cast iron skillet over a fire. Then drinks and early to bed.
I’d hoped my run of bad luck was behind me, but I was woke up from a restful sleep at 3:30 AM to the sound (and smell) of Cal throwing up in the camper. After cleaning up vomit, poop, and taking him for a walk I settle back into bed at 4:00 hoping to fall back asleep. Blissfully I did…after staring at the cieling for 30 minutes.
Race Day started out great. Despite the early morning puke alarm I woke up refreshed and in a good mood. I ate a quick breakfast and drank some coffee, then started getting my stuff together. A quick walk around the pit area and I spotted Craig Lawson and his son looking suspicious. Knowing they needed supervision I convinced them to let me setup my stuff under their tent along with the Juniors race team he coaches. Once I got all setup there it was time to warm up, so I elected to ride up and down the road while contemplating my strategy for the start. At some point Jim Farmer started yelling at me about getting a shout out in the blog, so here you are Farmer.
Lap 1
There was a staged start due to the ‘Rona, so I went off at 10:01 with the rest of the Masters and the Sport, Grandmasters, and Ultra Masters. Noticing that everyone else was starting slow, I decided to drop the hammer some to get ahead of everyone before we got into the woods and the Hogsback trails slowed us down. I didn’t want to get stuck behind someone on either of those trails. There was some congestion, but David Buntin and I got free at Peace Can and dropped the hammer. It was through Kettle Bottom that I realized just how fast we were going. I did my best to push aside lingering thoughts about going out too hard. Through the pit to grab water bottle. Lap 1 done…47:58.
Lap 2
I decided to dial it back a little bit for Lap 2. David got back into the woods before me, but I was close on his tail. We caught and passed some folks through the first couple of miles of trail. Once we started going up Fugget Lift David dropped me. I figured it was probably a good idea to save some legs in case I needed them later, so I decided not to chase. This turned out to be a good decision. Back into the pits for another bottle and a Stinger Waffle. Lap 2 done…49:29.
Lap 3
It was Lap 3 where I started to notice that it’d been awhile since I’d really seen anyone. I was passing the random 3 Hour rider and got passed by a Pro and one Team rider, but the trail seemed oddly empty. I was starting to think about where I was in the standings. Best I could figure was that I was close to the front or off the back. Rather then let those thoughts linger I kept on the pedals. Lap 3 was also the lap where I realized that I forgot to put beer in my cooler. Back into the pits for a banana, another water bottle, and to text Jordan to bring post race beer. What would I do without her??? Lap 3 done…52:13
Lap 4
Lap 4 was where things started to fall apart a little. I started to feel some chafing, though strangely only on one side. My upper back was starting to make itself known and my sciatica was flaring up as well. Still hadn’t seen anyone from my category in a while…which was beginning to make me nervous. Into the pits where Craig let me know they were going to pack up and head out, so my pit crew was taking off. (Thanks for the assist Craig!!!) Water bottle and bacon and I was off again. Lap 4 done…56:46
Lap 5
Part way through Lap 5 and still having not seen anyone I decided to check the standings for the first time. I needed to know where I was so I could decide if I needed to hammer that last lap or just survive it. Crossing the finish line I went over to the results table and saw….nothing. I wasn’t on any of the results sheets, let alone my category. I grabbed the race director real quick to let him know and grabbed my last bottle. Lap 5 done…56:49
Lap 6
Not having fully committed to surviving or hammering and concerned that all my work was going to be for not, I kept pushing on. I was taking it somewhat easy thanks to chafing and back pain..then I finally saw someone from my class when they caught and passed me at the end of Peace Can. I realized who it was after he went by, so I gave chase. We started the climb up Fugget Lift and I was climbing faster than him, so I passed and gave the rest of the climb all I had. Once up to the top I glanced back to see I’d dropped him. Not wanting to take any chances I resolved to keep on the gas until I crossed the finish line. Which I somehow managed to do. My legs were telling me I was done, but I kept telling myself that I could hammer out the last few miles of the course. Lap 6 done…53:27.
Jordan and her son were waiting for me at the finish line with smiles abound. The race director came up to let me know that they had record of all my laps and just needed to plug me into my category. Jordan however had some bad news…the HVAC on the camper had died and she was unable to get to come back on. Not wanting to leave the dogs in the camper for too long, she went back to the campground and we texted back and forth trying to get the HVAC to come on while I waited for results. All our troubleshooting was for naught as she couldn’t get it to turn back on, which meant packing up the camper…after I’d just ridden over 50 miles.
My GPS had me at 6 laps in 5:23:20 and I rode 55.43 miles. The results ended up screwy because I was missing from them, then they had me in the Grand Masters 50-59 class, and some people in my class started later than others. Thankfully they got everything straight in the end. I finished in 2nd place out of 11 people for 6 Hour Solo Masters (40-49). I was about 10 minute behind 1st place and 15 minutes in front of 3rd place.
Getting on the podium was an unexpected result for my return to geared class racing. Masters was the largest category and I assumed I’d finish mid-pack at best. I was certainly helped by the course being on trails that I knew very well, but it’s also quote obvious that I’m much faster on gears. And that the Top Fuel is stupid fast!!!
The takeaway here is that I one needs to remain positive in the face of adversity. Given the last few weeks leading up to the race I had plenty of reasons I could’ve called it quits. Lots of excuses for me to throw in the towel, but I didn’t I and came out the other side better for it. Quitting or even slowing down mid-race would’ve cause regret and doubt. I have no regrets about this race; I gave it all I had and was rewarded for it. Reclaimed is in the books and my post race celebratory bourbon has been drank!!! Next up is Hardford 50 in two weeks.