The (Re)Start of a Journey Pt. 3

Hardford 50 managed to accomplish several things for me. First, it helped me to regain the confidence that I could push my body farther then I was currently comfortable with. Second, it made me realize that I wasn’t quite as slow as I thought I was. Last, it reinvigorated my desire to compete in long distance racing events.

Going in I was hoping to take my out of shape, and injured, body to the finish in under 5 hours. Less then a month previous to Hardford 50 I’d injured my hamstring and it still wasn’t healed yet. If that wasn’t enough a dog had bitten my hand the Tuesday before the race, so I was worried about holding onto drop bars for 5 hours or more on gravel roads. I started out slow and tried to keep things slow and steady throughout the race, not wanting to burn matches too soon. I passed Thom Lerch and Ali Whittier on the first climb, but didn’t see anyone else I knew until I passed Amy Phillips on the final climb. At that point I was toast, so when Ali and Amy passed me on the final descent I didn’t bother giving chase. Thankfully the final 10 miles were road, so I used what little I had left cross the finish line in 4:51 and middle of the pack. The final results weren’t important. What was important is that I’d just completed something I wasn’t quite prepared for and had a blast while doing it. Post race I was beaten and broken, but happy. Everything about the day had recharged me; from the start, to the brutal final climb, jumping in the creek, to the post race beer and meal with friends. But what was next? Sure gravel racing was fun, but would I enjoy a return to mountain bike racing? A month later I was about to find out.

Heading into Black Bear Rampage was disconcerting. My “new” race bike was still waiting on parts to arrive, so I was riding my Santa Cruz Chameleon, a race bike it is not. 27.5 Plus tires, 130mm of travel, and 32 pounds of fun doesn’t make for a svelte race machine. Also concerning was I had no idea how long the race was going to take. Fast for Black Bear Rampage is under 4 hours; a pipe dream as far as I was concerned. But I felt like sub-4:30 was an attainable goal. I felt really good at the start of the race. I sailed through Brush Creek in no time and flew up Bear Paw like it was a bump in the road. Even up the 221 gravel climb I was feeling pretty strong; passing people bike much more appropriate for mountain bike racing then mine. Then tragedy struck part way through Quartz Look; my middle back decided it didn’t want to play anymore. I managed to gut it out through Riverview and at the climb out I was surprisingly within striking distance of sub-4 hours. However it all fell apart on Old Copper Rd. Brad DeVaney passed me on his full-suspension Cadillac and all I wanted to do was throw a stick in his front wheel, but I couldn’t catch up to do it. The second time through Brush Creek was like a death march. I crossed the finish line in 4:14.

In hindsight I probably wasn’t quite ready for Black Bear Rampage. Much of my riding time leading up to this race was spent on the road or on gravel. Long distance mountain events are different then road riding. Not more difficult, just a different kind of difficult that I hadn’t been training for. I wasn’t mad or even frustrated though. Up until this point my return to cycling had gone fairly smoothly. If I was going to crumble at the first hint of adversity, there was no need for me to return to racing. So I licked my wounds and decided to commit to more time on the mountain, which I enjoyed more anyway. I had a few more races planned for the “season”, but my expectations were tempered. The Big Ring Challenge was my first race back on a singlespeed and ended as expected. Lower back pain and miss timed nutrition derailed my race sooner then I wanted, but the good news was my legs felt great when I quit 3 hours in. Barnburner at Fonta Flora went better, but I handicapped myself by not starting up front. I’d forgotten that spending the day fighting through people on a singlespeed made for slow times and a frustrating day. Lesson relearned. This brings us to up to speed, but what about the blog? What’s the purpose of starting a blog now that the season is over?