Knots in my calves, IT band pain in my knee, sore shoulders and forearms, and two great bike rides out of the way. This is long winded account of RIM and UAR.
RIM 2009
First up, was the Rapture in Misery 6/12 hour mountain bike race. This was my first Rapture and second 6 hour solo race. The first race was Burning at the Bluffs last year and I learned a few things: taking a sitting break between laps wasn’t such a good idea and to stick away from solid food. I also knew I was going to suffer.
I woke up at first light out of my backpacking habits and pre-rode the course (and taking about 30 spider webs down in the process). It was still several hours before the race which was tough. I’m used to starting at 11 am, so waiting from about 8 until noon was trouble.
The course is amazing. Just technical enough, hilly enough, and fast enough. We started down a rocky hill on foot for the Le Mans start. So I trudged up the hill with the folks who were not going to be gunning it for the front. This was fine. I hit the first winding field at a comfortable pace. To animals in the area, a hundred bikers probably seemed like the end of a world. All I saw was a streak of animal leaving the tall grass on the right, try to make it between my wheels. The guy behind me said I hit a squirrel.
I passed a few folks going into the “boneyard”. While not the “scariest” rock garden I ever saw, this demanded serious respect and attention. The rocks were mostly flat, but some large rocks were loose. You would wind through a few small tight lines and suddenly drop off a few inches or more. If it wasn’t rocky, it was rooty. I swear I saw a rock under a root at one point. The boneyard is probably around the mile mark, but the rocks last at least half a mile. Doesn’t feel too bad on your first time through.
From there you cross the dam and hit the first big climb. Some smarter people went off their bikes here and hoofed it. I never really do well pushing my bike, I still had my legs, so I spun up the hill. Now for some descending. Crowder State Park still has some good old fashioned fall line trails, which means fast descending, and bad erosion. I was feeling good riding off the brakes when I could, dropping off the water bars and generally using the free speed. After the first big descent you hit the first of three log crossing (and the hardest).
Cross back over the dam and (for me) run up the six to eight inch drop (that we were to ride up). After a short while we got to what became my least favorite part of the course. It was a mostly flat section with some fun drops through rocky creek beds. The portion was fun for the first lap or so, but quickly the slight up gradient, slow traction was wearing. There were three more climbs on the day: one with tricky water bars, another slog up one of three lines, and the last a torturous fall line hill going up. I cleaned all of these on the first lap, but from there just start walking the up hills. Add some fresh cut singletrack (top notch singletrack!), some double track and field riding to finish up.
Repeat five times. Lap one I felt strong. Lap two I felt the familiar slow down as my legs started to feel the effort. This is when I started feeling my hydration/feeding issues which would affect me the entire race. Lap three was descending into hurt. There was one other rider that I was “racing” with and on my third lap caught me (after a mechanical), dropped me and took off. I was in survival mode. He caught up to me again on my fourth lap, but he had taken a break. Talking to him convinced me to try for 5. The fifth lap was just rough. I couldn’t stand to pedal at all, with pain in my right knee. The team riders were going orders of magnitude faster than me, forcing me to walk most of the boneyard. I wasn’t clearing tree crossings and some of my descending was getting sketchy (hitting new, worse lines, clipping trees or roots).
I was done. It’s been difficult to think about it as “good” and “fun”. But it was those and it was what I set out for: a test. A fun, mountain biking test. The trails at Crowder and the Heartland Race crew were awesome. While I wish I could have done better and pulled off a top 3, it wasn’t in the cards. Endurance mountain biking is like endurance running for me. It’s my personal test for now and that’s all I really need.
Urban Assault Ride 2009
When I left Crowder, it was just around sunset. Rain had started. I picked up some grub on my way out of Trenton, MO, and started down Highway 65. It started to pour down. I was driving a good 15 under the speed limit and couldn’t see as cars passed by. It sucked. A few hours later, I finally made it to I-70, but had to fight off sleep the entire way home. I’ve never sucked down caffeine and sugar that had no effect before.
I slept about 4 – 4.5 hours and woke up. Pulled out the road bike and headed out for a fun ride with the Team RSD boys, work crew and family. The Urban Assault Ride is an outstanding urban adventure race. Obstacles (that we made it to) included big wheel course, climbing 11 stories to the top of the City Museum to ride a slide on their amazing roof, a three legged race (with balancing involved), and throwing and catching wet sponges with a laundry basket (while it’s on your head).
Another team, we wouldn’t mention any names, had us hunting for the mystery point in the wrong place (even though I was right initially) and that sapped my energy. My knee was still shot, our team name was appropriate for some of my pain, and my body still reeling from heat and exhaustion. We skipped the final stop and booked it for the end. It was great to have a meal and beer and watch an awesome bike limbo. Some Team Rev ladies destroyed the field here.
Luckily, I got a ride home, a shower, and slept for a few hours. I love bikes, but I won’t be on one for much of the week!
Photo credit: Miss Beer