12 Hrs of Temecula

Tom and I headed out to do the first race in the 2009 So Cal Endurance Series. I had some definite entertainment on this trip watching Tom trying to figure out how to use his new IPhone.

We got to Temecula mid afternoon on Friday and headed straight to our motel. That's right, no camping this trip! We spared no expense on this trip and booked one of Motel 6's finest suites.

After unloading a bit at the hotel, we headed out to an early pasta dinner and out to pick up our race packets. We hung out at the venue chatting for a while and then headed back to town for some supplies. We got our normal stuff at the grocery store and I copied Tom with the giant deli sandwich for race food this time. Before hitting the hay for the night, we did check out the local bike shop, had a second dinner, and some desert. I think we actually had desert before our second dinner.

The morning came soon enough. We ate breakfast at Dennys accross the street and headed out to the race. Once at the race, we got our pit set up, hung our Vassago banner, and suited up.

During the first lap, my legs felt like lead weights. I didn't try to pursue Tom like normal. Based on my initial assessment of the way I felt, I decided to take it pretty easy the first lap. I was pleased to find that by middle of my second lap I started feeling pretty good. I settled in and tried to focus on the day ahead.

As the race went on, I knew I was doing pretty good based on how many people in my class I was lapping. The race was pretty uneventful until the end of my 11th lap (about 100 miles into the race)when my chain slipped and I almost went over the handlebars when I stood up to push a little on a fairly flat section. My chain started doing some funny stuff as I started to think about how little attention I gave to my drivetrain throughout the day (no cleaning and very little lube). At the end of the lap I found a couple of really sticky links in my chain. The combination of a dusty course and the exploded bottle filled with a mix of Heed and Gatorade that covered my bike probably were no help. I did a quick lube and wipe down and headed out on my 12th lap. My chain was OK for most of the lap but got horrible towards the end of the lap again. It got so bad that I had to stop and spray off my chain with my watterbottle and work on the sticky spots. As I pulled in after my 12th lap I was ready to call it quits and let the cards fall where they may until I saw another solo rider coming through. I then threw on some lube and headed out onto my 13th lap with just over an hour to go in the race. I caught up to the guy at the base of the first climb. I verifed that he was a expert solo racer and asked what lap he was on. He replied, "13th" He then asked, "How about you?" I said, "Yep". We then took off up the climb. This guy and I had no idea what place we were battling for but it got my adrenaline pumping.

I was able to lose him on the long climb that was about a quarter of the way through the lap and put a total of 7 minutes on this guy who turned out to be the 2nd place finisher.

I was happy to find out that I took 1st in the Solo Expert category and was really happy that I didn't throw in the towel after my 12th lap.














So the finals for me were approximately 120 miles and somewhere around 16,000 feet of climbing. Tom the freak squeezed out 14 laps taking 2nd in a super tough single speed class. Congrats Tom!!!

Next weekend off and McDowell in 2 weeks...