Once I got there Tom guided me on his bike back to our area which would become Vassago corner. The drive back to our spot was a little crazy. I really needed about a 6inch lift on the Element. After some big rocks and running over about a hundered cactus, I got parked. Tom got us a great spot. We were 2 feet off the course.
Once the camp was set up we did our preride followed by a lot of relaxing, eating, and socializing around the venue expo area.
We went to bed pretty early Chad in his tent and Tom and I in our matching Elements. The night's sleep wasn't to bad despite the low temps.
After some breakfast and some of Tom's chunky coffee it was time to start getting ready. I love these races cause I don't get the nerves before the starts like I do in a xc race. In endurance races some of the starts may be bigger but they are usually not as intense and crazed at the start. So a little after 11:00 am Tom, Chad, and I were suited up and ready to roll.
The start was awesome!!! There were so many people lined up ready to run and so many spectators lining the road. The start went off with out a hitch and the course was so much fun. At the start of the race I did my best to slow myself down and not to pace too fast with people doing relays. It is really hard to let people ride away from you sometimes even when you you know they are on a 4 man team.
The first 9 laps went pretty well. It was somewhere around the 170 mile mark where I started experiencing some problems. We were doing this race solo unsupported so eating between laps was sometimes a pain when you were trying minimize minutes off the bike. There were some stops between laps where the bike maintenance took priority over eating or riding across the venue to charge batteries took priority. The unsupported thing was a challenge but actually added a different element of fun to the race. So anyway my issues stemmed from me trying to rely to much on Hammer Gel and Heed for my calorie intake. I basically wasn't eating enough real food and my body let me know that. These stomach issues stopped me for a while during lap 10 out on the course and for a while after lap 10. Once all of the fake food had violently exited my body and I got back to my burgers everything was good and it was back out on to the course.
My last three laps went pretty good. I love it when the sun comes up. My 13th and last lap actually went really good. I started out with Sean of Moutain Hardwear and finding out that him and I were on the same lap helped me start pushing on that last lap. Sean and I have met before at one of the Temecula races. Anyway, I went as fast on that last lap as I did on my 4th or 5th lap. I kept seeing solo racers on my last so I kept pushing. I didn't even know if they on the same lap as me but sometimes not knowing makes you go even harder. Trying to push hard when your entire body is fatigued especially your arms does have some consequences. I got a little sloppy towards the end and crashed into some cactus. Luckily no flats.
I ended the race with 13 laps and somewhere between 215 and 224 miles. I am not sure what the exact milage of a lap was. People out on the course with Garmins and other GPSs were saying different things. I heard that a lap was anywhere from 16.3 to 17.2 miles per lap. This got me a 9th place finish. I was pretty happy with 9th based on the fact that the top 5 five finishers are some of the top endurance racers in the world.
Tom had an awesome race finishing 3rd in the SS category! He had some super tough competition also.
Congrats Tom!!!
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