2015 6 Hours of Warrior Creek Recap

Six hours of Warrior Creek.  This was the six hours of riding that I was waiting for until the last 6 hours of Warrior Creek.  Last year’s race was just a tune up for this years for me.  Goal this year.  4 Laps,  60+ miles and a lot of berms.

Last year’s race my kids were only 6 months old at this time.  That meant for the past 6 months prior to the race, my time was spent warming bottles, changing diapers, and planning how to feed the little hyenas for the next 3 hours.  Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of free time to ride a bike. 

2014 version of the race featured me suffering needlessly very early on.  In fact, I don’t remember a whole lot about it, except that I only completed 3 laps.  In retrospect 3 laps isn’t horrible considering the circumstances of limited ride time.  I do remember suffering for all 3 of them, and then coming into the finish line, just a few minutes past the last cut off time.  That was ok with me.  I was done after 3 and my butt hurt from riding.

Thank you Little Miss Sunshine for the action shots

With the kids being a little bit older and a little more self-sufficient I didn’t feel guilty leaving occasionally to go for a ride while the Burrower watched them on the weekend.  I even woke up early in January and February to go for a road ride when it was 25 degrees out.  I only did that twice.  That was enough for me.  Factor in a hour ride on the road bike on Saturday, 2 hours on Sunday on the mountain bike when I could fit it in, a half day off work, and too much time on the trainer and I was as ready as I could have been.

I got to the course right at 9 am.  Time enough to drop off my gear, park the car, get changed and make it to the racers meeting at 9:30.  The race started on time and I rolled through the start line at 10 a.m.  With 300 racers, I took my spot near the back of the pack to let the other people get a shot at getting into the woods first.  I know where I fall when it comes to speed.  After about 2 miles of pavement to thin out the group and a little bunch up right where everyone entered the woods, it was time to hit the trail. 

Usually in these types of races there are a lot of people who try to get up too far up front, and then forget that they are going to be racing for 6 hours and end up slowing everyone down when they finally realize that all important piece of information.  Surprisingly, not this year. After about 4 miles of riding in a train and a few passes later, the trails were wide open.  Legs and lungs felt good and I found my rhythm for what I thought would be a pace in which I could keep for a while.

About 10 miles into the first lap I tried to make a turn and noticed something.  Or better yet, the lack of something.  My front tire ended up popping so I had to pull off to the side of the trail to fix it.  I haven’t had a flat tire in a few years while on the trail so I was hoping that my spare tube and CO2 cartridge were still in working order considering they haven’t been removed in that time frame.  Somehow, I managed to switch out the tube relatively quickly and put air in it and get rolling.  I was proud of myself considering that I haven’t done a trail side repair in a long time and didn’t fail.  The rest of the first lap I spent trying to make up time and picking people that caught up to me when I was on the side of the trail.

It was a unique experience actually passing people.  Usually I am on the other end of that equation.  With 4 laps on my mind and the fact that I missed the cut off by minutes last year, I had to make up time, at least in my head.

As I pulled into the pits after the first lap, I grabbed food, and two new bottles and went out quickly.  I don’t remember a whole lot of details about the 2^nd lap, except that it was my fastest and probably most fun because I kept on passing people on the trail.  I worked hard to catch the person in front of me, I would then rest for a bit behind them, and when the trail opened up, passed them to repeat the cycle all over again.  I pulled into the pits after the 2^nd lap, a little more tired but still in good spirits.   I ate a little bit of food and new bottled and headed out.

The tough part about endurance races is figuring out how much to eat and when.  Around mile marker 9 on the third lap, I ended up being about 4 hours in of constant riding.  That is also when I realized that I was hungry and didn’t want to eat.  I rolled into the pits after my 3^rd lap, feeling exhausted, hungry, and tired.  Good news is that I hadn’t cramped yet, bad news is that nothing I had to eat looked good.  Against my better judgment I only grabbed one thing to eat and headed out for my 4^th lap.  I had plenty of time coming in 40 minutes before the cut off.  My goal was almost complete, barring any other unfortunate circumstances. 

By the time I hit the 5 hour mark on the bike, I was drained physically, and it almost wasn’t fun anymore.  I was zoning out, and coming so close to my legs cramping.  As a precaution I did end up walking through one of the rock gardens, and one of the uphill switchbacks.  Those are usually the worst times that you fall over and can’t move your legs, because the leaders usually want by you when you’re sprawled out in pain on the trail.  It is just Murphy’s law. 

Hour 6 came around and I still wasn’t done. With the toughest section of trail behind me I looked forward to the finish.  One mile left to go and I recognized the last few switchback climbs towards the finish.  Looking down at my Garmin, I was over 6 hours and 30 minutes when I finally crossed the finish line.  I went back to my pit and found my chair and just sat down, trying to drink a coke between coughing fits.  The fits lasted about 10 minutes while my body adjusted to having a soft chair to sit on instead of a hard bike seat.

I listened to a webcast one time of an endurance athlete and he said, “at a certain point everyone’s body breaks down, it’s the mental that gets you through it.”  I have to agree.  My breaking point was a little before 5 hours.  After that it was just me struggling through it physically, telling myself that it was almost over.   I made it though.  I got through my goal of 4 laps.  60+ miles singletrack, and 6 hours and 30 minutes of being on the bike.

I think I am just going to take a break for a week while my tailbone heals.

Final Race(s) of the season

I wish I had some witty or funny remarks to make fun of some people on the whole interweb thingy, but not this time.  This time its a wrap up from my last race and a half of the season.  Not that coming in an hour after the leaders is much of a race report, but a finish is a finish.

The last race was the point to point race in Wilkesboro, Shriners Run. 

38 miles of fun.  I wont bore you with all the details, but I put forth a personal effort this time not to just be content to finish.  I actually had bouts of "racing" and not just cruising along. Could have I gone faster? Probably, I made the mistake of not checking my bike the night before as I did emergency repairs to tighten lose spokes last minute.  Also, a fast slow leak (yeah, you read that right) required the stopping every 45 minutes to put air in the tire that wouldn't hold air.  And I was to lazy to put the intertube in.  If you need to know one thing about Wilkesboro trails, its your tires need air because the berms require it, otherwise your wheels sounds like a dying beaver when you try to corner.

Like I said, not trying to bore you with details, but I put forth effort, happy with the time considering the circumstances, and learned a few more things. Enough said

And finally, my last half race (I did say race and a half at the beginning in case you werent paying attention) was the annual tricycle race at work.  This is a charity event in which my company over the course of a month raised about 1.2 million dollars between employees and company match.  Whats funnier than one adult size person riding a tricycles.  37 teams of 4.

I'm still working on the video, but we were the "Avengers".  If your going to ride a trike, might as well give the half assed effort for dressing up in a costume.

Photo cred: Sarah

I had to work it up for the crowd.  Thats Captain America behind me (originally from Ghana), but thats part of the fun.

Working on editing the video of the GoPro while on the trike, I can give you a hint of things to come, lot of crotch shots.

Maybe I should keep the wings on the helmet too...might make me faster, just a thought.

Revenge...well sort of, its on the internet so it doesn't really count

It seems to think that some people are ok to make fun of in blog form. (Read this to get the full, poorly written story)  Well, that said person, not going to name names, (Big Dave) wanted to take the teenage girl route and make fun of me on the internet for not being able to go on a camping/biking trip.  Little does he know that I am a dangerous foe as I have a lot of free time to sit around and think of ways to get back at him.

First off, Big Dave…..isn’t big.  There.  I said it, everyone was thinking it, and I had to get it out in the open.   In fact, he is actually hiding behind this guy right here.

2^nd.  He isn’t that bright.  With all the technology out there, he can’t figure out how to change gears on a bicycle and insist on that it’s the new “bees knees”.  Sorry Dave, that phrase hasn’t been used in about 3 years, so your late to that party as well. 

3^rd.  I asked him if he wanted to race this weekend at the Shriners Run in Wilksboro.  This race occurs on the Epic Trails list and encompasses 37 miles of the singletrack goodness tackling Dark Mountain, OVT, and Warrior Creek.  Each of them worthy of a race by themselves, but put together, an unstoppable force of fun and smiles and giggling like a hyena at a comedy club.   

Unfortunately, he has “plans” this weekend and can’t make it.  But all I heard was “I’m too scared of fun”

 

4^th and finally, he used “the Hoff”.  This is an illegal move in all accounts. Now granted it was Knight Rider Hoff and not Baywatch Hoff, so he does get partial credit, but it still is a shot below the belt. 

In other news, I just had my final 30^th birthday.  Angry mom and dad showed up on Friday.  On Saturday I took them to the White Water Center to show them some of the fun in which me and the burrower have had there.  I think they really enjoyed watching people fall off the rafts and get close to drowning.  I mean who wouldn’t?

That night all my friends came over and we shared in a nice keg, watching football,  bullshiting, and playing some washers in the  garage. 

And finally my demise, the burrower got me a Garmen GPS for my birthday.  This thing is going to be the death of me as I keep trying to ride faster and beat my previous times.  I know, heartbreaking right? Hopefully some good will come out of this new-fangled technology.  So almost done with the year and it looks just like one final race report is coming, you have been warned.

Warrior Creek Recap

37 degrees.  That is what I awoke to at 430 in the morning because I couldn't sleep anymore.  I was afraid to trust my alarm as the Burrower (check our her blog here) was out of the time zone in Illinois (don't pronounce the "s") visiting family and welcoming my new newphew Peyton James to the world.  I stayed back to make sure the dogs got fed and because I signed up for this race in October.

Anyway, back to the story, me and Steve met up at the Trek Store in Charlotte to carpool up to the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek in Wilkesboro NC.  I did manage to see the Mutt coming out of his place where I assumed he stayed all night.

These are some of the best trails you will find anywhere in the country and they are basically in my backyard.

39 degrees, that was the temperature right after the pre-race announcements.  Me being the smart one I am looked at the weather forecast and didn't do a darn thing about it.  I just brought my jersey and shorts for the ride.  I saw everyone dressed up in arm warmers, leg warmers, wind breakers.  Me, I just found a sunny spot and waited for the start.  I am glad I did though. As soon as the race started, it was on like Donkey Kong.

I started off in the back, letting most everyone go ahead of me.  This being my 3rd year signing up for a 6 hour race I knew what to expect and decided not to rush myself.  I was happily moving along in the first lap after dealing with crashes, people dabbing their foot, falling off their bikes into ravines, the usual for a mass 300 person start.

Finally around mile 8 of 12.5 I was "lucky" enough to have the person in front of me fall and hit a tree.  After the obligatory "are you ok" I lost the group of 10 I was traveling with.  Seeing how I was only riding for 45 minutes at that point I made the decision not to waste energy by trying to chase them down.  It was a smart move at that point.  I had an open trail in front of me and I could see the group about 4 or 5 turns ahead.  I didn't waste any extra energy using my brakes needlessly and stopping and starting and I caught up to them right at the start/finish line.

This is where I made a mistake.  I swapped out my water bottle, took some electrolyte tablets (for my leg cramps which I knew would be coming soon) and headed out.  I didn't eat any food which was a mistake to haunt me later.

Lap 2 was pretty uneventful. I just enjoyed the trail, talked a bit with a few people before I passed them or they past me and kept going.  But towards the end I started to feel hungry.  I grossly underestimated  my calorie usage and the stomach felt weary (but the legs and lungs were strong).  It is hard to figure out what to eat for a 6 hour race when the longest in which I have rode is about 2 hours.  But I finished the 2nd lap and ate some clifBars, grabbed more electrolytes and more water bottles and headed out for lap 3.

I was feeling real good but just weak.  My leg cramps were keeping under control, I was keeping my fluids down.  I enjoyed the rest of the 3rd lap and decided to take a seat.  I had more than enough time to go out for another lap (over an hour and a half before the cutoff time), and very possibly could have gotten 2 more in (if I was in shape).  But I decided to sit down, enjoy the sun and have myself a beer (err, not allowed on federal grounds, it was a coke with a lot of foamy head)

The final results weren't bad for my time, I was the 3 or 4th person to "finish" with 3 laps, so I must have been doing ok.  It was fun time to just hang out in the pits as always and watch everyone else suffer while you have a cold refreshing "coke" and cheering them on.  I met a lot of great and fun people on the trails and in the pits and it was a great event put on again, and learned more lessons about endurance mountain biking for next time.

My race calender is free for the next week or so, and then the Southern Classic Series starts up again.  This will definatly make me faster, maybe even a top 10 finish?  Nah, lets not get ahead of ourselves.