After the entrance to Rosie's Field things open up a bit as we got onto the Birkie cross-country ski trail. This portion was wide open with a gradual climb. It was a nice section to settle in and find a good pedaling cadence. There was an impressive group of spectators out on this section including a ladder truck from the Hayward Fire Department. There was also a group of kids running along side the riders shouting out encouragement, especially to those riders that happened to be on a "Lefty."
Wondering what a "Lefty" is? It is a one-legged fork,with the sole leg being on the left side of the frame. It is designed by Cannondale and seems to have a love it or hate it following. These kids were definitely in the love camp. I don't necessarily hate it, but I will stick to a traditional suspension fork.
There are several points along the course to focus on which helps break the race into manageable chunks. The first is Rosie's field which signifies that you survived the mass start and it is time to move onto some off road fun. The 2nd is the water/food stop at Hwy OO. It is more or less considered the half way point, even though it is only at 16 miles. This is also the only place on course with timing updates. The 3rd major point of interest is the Firetower climb, which is the penultimate climb of the race coming at mile 30. I thought if I made it through Firetower in reasonably good shape it would be significantly easier for the remaining 10 miles. I was in for a huge eye opening! The 4th and final point of interest is the final "up/downs" after Firetower. More detail on that to come.
The section from Rosie's to OO was fairly uneventful. I was happy that I hadn't gotten too caught up in the early jitters of the race. I had settled into what I thought was a good rhythm and one that I could maintain for the day. I was climbing pretty well and my bike was working incredibly. Looking back there are very few things I would have changed about my bike setup. About the only thing that comes to mind is I probably could have put some more air pressure in both the fork and shock to prevent a little bit of pedal bob when pedaling hard on fire roads. I was extremely happy with my tires. A standard tire width on most mtn bikes is 2.2" wide. I had 2.4" tires on my Big Mama and they proved to be awesome when we got to several really, really sandy portions of trail. While other riders were having to get off their bikes and push up sandy climbs, my 2.4" tires helped me to "float" a little more on the sand and gave me the traction to keep going. Climbing up those sandy pitches was actually one of the highlights of my day. It isn't often that I am climbing while others are pushing!
The initial 16 miles have a recurring theme. Moderately steep climbs followed by some screaming fast downhills on wide cross country ski trail. There were a couple steep climbs and the aforementioned sandy sections, but for the most part it was a rollercoaster ride that was a ton of fun. There were two steep pitches that I did have to hike-a-bike up, including one at mile 15. After pushing my bike to the top I felt my calves start to tense up a bit. This wasn't too worrisome since I knew that was caused by pushing and not by riding. I was hoping my next significant push would not come until Firetower and therefore if I stayed on the bike I wouldn't have to worry about cramps until then. Following that climb was one of the faster downhills of the day. I rounded a corner and there was the timing clock and entrance to the OO water stop. I was excited for three reasons 1) pretty happy with my time to OO 1 hour 32 minutes 2) a quick break off the bike to stretch and refuel and 3) to see Kati and Isabel. Lately when I start to hit the pain cave on my bike I picture Isabel clapping in my head. I was excited that this time I would get to see it in person. There was one problem, Kati and Isabel were not in the group of 30 or so people gathered at OO.
I hopped off my bike refilled my Camelbak and ate a couple packs of Clif Shot, figuring that they had to be here and I just hadn't seen them yet. I scanned the crowd a couple more times and still nothing. It was time to move on. It was a little bit of a hit to my morale. I had been looking forward to seeing Isabel cheering on all the riders and now that was put on hold for another 24 miles, or so I thought. A mile and a half down the course I could here a group of people chearing. The trail goes from double track to a fire road and riders are moving at a pretty good pace through this section. As I was coming up on the transition from double track to fire road I caught a glimpse of a little girl with a ponytail sticking off the top of her head. There was my Isabel! And she was doing just what I pictured her doing, clapping and cheering for all the riders.
I recapped the race so far with Kati, Andy's mom Nancy, his brother Dave, and wife Georgia. At that point I was feeling really good and now I was re-charged. The heck with energy drinks and gels, strategically placed family throughout an endurance event gives me a much bigger boost!
The race course changed to fire roads for the next couple miles. It was a chance to bring up the speed a little bit, relax and take in plenty of food and water. At mile 21 the course goes back to double track and riders are immediately greeted by a nice climb and an interesting group of spectators. Apparently, when Captain Jack Sparrow is not captaining the Black Pearl he and his mates are holed up in the Chequamegon National Forest offering "encouragement" and special energy, i.e. rum, to mountain bike racers. They were a nice distraction from the climb, but I graciously declined the rum. I don't like rum much when I am sitting on a beach, much less when I am trying to hammer up a steep climb.
Shortly after Pirate Hill is when my day started to unravel. I went from feeling really good to cramps starting to set in a mile 26. With each mile and hill that passed the cramps kept getting worse and worse. I struggle with cramps in just about every ride that requires significant effort. However, I had taken extra precaution in the week leading up to Chequamegon to really hydrate myself. I was eating and drinking a lot on course, but yet my achilles heel was back and it was attacking. For just about every climb, I had to drop down to the "granny gear" and concentrate on spinning perfect circles in order to get up the climb without my legs seizing up. As I result I was climbing really slow since I couldn't power up anything. My average speed was plummeting and my goal time of under 3 hours and 30 minutes was out the window. There was a reststop 3 miles before Firetower where I resorted to eating bananas to try and get some relief. I hate banana's and I probably have not eaten one in 20 years. I desperately chocked down 3 of them. I had it in my mind to just get past Firetower and all would be good.
I rolled up to the base of Firetower. Riders take a hard right off a fire road and onto a steep section of double track with the left side being reasonably ride-able on fresh legs and the right side chalk full of large loose rocks. I probably could have attempted to ride up a section of Firetower, but with the condition my legs were in I knew that I was a losing battle. I dismounted and began the hike-a-bike. About 3/4s of the way up my legs completely seized up. I couldn't stand up straight, couldn't keep my legs bent, couldn't do anything to get my legs to relax. I looked down at my quads and it looked like animals were running around under my skin, knots relentlessly seizing up, relaxing, and seizing again. I laid across the top tube of my bike, pleaded with my legs and tried to rub the knots out.
In a couple minutes I was able to start pushing again, but I was unable to take a normal stride. I can't really describe the walking motion I had to go through in order to shuffle up the remainder of Firetower, but eventually I got there. I was cooked, but Firetower was behind me and there were only 10 miles left. I started down the fast lose downhill on the other side of Firetower, but even the downhill hurt. The Big Mama has great suspension, but you still need your legs to work the bike under you and to absorb the bumps that the suspension doesn't completely eat up. The legs continued to conspire against me.
The final blow to my morale came with the "Up/Downs" on the Birkie trail after Firetower. It is a relentless section of trail with many, many more ups than downs. And the ups aren't moderate gradual climbs. They are full up in your face steep, short power climbs that keep coming one after another after another. I have never been more demoralized on my bike in my life. I never thought they were going to end and my legs were screaming for relief. The faces of the riders around me told the same desperate story. We were all struggling together, no words were needed.
There was a final water stop at mile 33. This also marked the end of the "insert choice word" Up/Downs. The final 7 miles consisted of some much needed fire road with a few climbs thrown in just to punish the riders a little more. There is one final steep climb at mile 39. At this point I didn't know I was at mile 39 because my computer had gone out. However there were volunteers along the side of the trail screaming encouragement. They were yelling that this was the final climb and it was all downhill from there. That was it one final effort and it would be over. Half way up both legs seized and I thought I was going to fall over on my bike. With a volunteer running beside me up the hill I manage to keep turning the cranks over. I crested the hill took a right and then left and there was the Big Top Tent at the base of Telemark Ski Resort. And I lost it. As I took the left onto steep, very fast downhill I was overwhelmed by emotion. It was a good thing I had sunglasses on to obscure the fact that tears were falling down my face as I was bombing the final descent at 30+ mph. That would not have been a good place to crash!
Finally, 4 hours and 26 minutes after the race began I crossed the line, thoroughly cooked. I didn't finish anywhere close to my goal time, but I am pretty happy with how it went. I pushed through a lot of pain, rode some fantastic trail, climbed some tough stuff and reinforced I still have a lot to learn about riding a bike. Someday I will get my hydration figured out, I hope. Otherwise Kati is going to make me find a different hobby because I am sure she is sick of hearing me talk about cramping. Someday I will also break that 3:30 and this first attempt will be the stepping stone that got me there.
awesome piece of writing, Bud. My calves weren't cramping but i could feel my gut clenching as i read of your struggle. if you ever decide to quit your day job, take up writing. congrats on the accomplishment. love mom.
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