My weekend started on Thursday with the long drive from Decorah to the halfway point of Columbia,MO to visit and stay with my Aunt Colleen. Choose to cut down the driving in hopes that I would be a little more rested going into the race and not sleeping in a tent two nights in a row. After a nice evening of catching up with Colleen and getting some awesome pizza at G & D Pizzeria. It was back in the car for the remaining 5 hours to Mountain View. As the actual mountains began to appear I started,as I always do when going to the mountains, questioning my gearing choice coming in to the race on a 36x20. Little did I know I would running the hardest gear on course for the Singlespeed 125k.
I arrived at the camp at the race start to the welcoming of Dwayne and Peat who had gotten there no more than 15 minutes before me. Pretty good timing huh!! Promptly I got the camp set up as my trusty side kick, Bailey, needed a place to hang out while we did a little pre-ride to check out the opening 5 or so miles of the course. Only thing I knew when I got out of the car was it was hotter than I had been all year and the humidity was super HIGH! Got kitted up and we were off after about an hour of last minutes and onto the course. First impression was the opening climb which went straight UP the side of a mountain, fire road style. Again questioning the gearing!! Opening singletrack was pretty easy, and then the rocks! I HATE ROCKS!! The rocks were slippery with humidity and the rock gardens were going to be the bain of my existence for the next day. Dwayne walked me through what the course would consist of and I felt more than warmed up after about a hour of riding in the heat and humidity. Back to the camp we went and off to Mountain View for some Pizza Hut and lots of water the rest of the evening. Sleeping was definitely tough as it finally cooled enough for me to get to sleep about 11:30. Early morning to come.
Woke at 5 a.m. race morning and began to get ready for the day with my morning breakfast. Got everything set out the night before so I was definitely relaxed as I just went through the routine to get ready. Pre-Race meeting and to the line we went!! All the big guns were up front so I lined up second row after getting squeezed back by someone but knew I would get up there in the roll out. And we are off.
Opening climb went fairly well as my legs were immediately with me for the climb and I was feeling really well compared to the previous day where my heart rate was out of control up the climb. I marked Gerry as I knew and chance of winning relied on holding his wheel. We worked our way up the climb, leading for a while and getting brought back by the gear train of leaders. Peat came out and bridged the gap before we entered the singletrack and made a surge to go in first, Gerry second, and me on his wheel. More than content to follow Gerry and let Peat go rabbit. Sure is nice having a Team to work with this year!!
Flowing the singletrack, I gave Pflug about a 20-30 yard gap to try and keep him in eye sight and not get to close to loose vision of the trail as the opening 10 miles are known for their flats!! Dwayne joined me about 1 mile into the singletrack and we thought it was great to have three teammates in the top 4 singles and top 10 overall. We worked along talking as Dwayne and I have become known for doing at these races. After about 4 miles the flats started to show and to our sadness, Peat was on the side of the trail sealing one up. No more rabbit to cause Gerry and frustration, it was up to Dwayne and I to stay the course. As we entered the first rock garden, it is hard to admit that the race seemed to be pretty much over. I watched as Gerry worked his way very flowingly through the rocks and I dismounted as would become the norm with my gearing choice and lack of rocky skills. Quicker for me to run anyway as I usually closed on Gerry going to the rocks running. Little did I know that Dwayne flatted in this rock garden and I was on my own to try and keep with the Pfluganator! That didn’t last as he was to comfortable with his east coast rock skills and I was just not a match for that.
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| Rolling in the rocks of the blue loop! |
Pretty much rode the next 20 miles or so on my own, working my way through the rocks, rivers (which I intimately got acquainted with by taking a swim headfirst in one), and more rocks! I also managed in this section of the blue trail to take a wrong turn due to missing flagging and went for a ten minute detour. Back tracked to point of departure and it was back to work. No position lost, just time and effort! After getting to Aid 3 about 35 in I was feeling pretty pleased with where I stood as I came into that Aid in 6th overall and 2nd Single.
Red loop was awesome!!! This loop was by far my favorite as I felt very at home on this gravely trail that had some good pitched climbs for my gearing. Worked my way through this section pretty much uneventfully and got back to the start of the second loop which would take up back through the opening 9 miles of singletrack and cheat our way over to the red loop again.
Struggling again. Not only was I having a tough time on the rocks once again on the second loop but now I was quite fatigued with the hard gear riding and also missing a nutrition intake along the way on the red loop (MENTAL NOTE!!). Got through as quick as I could and back to Aid 3 where I was revived by two new bottles and and new spirit as I took off on the final red loop with a new sense of speed. I know that I went faster the second time through the Red loop. Got to the top of the fire road after picking my way through 50 miler after 50 miler, which were great for keeping me motivated, and I bombed to the finish at 40 mph. plus almost forgetting about the washed out section of road that could have sent me not only over the bars, but also more than likely to the hospital.
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| Singlespeed Podium ( Team Noah Foundation 2,3!!) |
After getting cleaned up, finding only 1 tick on my leg, it was back for the podium and rock hoist. Packed the truck up and back to Columbia and up to Iowa the next day.
Overall great weekend, look forward to the upcoming races with my Team Noah Foundation teammates and hopefully taking more steps on the NUE Podium. That is about it. OUT!
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| Peat is always happy and should be for a awesome ride of 3rd Single, and 8th Overall!! |
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| Dwayne rocked a leaky rear tire to 4th Single, 11th Overall!! (Still smiling at the end, we were worried in the middle of the race) |
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