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FOX CUP #5 |
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TWW FOX CUP SERIES #5 |
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Billy Cross 8 Hours at Bogg's Mountain! |
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May 15, 2005 |
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Team Wrong Way showed up and took over at the Bogg's 8 Hour race!Skip to Results | Skip to Race Reports
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Results |
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Race Reports |
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 This
was one fantastic weekend! Too bad it rained a little bit on Sunday,
otherwise it would have been perfect. Team Wrong Way did well again
at a Billy Cross Racing event.The course was a bit deceptive - and longer and had more climbing than initially expected. Approximately 8.5 miles with 1,150' climbing per lap. No extended climbs but lots of power climbs. Great singletrack - a mixture of buff, covered with pine needle roller bearings, and rocky sections. Good fun. The players: Team HamThorn Brenton "Sideburns" Hamilton Rich "Benchmark" Henthorn Team Had Balls Scott "I'm Leaving at 10 - AM or PM?" Schlachter Keith "Dry Heave" White Rich "I Do Have a Rocking Chair" Davis J.R. "I Don't Want to do a 3rd Lap" Perez Wrong Way Singlespeeders Mark "I Felt Faster But My 2nd Lap Time Was Slower - How Can That Be?" Davidson Mike "Beer Man" Gin Nick "Cooked Better Than He Rode" Relampagos The Honeymooners Jenny "He Needs an Excuse to Tinker" Oellerich Paul "Jenny's Mom Will Be Proud" Oellerich Team Fast MoFos Loren "Can't Just Show Up No Mo Fo Sure" Thomas Frank "Watch Out For That Tree" Walden Lloyd "Careful Handling Those Arm Warmers" Ranola Hardtail Hotties Eryn "Thanks For The Cytomax Offer" Hughes Piper "Thanks For Tolerating The TWW Pig Dogs" Ehren Jaimi "I've Never Tipped Over Until Now In Front Of Everyone" Ellison Meredith "Note to Self - Bring Flat Repair Stuff Next Time" Obendorfer Team Leftovers Matt "You Commute How Far And Still Get to Ride" Leonard Chris "Beginners Aren't Supposed to Spin Sub-50 Times" Mahon Kyle "The Real Fast MoFo" Brookes Team Cranky Dave "Beer Me" McCrimmon Jeff "Keep Dreaming Gin" Hane Peter "Beginner?!!" Sterlacci Two Engineers and a Yute Jon "You Were Thinking of Doing Bay to Breakers Instead of This?" Heim Patrick "Aren't We Going to Stick Around for the Awards?" Meyer John "Oh By The Way, You're Leading Off For Us" Coomes Solo Heather "Just Why Did You Bring Those Barbarella Bikini Bottoms?" Kirkby Mike "I'm Going to Disneyland!" Urbina Matt "Where Was My 2nd Person?" Cerkel Saturday People showed up at various times. We pre-rode the course and realized it was going to be longer and tougher than anticipated. Good fun though. Nick did an awesome job with the BBQ and the Velo Bellas provided the entertainment. BTW, Jaimi, if you need a surrogate club like Mo and Heather, just let us know because you're certainly welcome. Got scolded for being too loud (imagine that). The VB's went to bed and the soiree ended shortly after that (imagine that again). I won't go into any more detail to protect the innocent (and not so innocent). Sunday Race morning. Frankie was up at the crack of dawn and built the nice fire. That would prove to be key during the day as it was pretty cool and at times drizzling. The rest of us woke up later at various times. We were supposed to do a group photo at 9am, however not everyone was there and we were disorganized. Too bad - it's rare to get 30 people together at one event. Oh well, plenty of other photos were taken. Some apparently incriminating but hopefully those won't surface on the Internet. The racing was good fun. I personally blew up trying to keep up with Hane... guess I'll be quiet now about beating him. But I felt much better on my 2nd lap and improved my time. I did two more laps and was very happy with my results. Not bad for someone who hasn't ridden more than 10 times outside of his garage this year. The course got slickery on the my last two laps, as the rain/drizzle came down. But it was still fun - thank you to the Endurolytes for keeping the cramping away. Plus I learned a new way to peddle the singlespeed. I won't go into the boring details, but it helped me make it through the last two laps in decent time without killing myself. Will definitely keep it in mind for Downieville. Anyhow, I had a great time as did most everyone else. As Frankie said, we need to do something like this once or twice a year. Amen. Mike Raw lap times and results - http://www.teamwrongway.com/8_Hour_Times.htm P.S. - Special thanks to the significant every others who braved the cool weather at the venue and for those who gave us permission to be there to play. |
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What fun wkend. Big shout out to Mike Gin for pumping everyone up
for this event. It was incredible to see so many people at this
event. Saturday We get out of the house and make our long slow way up to Boggs. Lauren had to stop twice along the way to use the restroom. Great not being in diapers but it makes the trip longer. Should have taken Silverado Trail, lesson learned. Get up to Boggs, pitch the tent, go for a fast preride, and then its the wait until Nick is done with BBQ. What a big turn out, so many people eating and hanging by the fire. So many choice of food and drink. The choices on the drink let me do some experimenting. Unfortunately or fortunately I didn't get to go through all the different kinds of beer. I would have continued but the party died once the women retired. Funniest thing on Saturday: Gin and I leave the group to continue on the preride as they decide to try lines on this 1 ft rock drop. Wow! So we are cruising along through this fast fun singletrack when I smell a bit of a skunk. We round a corner and there sits Smokey the Bear's cousin, Sparky the 420 Bear. His eyes were really big as he saw us and he was doing a bit of a scramble. Mike and I left the scene and told Sparky he could continue his flying. Sunday (Race Day): Jeff goes off first because Gin wanted to race him head to head. Lap 1: Jeff comes in and no sign of Gin in his dust. I take off and am just riding along by myself. About halfway th ough the race I hear someone. Its B-Ham and I move over to let him go by. I ride with him for as long as I can but he continues to pull away. I make my way back in and off goes Peter. Lap 2: I take off about a minute after Team Had Balls had come in, so now I have someone to catch. I am flying on the fireroad and in the distance I see someone. Slowly I am catching him and I let it hang out on the first section of super fast fun singletrack. I am picking up ground and say to myself, hmmm JR must not be feeling good because I should be catching a very good DHer on the DH portion. We hit the climb together and I give him some words of encouragement. I know they took affect because he is quickly on my tail climbing away. I get to the top of the first major climb and I am all alone. I catch two or three other people on this lap and make it back around to so Peter can take off. Sometime before Lap 3 Peter informs me that he is done. I said okay and was just happy that he came out and raced. A few years ago Peter asked me to be on his 8 hour team when I was in maternity bliss, so I had to return the favor. I know how good and crappy I felt during my laps a few years ago, so I could completely relate. Jeff comes in and I tell him that Peter is done. We chat for a minute or two, and he said we can decide what we want to do when I make it in. Lap 3: The drizzle is pretty bad. I make it to the first steep climb after the singletrack section and take off my glasses, they were completely fogged. I make my way around the slippery course just picking my lines and staying smooth About 3/4 of the way through this lap I get passed for the second time of the day. A WTB/Santa Cruz SS racer in a singlet motors past me on the second fireroad climb. Note to self: Singlets are not made for men. I make my way in and Jeff is nowhere to be seen. I ride over to car but he and Peter are already in their street clothes. I guess the race is over. What a fun wkend. We didn't go to win but to have fun. I know our team had fun. Thanks to everyone of you for making it that way. Dave |
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 I
had an awesome weekend! Jon and I came up from Pacifica and set
up. I set up Chez Nick right next to Chateau Nick, Jon
had the Unibomber spot way out in the woods. The main pre-ride
started a bit before we got there and as soon as Mo, Kyle, Heather and
what's her name? I can't believe I forgot her name, but I can
vividly remember her every move and gyration, oh yeah, Jaimie.
I was gonna go out and do a pre-ride (like it would have really helped)
but the guys that came back were pretty hungry so I decided to fire up
the bbq.
TWW sprung for the bbq but somehow you guys gobbled up all the
meat, should have brought more.
The after dinner bonfire was awesome, it was great seeing everyone
having fun and Mike drinking 1 beer, don't forget to change your profile
now!
Sunday comes around and the the camp is buzzing with tire changes and
last minute adjustments.
Mike, Mark and myself made Team Singlespeed, I thought that if I didn't
train at all for a month and I brought up a really, really nice
Steelman rigid singlespeed with all new RaceFace and WTB stuff
and it was really, really clean,,,, I would race the bike and it will do
all the work....... So let me tell you what my recipe was for the
awesome BBQ I brought up!
Since I can't say anything great about my race, I'll just make fun of
myself.
I felt like the William Hung of the singing world! I rode my race
and everyone laughed at my lap times! AND they wanted to see me do it
again!!! I did my best and I had no Personal Training...
Oh, I felt like crap on every climb, even the mild climbs where the
lactic acid burn was singing She Bangs on my legs and doing an encore!
I crashed but I threw my body into the dirt and rocks so I wouldn't
scratch my Steelman.
Mike and Mark had some great laptimes! Time to stop remodeling my
house and start riding again so I can kick some arse again!
Nick
Originator of the Fast MOFO's but not even considered to be on that
team...
Oh, and Mike, could you change some nicknames on your list.
Mo, We girls don't just ride bikes
Jon Heim, The fog follows him from Pacifica to Boggs,,, hmmmmm?
Mike Gin, I'm back beotch,,,, recogonize!
Mark Davidson, I'll race Nick with Jade steering my bike, he's that
slow!
Heather, Bye, I'll see you at 6pm!
She's my HERo!!!!! Um, next to Frank.
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Wow. What a fun weekend! I don't even know where to start with
writing a report, so I will just say that it was great to meet so many
people I hadn't met before and see some familiar faces again. Team
Wrong Way really knows how to make a party out of a race... it was
almost half of all participants! A great vibe from everyone... I am not completely sure what toxin I ate before my first lap (camp food is tough for vegans with sensitive constitutions), but it haunted me during the race, and throughout today. I couldn't do much more than go at an easy pace, and so I wanted to just keep going for the team. I didn't have as much seering pain at the beginning of the second lap, and so I pushed a brisk pace until the pain became more than a mere distraction. I couldn't argue with it, so I was back at a snail's pace. It was pretty wet everywhere so even at this pace, I had trouble staying on the bike without using my stomach muscles. After I finished my 2nd lap, Piper went out and I realized with her previous time, our team would probably have enough time to do another lap, but Meredith and Jaimi had doubled up on one earlier. I asked if they wanted to do another lap, and realized they were dressed and done for the day. I figured I couldn't do much more harm to my body and decided to do the last lap, with only 30 minutes to prepare. I got really motivated, and hoped this was the right choice. When I headed over to the registration/transition area, the time keeper said our team didn't have to do another lap, we were 1st in our category (a field of one team?)... and my final challenge was gone. I wonder if I would have done that last lap if we wouldn't have placed last in the combined fields? If I feel healthy, I am going to try and make the Ales to Trails thing at China Camp on Sunday instead of the Skyline race. Good Luck to those who are racing. Mike Gin, you really pulled together a whole lot of impressive coordination that made a lot of memories for all of us. Thank you. Peace, Eryn! |
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I went to the Boggs 8 Hour event as a solo rider intending to putter around on my mountain bike in the forest for 8 hours. Mostly I was looking forward to a good campfire, fun times with friends and some slow’n’steady QT in the saddle. I’d never done any kind of solo endurance mtb event so it was intended to be a learning experience as much as anything else. What I had not counted on was Mary from Auburn and my (sometimes) unquenchable competitive spirit. Mary and I literally raced each other for 8 hours and 15 minutes. And if you can believe this, after all that time, Mary rolled across the finish line 45 seconds before I did and I couldn’t be more proud (of us both frankly). It was such a surreal experience that as soon as I got off my bike she ran over and we started hugging. But let me start at the beginning. We got to Boggs on Saturday afternoon and I knew immediately I was in heaven: loads of suh-weeet singletrack, swoopy fun fast turns, little climbs and camping a few hundred yards from the startline. Seriously, what more could a girl ask for? Well, OK, I could think of a few things but anyway no need to go there in a race report. After a lazy pre-ride we settled in for a night of fine BBQ and dirty talk with the TWW gang. Soon enough morning came and it was time to race! On the first lap I struggled to turn off the ‘race’ switch in my brain. My HR hovered around LT for much of the lap as I thought “well, this pace is completely unsustainable for 8 hours”. But one of the other solo chickie riders (Mary) was hammering and a little voice inside my head said “if you let her ride away now you’ll never see her again”. It was much louder than the voice of reason saying “damn girl, this is an 8-hour race, let her go, you can catch her 6 hours from now…plus, if you keep up this pace you are going to explode all over the Boggs Demo Forest”. Luckily I ignored my voice of reason continued charging. For the next 6 hours I continued seeing Mary on and off. We never actually rode together much. She was a faster rider, but she’d take pit stops (I never stopped riding) and fall behind me only to catch up and overtake again. I remember early in the race watching her climb and thinking “damn, the girl can climb”. I figured my ace weapon would be catching her on the descents. So I nipped in front of her heading into a long downhill singletrack section and just absolutely opened the throttle as far as I could. I was absolutely letting it fly. And there she was. Glued to my wheel. Damn. Time passed quickly chasing Mary. In fact, that was pretty much the theme of my Boggs race. During the middle couple of laps I found my motor skills fading a bit, my lower back and quads aching a bit, and my mind starting to wander a lot. She must have passed me around lap 5 or 6 and then I didn’t see her for a while and I kind of got lost in my own world. Coming into the start/finish area for the start of lap 7 Mo shouted out that Mary had about 3 minutes on me. In that moment I said to myself “you can roll these last couple of laps and let her go, or you can dig deep and fight your way back to Mary”. For whatever reason, fighting seemed to be the only option. In the final 2 laps my times got faster and faster. The rain had started by then and I really was a dirty girl. In my mind, I was flying on the bike. I was feeling stronger and stronger and around every corner I thought I would see Mary. A (very) distant glimpse of Mary at the beginning of the final lap continued to fuel my fire. I had visions of catching her somewhere in the final lap and motoring onwards to a glorious finish. Alas, that was not to be the day’s outcome but without that dream I could have never found the mental and physical strength to keep pushing myself so hard. I didn’t give myself an ounce of doubt. “You can do this” I kept telling myself. The fact that in the end I didn’t catch Mary doesn’t bother me in the least. The fact that I believed I could, and that I tried, is what made my race. And so, yes, the end of the story is Mary finished some 45 seconds ahead of me. And I finished with a big sloppy grin on my face and covered in mud from head to toe. And now, some Very Big Thank You’s… * Thanks to everybody who gave me a cheer or shouted my name as I came through the start/finish. What a boost! * Big props to the Billy Cross people for organizing this awesome event. * Thanks to Team Wrong Way for wicked personalized number plates (Mike Gin, you rock!) and an awesome BBQ & potluck (thx to all, especially Nick-the-BBQ-King). TWW, thanks for embracing the Bellas (figuratively speaking) and always showing such great spirit on and off the course. You guys rock my world. * Another special thanks to Mike Gin for rallying the troops and creating Boggs fever. * Thanks to Isaias for being my endurance nutrition advisor extraordinaire. * Thanks to Mo, Jaimie and Kyle for being awesome weekend buddies. * And of course, special thanks to Mary for racing your ass off! Heather p.s. The race report title was just a cheap way to get you boys to read the whole thing ; ) though in closing I promise the bikini will stay packed in my bike bag for summer trips to Tahoe and Downieville…just in case Nick wants to wear it on his head again. |
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knew it would be tough.
The endless hours of no rest, the jockying for position, bumping
shoulders with all those people, eating on the run, battling fatigue, the
horror, the horror, the horrorrrrr..........
That's right, 4 days at Disneyland is one of the most grueling
things I've ever done in my entire life. Now, on to the race
report.
While all of you were drinking beer, getting naked and singing
Kumbuya on Saturday night, I was flying back from D'land. Got into
San Jose around 9:30pm, home at 10:45, in bed at 12:07am.
My alarm woke me at 5 am. and I pondered for a minute if I really wanted
to do this. Ah well, I spent too much time prepping the bike and getting
food ready to back out now, so I reluctantly dragged my tired ass out of
bed.
Ok, a quick (ha!) 3 hour drive to Bogg's and I'm standing at
registration. After getting the van situated for pit stops and getting
food strategically laid out, I went out for a short warm up and
headed to the line. This being my first solo 8hr, I wasn't really
sure what my strategy would be so I just played it loose.
We took off from the starting line and, just as at NVDC, I found myself dicing
with Henthorn.
As we start to climb I'm watching Rich with his perfect form: arms
relaxed, hands placed on top of the handlebars slightly inboard (like a
roadie), pedaling efficiently without a lot of upper body movement.
In contrast, I was mashing the pedals, pulling on the bars, upper body
flailing so I decided to let him go and find my rhythm.
While I was making this decision, Loren came flying by the both of
us looking quite fluid and fast.
Toward the end of my first lap I could feel something on the bike
rattling. After checking for loose skewers, headset, and such, I see my
water bottle (cage) is flopping in the breeze.
At start/finish I pull in, tighten the bolts, take a bite of
bagel, down some Gatorade and take off on lap 2.
At the end of this lap I decide to forgo the break in between and keep
going. Right toward the end of lap 3 I started to cramp-
something that has plagued me every race this year.
From that point on the race was all about trying not to cramp:
don't get too aggressive with the big gears, pick the smoothest lines, stay
hydrated, eat food.
Lap 4 the cramps were getting worse so I had to back off. Mike Gin came
by me at this point and asked me how I was feeling. I told him my
stomach was bugging me a little as I watched him slowly pull away. Crap!
On lap 5 I really hit a wall so I decided to make it my resting lap,
slowing way down. At the end of this lap I pulled in, ate some cold
spaghetti, drank copious amounts of Gatorade, downed a couple of cookies
and took about a 10 minute (or so) rest.
Lap 6 felt much better as far as my energy level. Still, whenever I
would try and kick up the pace a notch, I would start to cramp and have
to continue mosying, ( I don't think I've ever mosied during a race before),
down the trail spinning in a lower gear than I wanted.
Very frustrating. OK, it was f*&#ing frustrating!!
Around this time the drizzle started and I was getting cold. Those of
you who know me know how I feel about riding in this type of
weather. I told myself "don't think about the crappy weather,
you've got plenty to think about just to stay in this race"
Seriously, it crossed my mind once or twice to actually quit and it soon
became a mental game.
Finishing up my 6th lap, my calculations told me if I stayed on this
pace I should get in 2, possibly 3 more laps. My between lap breaks
would be an issue, but I found I had to take them in order to refuel and
rest or else I was toast.
Lap 7 can only be described as slippery!
Hutchinson Pythons are excellent dry condition tires but not good
in the wet. This made for some interesting moments on the downhills,
especially in the root sections where braking was involved. When I'd hit
roots the brakes had to be OFF or I was gonna end up on the ground.
Since I usually have my worst crashes when I'm tired, which I definitely
was, I decided to play it safe and take the conservative approach on
downhills.
Lap 8 was spent deciding if I actually wanted to finish it before
6pm and go for a 9th lap.
In some of the switchbacks I came up on a guy who was really getting on
my nerves riding all squirrely because I'd caught him and getting
in the way. Normally it wouldn't have bothered me too much but when I'm
that tired I get testy.
I finally got around him and after a few pedal strokes I figured he
was put to bed and left for dead. Within 30 seconds I heard someone
breathing right behind me. Figuring it was the same guy I think
"damn wheel sucker doesn't want to let me go now, great". I
picked up the pace as best as I could figuring he wouldn't hang, since
he wasn't looking too good when I passed him, but the wheel sucker
persisted. It soon dawned on me that I couldn't maintain this pace
without blowing up, so I decided to let him go by which was a big
blow to me mentally at that point.
I abruptly pulled to the side, telling him to go by and turn to
see it was KEITH who had slipped in behind me! I offer an apology
for my cranky behavior and watch him motor away from me. I wanted so
bad to hang with him to the finish but I had no reserve in my
legs at that point.
Next, Frank went by. I felt helpless as everyone was having their
way with me.
I came in from my 8th lap at about 7 hours, 42 minutes (I think). After
waffling back and forth about doing another lap, I decided to go for it
if it was going to put me higher in the standings. I asked Ken if it was
going to make any difference if I did do one more and he said "no,
probably not", so I called it a day.
In retrospect I kinda wished I'd done another lap just so I could say 9
LAPS BABY!
But man, I was a-hurtin after the race. My lower back was
killing me and my souvenier from NVDC (cracked rib) was protesting as
well.
After reading this report back to myself it kinda sounds like it was
all bad.
Quite the contrary actually, I haven't ridden terrain like that much
lately and had a blast in the singletrack switchback sections and
even though I hate to ride in the rain it was fun to deal with the
challenges of keeping the bike upright in the technical stuff given
the tires I was running.
I ended up 7th place Ironman with 8 laps which comes out to
somewhere around 70 miles according to my computer. Easily the farthest
distance I've ever ridden a mountain bike.
I really gotta hand it to Team Brenthorntonhamilslab; those were some
impressive, consistently fast laps you guys turned and I'm very
surprised you weren't on top of the box.
Also boggling my mind is that Heather Kirkby did the entire race, in the
Ironperson category, without taking ANY breaks! Unfrigginbelievable!
I give Sterlacci alot of credit for showing up to race straight from the
world of Fatherhood/No Training. I've done it before and believe me it's
not for the weak willed.
Oh and I have to say a big thanks to Mike Gin for doing so much for so
many where this race was concerned. Thanks a million for the cool number
plate!
And lastly but not leastly I'm not sure whether to thank or slap
Mcrimmon for his "Manly vs. Wise" e-mail that ultimately
talked me out of joining a team for the Laguna 24 hr in favor
of doing this race solo.
Well, ok, he gets a thanks.
The weather kinda screwed up the usual BC post-race celebrations
(which I was really looking foreward to) but it felt good to get into
some dry clothing and into a warm car.
Long drive home, in bed at 11:30pm, alarm goes off 4:50 on Monday
morning ........
AAAHHRRGGG, no rest for the wicked!!
--Mike U.
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It sounds like I missed out on some of the fun on Saturday night, but
I had to work Saturday and then went to a friend's 40th Birthday
Saturday night. My Sunday began at 5:30 AM and I was on the road
to Boggs by 7AM, I made it up there in record time, just over an hour
and half, not bad, it normally takes just over 2 hours from Marin.
Once there I socialized briefly at the TWW camp and meet a few more
TWWers. I didn't really warm up, but I figured I should save my
energy for the race ahead. I ride Bogg's a couple times a year,
so I have ridden the majority of the course before. I was a
little nervous about the race, since it was my first endurance race. This
was also to be my first race since converting to tubeless with Stan's
No Tube system, which by the way worked out great. My biggest
concern was the fact that I'm an insulin dependent diabetic and having
to plan for that during the race. I know I'm good for 2 to 3
hour rides no problem, I just haven't attempted a 8 hour ride/race
before.
Lap 1, I started at an easy pace, knowing that I had a long race ahead
of me, I figured the first lap would be my warm up. Just before
the first singletrack the computer on my bike started to act up so I
stopped and got it running again after a couple minutes, in a regular
race I wouldn't have bothered. I was feeling pretty good and not
counting the stopping to fiddle with the computer I would have
finished my first lap in about 55 minutes. The hardest thing was
not going as hard as I would normally go, but a coworker who's done
the 8hr BC at Lake Sonoma advised me to not go to hard the
first couple of laps. I largely kept my HR in Zone 3. Since I
was feeling good I was on to Lap #2, I was feeling good in Lap 2, I
was warmed up and enjoy myself. On one of the rocky sections of
the Berry's Trail I came across MO just after she flatted and loaned
her my pump. At the end of lap 2 I stopped to check my blood
sugar and had something to eat, this break lasted about 20 minutes, I
need to learn to eat quicker I guess. I also discovered my
computer stopped working again, so I gave up on it, I determined
earlier the the sensor unit was acting up and I know I had a spare at
home so I'd deal with it later.
On to Lap 3, this was the hardest lap for me mentally. I just
felt off and mentally weak. The best thing about this lap was
the words of encouragement from other TWWers, which was great and
helped me get thru this lap. By the end of lap 3 I was feeling
pretty beat. It was time to eat more food and get recharged.
I took a 25 minute break and it felt really good, the diet coke I had
helped for some reason.
On to Lap 4, after the break I felt refreshed and recharged and
realized I was good for several more laps. Of all the laps I
felt the best on this one and I definitely considered this my best and
favorite lap. At the end of 4 I took a brief break 10 minutes or
so for a little food and was then back out there.
Lap 5, I felt pretty good, but noticed my bike handling was
getting a little sloppy at times, about half way thru it it finally
started to rain lightly. At the end of Lap 5 I finished off a
flask of Hammergel and grabbed my rain coat, I was at the start/finish
for about 5 minutes.
Lap 6, my final lap, I was finally starting to feel sore, especially
my lower back and it was starting to get cold and wet out there.
My bike handling was getting a little worse too. I saw Patrick
right after he had his derailleur mishap and suggested he take the
main road back to camp since it would be the fastest way back, he said
we wanted to get another bike so he could finish his lap, I'm glad to
find out later he did, that's is great determination. As I
continued on the course was beginning to get slick in places and I
realized my tires Kenda Karma DTC really don't like mud (except
in muddy I really like these tires). On the last fire road climb
Mike U passed me and looked strong. I made it to the
finish with a time of 7:54:04 for 6 laps. Maybe I should have
gone for one more, but hopefully I can go for 7 or more next year.
The photos are from just after I finished.
At the end I felt good for accomplishing what I did. I might not
have had the fastest time or the most laps, I beat my goal and had a
great time. The Moose Drool Brown Ale, my favorite, really
tasted good after the race, as my custom plate said powered by 100%
pure Moose Drool, Mike thanks again for that! What a great
Sunday.
For everyone doing the Skyline race this Sunday good luck! I can't
make it this year since I couldn't get the time off. My next
race will be the exact opposite from Boggs, it will be the June 1st
Wednesday Night Short Track race in Santa Rosa and on June 5 I'll be
doing the first of the Mendocino Point Series in Fort Bragg.
-Matt Cerkel |
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Just some random quotes that I thought would be fun to
post. I've removed some that I shared with the Hub only so y'all
can rest easily. ************************************** Keep it lit! - Dave McCrimmon to Smokey the Bear on the trail Did you see wildlife? - Keith White on... We don't just ride bikes - Heather Kirkby (might as well include Mo and Jaimi too) You're riding like Brenton through the technical stuff - Dave McCrimmon (as in slow) At least I didn't say Hane - Dave McCrimmon (as in slower) I get hot and bothered by the little things (or It's the little things that get me hot and bothered) - Mo I am the benchmark - Rich Henthorn (Mr. Consistency) You don't have to worry about those branches anymore! - Frank Walden on his gardening work on the course I'm leaving at 9am, pre-ride before 2pm, and then maybe some motocross riding at Keith's afterwards - Scott Schlachter (who arrived at 4pm+) Nothing surprises me anymore with Scott - JR commenting on the Schlachter factor 4 Days in Disneyland is tougher than an 8-hour race - Mike Urbina (who prepared for the race by being in Disneyland for 4 days prior to the race) Which way does it go? - Nick Relampagos on Heather's Barbarella bikini bottom This is the first time I've worn lycra in public for quite some time - Jon Heim Yellow thong - me likey! - anonymous Ribbed for her pleasure - assorted people on the mosquito candle Jeez, I've never gotten to compete against you. I don't think I've even seen you on a bike until this year - Loren talking to me (and yes, who had the faster 3rd lap?) That Inbred on your seat will fit nicely here in Lake County - Ken Goldie, Billy Cross Racing I've got a queen size Aerobed. Yeah but you're married right? Ahh, little details. - anonymous You're a little off in your timing - now go do two laps! - see you in 2 hours. - Jenny to Paul when she had finished and he was tinkering, probably doing another BB overhaul. You're going to have to get completely naked for us to help you with that - not sure who said that to Jaimi when sheasked for help trying to get the keys out of Mo's locked car (probably Nick though) Does she have an extra key? We're talking Mo here remember. - Jaimi Maybe I should grow some sideburns like that SS solo guy (with the chops) - but just from the hat line down - Brenton (the one without any hair on his head) That was the most technical thing we've done today - Brenton and Rich balancing on the log for their podium photo You've got a lot of catching up to do - Ken Goldie to Mark Davidson and I regarding our position in the race You're going out again?! - Ken Goldie to me at the start of my 4th lap (probably thinking why you losers) I have number plate envy - me on Mo's number plates with the stiff lamination Are you solo? No way. Ahh, you're one of those types. Yeah, but at least I'm riding singlespeed. That's true - but you shave your legs. I just do that for pure aesthetics. Oh that's right, the ladies like that. - my conversation with some guy on the course on my last lap Gin drank a beer?!!! - Peter Sterlacci |
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Every
once in a while, a day comes along when we challenge our perceived
physical limits, overcome them, and discover new strengths we never knew
existed within ourselves.
