Race Report

Race Report by David Ambrose

Ah yes. The 12 Hours of Weaverville. It took me a while to decide whether or not to race it, but in the end I just couldn't miss a Team Bigfoot 12 hour race. And what a race!

Erin and I left for Weaverville Friday around 6:20pm. Later than planned but no worries. Our original intent was to camp out in Weaverville but by the time we hit Redding I was shaking sleep from my head so we stopped and grabbed a hotel room, deciding to finish the drive in the early morning. Worked out well enough and Saturday we arrived at Trinity Highschool with plenty of time to hit registration and set up our pit area. Allan and his wife were both there as well and the morning was beautiful and sunny.

At 8am we all took off in the mass start. Solo's and 1st lap teamers taking off up what was just a horrendous climb. Actually, it really wasn't all that bad but seeing it right at the start of the first lap made it seem worse then it really was. It was one of those deceiving climbs where it would level out, dip and bend then when you get around that next bend expecting to see the top of the climb, it only keeps going on, up and up and up. The day started heating up early and only made things worse.

I knew temperatures were expected to be quite high in the afternoon so I pushed myself a little harder on the first two laps to get in some good time before the heat really started to rise.

Just before the top of the climb there was a rest station. A small table sporting a bottle of Crown Royal and a bag of spicey pork rinds. Gotta love it. I laughed every single lap when I saw it.

At the top of the climb after the excellent aid station (water, cytomax, hammergel, oranges) the fireroad levelled out and turned into a big ring flat spin for a bit before starting into the long descent. The descent was probably 80-90% singletrack. Holy cripes! The singletrack just seemed to go on forever! Miles and miles and miles of just sickeningly sweet, super fun, rippin', rollin', rockin' singletrack that through to the very end, never stopped being fun.

The first lap on it was a little sketchy, having not done a preride. Just tight and winding, weaving trails with occasional semi-technical bits to keep you on your toes. So that first one I took it easy on the descent to learn the lines.

The second lap down it, a singlespeeder on his first lap asked if he could watch my lines and we just flew through there. I kept a heart rate of about 175 the entire lap. We flowed, right on each others wheels the entire time. He kept up with me with no problem even though I was hammering in the big ring the entire way. At the end of the singletrack on the last little fireroad bit before the pits he thanked me and we parted ways.

During the mid-day heat (90's?), I was surprised at how well I did. One section of the climb is very exposed. But with a slight breeze, some incredible mountain views and a spare bottle of water to squirt down my back and into my helmet to keep me cool and preoccupied, the grind up was bearable and time passed quickly.

Somewhere around lap 7 I had no idea where I was in the standings. I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue and risk burning myself out for the Cascade Creampuff 100 this next weekend. Although I was feeling pretty good at this point, if I had no shot at the podium I was going to step out and call it a day. Erin thought I was in 6th and egged me to keep going. We later found out that it was 6th overall. I was leading the Expert class in 1st by about a lap. Quit? What? Who said that? Uh huh. And so I continued on.

Lap 9 was just painful. I grannied the entire climb up, not sure if I could make it back in before the 12 hours were through. Slowly, slowly, I made my way up. No hint of cramps the entire race, but I was tired as all hell. My heart rate wouldn't rise above 149 even when pushing as hard as I could, so I was definitely beat. I started playing mind games to get myself to push harder - thinking to myself "Now if I had a headcam on right now, how would I ride to make for a good vid?", taking the whoops and turns much faster than I probably would have otherwise. Finally coming in with only a few minutes to spare, I was pooped, but in a good mood. Today (2 days later), my legs are stiff but not sore. A good sign, I hope, for the CCP100 next weekend. We shall see...

I ended up taking 1st place in the Mens Expert Solo category with 9 laps (108 miles, approx 10,800' ele) in about 11 hours and 55 minutes. The medals were AWESOME looking. I took home a gold colored headset cap on a ribbon, engraved with the words, "Team Bigfoot 1st Place 2004". Very cool! I love Bigfoots unique awards. Also for finishing 1st I got an additional 3 raffle tickets which scored us some sweet schwag. Plus 3 raffle tickets for the custom SoulCraft frame at the end of the season.

Like my 24 Hour race result, I was very surprised. I did better than I had hoped, and better than I had expected. Wo0t!

Thanks to Team Bigfoot once again for throwing an entirely rippin', rockin' race! And a super thank you to mine and Allans beautiful and supportive wives who pitted for us and made life oh so much easier during the race. You rock!!!

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David Ambrose

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