Eddie O

Namrita & I arrived at the race at about 9AM…one hour before the start as is my usual running late style. Nam took off the check me in and I went about preparing myself and gear for the coming 12 hours of fun. The area was hit pretty hard by some much need rain the night before and the forecast predicted more, so mentally I was ready for messy trails. We wrapped up preps, but I had no time for a warm up, so I dropped my bike and jogged off to the Le Man’s style start staging area.

The start was pretty relaxed for me as I let the hammer heads (seemed to be mostly women) sprint for their bikes. I knew those that went too hard in the run, would not have much left for the steep 50 yard haul up to the single track and I was right as I passed 20 or so riders on that climb to head out in the top 15. I had no idea who the competition was other than Rich Dillon (who was racing in the SS class, but I can’t let him beat me) so I followed him. My lack of a proper warm was not helping me in the least, so I settled in and barely used the big ring. The course was similar to last year’s with an added section of double track for an extra mile. The rain from the night before drained well (no big puddles), but the 100% humidity meant nothing was really dry either. The exposed roots were super slick and my front tire was not hooking up too well.

Since visiting Wobble-Naught HQ out in Boise, I’ve been practicing my new and improved pedal stroke which still requires some concentration to maintain, though it’s getting easier. As the first lap ended I was into a decent groove with the stroke, but my body was still revolting over the shock from the start sans a warm up. “Oh well, can’t do a thing about it but roll on.”

Rich and I continued on together through the next lap and then towards the end of that one his pace was beginning to hurt me a bit. I decided to let him go knowing that he had to stop at the pit and I was prepared to skip it (I had a Wingnut with 40 oz & bottle of pink stuff). That meant I had 30 seconds to play with at no extra cost physically….or so I thought. As I climbed up the last hill to the pit I felt unfamiliar looseness in my pedal contact….mt left cleat had come loose. I had to stop to tighten it and Rich had already left! No panic, it’s only a minute or so….

I upped the pace to close the gap and found that legs were finally ready to respond. I cleaned the first switch back section and start rolling the big gear. The first steep drop down to the river was just a controlled slide, but if you can keep the momentum going through the bottom you can carry a lot of speed into the next flat section, which I did. That speed combined with a badly picked line across some slippery roots resulted in my body bouncing off the ground. I landed heavily on my right thigh, shoulder and knee…but mostly the thigh. I yelped, probably cursed, and the rider behind me was yelling at me. It took a few second for me to register he was asking if needed help. After a quick damage assessment I replied with a no and slowly stood up and dragged my bike out of the trail. A few more riders came by while slowly got my bearings back and reset my chain which popped off in the fall. Luckily I didn’t break anything on the bike, since I only had one Kona with me. Once I was rolling again the adrenaline wore off a bit and the pain in my thigh had me thinking about an early ending to this race.

The next descent was only a few minutes up the trail and when I hit it I was still not right on the bike. I had no confidence in my ability to clear the slick roots and because so I hesitated, then touched the brakes. Big mistake and crash number two ensued. I rolled down the hill into the mud and leaves. I didn’t hurt anything, but I was really frustrated at this point. “Come on Ed, you can’t ride like this or it’s going to be a long day.” A little tough love for myself. I started rolling again this time up a steep climb. My thigh was aching, but the harder I pushed the gears the less I could focus on that particular pain and off I went. The rest of that lap was pretty slow and conservative, but I didn’t crash and slowly I regained my confidence. Once back at the pit I took four Recover-Ease tablets which helped with the swelling in my knee and thigh.

Over the next two laps the course dried a little and I was able to really open it up. This new pedal stroke made rolling the big gear on the flats almost effortless and then I found I could keep that momentum from those flats into the climbs and just cruise right on up. I haven’t seen the lap times yet, but these laps in the middle of the race felt like my best. As I climbed what is it called the Carpet Climb (because of the big slab of carpet on it of course) I hear this strange howl of anguish around the switchback. It was Rich, but he had changed his jersey (to through me off, I’m sure). We continued over the top of that climb and down a sweet descent to double track mile. We spoke a bit the events that brought us this moment in the race and then I decided I need to put some time into him, so I wouldn’t get beat by a single-speeder.

I continued to lay down some good laps while testing myself on various climbs to see where I could use a bigger gear to produce more speed. The course had dried nicely and the threat of rain seemed to have passed, so the roots no longer created as much stress. I found that on the steeper pitches I was less taxed as I came over the top and could shift up sooner than expected. This meant I was able to get up to top speed sooner and that I was being more efficient on climbs…both good things.

Nam kept my pit stops minimal by waiting for me at the top of the last climb of each lap with a PB&J, fresh bottle of oddly colored drink mix, a BURN, an ice cold towel for my neck and a Wingnut Assault filled with ice. My nutrition seemed to perfect too. I mixed some Hammer powder with some simple sugar mixes (Power Bar, Gator-Aide), ate half of a PB&J every two laps and had a couple cans of BURN. My stomach was good all day and never felt close to bonking, actually quite the opposite really…I felt like I go hard whenever I needed/wanted to, which is such a cool feeling.

The cut off time for the last lap was supposed going to be at one hour to go, which was going to be around 9:00. I stopped at the pit at about 7:30 to get set for the last couple of laps. Nam ran down to check the latest results for me while I refilled my bottle and drank another BURN. As I rolled by she shouted that I had a lap and some time on second, “sweet, I can cruise through these last two and relax, maybe even skip the last lap…” Then she yells “Rich is only 4 minutes back!” “What the……” I spent the rest of the lap thinking that was not possible and the timing is screwed up just like last year.

Well, I was wrong and Rich is that strong (I knew that, but both Rich and I thought I had lapped him). I put a pretty fast lap and met Namrita in the usual spot where she reiterated the fact that Rich as still close and I need to hit it. She had a helmet with Light & Motion attached, a fresh bottle and a BURN. I was already removing my helmet and Wingnut as I stopped. She situated the battery and I adjusted the helmet. I chugged the BURN, burped and took off. It was 8:20 on my watch.

I hammered where I could, but traffic was pretty heavy since everyone has to finish a lap after 9:00 or receive a DNF. I kept an eye out in the places where the trail loops back on itself, but never did see Rich. As I made the hard left turn to head up the last climb my watch read 8:55…”I may make the cut off…..but do I really want to…” That would mean another lap. I decided that I could handle one more which would put me up a lap on Rich and 2 up on second in my class, which would be fine with me. Half way up I rode behind Alison Knight who is on the Sorella team with Namrita. She was hauling toward the finish, so I didn’t ask to pass. We rolled across the timing mats 2 minutes too late for another lap.

I finished with 15 laps for about 112 miles to claim my second in-a-row Cowbell Challange Solo Title. A little short of last year’s milage, but I was not as motivated as last year (when I had no idea what place I was in all race) and other than crash I was not hurting nearly as bad. Rich won the men’s Single Speed Solo class and would have finished second in the overall, which is truly impressive. If I do this race next year, I’ll have to try the SS. Congrats to Rebecca Tomaszewki who won the Women’s Solo class.

Hopefully with lots of ice and rest my thigh, shoulder and neck will be feeling normal again. I have an appoint at 3:00 with Dr. Glass at Georgia Sports Chiropractic, so that should help too.

A huge thank you goes out to Namrita for being my pit crew and doing such a great job with it despite having two misbehaving dogs to deal with. I’d also like to thank Taylor, Bart, Paul and everyone else involved in making the Cowbell Challenge happen. Bart must be doing a great job over at South Park Cycles because I saw Konas of ever shape, size and make at this race.

If anyone has pictures, please email me at ed@eddieodea.com.

Many thanks to my sponsors whose links are to the right ———–>

Eddie O

This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 9:25 am and is filed under Announcements, Race Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.