6 Hours of Dauset
That was tough. Right from the start the pace was high. I lined up in the front for the Le Mans start, got to my bike without tripping on anything or anyone, and once on the bike I was surrounded by my 6 hour competitors….IF Harvey, Greg Turner, Drew from FL, Trent, and Javaun. We were directed to skip the first bit of single track and take the gravel road up the hill, so we had more passing room. I used it to my advantage and dug deep to get to the front of the traffic. I passed Harvey & Javuan and just as I’m cresting the climb here comes Turner right past me with ease….great, it’s going to be a long day. I figured Harvey & Greg would be the guys to watch, if I could.
Photos courtesy of GoneRiding.com
We entered the woods with Drew out front (which I didn’t know at the time because I had know idea who he was yet), then me, then right behind me was Trent and Harvey. I can hear them talking, but only slightly louder than the pounding of my heart in my ears. I was thinking that start was rough, way too fast, but necessary to keep ahead of the traffic behind. Then Trent says to Harvey “I wish our XC starts were like that, all leisurely and wide open.” Two minutes later he asked to pass. I’m thinking should have worked harder at the start, but can only reply with “not a chance.” I wasn’t going to let him drag Harvey right by me like that. Besides we had already caught up to the fast runners and slow riders group just ahead of us. Luckily Turner was caught up in there too.
Photos courtesy of GoneRiding.com
There was little rest in that first lap. I swear I have anaerobic for 45 mins straight. The course was fast and the few downhills required just was much work as the climbs to keep the pace up. Because we were late as usual to the start Nam & I pitted far away from everyone else, so when the leaders stopped or slowed at the pits I rolled through. My lead was short lived as both Harvey & Turner passed me while I was trying to recover from that first effort. I hoped to stay away until I reached my pit because I would have to actually stop, get off the bike, rummage through the cooler, then remount and go….costing at least 30 seconds and the way these guys were going 30 seconds was 1/4 mile…..so I skipped it. I hadn’t drink my of my bottle and I had 50 oz of water in my Wingnut Assault.
I stayed with Harvey through the 1/3 of lap, but Turner had opened a gap. I was working hard, but within myself until we hit the Pine Mountain climb. Don’t let the name fool you, this is no mountain, but it’s long and steep enough to cause some separation. I was leading at the base and purposely slowed as we approached hoping ever second of recover would help when Harvey was sure to keep the pace high up the climb. I was right and he came around and opened a gap quickly. There is 3 sections to this climb: the first couple of steep steps, then a slight drop, and then the second steep section to the road. I figured I could bring him back on that second section, but it didn’t happen, so I dug deep on the steep pitch to the road and still couldn’t close it. I gained some distance back, but not enough to even consider a pass. The rest of the lap he slowly pulled further away. “That’s OK…he’ll crack later” or so I told myself.
This time I had to pit. I needed calories, fluids and some cold water for my head. After that I was under way again, but someone had turned on the oven! What little cloud cover we had was now gone and the temps rose quickly. Between the efforts need to stay near the leaders and the rising temps my head was beginning to throb with the heat. I eat and drank a lot on that lap, but didn’t see Harvey or Turner. I came through the pits and Harvey’s wife Lauren informs me that she will “not let me know where he is this time” referring to ORAMM last year when she let me know I was close enough to catch him in the final 2 miles.
During the 4th lap it rained. It only lasted 20 to 30 minutes, but it made a mess of the trail. One section in particular, the Huff & Puff Connector, was slick. The H&PC was twisty, with plenty of exposed roots and these little 2-4 foot rollers that really killed momentum even though it was mostly downhill. I was being cautious because after crashing at the Cowbell a month earlier I didn’t really want to deal with that again with one week to go to the 24 hr Nationals. Personally I think that is a lame excuse and was reminded of that when Drew showed up. I think I had passed him when he pitted and now he was back, which meant I was being too cautious.
Drew and I finished that lap, each pitted in our respective areas and then regrouped on the trail. Not intentionally, but that’s the way it worked out. While it was good to have someone there pushing me, I knew I needed to get away from him for the final. He actually pulled away from me leading up Pine Mountain, but unlike with Harvey, I managed Drew’s gap well. He only had about 5 seconds on my as we hit that last steep pitch to the rode and I let loose with all I had. I passed him while on the climb, shifter to a bigger gear over he top and didn’t look back for another mile. The next section of trail is short, technical climb and then fast rooty descent and I continued to drive the pace and bury myself to open a gap. When I rolled through the pit he was no where in sight. I allowed myself a 30 second break (rolling on the bike, not stopped) after start/finish, but then resumed a higher pace to my pit where I took fresh bottle and was out as quickly as possible.
I made it through the slick H&PC section, but I was feeling bad from the effort I put on the last lap. The H&PC in it’s peanut butter like state allowed for very little smooth pedaling and as I exited I was struck by a leg locking cramp in my abductor (inner thigh). That is a muscle I have been trying not to use in my pedal stroke, but I guess with all the hard efforts I had lost concentration and reverted to my old ways. Here I am half standing on the pedals trying to get my legs to turn over when I hear behind me “whoa, I though you were long gone.” Drew. I tried to work out the knots in legs before we got to Pine Mountain yet again, but when it came time to really push to keep with him I felt the cramp coming on again. I kept him in sight until close the end of that lap, but it was torture to watch him ride away.
The GoneRiding folks let me know this was my last lap, so I skipped my pit stop. The course was still slick in spots and I took greater and great chances while tried to catch Drew. I figured he had no more than a minute on me and if he pitted it could be less. It seemed like there was a lot of traffic on the course now, but that was probably because I was in a hurry. I passed in some ugly spots, but couldn’t spare anytime for anything more than an “on your left” and then go for it. The cramping sensations had passed and pushed with as much speed as I had left up every climb and tried to glide as quickly as possible through every turn. I made it up Pine Mountain and then through next section, but still no sign. Every time I saw a glimpse of a red jersey I was hopeful and could raise the pace just a bit, but it was never the right red & white jersey. The last 2 miles I just flew through the turns with little care about being sloppy or crashing in hopes of getting Drew in sight, but I finally rolled across the finish line about minute back from Drew and almost 10 from Harvey & Turner, with Turner winning it.
Meanwhile back at the ranch…or out on the course anyway, Namrita had an amazing race with a second place finish in the 6 hour. Even more impressive is that this was her first race on the Kona Unit 2-9er. Had she know the time splits to first she may have been able to close that gap, she was feeling great at the end of the race! Here is a quote from her blog: “I felt way too good after the race was over, I should have felt much worse and more tired than I did.” This is a great sign heading into her first 24 of the year. Great job baby!
Of course I wanted to win, but more importantly I needed the hard effort. That was certainly harder than I will start a 24 hour race with, but hopefully that speed will be useful toward the end of next week’s race when we start duking it out for finishing positions. Congrats to Greg, Harvey, Drew and all the other racers out there. Many thanks to the BODers, Sorella Team and the Broke Back Mountain Bike team and their supporters for all the encouragement.
I also got to meet Mallie Dein finally. She’s the one responsible for the header on this site and the 55ninePerformance.com design. Thank you so much for your work . Look Mallie if you need a creative logo, website or other graphic design up because as you can see, she does great work.
And a huge thank you to all of my sponsors————————>
Eddie O