07 Cowbell Challenge Report
9:00 AM: Our, Namrita & I, pit crew is hard at it. Brandon is making some adjustments to Namrita’s Vassago before installing a drive train on my Kona King Kikapu. Tracey is working on list of what each of us want to eat/drink and when. Lisa was busy arranging the pit area so they could all do their thing with tripping on each other. Nam was getting herself ready and I just tried to relax and then warm up. I’ll spare you all the details of the incredible rude female who thought the world should come to screeching halt while she set her pit up in the middle of everyone else’s.
10:00 AM: Rolling start. I love rolling starts. There are 70 or so people waiting for the start. I give Nam quick kiss and good luck before the start. Let’s see there is Rob Lichtenwalner, Brandon Draugelis, and Chris Janiszewi from UF. Could any of these guys have a name I don’t have to go look up to spell correctly? Any way, these are the guys I know to watch at the start and who’s wheel I’ll be on for the parade loop. We start out with a loop around the USNWC , it’s gravel & it’s fast. Rob takes the lead and Brandon follows with a team guy, Chris and then me. Right where I want to be, in the draft. That lasted about a minute before my heart rate monitor confirms what I am feeling….red line. This was nuts. We are heading into a 12 hours of heat and dust at a XC pace. I let them go. Some more traffic got by before the single track, but just team guys. Half of whom would fade before the end of the first lap. I could see the 3 up ahead, so I just tried to maintain that gap without going anaerobic too often.
~ 11:42 AM: I catch up to Chris J. early in the lap. I settled into a solid, but comfortable pace. I knew the course well enough now to really milk it for all the momentum I could, so I was feeling confident. Catching Chris meant that he had been dropped by Rob & Draugelis. Chances were his moral was little low. This would be a good time to let him know I was doing great. We rolled up on a group 3 riders, including Tyler Benedict of Source Drinks aka BURN. I had been singing along with my Ipod, so after a few seconds behind these guys I call out “I’ll just be singing back here until you let me by.” The song at the time was the Decemberist’s 15 Military Wives with the part that goes “…and the anchorman on TV says la dee da dee da dee da…” so I’m singing along now. Tyler says “I can’t hear you.” I broke into a loud-as-I-can-while-still-riding-up-a-hill version of You Are My Sunshine. 2 of the three pull over while Tyler, Chris J. & I pull through. “What? …you don’t like my singing?”
~ 12:05 PM Chris J. breaks his chain while sitting on my wheel. Bummer for him….no really. I didn’t attack because the heat was really building up, but I didn’t slow down either. The next step was to look for Rob & Draugelis aka the Cannondale twins as I was calling them in my head.
~ 12:33 PM Brandon Woods (my support guy, not Draugelis, my competitor) would give me a bottle about 20 yards from the finish. Tracey would meet me just before the finish with an assortment of goodies that included a BURN, pb&js, cookies and an OCP. She also had a bottle of nearly frozen water. I would take the bottle, do the U-turn at the finish and then grab one of the goodies on the way out. I don’t think I even stopped the first 3 or 4 laps.
~ 3:10 PM No sign of the Cannondale twins or Chris J. I was holding steady in 3rd, but the heat was getting to me. This lap was already going slow and then I feel the flat coming on. I grab my C02 and give the tube a shot, hoping it’s slow enough that I can ride out and switch bikes. Nope, as soon as the air hits the hole in the tube opens up and spews. I change the tube as quickly as I can with my hands in such rough shape. The new parts of the course are pretty smooth, but the older bits are super rooty. That’s taking a toll on my hands and shoulders. My feet are getting sore from being wet all day from the hourly bottle of water over the head treatments, which BTW has also rinsed most my Chamois Butt’r away. Should have added some Bag Balm today. With the tire back on I am rolling, but not feeling very spry at this point. I am almost half way through, but feeling a little down because my energy is fading, I’m not winning, and it’s hot. I give myself a little pep talk that consists of “shut up you whiny sack of &%$#%$ and start rolling out.” It worked.
~ 3:24 PM I take my bottles, dose w/ice water one extra time and chug a whole BURN. I get myself angry. BURN and anger are incredibly motivating. Over the next lap I take 6 minutes out of Rob L.
~ 6:11 PM I’ve had a BURN each of the previous 2 laps. I’ve picked up the pace, but I’ve also started cramping. I should taken some extra electrolytes, but I kept forgetting to ask for them. Anyway, my work has just paid off. Rob is rolling out of the pits as I roll in. No BURN this time, but a quick pit, some food and I’m off. I catch Ron on a gravel section near the white water. He says “you go ahead, I’m cooked”, but I sat behind him a minute to see what kind of shape he was really in. He still looked OK, but he was crawling. I attacked. It didn’t last long before I was hit some amazing hamstring cramps while descending. I couldn’t stand all the way up, I couldn’t sit down, all I could do was scream for a few seconds until it released. After that I just kept it steady. I wonder where Draugelis is?
~ 8:09 PM Lights on. I had heard out on the course that Draugelis was 30-40 minute up. If it was 10 minutes, I would turned myself inside out chasing him down, but at 30 minute it just wasn’t going to happen. I had a Light & Motion Arc already on a helmet with one of their sweet Cub batteries that weighs nothing. I really didn’t need it for another 30 minutes anyway. The cut off was at 9:00 PM, so there was little chance of an extra lap unless Chris J caught me from behind and pushed me. I was off and feeling good. The cramps had subsided, I was on the last lap and rode a good race. After a few disastrous lap races this year it was good to have a smooth one. No mechanicals, no mental lapses, just a good ride. Half way through the last lap I saw Nam, so I picked it up a bit so I could ride out with her. She was a little upset when I caught her. She had nearly caught up to 1st place (female single speed), then her crank arm fell off (reoccurring issue with the Truvative Stylo), now she was just a little miffed. I took the lead and just kept her moving. Within a few minutes she ranted it all out of her system and we had a good pace going. We got to roll into the finish line together which was very cool.
~11:37 PM Taco Bell drive-through. It’s the only thing open and I am starving even after eating a whole pizza and then some while waiting for the awards. That’s OK we can afford to be big spenders since both of us scored a $200 check for our efforts. It’s awesome that the Cowbell pays out evenly for all categories.
Here are the results.
Eddie O