24 Hours of Vail Lake Report
With all the stress on Friday out of the way I quite relaxed on Saturday AM before the race. We had a good night sleep, the bikes were as ready as they could be and were ready to race. I purposely took off slowly even on the run knowing there was 3 miles of dirt road climb to start the lap and the 90+* temps with no shade to in on the course. I watched as Lichtenwalner powered away early on thinking “perfect, hit as hard as you can so I can pass your withered self in a couple of hours.” Well, it didn’t work out that way. The heat got us both, but it really neutralized me. My lap times were OK, but I was slowly fading through the day light hours. My stomach was a mess and I knew that was cost me later when I’d need to dip in the reserves. Once it cooled off, I felt better and ate as much as I could. My laps improved some, but I was down a lap to Rob and Chuck. I maintained until around 3:00 AM thinking I still had some legs to stage a come back. I knew it would be hot again and I was feeling OK. A couple of BURNs and I’s be hauling it. Then ache in my knee began. I may have crashed on it or just all the standing I was doing from riding a hardtail (my first experience with one in a 24 hour) or a combo of the two. Maybe the dehydration was a part of it. The good news was that it only hurt when I pedaled….the bad news was that I still had 9 hours to go. I walked most of the climbs on the that one and was rather conservative on the descents. Some of the descents had deteriorated to powder sand covered death traps in the dark. The sand hid the rocks and ruts underneath so I had to either take a best guess line or walk. I tried the former a few time too many which was why I was hurting now, so I opted more often for the former at least until the sun came up. That lap took me about 2 hours and I lost another lap to Rob and Chuck…so much for the come back. I was a frustrated because my legs felt pretty good climbing, but it was not to be. I checked the results and decided to put one more lap in 4th place just to be sure, so walked, soft pedaled, gently rolled another lap. Three laps down to Rob and Chuck, there was no point in spending any more energy on this one. I had secured 3rd and some decent points for the national series (Rob would finish second, which keeps it tight).
I think we (Namrita, myself and the Vassago crew) about traveling to these races. Drive when possible and plan a whole lot better when we can’t. Luckily we have plenty more chances to work out the kinks.
Many thanks:
- to Kris & Misty Fowler of Vassago Cycles for all of there help and support for this race and more to come.
- to Mike, Scott and Bowflex for their support at and prior to the race.
- to Brian & Carolanne for the loaning us so many of the bits we lost in the UPS disaster.
- Orion for the pizza and Powerade.
- the many who followed the race from afar even though the link I posted didn’t work.
- all of our sponsors who’s products all worked flawlessly this weekend (no mechanicals between the two of us!)
- The Granny Gear crew for another great race.
- Namrita for being such an inspiration this weekend….and on so many other occasions.
Who’s coming to Conyers?!??