dr.endo blog

So, I set a goal upon myself to be able to do a 24hr race Solo by next fall, but in order to be able to do it, I wanted to do one prior to that with a partner so I could see how different it was & what I needed to do to be able to perform well. I thought this would be a good one as I knew & really like the trail, plus I knew several peeps from Dallas that were going down for this one as well. The problem was in trying to find someone that would partner up for a 2-person team. I did find one, but things fell through. I really wanted to do this one, so I loaded up the car & down I went. Being Texas-OU weekend, traffic sucked heading out of town. This kind of threw a kink into my plans. The drive down to Smithville took much longer so I wasn’t able to eat my pasta like I planned at a reasonable hour. Likewise, it threw off my routine for hydrating the night before a race (didn’t want to take too many pit-stops on the way down ) Ended up getting a hotel room & getting to the ranch Saturday morning. Met up with Ray & Gina Porter, Theresa & Ferg., & several of the Big Pig peeps. They offered to help do support for me along with themselves. What a great group of friends! Got myself registered & tried to make myself eat since I know that I have difficulties digesting food while racing. 10:30 and we finally have the racers meeting. Glad I went as we were using bar-coded bracelets for keeping track of our lap times & numbers, with Solo racers following a slightly different protocol than the multi-person teams. It was really cool to have instant access to our lap times/numbers on a monitor that was updated within 20 seconds of being scanned. It seemed to take forever before the race actually got underway. I felt excited, but relatively calm. Afterall, this was for experience.

The countdown commences & the gun goes off. The god-awful Le-Mans run around the pond & to our bikes. So they Solo riders end up separated from the team riders since we’re not going to waste precious energy running. Shocker! No Fat Chucks, thank god, but the alternative climbing start still takes it toll, especially doing it over & over. Although I was going at an easy pace, I still found myself coming up on riders & requesting to pass. Went across a few water crossings thinking this won’t be bad & then hit a couple of deeper ones that splashed the rumpuss. That’s gonna be a little chilly on the backside in the wee hours of the night!! Hit the pine needle covered packed dirt & was able to crank up the speed. Go wiz-ing thru the roller-coaster section of the trail. I really love that part! Hit a section with a challenging brief climb. Get off & walk it. Don’t feel bad as numerous other Expert Solo riders were doing that as well. Zip thru more of the trail & come to “The Grind” & “The Wall”. Walked both of those. I felt that I could at least do The Grind if I would have been on a full suspension, but I did not trust myself doing The Wall. Kind of sucks when you have a bad crash that fucks with your head & cuz I could ride The Wall when I was a beginner, but not now. They cut a new section of trail after that that was fun, & likewise, the finish was slightly different than past races. It was still very fast & fun! Finish 1st lap & Scott (of Rocky Hill) greets me & gives me a hug. Wanted to continue back out right away, but needed to change shoes. Clips were very loose despite tightening them prior to race. 2nd lap uneventful & pretty much the same. Toward the end, my calves & shins were hinting at trying to cramp. I think this was due to having to put in some long hours at work standing all day recently. Made another pit-stop & chugged some pickle juice & snagged some fruit smoothie. Got stung by a bee! After 3rd lap, took a longer break & put the Tens unit on my back. My Stumpy Hardtail is normally a great bike for this trail, but after a while, the rocks were beating me up. 4th lap was a long lap. By now, my body is starting to ache a little. I’m hungry, but nothing sounds good.  During this period, this wild chick comes running & stops at our camp asking for an EMT. Turns out it was Charity from the Big Pig’s 4 person team. She fell on a climb about 1.5 miles into the trail & sliced the back of her leg, then ran back to camp. It was quite comical watching her argue with the medic about going to the ER. Seems she thought she could get it bandaged up & continue her lap. Yah, she needed 18 stitches. This girl has some balls of steel!!! It was getting cold down at camp, so I put on long pants under my shorts along with full-fingered gloves, sleeveless liner & my arm warmers. Once I did the long climb at the beginning & then got into the trees, it was too hot to have that many layers on. Took off my arm-warmers & seriously considered taking my pants (not shorts) off as well. There was only a sliver of moon out this night & my lights sucked! They did not put out much light, so I had to go slower than I wanted. This seemed to be more tiring than if I was going at a quicker pace. My lights did burn out at one point. I had decided at last minute to not carry my little light set as a back-up. Stupid!!! I had to change out the batteries there on the trail in the dark by feel. Finished this & continued on. Knees are really starting to bother me. So bad that it was hurting to pedal. At one point I did a lovely little Endo on the trail. I have 2 impressive bruises on my quads where my legs hit the handlebars during my Endo. I finished the lap sometime after midnight & decided to call it quits as my knees were really hurting & I basically had no lights. Had originally planned to stop by midnight & be back on the trail by 6am at the latest, so this was still in the gameplan. The problem was that it’s still very dark at 6am so I tried to sleep a little more & got up about 7am. Let me tell you, it was cold!! Made it difficult for getting out of my nice warm sleeping bag! I knew that I needed to eat, but like the night before, nothing sounded good. Ate, drank, re-lubed the chain again & tried spinning around on the bike to see  how my knees felt & decided to get back out on the trail. Yeah, the knees began screaming immediately. This would be the lap from hell. I could hear riders coming up behind me & I wanted to get over , but my legs would not work & it was difficult to get out of the way because it was difficult to unclip from my pedals. My knees could barely support me. It was a great effort to get up out of the saddle when needed. I’m sure I looked like someone transitioning from a wheelchair to standing with braces & canes. I had to use my bike in similar fashion as a cane to stand.  I to walk all climbs & many of the downhills because my knees would not support me. Most of my actual riding was done in granny gear. A couple of times my eyes watered up because of the pain.When I finished this lap, I was greeted with a huge hug once again from Scott. Someone helped me with my bike so I could get off it. They took care of scanning my barcode and gave me big cheers. I can’t tell you how awesome that was. I felt like royalty! I was told that I still had 7 minutes to start 1 final lap & was receiving lots of encouragement to do it, but I had to call it quits. I really wanted to get out & do another, but I knew that my knees would not make it & that if I had to walk most of the trail as I suspicion, that I would not make the cut-off time for the lap to count.

I was waiting in line for the shower when one of the volunteers tracking the Solo laps came up. She congratulated me on my performance & kept telling me what a great job I did. She asked how I did & I told her that I thought I was down in 5th. She said that I needed to check because she was pretty sure that I finished higher & said to find her after I showered & she would look at our lap sheets for me. I thought this was very cool because most lap counters do not want to be hasseled. I was pleased to see that I did indeed move up into 4th with my 5 laps. 2nd & 3rd only had 6 laps & 1st had 8 laps. So, I placed 4th & it was legit, not by default!!

This was a great race for me. For once, I did not psych myself out …I had nothing to loose since I just wanted to do it for experience. I wanted to do it as part of a 2 person team but ended up doing it solo. My original lap goal was 10 laps in the 24hr period, but changed that to 7, preferably 8 after the 1st lap because of how challenging the course was. I ended up with only 5, so I did not meet my goal on lap number. However, I do believe that there were a few factors that played a significant part in this. First, the fact that work has been insane the last couple of week & I have been standing all day & putting in overtime. This really wears out my legs! 2nd, a full-suspension bike would have made a huge difference in that my body would not have been jarred around as much, and of course, good lights! I had to stop because my lights sucked. It’s too dangerous to ride without decent lights! My nutrition was not bad, but it could have been better. I definitely could not have done this without support! The fact that I was able to hang with friends was icing on the cake. This race was a great all around performance & event for me. I really had fun doing this race & I can see myself excelling at 24hr races, but only as long as I have support. It’s a big physical challenge, but it is a huge mental challenge & you really need support! Man, I can’t wait for the next one!!!!!!!

So, this has always been on my “must do before I get too old or die” list. Since the tour & the race were the same course this year, I registered for the race on the off chance that I had a brilliant ride. Training didn’t go like I planned & I was considering bailing but the responses on the forum made me stick it out.

 Race day, Sunday 4/5/2009

The first cold front of the day blew in as I was driving in from my hotel in Hot Springs. Little spatters of rain kept appearing on my windshield. Still not feeling positive about this race. I was running really late & actually missed the start. Other than my oatmeal for breakfast, nothing has gone right. I finally get going. The lonesome rider out on the backroads. Hope I’m going the right way. The gravel climb really kind of sucked. Finally hit the singletrack. Much better! Some shifting probs but otherwise, an uneventful ride. Came down one downhill that had a quick swithback along the edge of the mountainside & my rear tire washed out a little. There was a bit of sphincter puckering for a brief second. Saved the turn & kept going. I’m still playing the mental game telling myself that there is no point in continuing after the 1st feed zone cuz there is no way that I’m gonna make the cut-off. But I keep repeating Tom’s words to me …keep peddling & have fun. So Pink is singing”So What” in my head which turned out to be a perfect pace for me. Get to the 1st feed zone & it’s pretty empty, but I hear this familiar voice holler out “Go Hooters, yea Denise!” Sparky! Dang girl, you couldn’t have picked a better time to shout out!!! I’m feeling good, even though I’m not gonna make the cut-off, so might as well keep going until they divert me back to Oden. Shed the long pants & head out. The second leg of the 60 mile race was several road miles. Good, I can make up some time. NOT! It’s rolling blacktop with strong crosswinds & headwinds. I had a couple of guys that offered to pull me along & share the workload, but I couldn’t keep up with them. As I was rolling along, some guy in a truck (in riding gear) pulls alongside me asking me questions about my ride while videoing me. “Are you going to finish the whole thing?” “No, I won’t make the cut-off in time, but I’m having fun anyway” I reach Fiddler’s Creek & am told that I have to walk across. It’s never a good sign when they suggest you hold on to the rope as you walk. About half way across, I slip & down I go. The water was cold, but not as cold as riding in that wind in wet lycra/spandex. No matter which way the jeep trail wound, I was always catching a strong wind. Finally hit the singletrack again. Thank God - much warmer! Oh look, theres a couple of lumps from the rocks that I hit when I went down in Fiddler’s! Walked a couple of rock gardens here. Some of the 80 milers pass me on this section so I know I’ve to be going really slow. Not much longer before they rerout me back to Oden. Enjoy some more downhills. I here a rider coming from behind & want to get out of his way only I f–k it up & my rear wheel doesn’t really get over. Turns out It was jjay. Great! I couldn’t take out the competition, I had to slow down our fearless leader!  I Push on. Since I’m coming to the end of my ride, I stop and take a couple of pics of the mountains before finishing up. Come in to the feed zone expecting to be rerouted. “You can take the 8 mile bypass along the roads back to Oden or you can go the 20 miles over Blowout & Brushy Creek.” I made the cut-off time? Crap, I don’t know if I have the legs for Blowout cuz I’m so cold. The marshall said that it would be warmer doing Blowout cuz I would have the cold wind the whole way back to Oden on the roads. I wrap in a blanket & keep moving while reloading my bottles & snagging a quick bite of food. I stretch my legs & outside of being really cold, they are not cramping. Blowout it is! Get my purple zip tie on my handlebars. 5 more miles to get the next zip tie, 10 miles till next feed zone, then 8 more miles over Brushy Creek mtn to the finish. I can do this!!!! As I’m hiking thru some of the rocks up on Blowout, I’m passed by others, but everyone has a smile on their face because we are beating the mountain and are coming to the end of our adventure. One rider pulls out his camera & takes my pic as we continue our hike-a-bike. I can’t believe I’m actually gonna finish the whole thing! The first line of me race blog is gonna be “I f-ing did it!”  But the sun disappears & the wind picks up. It starts getting cold. I start slowing down. I’m seeing less riders as I trek along. The wind seems like it gets stronger & colder. This is the longest 5 miles ever. I know I’m getting slow, but this is ridiculous! I’m tensing up on the downhills but I don’t know if it’s cuz I’m getting nervous & tired or from being so cold. My foot slips off my peddle at one point & there is that indescribable pain that every rider knows when their peddle whacks their shin. It’s the same shin that took a beating in Fiddler’s. Loud F-bomb!!! This brings water to my eyes from the pain  …No, I DID NOT CRY!!! There’s no crying in mountainbiking! Now, it hurts to walk or peddle, but I don’t have a choice. I have to keep moving. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this cold. It’s been 30-45 minutes since I’ve seen another rider. I know I’ve gone more than 5 miles, but how could I have missed the cut-off person? I’m wondering if the GPS on my phone will do me any good in trying to get off this mountain. I can’t decided which I’m more pissed at, being so cold and taking so long to get off this freakin mountain or the fact that I’m so cold that I won’t be able to tackle Brushy Creek & Finish the OC. I finally come to 2 little old ladies snuggled in their blankets who tell me that it’s another 1.5 miles or so to the next aid station. I go the distance only to come to 2 guys who tell me to go up the road about a mile and then back in to the singletrack for a bit before hitting the feed station. FUCK!!!! The guys tell me to keep my chin up, that I made it this far, I can do it. I peddle on. Keep peddling ….. easy steady pace ……not much longer. Finally, I see people & vehicles ahead. As I pull up, the course marshall informs me that I did not make the final cut-off to go over Brushy Creek. I don’t care. I’m too cold to attempt it even if I did make the cut-off. He remembers me from early this morning & says that I made it a lot farther than he expected given my late start. I’m told that I can take the gravel roads back to Oden, about 6-8 miles. Well, I’m so cold, that I can’t do that either right now. One of the volunteers lets me sit in her van out of the wind. The EMT comes over to check on me. I finally convince him that I’m not dehydrated, I’m not cramping, I’m just so cold that I can hardly move. He tells me that he’s heating up his truck & loading up my bike & as soon as the sweep comes through informing him that all riders are off of Blowout, that he’ll take me back to the start/finish. As I was sitting there, I warmed up enough to start shivering. It’s kind of scary thinking back on that now. In the truck with the EMT’s we follow the final rider back in to town. They let me out so that I can ride across the finish line with no one the wiser. As I come across the line I holler out, “206, IN”. The official asks me if I completed the race. Being honest, I told her that the swag wagon brought me in after Blowout. I’m assuming that they put me down as a DNF, but I don’t really know. I do know that this was the hardest, most physically and mentally demanding race that I have done. And it is the race that I am the most proudest of!

 I set myself back by not believing in myself & my capabilities. Mentally, I was starting out behind. I’ve got to quit doing that!!! Now, all the positives …….. 1. I finished  2. I made the cut-off, I was told later by officials that many quit after the 1st feed zone & many opted to not attempt Blow-out   3. I really believe that I would have completed the whole thing if the cold front had not blown in when it did  4. I did well with my hydration & nutrition …..I never felt bad, thirsty, like bonking  5. No cramping!! This was the 1st endurance race in which I did not have any cramping   6. My heartrate was good!!!  When it did shoot up, it came back down quickly ..This is something that I have been working on as I knew there was a lot of climbing in the OC   7. I was riding most downhills without breaks, this is something that I’ve not been able to do for 2-3 years because of a bad crash     8. I HAD FUN!!!!!!    

So, I was really wanting to do this race. It’s been a while since Ultracentric & I’ve been putting in quite a few hours in the gym, spin class, etc. I’ve managed to pull off 8-10 pounds over the holidays & was eager to see where I was at fitness wise in preparing for OC. Got away from work & on the road Friday a little later than I wanted, but still not too bad. Hit the ranch a little after 8:30 Friday night & was able to get registered. I’m sure I made for some good comic relief while I was putting up my tent in that crazy wind by lantern. Felt good & pretty excited. Couldn’t wait for 5:45am to arrive so race day could begin.

Saturday

5:45am alarm goes off. Everything is quiet so hit snooze. 5:52 hit snooze again. 5:59 get up. But something’s just not right. My stomach is not a very happy camper this morning. Eat some oatmeal thinking that I just need to get something in my belly & then I’ll be good to go. WRONG! Who knows, maybe it was the lack of coffee that threw things off. While I was finishing getting everything ready I sucked down a bottle of Cytomax, ate a banana & even had a Gu since I didn’t have as much to eat as I would have liked since I know that once the race started, I would not be able to eat much solid food (fruit & liquids work for me). Met Kevin (K1) while I was making saddle adjustments to the bike. It was really great to see a familiar face throughout the day in the pits. Since it was a Le-Mans start, I conveniently “missed” the start. I’m here to ride, not run! Take off at a slow/moderate pace since it’s been a couple of years since I raced Warda & it would be a long day. I also knew a couple of the girls I was up against & unless they had some kind of catastrophe, there was not really a chance that I would beat them. As I was riding along, I kept mixing up my memory of Warda & Rocky Hill. I had heard about the new trail cut at Gas Pass & I gotta say, that is a sweet change! It’s fast but you’ve gotta pay attention And don’t think of passing cuz the trail’s not wide enough unless you’re wanting to take the competition out by pushing them off the edge Finished the first lap & stopped to adjust my saddle again & swap bottles. Stomach still not doing well & hoped that changing out my Cytomax formulas would help. 2nd lap better & quicker but by the time I finished, my stomach was really rebelling. I decided since there was no way that I would win, that I would lay down for a bit & see if I could get it back to rights. Laying on my cot, I felt cold, but my face felt hot. About this time I started cussing out my co-workers because we had a nasty GI bug going around last week that took out about half the staff. During my break, I got some water down & squirted some more Gu in me. I managed to get a slice of pumpkin bread in me as well, but it was really difficult. I took off on my 3rd lap  hoping that once I got going, I’d feel better. By the time I hit Gas Pass, my quads were starting to cramp. Those aliens rippling under the skin type cramps. I had to stop & let them stop. I tried to walk & just spin, but it seemed to exacerbate them. They didn’t really hurt, but made it difficult to use my legs. Kind of funky to watch tho. Lap 3 was one ridiculously long lap (for Warda). Frankly, it was embarrassing. I stopped & began packing up some of my junk so I wouldn’t have to do it in the dark & at the same time, tried to get more fluids in me.  But this just didn’t seem to be my day. I debated about continuing or calling it quits & finally decided to stop. I was already cramping after only 3 laps & still had not been able to get any kind of nutrition in me with several hours left to go. This sucked! Even without winning, I really thought that I could make a decent showing at this race. For once, maybe I’d be able to earn a “you did good”. The weather was perfect outside of the wind being a little strong in the open. What really sucks is that if I’d have pushed myself to do 1 more lap, even walking the whole damn lap, I would have jumped from 6th (last) up to 3rd. My goal was 9 laps, wanted to do 10 or 11 laps, but would have settled for 8. Instead, I only produce 3.

It was really great meting K1 (kevin) and I keep telling myself his philosophy on racing -your good races, bad races, & all of those in between. Hopefully this will be the last bad one for a while.  I need some good ones ….And I need them Soon!!! I did learn this weekend that if you are gonna do a 12+hr race solo, you need to have support. Who knows if it would have made a difference this weekend or not, but there was a big difference in having support at the Ultracentric & not having any for the Dirty Dozen.

After this weekend, I am considering selling my OC spot. I can do the distance, but I’m really concerned about all the climbing and making the cut-off times. I’ll give myself to the end of the month before I decide. In the mean time, I do plan on racing the Dirt, Sweat & Gears in Tennessee in May so will keep working towards that.

Let me start off by saying, Damn! it’s good to be back on the bike again! I’ve been battling some bulging disks in my back & so have only gotten to ride 4 or 5 times since spring. I really enjoy endurance racing & so I couldn’t pass up one that was in our own back yard. I’ve done several 6hr events, but decided to tackle my first 12hr. I did it solo so if I sucked, then I wouldn’t be letting down any teammates. Erwin Park is not my favorite trail. The sustained gradual climbs in the open fields are life-suckers. I knew the day was gonna be a cold one. I decided going in to this race that I would just ride and see what I could do. I had no idea how many competitors I would be riding against. My gameplan was to go at a steady pace. As I told everyone, I would rather have several slow laps that only a few fast laps.

The 5 minutes before the start were a little chilly, standing there without my heavy jacket in that nasty arctic wind. There weren’t as many riders lined up as I thought there would be, and the girls were sparce. I hear there were many more that lined up for the 6hr. My first lap was unremarkable. My lungs were not thrilled with the cold air that I was sucking in. My front wheel seemed loose and it had been several months since I had ridden Erwin so some areas of the trail were a bit of a suprise. The cold wind was brutal in the open fields. It was either hitting you from the side or head on. I think there was 1 bit of trail where it was coming at you from behind. Finish my first lap & the guys check out my wheel. Sure enough, it was not set well in my fork. 2nd lap was much smoother and quicker. On my 3rd lap, my quads started cramping. I still don’t know what brought that on. I was well hydrated prior to my start & made sure that I was drinking my cytomax regularly. I didn’t feel dehydrated. Could it have been because I didn’t eat enough that morning? Or maybe it was because it’s been so long since I’ve been on my bike. I did a bit of walking &spinning. The cramps went away & never bothered me again the rest of the day. On my 5th lap, my knees were starting to ache. On my next to last lap, my lights crapped out before the dips. I walked them because I didn’t trust myself making them in the dark. I still had plenty of time to start another lap, but could not find my spare batteries for my lights. I later found them on the floorboard of my car. I hung out by the heater to thaw out a bit & dedcide what I wanted to do. In the meantime, John loaned me a set of lights. We got them set up on my helmet & then couldn’t get them to come on. About that time, Tate finished up his race & so we transfered his lights to my helmet and off I go. As I was riding along, I noticed that there was frost on the ground. I could see my breath in my lights. It’s funny the things you think of when you are tired and out on the trail all alone. Just after I passed the split lap counter in the field, my rear tire went flat. I aired it back up & off I went. About 15 minutes later, it was flat again. I was gonna just walk the rest of the lap since it would be my last & so I could count the full lap, but I was getting cold & my knees were really starting to hurt. Even walking, it was extremely painful to walk up any incline. On top of everything else, the battery died on this set of lights as well. I still had the dips to get thru on knees that were pretty much toast and had to navigate them in the dark. I decided to bail out. Thank god for a pretty full moon and clear sky. It made hoofing it across the open fields, rather than following he trail a little easier. This was also the one time where I was thankful for the cold because it meant that I would not come across any snakes while crossing the fields in the dark. I hate snakes!!!!! (unless in the hospital) By the time I got back to the pit area, everything was pretty much packed up. Everyone was estremely helpful & supportive! They packed my gear up in their cars & drove me to the school to get my car rather than having to wait on the bus to take me over, just to turn around & drive back to the trail to pick up my gear.

So, the pros & cons of my first 12hr: 3 flat tires total; I wasn’t it the best shape (although I get to the gym here & there, I’ve not been able to actually get out & ride regulary); I was attempting this without support …..although its doable, it’s much easier with support; I did more walking than I wanted, but that was because of my knees, not because I was too tired; I did well with my nutrition and hydration; other than my knees and being a little tired, I feel good today; I came close to achieving my goal of 8 laps;  I proved to myself that I can do a 12hr race; & most importantly, I had a blast!! oh, and I saw an opposum.

It was great seeing so many friends out there. It was also exciting to see more girls trying some endurance racing (several did the 6hr). I did better than I thought. They had me down for 7 laps & starting an 8th. I thought it was 6 full & 1 partial, but I wasn’t really counting since I was out there to have fun & see what I could do. One highlight for me was riding along & passing a guy with his 2 little kids. The little boy got all excited & started pointing & hollering to his dad “look daddy, it’s a girl on a bike!”  I had a blast & have found that I love the 12hr much more than the 6hr. I would like to be able to do a 24hr Solo by this time next year  

So, it’s been a while since I’ve raced, but this weekend I finally got back in the saddle again. I kind of screwed myself for the TMBRA spring season so rather than spend money on the same ol’ races that I know that I will not do well in (cuz I’m trying to get back into shape again after being sick so long) I decided to do a 6 hour race this weekend to push myself & see where I’m at. Beside, I really like doing the endurance races much better. It felt great to be back on a start line again. It was at Clearbay at Lake Thunderbird up in Norman, OK. I don’t know how many of you guys are familiar with this trail, but there’s a lot of sustained climbing and lots of sand. Add to that that because of the rain last week, and the night before, there were like 6 or 7 mud pits as well. It was a brisk 48 degrees when the race started. There was a Lemanse start & I conveniently needed to get something for the car that I “forgot”. So I missed out on the 1/4 mile run. Damn, that sucks ….NOT! Grabbed the bike & head out. It’s about a 30 yard downhill sprint in very loose sand before you turn onto the singletrack. Lots of twists & turns & I was able to pop it up into the big ring for a bit. Fast twists up & down, cross a small wet puddle & climb some more. Hit some sandy switchbacks & a couple of longer, thicker, deeper mud puddles. About midway thru the lap I hit Huffy Hill, kind of like one of the climbs at Fat Chuck’s, but not quite as steep. Rode all the way up (without any walking) & throw it back into the big ring & pick the speed back up. The next 2 miles or so are a little more technical and some more mud puddles then it smoothes out to allow you to hammer down for the last mile or so back to the start-finish area. Finish first lap & had to stop to get something to pull the hair back then head back out. I looked down at my computer to check out my stats & it had stopped reading at 2.96 miles because of all the mud on the magnet and sensor. The 2nd lap was pretty much the same as the first lap, only a little quicker since I’ve seen the course now. I hear some shouts & “Go Girl!” as I come thru the feed zone. After I finished the second lap, I had to stop & hose off the drive train cuz of all the sandy, muddy buildup that was really making it difficult to shift. My running joke of the day was that my breaks were a beaken to let everyone know where I was at any given time since they made lots of noise because I kept feathering them to help keep the mud to a minimum on my wheels. Take off for Lap 3. This time I only ride up half of Huffy Hill & walk all but a couple of the mud pits, I mean puddles. It just didn’t seem worth it to me to waste my energy trying to pedal my bike thru mud that covered the rims of my wheels. The puddles became longer as the day went on. During one climb, I got a nasty little cramp in my Quad near my Right knee. Did a little spinning & pushed on thru. As I come out of the trail & ride by the feed zone, several people cheer & clap for me ….”Go Girl, Looking Good, Keep It Up”. Hose the drive train one more time, grab a quick bite & some Gu, reload the bottles and head back out. This time I took it a little easier since there was still a lot of time left & I didn’t want my leg cramp to come back again. My 4th lap was similar to my 3rd minus the cramp.  More cheers & “go Hooters”. Squirt down more Gu & head out for 1 last lap. Start off fine, but realize soon that something is not right. The outside of my right knee is extremely painful on every upstroke of my pedal stroke. I don’t recall twisting it & I didn’t have any falls (for a change). I walked more of the climbs hoping to aggrivate my knee less. It was still really painful, but not as much as the pedaling up the climbs. I came upon a puddle & was thinking that it was one of them that I could ride but realized too late that it was not. I went up on my front wheel as it came to a dead halt in the mud. Ray had come behind me about that time. We had a good laugh thinking how bad (and funny) it would have been if I had did a full endo in that mud puddle. Someone would have thought I had been mud wrestling. As it was, my foot was submerged in the mud when I had to unclip & walk my bike out of the mud. It took a long time, longer than I intended, to finish this last lap. Finally see the sign for the last section & know that I’m almost done. Find some more energy, throw it back up into the big ring one last time & come across the finish line for the last time. Lots of cheers & congrats on sticking it out. I met up with Ray & Gina for a bite before the drive back to Bid D. It was great to see some familiar faces from home! I think they’ll back me up on the trail conditions that slowly sucked the energy out of you.

All in all, a great day & lots of fun. The guys on the trail were great! Every single one of them said something positive when they passed ….Looking good, keep it up, way to stick it out. When you’re contemplating on whether to give up racing or not, it’s great to have people tell you that you’re doing well. All things considered, the trail was in great shape. We knew last week that there were gonna be a few spots with mud in them. They just seem to get bigger as the race went on. Maybe if it was a little warmer & a little dryer I could have gotten in another lap or 2. I felt great. My goal was 5 laps because I know that I suck at climbing and this trail has a lot of it and because of the muddy trail conditions. So I achieved my goal. I finished 1st by default, but at least this year there were 4 other girls who rode solo as well, they were just in another catagory than me. I wish there were more of the endurance races around. Oklahoma is doing a 3 race endurance series of which this was the first with a cash purse for the overall winners in all the catagories. I plan on doing the other 2 as well. The next one is in Sept. and it’s a 50 mile all or nothing. The trail again has a lot of climbing & a lot of rocks. I’m trying to figure out how best to train for this. More road miles, more dirt miles, or work on speed and the endurance will follow? This should put me in decent shape to tackle the TMBRA marathon series.   

Well, I haven’t written anything in a while cuz there hasn’t been much to say. I decided to skip Bar-H since I was finally able to breath for the first time in about 6 weeks but everything still sounded like it was coming from inside a tunnel. So, in the mean time I concentrated on getting ready for Waco. I had been looking forward to this race for several months. I really enjoy this trail. Traffic on the way down early Sunday morning suprised me. Not to mention the pucker factor when I came up on a cop doing 85+. Fortunately I did see him & slowed down quickly before I flew past him. Go to register & I have last years license instead of this years, so Judy gave me a ear full. Take off & originally I was last off, but that was OK cuz I knew that I was not in the best of shape from being sick for so long. I did pass one girl before we hit the single track, but by the time we hit the first climb, I knew I was in trouble. I set in & decided that I needed to focus on just finishing now cuz there was no way that I was going to catch up with the others. But when I began getting lapped by the single-speeders & several more of the guys, I called it quits. I finished my first lap & DNF’d. I knew that I wasn’t going to finish high up, but I did expect to finish.  I told the officials as I crossed the line & then went straight to my vehicle, packed up & headed back home pissed off & embarrassed wondering if I should just give it up. As I told another, the time I spent in the gym while I was trying to recover is not the same as saddle time.

So, what have I been doing since then? Well, work has kept me pretty busy. 5-10 hrs of  overtime each week. By the time I get out, it’s been too dark to hit the road by myself so it’s been time in the gym. Usually 45-60 minutes on the eliptical in zone 4 w/ an occasional brief burst into zone 5 then another 45 minutes on the weight machines & doing sqauts w/ weights. God I hate squats! When I did get in some saddle time this week around Whiterock, my legs felt fine & cardio was not an issue. My spine however is another issue. The road bike really aggrivates my bulging discs. Maybe a fit adjustment would help. At least the mtb doesn’t bother it.

To quote Danny Glover’s character in Leathal Weapon, “I’m gettin’ too old for this shit”.  But I sure do love it! See you guys in Warda 

Well, I had been looking forward to this race for a while. My goal was to get in 5 laps, although 4 would be OK. I took it easy & stayed off the bike this past week & stuck to intervals & time on the treadmil so my thumb & elbow could rest & heal after last week’s fiasco. The BF was down in Houston so I took a couple of days off to see him & take it easy. Unfortunately, a Flu bug was going around down there & he picked it up. By the time I got back in town Friday evening, I knew that I had it too. Loaded myself up on drugs & felt OK Saturday morning. Decided to continue with the race & realize that I would not be hitting my 5 lap goal. Saw several of the guys before the race. Everyone seem to be in good spirits. Took off on lap 1. The usual congestion in the first mile or so. Too many inexperienced racers trying to hammer it & then have to get off and walk something & not getting out of the way for those of us who could ride it. That was the way it was back & forth with another girl in my class. This was her 2nd race ever & hadn’t been riding long, so she had to get off quite a bit.  During one of these “stops”, I was amazed at how many guys were behind me still. Never once did they asked to pass. Am I improving? I heard Rich cheering as I went by on my first lap. Again, several girls cheered for us “Hooters Girls” telling us we looked great as we rode by! I did OK on my first lap. Rode a little conservative since I hadn’t ridden OCNP before. Throat was getting raw from all the drainage from my flu bug. Stopped between laps long enough to squirt a Gu pak down & spray some Zycam on my throat to numb it & stop the coughing otherwise I was gonna keep going without any break. Take off for 2nd lap. Seemed like I was doing a much better pace, but the inability to breath easily was catching up to me on that last loop with all the climbs. Took a little longer break after 2nd lap to throw more meds down & eat a banana. I was still hoping to get in early enough to be able to start a 4th lap. Wasn’t gonna happen. 3rd lap sucked! I know several of the guys passed by & I’m sure they thought what a slacker. I had to get off several times because I didn’t feel like I could control me & my bike, not to mention, I was starting to feel a little weak. My guess is from the meds along with I think that I became dehydrated from all the nasal drainage. Not used to having to factor that in the plan. It was difficult to make myself drink for some reason. By the time I finished, I knew I was running a fever. It was great having so many friends from other teams cheering me on. Sometimes you need that little bit of support to help you push on thru. I don’t know how many times I heard the phrase,”Hey, at least you had the guts to race, and solo at that. Keep it up, you’re doing great”.  I’m curious to see the final results. I think despite my pittiful performance, I may have actually done decent, both in this race as well as for the overall results.  Overall, it was a fun race & a course that I believe that I would have excelled on had I been in better health. I’m not sure I’ll do something as stupid as racing with the Flu again though.

 Oh, did I mention …….. No Endo’s this race!!!!

Well, I had been debating back & forth since before Christmas, on whether to do this race. I really wanted to for the challenge as well as to see the trail before the spring season. Posted up on the forum to get some insite on what to expect of this trail. Then, the announcement that Lance Armstrong was gonna do this race. I, obviously would not be racing against him, but it still sounds cool, in my mind, to be able to say that you raced in the same race as a cyclist of that caliber. Pics were posted on the forums of his pre-ride & he looked uncomfortable on his mountainbike (in my opinion), but on the other hand, the weather was  and drizzly that day as well. Anyways, met up with Christine & we head on down to Kerrville where her coach put us up for the night. Got up early, had some grub & headed to the trail. High was supposed to be 70, but at 8am it was still f-ing cold! Decided to stick with knickers & arm warmers for the race given my experience last fall at Roman Nose with the cold temps on the legs resulting in cramping. While riding around warming up, there were several photographers with huge lenses around the start/finish & feedzone area! I never saw Lance approach the staging area, but I figured he wouldn’t come out until right before the start and with me being a chick doing just the 1/2 marathon, I knew that I would be at the back. No point in my being near the front. I had my own race to do. The gun goes of & the marathoners take off. They took off at a pretty quick pace. How much of that was egos wanting to “beat Lance” & how much of that was race strategy? Our start was a few minutes later & not as fast. Didn’t matter because too many people who couldn’t ride up a rocky lip here or down a rocky dip there so there was a lot of bottle-necking. It took almost 3 miles before my body felt good & ready to race. I did warm up riding & spinning up the climb at the start a few times, but it looks like I need to stick to dragging my trainer with me because I can see that I do better when I warm up on it. Things overall were going good. Felt good, legs felt strong despite all the climbing. Have I said recently how much I hate climbing?! Tons of rocks! Yes, I should have borrowed my frined’s epic for this race. I think the ride would have been a little smoother, but on the otherhand, with all the climbing on this trail & not being used to riding the heavier bike, might have hurt my performance more. Got close to the upper most point on the upper loop & had to walk up the rocky lip. 2 chicks were there at the top cheering everyone on. They said specifically how “great you Hooters girls look! Your’re doing great! Love the jerseys!” Have to mention this to Boyd one of these days. I get compliments on our jerseys at every race & it’s always women. Go Figure. Anyways, back to my race. What goes up, must come down & this trail was no exception. Was able to pop up into the big ring & off I go. Made it down Worm Hill, completed the switchback just after & was back on smooth singletrack & once again in the big ring, then BAM! I don’t know what I did or what I hit, but I once again lived up to my name & was flying thru the air. Right arm hit the ground, head hit the ground, hip & legs hit the ground & I go sliding. Damnit! I’m getting sick of this!!!! Every freaking race I’m coming off the bike. What the hell? No blood this time, but more damage. I’ve at least sprained my wrist, but I’m really worried that I may have fractured it & on top of that, there is a grape sized knot on my elbow. Fortunatly it’s fluid filled. God I hope I don’t have to have the sucker drained! Get up & felt the pain in my knee. Damn! what else? Decide to walk it off for a bit. I wrapped my wrist with my armwarmers & began hoofing it. Better to have a slower time that to quit. A few guys that I had passed earlier now passed by me & wanted to call the course marshalls. No! I’m not quitting!! If I have to walk the whole damn thing, I’m gonna finish it! I finally get back on the bike. Got everything worked out on my knee, but my wrist & thumb hurt like hell. I’m having a really difficult time braking & shifting. I really couldn’t bear weight on my wrist. As I was riding along, I would try to change positions to help keep the weight off my wrist, but I really couldn’t find one. OK, this was really beginning to suck! Every time I would come to something technical, particularly a technical downhill, I would have to get off the bike & walk down cuz of my wrist. It was freaking ridiculous! I finally decided that ti would be best if I DNF’ed. I was having such a difficult time navigating things on this loop & I still had the more technical loop ahead of me. As I came in to the feedzone/Start/Finish area, it was too confusing to tell where to go. It really needed to be marked better. Finally found where the score-keepers were & let them know I had to DNF. Turns out that there was already a good number that had DNF’ed before me. They saw my wrist & kept trying to get me to go to the EMT’s. I told them I would x-ray it when I got home & just needed some ice.

 They were calling for a high of 70 Saturday, but it got up to 79! I only had cool & cold weather gear with me & so although I could change into clean/dry pants, I had to leave my dirty/sweaty jersey on until we were ready to leave. I can deal with the long leaves in in the AC. Went back so that I could see Christine finish. While waiting for her to come in, I saw Lance come thru for his 2nd lap of the lower loop. He looked worn out & stopped for a couple of minutes to drink/reload. Would find out later that not long after that, he ended up DNF-ing. OK, now I don’t feel as bad about DNF-ing as I did before. Christine came in & got 3rd. She looked good. The chick who took 1st was a sand-bagger. I was supprised to see that there were 10 of us in my catagory! Who knows, maybe it was the Lance factor, & maybe they really did plan to do this race.

So, my main goal for this race was to see the trail before having to do it in the spring. This, I did accomplish. My second was to get in some hard off-road miles. I did do this, but not as many as I had planned (only 16 of 26) and I had to do more walking than I wanted as well. My 3rd goal was to have a decent finish in the half marathon. This I did not achieve. Though, I do believe that I would have if not for my injury. My legs felt great! I did not feel tired when I did finallly stop. But, was that because I couldn’t ride at race pace?

I x-rayed my wrist & elbow at work after I got back in to town. No obvious fractures, so just a sprain. Fluid pocket on the elbow down quite a bit next day.

There were 35 DNF’s in this race, including Lance Armstrong ….and me. 

Well, I was watching the weather all week & they kept saying that we were gonna be in the 70’s. 70 degrees in January?!  I’ve gotta ride! But, race? I’ve only gotten on the bike 3 or 4 times since Thanksgiving & I sucked ass doing a lap last weekend at IDB. Friday night I got the gear all ready just in case. Weather seemed perfect Saturday morning while walking the dog. What the hell, I’ll do it. If anything, it’ll be a great chance to get in some good much needed miles and god knows I’d rather do it on dirt than on pavement! Get to IDB. Almost lost the bike on the way. It slipped off the rack. Thank god for Bungee cords!!!  Wind is a whole lot stronger here than at home & it’s a few degrees colder as well. Do I really want to put myself thru the torture? Why not? What have I got to lose. The Lemanse start was a waste, not to mention a little dangerous. Besides, Dammit! this is a bike race, not a foot race! The ground was too soft (in my opinion) & I felt my ankles twist several times while jogging around the field. Get on the bike & head off. Ended up getting a good workout on track stands because of all the congestion on the trail. Finally got going. Nice steady, easy pace. I know I’ve got plenty of time & don’t want to blow myself up early & pay for it later. 1st lap was pretty unremarkable. Stop & snag a couple of apple slices, a little GU & head back out. Again, pretty unremarkable. Starting to feel that little burning sensation in the legs on loop C. Walked thru the sand this time. Finished lap 2 & take a little longer rest this time. Had to head to the car & snag the warmFX & rub it all over the legs to help ward off the cramping that is probably in my future that afternoon. Reload the bottles & began lap 3. Got a flat, but lucky me, I still ride with slime tubes & so I tried just applying pressure to the hole like I do a bleeder & sure enough, stopped the leak. Didn’t even half to add CO2! Thank god, cuz I’m am beyond slow when it comes to changing tubes. Lots more spinning on this lap as well as walking. Loop C Sucks!!!! Legs are doing OK, it’s my back that is killing me. May have to check into that steroid injection I’ve been avoiding. Finish lap 3 without any mishaps. Wanted to do 4, but only got in 3. All in all, an OK performance. Especially since my finish was legit & not by default for a change!

Let’s just cut to the chase. My time sucked, but if you take off 20-30 minutes for the crash, having to pull over for the P/S/E’s to go thru & stopping to help a down rider, then it wasn’t too bad compared to the others. I felt great Sunday morning. I was excited about this race. My pre-ride went well. I didn’t feel bad about the prospect of having to walk a good portion of Fat Chucks after hearing a hand-full of Expert riders claim that they would be walking some of it as well. The official hollers “GO” & we’re off. I’m left behind, but I’m not too concerned cuz I know that I can’t blow myself up at the start if I want to have anything left later. Hit Fat Chuck’s.  Let the Hike-a-bike begin. Came out of my shoes climbing the steep hill & had to take time to slip them back on at the top before I continued. The downhills went by too fast before I had to get off & climb some more. Finally finished & could stay on the bike. Popped it into the big ring & off I go trying to make up for lost time. Going along great & take a loose turn wrong & feel my rear washing out. Must have clipped a tree in the process cuz I bent the crap out of my brake lever. I hit the ground hard & slid a bit. Starting to think maybe I should change my name to Slider. It was one of those where you lay there a couple of seconds & take inventory of the body. I was a little afraid to look at the damage & then was disappointed at how little I saw. Get back on the bike and begin pedaling again. Knee is killing me & the wind blowing on my arm & knee is not the most pleasant feeling. I wipe some sweat out of my eyes & notice blood on my arm. So I glance down & I’ve got it running down my leg as well. Oh well, nothing I could do about it now. Keep pedaling cuz I’ve still got a gap to reduce. Chain keeps dropping when I drop it into granny & have to stop & put it back on. Get off again to hoof it up the rooty section around the Grind & have caught up to another chick doing the same. OK, making progress. This is good!I never looked at her leg marking, but turns out that it was one of the 19-29 chica’s. Get to The Wall & make it most of the way. Make it thru the Start/Finish area  & start lap 2. Feeling stronger (was told later that I looked strong as I came thru the start area) & know that I’ve got to get as much distance as I can before the P/S/E’s catch me. Was able to ride up one of the climbs & about half-way up on the others of Fat Chucks this time and and no more run-ins with dirt or trees this go around. The P/S/E’s caught me about 2/3’s the way thru & I had to start stopping & pull over for them as they came thru. Needless to say, this killed the lap time for me. This goes on for a bit & then Don Booker goes down just as I came upon him. I didn’t see it happen, but since he was real slow sitting up, I got off to see if I could help. I stayed with him to deflect riders while another guy went back up to the course marshalls to let them know. Nothing appeared broken, but we still had a difficult time convincing Booker that he needed to head in for a few stitches. They head in & I get back on my bike to finish my race. Was told afterward that I looked strong when I came across the finish line. Considering all the stops I had to make those last 3-4 miles to let everyone by, I should have looked well rested. Had a hard time getting the blood off afterward. Watched the Sport awards then put the TENS unit on the back & headed back to Big D.

Good Things: Body in sync quicker since changing up warm-up routine, Felt comfortable with the distance, Was stronger on 2nd lap, Didn’t bail out/quit, Did not feel dehydrated, Legs felt fine, Had Fun!   Photographers dig chicks w/ carnage

Things to work on: Better starts, Better climbing skills, Still need work on confidence in my technical abilities (loose rocky or rough downhills), Legs feeling good afterward     Road miles & spin class should help with strength, climbing, +/-speed