So Friday morning it was off to Wausau WI for my first ever MTB race. The gates would open at 12 noon for solo and team campers. Not knowing what to expect, I wanted to get there early so I could ensure I had a spot close to the course since I was on self-support for the event. As it turned out, there was plenty of time to spare and the event site at Nine Mile Forest was not overrun with cars at 11:45 when I arrived.
The weather forecast for race day deteriorated all week. A high of 77 and low of 60 turned into a high of 60 and a low of 48 which was a bit cool for my taste but you get what you get. On the way into town, I was greeted by heavy thunderstorms. I was really starting to think this whole weekend was going to suck, cold and wet for 2 days was not my idea of a good time (I am becoming quite the princess in my old age).
But alas, the storms cleared and the sun came out. It even got warm for a spell while I set up the tent and finished unpacking all my gear. By 1:00 I was ready to go do some recon of the course to see just what the heck I signed up for. I decided to take it really slow just to take it all in, and leave the possibility for backtracking if necessary to repeat any of the more technical parts of the course. The last thing I wanted or needed was to crash out with a bunch of people behind me. I am usually good for doing stupid things in front of others.
Time to put the new ride through its paces.
The recon trip went well, but the course was wet and had a lot of low spots filled with water. Fortunately, the soil is really sandy up there. As I was told, this should not be a problem for race day.
As I was finishing up my recon lap, I got turned around and lost the course. Actually, the volunteers were not yet done marking it. Me and another guy flagged down a staffer on a cart and asked for directions back. I logged about 9.5 miles riding most of the loop. I was told the course was about a mile shorter than the previous year, rounding out at about 10 miles per lap. All in all, the course seemed to be within my ability. There were numerous rock gardens which were fun. One was particularly tough and was part of a steep incline (Ho Chi Minh). I cleared it my first pass through but was concerned what it would be like when there were 300 other riders on the course.
When I got back to the tent it was not even 3:00 yet, so I decided to drive into town to get a bite and a Starbuck's. Still with plenty of time to kill I went up to Rib Mountain State Park and hiked around for a couple of hours. Pretty neat place where there were trails up, down and along the ski hills.
Came back to camp to wind down for the evening. I figured I'd try to get some sleep early because I never sleep well on the road or before a big ride. There was still a lot of activity in the camps with some partying going on which was expected. So I slipped on the headphones and put on some mellow music to relax. Quiet hours began at 11 and almost to the minute, everything went silent. I was very impressed with how friendly and courteous everyone was, not only in the camp, but during the race as well. This sport sure attracts a great group of people!
As expected, I was pretty restless through the night. I woke up at one interval freezing my ass off. Looked at the phone and it was 4 am and 46 degrees outside. Geez! Of course I packed plenty of bike gear but not so much as a long sleeve shirt for the road. Shivered inside the tent until I got up for good at 7:00 and head again into town for breakfast. The race didn't begin until 10:00 so I was getting pretty restless at this point. C'mon, lets go already!
As game time finally came, they held a mandatory racer meeting at the start to go over a few important items. I had heard correctly that they had a Le Mans style start where racers would run to their bikes to help spread out the field a bit to avoid too much congestion. My plan was simple, don't get caught up in the melee at the start, There were about 600 riders in all at the event competing in 6, 12, and 24 hour races in both solo and team categories. There was absolutely no reason for me to get mixed in with the fast boys and girls at the start seeing as I had a whole 24 hours to worry about. As the race began, I pretty much walked to my bike, although I did a slow jog at times to keep pace with those behind me. As I finally made it to my bike, I would say I left in the trailing 25% of the pack, right about where I wanted to be.
As anticipated, even though they extended the amount of double track at the start to avoid congestion, at the fist single track section, things came to an abrupt halt. Traffic jam! Nobody seemed too phased by it. If one person got stuck, everyone had to stop and wait. After about 15 minutes things started rolling pretty regularly. It was pretty cool that we had probably a quarter mile long pace line of mountain bikes all flowing and twisting along the trail at moderate speed as we were still working on spreading out. Not many were too intent on trying to pass at this point since there was only another 50 bikes ahead doing the same thing. At this point however, if a rider got stuck on the rocks, they'd better get out of the way or they'd get flattened by the rider behind. By the time we got about 2/3rds through the first lap, things were spread out enough that I felt I had plenty of room to ride at my own pace, or even pick it up again and start passing riders on the double track sections which is what I began to do.
After the first lap, laps 2, 3 and 4 were my fastest at right around an hour apiece. I was feeling good, the trails were no longer congested and I was free to just ride. These were simply awesome! It was just like riding a big roller coaster, except you got to ride it 100 times in a row! These moments are so special because you remember there is still a kid inside of you that can come out and play. The terrain flowed very nicely and there were many sections with short quick pump track type rollers. These reminded me of my new Aussie mate Marc who I met on RAAM in June. He would so aptly refer to the rapid up and down rollers as "dickie woosh". And so let it be proclaimed ... Nine Mile Forest is chock full of sweet single track dickie woosh!
By the time I finished lap 4, it was 2:15 and I needed to do a reality check. What? Only 2:15? Only been riding for 4 hours. Why do I feel tired? Oh, crap, still 20 hours to go, better knock it back a bit.
As far as strategy was concerned, mine was simple. Keep moving. Ride at a sustainable pace and do not stop. I know I am not fast, and I know my technical riding skills still need a lot of work. But I do know that time standing still is opportunity lost. I was happy I was able to stick to this plan throughout the whole ride,
My nutrition was 100% liquid for the whole event. Pedialyte in the Camelbak for hydration and electrolytes and Ensure for calories. .... and an occasional Monster to snap me back to life as the day wore on. This plan worked very well. I only needed to refill the Camelbak every other lap, and I slammed one Ensure each lap for 250-350 calories per hour depending on which variety I chose. Had no energy bonks and seemed to continue to be well hydrated even though I didn't have to pee for the first 13-14 hours.
Laps 5 - 8 were all at around 1:06, amazingly all within about 30 seconds of one another. Wow, purely coincidence or great pacing? Probably the former. I did start to feel a bit better during this section, but was still becoming more fatigued, but not tired. As I finished lap 8 at about 6:45, I needed to take an extended pit to install my lights and lube the chassis. This was a good time for me because the course was now well clear of all of the 6 hour racers and I knew nightfall would come soon which I was eager to experience.
I invested big bucks in the Light and Motion Seca 1700. The 1700 represents its lumen output which is super bright. I also had a L&M Stella 300 which I used as a head lamp. I had to run the 1700 on low to get the full 10 hour battery life, but it still was very bright and worked flawlessly. In retrospect, I probably should have run the 1700 on the head and the 300 on the bars because it was a tad challenging seeing into the corners with the more powerful light fixed on the bars. Oh well, next time.
I was able to complete lap 9 by just after 8:00 pm and rode most of lap 10 without lights on to ensure I had enough battery life to make it thorough the night. Laps 11 though 14 became slower yet (in the 1:14 to 1:20 range), as I was riding a bit more conservatively during the night and I was having some trouble with my vision which is not so great.
Night riding overall was really fun and a bit surreal at times. Speeding through the single track portions which were lined with tall pine trees on either side was totally cool, as the trunks became an illuminated curtain in my periphery with total blackness between them. There were also many little shrews bouncing about along the trail after dark, like mini kangaroos. I thought this to be a rather hazardous activity for these little guys. This was confirmed later in the early hours of the morning when I spotted several flattened along the trail.
By far, the best part of riding at night (or day, for that matter) were the crowds of people congregating on the course at various points. The course crosses Red Bud Road, out to a single track section and then back over the road. Here, a number of volunteers, family, and other assorted spectators converged to hang out and party. There were fires, there were beverages, there was cooking, cowbells, high fives and a lot of cheering as riders passed by every time. I found this to be quite motivating and looked forward to passing by this spot on each lap. Similarly, Checkpoint Charlie was located deep in the woods on the latter part of the course. These guys were rocking out too, pouring drinks, bon fire, full sound system cranking out the tunes, and disco lights to boot. Very well done and again, very motivating. These people were out there all night cheering on the riders. Thanks, it made a huge difference!
Laps 15 to 19 were my "zombie" laps. I still had enough energy to push the bike forward, but found myself now regularly walking one rock garden section on Ho Chi Minh. I just didn't have the coordination or energy left to try to bang through this section anymore. Besides, walking it wasn't much slower than riding it. By 4:00 am I was looking forward to daybreak in the next few hours but was bummed that there were still 6 hours to go! Shut up and keep pedaling! By the time I cleared lap 18, it was about 8:15 am. I wasn't doing a great job timing my laps during the event (and didn't really care too much about that anyway, I was more focused on lap count) but I was figuring that I was down to about 1:30 laps, so I figured lap 19 would be it and would put me at the finish line at about 9:45 with 15 minutes to spare until time ran out at 10:00.
Interestingly, the organizers require you to race for the full allotted time of the event, AND complete a full lap after that. So essentially, if one were to start a lap five minutes prior to the end of the race, they were required to complete that lap or would be categorized as DNF (essentially disqualified). Since I figured I'd be back to the finish by around 9:45, I technically could have opted to take another lap, which I would have liked to do, but I had already convinced myself that lap 19 would be it. And if lap 19 wasn't the hardest lap of the whole race. I really slogged through that one! But wouldn't you know it, I got back to the finish line at about 9:35. There would be no lap 20 this year however, as my body had taken over in its battle with my mind and said NO!
Other racers were congregating just short of the finish line to run the clock out. There were a few, and judging by the speed in which they were coming in, had to be team racers, who barreled straight though the finish and started another lap with minutes still on the clock. I lay in the grass with my arms over my face and within seconds could already feel my head go dark with the onset of sleep. I could have gone straight into REM laying there in the sun, with a dozen other riders standing around and the announcer counting down the clock over the PA system. I fought sleep at that point to get up in the final minutes to ride my bike over the finish line 11 seconds after 10:00.
Considering the shape I was in prior to the event, I was surprised how good I felt. I sustained only minor cuts and bruises from one endo in the rock garden and one other crash on the trail. Probably the worst was my back which was incredibly stiff, followed by my hands, arms and bum, which took a beating. I also cracked my saddle in the crash which was promptly replaced by Pedal and Spoke - thanks guys, you rock!
I rode back to my tent to start getting cleaned up and ready for a shower. I asked someone about showers on site and they thought it was just an outdoor hose type deal. Being the princess I am, I hopped in the car and drove 15 minutes into town and got a room at the Days Inn to take a hot shower, I drove back to Nine Mile to start ripping down my tent and getting ready for the 4+ hour drive back home.
At this point I had no idea of how I did in relation to the other riders in the overall standings. I asked this girl Andrea who I was camping next to who had the results up on her phone. I asked her how things went for her, and she wound up being top solo 24 hour female. She absolutely killed it! And looking at solo male 24 hour, I wound up being listed as 3rd overall. Wow, I found that to be quite a surprise and was quite happy with the ride and the overall result. I was later "downgraded" to 4th place because there was still another guy out on the course who elected to do the extra lap at the end, you know, lap 20. See ... these things can make a difference. But this time, for me, I didn't have it in me. No biggie. Still very happy that I had a good ride and escaped any major problems along the way.
They had an awards ceremony at noon where lots of riders were hobbling up to the makeshift podium and being congratulated by the crowd. And that was it, A wrap. See everyone next year. One more big challenge ahead ... driving 260 miles home on no sleep for nearly 30 hours. I was still high on adrenaline for the first hour + on the drive home, and put back a 5 hour energy which held me to just north of Madison. But I could sense that while I was still pretty alert, I needed to bank a short nap before I could continue much further. Found a nice rest stop just north of Madison, set the iphone for 45 minutes and was out immediately. After what seemed to be about 2 minutes, the alarm woke me and I was energized and had everything I needed to finish the drive home safely.
While this was a first time experience for me, it will not be the last. This was a great event based on the quality of the course, the volunteers and organizers, and the people who come out to ride. Next year, I a, thinking it would be even more fun to get a team together and share the riding. We can make more of a party out of it. Thanks Wausau 24!
