07.16.06 - a crash, 2 flats, and a upset tummy

hey all, update for ya.. don't have a complete list of the top ten, but i'll do my best...

friday's pre-race banquet was pretty good, but slowly turned to confusion as the race organizers tried to explain (in great detail) trails that most people in the room had no idea what he was talking about. at first, what seemed like a normal race suddenly had a lot of people in a panic about the route.

(i will note - that however scarce some of the markings were, they were pretty well done considering the length of the course. i didn't have any major issues with the markings, but you had to be paying attention at all times.)

gun went off at the 6am start, and it was a bit chilly. rough numbers for the 100 miler were about 100. most riders were wearing arm warmers but slowly the temps would creep up to what felt like the high 80's, low 90's.

first climb went up and up and up, and then up some more. the field slowly strung out and i found myself somewhere in the top 15'ish at the end of the first climb which took roughly 1 hour to climb the 12500 foot peak and included a snow crossing.

i started the decent down. it was slippy and filled with deep ruts and big rocks. i made my way down carefully, but not carefully enough. in one of the deep ruts, my rear wheel hit a rock and it threw me off my bike. my head immediately hit the ground knocking me very silly. silly enough i couldn't stand up for a second and had to sit down for a second or two - then i gathered up the yard sale of a crash as i picked up my bike here, my bottle there, and my glasses over here.

i continued on.

i made it down the rest of the way safely, got on the bike path section and started hauling down the trail. got into the next section of trail that had some single track and then...

flat...

dang. so i fixed it as fast as i could. 5 minutes lost.

cool. start pedaling. 20 feet later...

dang...

bad tube. another flat.

fix it. now 10 mintues lost.

i slowly make up the places i lost, and by the time i get back to the spot i was in before i flated, i finish off the first lap.

i go out for my second lap, and i am flying. i climb into the top ten as i pass at least 6 riders. the climbing on this section is very tough, and it seemed like most of it was well over 11000 feet.

then, i start to not feel well. i push on.

about 20 miles into the second lap, i stop - i was about to throw up and felt really light headed. the feeling passes, then i push on again. but i only make it about 15 feet before it comes back again. i go on, but i drink no more liquid/food until the aid station where i get some water in me.

i push on to finish my second lap, but i am not feeling good. my stomach is upset and i am feeling drained from the altitude. with nationals two weeks out, i did not want to put myself in a deep hole that i couldn't get out of before nationals.

i dnf'd - along with about 70 others in the solo class.

from what i heard from most of the east coasters, they all went through something similar to what i felt, sometimes with difficulty breathing.

winner was a local who won it last year (rides for giant), 2nd place was harlan, some local on a single speed was 3rd who was hella fast (updated as of 5pm - "some local guy on a single speed" true name is Tim G!), kip (sorry - don't know last name) was 4th, and i guess garth p was around 5th at the end of the 2nd lap, but ended up around 10th.

(results may be off - look to offical website for results)

that's it - will i be back next year? yep - and i think more time to acclimate is in order....

overall, the course was spectacular - the kind of course that out of the corner of your eye you could see this amazing scenery, but you dared not took your eye off the single track in front of you so you wouldn't go sliding down the hill a quarter mile.

with that, i depart, with visions of nationals in my head. time to rest up, work on the bikes and charge up some batteries.

sologoat out.