Mountain Bikes, Bass Guitar, and other stuff I like

-Rained last night so the course was slick and muddy. It was an accomplishment for me to ride clean (no crashes) Dialed back some and babied a few corners. -Raced with the singlespeed because of the gearing simplicity and I figure I was just as fast if not faster versus the geared bike. At the start, about 10 racers jumped ahead of me. I really need to figure out how to keep up with those jackrabbit starts. - Got bogged down again as the bikes stacked up in the first quarter mile. It was a steep rocky climb. Some hike-a-bike through there because of the logjams. This definitely slowed me down. I normally do this loop in 35 minutes give or take so I was 2 minutes off my pace. Seems like some of the racers had never ridden before. - 2 jerks behind me for a few miles kept talking about passing me but never did. Kept yelling out "guys let us pass!" "we really gotta pass these guys" The guy in front of me yelled "Either execute or shut the f*ck up!" HA!...

Wow, where to begin. It's been a crazy ride with lots of ups and downs. I'm not sure what was the impetus but maybe it was having to test my blood sugar levels because I was pre-diabetic. Another wake up call was trying to play basketball and my back and knees hurting so much that I could barely move. WTF! Years of drinking and eating whatever I wanted with zero physical activity had finally caught up with me. Big surprise.

Wow, what an event! Cool organizers and a real laid back vibe. I love the grassroots events like this. I felt horrible for the first 2 laps and had no legs, trying to feel my way around the course. It was really rolling and not too much climbing but it felt like most of it was uphill. Nothing too technical but trail system is new so it was like a washboard, which my shitty fork hated. Lost front brake on 2nd lap. Must've been passed by 15 racers on my 1st lap. Demoralizing.

Thanks to SORBA Woodstock and Mountain Goat Adventures for a great event! This was my 2nd solo endurance race and I'm moderately pleased with my results. My legs had a few knots in them before the race so it was hard to get loose. I definitely wouldn't say I felt fresh, maybe a bit tired. My first endurance race was a 4-hour last fall which I didn't but I didn't even make the cutoff and was done after 3 hours. Bummer! For me to make the 8pm cutoff at this race was a huge mental hurdle. I finished 5 laps (my gps read 42.5 miles but if the course was 9.4, that should be 47 miles). First lap was really slow and lots of people in front of me hiking bikes. This was my own fault since I chose to walk the lemans start. In my mind, it was all about pacing and trying to conserve energy. This was a huge mistake and put me at an instant disadvantage since I had to fight my way through logjams on the 1st lap. Yes it was crazy hot and trails were powdery but the heat wasn...

Good: Nutrition - ate well on the trail and at pit stops. hammer gel was huge. shot bloks , perpetuem, nuuns Hydration - stayed well hydrated, never really became overly thirsty Pace - about 7.9 mph according to GPS, my fastest yet for an endurance ride. Stayed mostly in first ring, 5 or 6 in back. 3rd lap did a lot of middle ring. Climbed well. No hike a bike! Fitness - never really became to stressed cardio wise. Plenty of leg cramps though Focus - kept mainly focused on task at hand. mind didn't wander too much. Positive internal dialog was kept up. Not too many negative thoughts Bike handling - mostly good, aggressive through downhills and switch backs, rode with confidence despite 3 crashes I was so glad to make the 8pm cutoff which allowed me a 5th lap. This was a huge mental hurdle for me since I missed the cutoff at the 4hr Raccoon Mtn. race last October. Bad: Really hurt my chances to place higher with my brain-dead LeMans start. I was last to le...