Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Hammerhead

Since my XC season has fallen apart I felt the need to find another way to satisfy my urge to compete.  The Hammerhead 100/50/25 by Gone Riding sounded like just the ticket.

The Kid and I rolled out of the house in Beautiful Downtown Havana around noon on Saturday, went by Publix, found out I had forgotten my phone, went back to the house, stopped by the shop for race eats, and finally hit the road.  He immediately plugged in and fell asleep.  No matter, with his noise cancelling head phones he couldn't hear me singing to The Who most of the way.  His loss.

I got nostalgic thinking about all the Saturdays I had spent heading to some type of race or another.  Meeting friends, loading bikes, arguing about where to eat.  The nerves and the chatter of people who share a common interest.  Racing, you either get it or you don't.

I did a little bird killing (you know, the old saying, "kill two birds with one stone") and spent the night before the race at my brother's lake house near Starke.  My parents were down there also so we got to have some family time.

Watching your parents get old, with all that that entails, isn't an easy thing to do.  It left me thinking about enjoying the time we have to be able to do the things we love, and had me looking forward to pushing my self just a little harder on race day.

Race Day

The Kid and I got up at 5, stumbled around the strange kitchen trying to get some coffee, hit the road, and got lost on the way to the start.  Fortunately The Kid can use his phone to guide me.  I guess I'll just wander around after he goes off to school.  At least he's pretty sure I will.

We had signed up to each do 50 miles and joined the 200 other riders in line for the start.  There was a neutral roll out behind the motorcycle until we got to the first section of single track.  It didn't help break up the pack much and we got caught behind a loooooong line.  The pace was casual and combined with stopping at nearly every root we weren't putting out very much effort.  Still the trails were amazing and the temperature perfect.  I had seen the average speed of the top guys last year to be in the mid teens.  We were doing about 9.  I became concerned.

Well we lost a few, passed a few, and finally hit a lime rock road.  Most everybody in front of us sat up.  I told The Kid to tuck in and we time trialed till we hit the single track again.  We must have passed 20 riders.  I had a scary moment when a rider all of the sudden jerked right as I was about to pass.  It reminded me there were all sorts of skill levels out there.

The trail, ah the trail, it was 90% flowey goodness.  I can't say enough about this system.  It made the miles go by quick.  We never got passed on the way back to finish our first of two laps.

The Kid was going to take a long break at the half way point which was at the start.  I filled bottles, grabbed something to eat, and headed out all by myself.  It became difficult to keep the pace up with nobody around to push me.  The trail was so much fun I caught myself just cruising.  It's hard to believe you can be alone in the woods for so long with 200 other people out there.  I passed a few on the single track.  At about mile 35 I put my foot down to pivot around a sharp turn on top of a pile of rocks when I felt the first twinges of a cramp.  I knew I had gotten behind on my hydration, having only consumed 1 bottle during the first 2 hours, but I had a secret weapon, mustard.

I hit the road section again and picked up a rider (we'll call him Green Shirt) who was also trying to make up some time.  I asked if he would like to work together, he took the first pull.  We caught quite a few groups, some would latch on for a little while but nobody really stuck.  At the last section before the land bridge we picked up a rider on the Swift Team from Gainesville.   He made a move to jump in front before we went into the final single tract section but overshot the turn, allowing both me and Green Shirt to go by.  We eventually dropped the Swift rider and caught another rider right before the final road section into the finish.  He let us by only to latch back on once we got out into the open.

Green Shirt moved over and slowed down, New Guy started around me, I got back in front, and picked up the pace.  I remembered a small clump of trees on the inside of the last right hand turn leading into the finish chute.  I moved over to my left, leaving a bit of room, they took the bait, I stood up and moved back to the right effectively pushing them into the bushes.  We all three hit the chute and I got them by a wheel.  We high fived and had a good laugh.  None of us knew it at the time but we were all three in the 45+class.

As soon as I got off the bike both legs cramped.  I walked a few feet trying not to let it show.  Then I remembered the mustard packets I had been carrying all day.  I tore one open, stuck it at the back of my throat, squeezed, almost gagged, and took a drink.  And the cramps disappeared!  No kidding, they stopped immediately, quit, and never came back.  Not the most pleasant thing to do but it sure beats cramping.

I ended up 13/ 37 in the 45 plus class and 46/ 127 over all in the 50 mile class with a 3:58 time.  A top 10 in 45+ is doable but I doubt I have much more than that in me.  All in all a great day at the races.  The Kid got 66th overall an also had a good time.

After a Joey Bag of Donuts at Moe's we made the 3 hour drive home.  Happy, content, and tired.  That's racing and I love it.

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