|   The black plague of endurance racing.....me (good ending) | Colin
Apr 8, 2003 8:48 AM | | McDowell Mountain Park oh how I loathe the...My story goes back a few months to my first race at McDowell. I had just moved here from Colorado and I was testing the waters of Arizona racing by participating in an early season race at McDowell's competitive tracks. I was joined at the line of the pro/expert race by 3 other racers, yeah three other guys. After a quick discussion we learned that I was the only expert rider of our little group, saving them the embarrassment of actually sizing me up. After 2 long hours of riding alone I finished unsure of what just happened. You see it was never a contest as I had gotten lost on the unmarked trail system and completed several more miles than my competition in the meantime.
My next race didn't go well either. I had spent time memorizing the course so that I wouldn't get lost again and it went perfectly (besides a rare Arizona spring downpoor)! Bam I was in the mix (now as a semi-pro) and I crossed the finish line in first place! Well actually I knew that I wasn't in first place but that is what the official told me..something was amiss. As I headed back to the car I was greeted by some rather confused faces from my friends. They asked me "what is wrong?". I replied with "well besides a destroyed drivetrain, nothing". I sadly learned then that I hadn't spent the time to examine which lap the pros would do as I had completed the required laps of the experts and then stopped. Truly sad eh?
The innagural Nova Desert Classic didn't stop the fates from following me back to McDowell. Briefly, a broken chain and rear wheel stopped me from even being competitive in the stage race as I lost over 15 minutes in trailside repairs. My goodness will it ever stop?
I received a call from a friend in Phoenix a day or so after the Desert Classic race asking if I would be interested in racing as a team at the 24hrs of Adrenaline race at ..McDowell Mountain Park. Whoa, now common sense would have told me "say no now and save yourself the embarrassment", but the lure was too enticing. Keith Bontrager (yup that Bontrager) was going to be the captain of the team and he was looking for some guys that could be fun to spend 24 hours with and have the ability to complete fast lap times. Apparently my friend and Keith didn't know about my luck out at McDowell. Out of pure excitement I gladly said yes.
Up to the day of the race I had never met Keith and that was plainly obvious as I walked past the man numerous times as I unloaded my car to the race campsite. I was introduced to him as I had my hands full and could only offer a nod to the mountain bike hall of famer. It wasn't until over an hour later that I got to speak to Keith, eagerly anticipating a lengthy discussion over mountain bike frames and components. The discussion would be short. Keith had a problem with a blood vessel inside his nose and was losing blood quickly even though he had any absorptive material imaginable shoved up his nostril. Keith informed us he was here to sign up for the race but would be leaving promptly to go to the hospital to have his situation looked at. For the time being the 5-man team would have to run a 4-man shift.
My teammate Kyle started the race off with a feverish pace getting to the trail first and finishing in the same position. I was to race the second lap and I was excited to hit the McDowell trails with vengeance in my heart. McDowell struck the first blow and it was a lethal one. Mere moments after I started on the trail I noticed an absence in tire pressure in my front wheel. The first hard corner sent me flying to the ground in a sandy wash. "Ok ok these things happen" I said to myself, "just fix it and be on your way". Kyle had set an amazing pace as only 3 riders past me in those minutes it took me to replace my flat. I ended up catching two of those riders and finishing my lap only a few minutes slower than Kyle. Not bad, but signs of worse to come. I had completed that lap on my singlespeed and I noticed some back pain so I told myself that I would switch to a more comfortable suspension bike for a few laps and see how it felt.
The next two riders, Jason and Dejay, proceeded to complete laps in the fastest times yet. Things were looking good and I was eager to complete another lap. Quickly it became my turn to ride and as I took the baton from Kyle I smiled and said "see you soon." Oh what a lie I told when I said that, oh a shameful lie it was. By the time I went on this lap I was excited to get a faster lap time than my teammates. Once on the course I realized that it could happen as I was cruising around other racers seconds after I saw them. This would be the reason for my second "smackdown". I came up on a group of three riders on one of the climbs on the course and sensing a potential pile-up I left the singletrack to pass the group. After a quick "thank you and have fun" I was on my way towards my goal. The sound of hissing air was deafening to my ears. While I was changing the flat I received from a sidewall tear I was greeted by a faint whooshing sound emanating from my other tire. "Oh gawd" was all I could say. Double flatted with only one tube and not even close enough air canister pressure for both tires. Oh the sinking feeling that I had couldn't even be described. I waited patiently for a solo rider friend that I had past minutes ago in hopes that he had a spare tube. He did and he gladly passed it to me. While waiting for another friend I was given another tube and a CO2 by another solo rider. Unfortunately I needed more than CO2 canisters. Another friend finally rolled up and gave me his hand pump. "How many minutes had gone by?" I asked myself. I fixed both tires as quickly as I could and went on my way to catch those solo riders so that I could give them back their equipment as I felt they needed it much more than I did. This time passing people only when the trail was wide enough for two people on the singletrack I tried to make up lost time. McDowell offers one of the more fun downhills in Arizona as it is fast and rocky but not technical. Of course it helps that one has the proper tire pressure to handle the speed of this downhill. Yeah, that sidewall tear did make maintaining tire pressure difficult and I was thrown off the bike as soon as I lost concentration of the rocky trail. The pain of the rock garden (disguised by bushes of course) came quickly and the embarrassment almost quicker. I screamed out "you have got to be kidding me!" bloody and quickly bruising I climbed back on my bike to finish my lap. The agony didn't pass as I completed the lap though. My teammates had been told by the wife of my solo friend that I was in major trouble so they sent out the next rider with 2 tubes and a pump to help me through. Again, another example of how other participants can be so accommodating to the less than fortunate rider. Unfortunately they also scratched my lap thinking that I wouldn't be able to finish. With that move, we recorded a lap time of 1:21 and lost our first place position. "It is still early in the race" was all I could think to forget about how one lap can be such a disaster. I should take a minute to thank the first aid attendant who blew on my arm while the hydrogen peroxide boiled on my entire forearm. "Just like mom used to do," was all I could muster. Thanks J.
Is it over? No not by a long shot sad to say. 3 hours later I am ready for my next lap this time with a tubeless wheelset from Mavic. The Mavic demo program is the greatest thing in the world I quickly learned as I happily traded my tired wheelset for a new set of Crossmax wheels and Michelin tires. The good folks at Mavic even put the cassette on and got the brakes lined up and working great. "Now I am ready," I said to myself and those looking at me like I was the black plague of endurance racing. I had my lights on in preparation of the first complete night lap for the team and I was off. Together in unison my bike and I were cruising the trails with fluidity and grace. "These wheels are the best," I said in hopes that the gods of mountain biking would hear me and grant me safe passage.
Now if you have never heard the sound of a tubeless tire exploding off a rim consider yourself lucky. Not only does it sound like a gun shot but I believe that it is nearly as destructive! Keeping the bike upright as possible I steered it to the side of the trail and stared at the vast expanse of tire and rim between my fork legs. I made a quick attempt of re-inflating the tire but after my last lap I had switch to a conventional pump in case of a flat. Simply put, pumps don't work on tubeless tires; high pressure air is the only way. Now I tried the tube that I brought with me and proceeded to chance the valve stem in the manner that my teammates had instructed me in before I left on this lap. "Just in case," I said as I asked for instructions. Of course to successfully use a tube in a tubeless wheel you must have a tube that is free from holes. Simply put, I didn't.
Waiting in the dark for any rider with a spare tube was not how I wanted to spend any of my laps, but here I was doing so. I am so thankful for the type of bicyclists who participate in these races as plenty of riders stopped for a moment to see if they could help. My first tube that I received was from an older gentleman and I swore I would meet him and give him another tube as soon as I got through this mess. Again, as the fates would have it his Schraeder valved tube would not work in the Mavic wheel but it was too late to let him know. Minutes past before another rider would come around with a Presta valved tube that they wouldn't mind loaning a poor unfortunate and unlucky (unprepared ?) rider. Stuffing the downhill tube into the wheel I hoped that the extraordinarily oversized tube would even inflate in such a small tire, but it did perfectly.
Finishing the lap, again a terrible lap time but albeit a completed lap, I quickly went to Mavic to explain the situation of the exploding wheel. They could offer no answer.
Three hours later I completed my first lap without problems. 4 laps with 4 flats was my new tally and it sounded better than 3 laps with 4 flats. My teammates where beginning to show signs that they trusted me to actually help them in maintaining a first place position.
My next lap came in the "zombie hour" as my friends have called it. At exactly 3am I set off to finish my lap in hopes that once I returned I could catch some much needed sleep as the movies where not being played and the fire was not drawing such a large crowd anymore.
I ate a donut supplied by my visiting fiancée and took off with thoughts of a warm sleeping bag dancing in my head. "What could be next?" I thought earlier when I was doubting my performance the most. My only scenario that I could come up with was exactly what happened. Watching the low battery indicator of my HID bike light go off in the middle of my lap was such an awful feeling I shudder to even think of in now. Once again I have to thank the aid station attendant who loaned me his halogen reading lamp so that I could finish this fearful lap.
By now my teammates were quick to offer to escort me through my laps if need be. I did go hide in my tent for a short period of time but before I rested I heard a teammate say "If we make it to the podium I am going to pants that m.f.er". Now this isn't the most kind thing to say about someone and I believed that he would in fact pull my pants down to my knees in front of the crowd at the awards ceremony. In all fairness my teammates had been exceptionally patient in my poor performance, but it was 4am and they were tired and frustrated with having to regain time that I had lost on my laps.
At 7am I completed my second lap with no problems out of six. I was happy with the result and so where my teammates as they hadn't written me off completely yet.
It was nearly noon and we were all feeling good even with the lack of sleep. Kyle had finished his 7th lap on his singlespeed with no problems, DeeJay had finished his last lap on his geared bike in hopes of breaking the course record set by my teammate Jason, who even with a few flats of his own was still the fastest guy on the course. Keith, had come back from the hospital around 6pm on Saturday and within an hour completed his first lap with a cauterized nostril and a square yard of gauze holding his blood back. The man is a legend for a reason.
Keith finished his lap at 11:50am. The team decided that I was to do another lap before the end of the race. Now this isn't a decision based on dislike. They knew that I wanted to prove myself a little more than they wanted me to hurt on another lap. "My legs feel good as new," I told them before I left.
Keith, as he pulled through the timing tent, told me "just ride clean and pace yourself, no mechanicals ok?". His wisdom was clear in his eyes and I nodded and said "yes sir" before heading off. I knew quickly that my life long history of not listening to authority would lead me to exactly the opposite of what others thought was intelligent.
At this time in the race most competitors have finished and only a few solo riders are out on the course suffering away at a final lap before 1pm. Amazing to say the least. This lap I made sure that I gave everyone fair warning that I was coming up on them quickly. Very quickly. I didn't realize what I was doing until about 2 miles into the 11-mile lap. I had swept through the course without any mistakes so far and I felt like I was driving a go-kart in that I was linking corners seamlessly on the winding singletrack. I have only felt like I was trying to seriously hurt myself mountain biking a few times and this clearly was one of them. I checked my time on my stopwatch once or twice to see how my splits were with my previous laps and I was finding that I was getting faster. Soon after the downhill I checked the time again, 36 minutes. "Amazing" I thought, "how could have Jason pulled a 40 minute lap when I am killing myself out here and I don't think I can beat that time." I gave it everything I had and pushed gears bigger to get a little more speed, all while passing the remaining solo riders who were struggling to keep going after riding almost 20 laps. Amazing.
I sprinted across the finish line and ran with knee caps nearly striking my forehead to the timing table..
"How many minutes?" was all I could muster out of my gasps. The attendant added up the split, "19 minutes" she said. "No no no, you are forgetting something," I said knowing that she was close but forgot to carry a digit.
"39 minutes" she said as she watched me slumping over her table.
Our team won the 5-man competition by a margin of only 1 lap. We had a great time and got to know each other well and had the our closest friends come and support us and share the experience.
I was lucky enough to win the fastest lap award. My prize was a set of wheels from the company that kept me going on a well tuned bike without worries of flats. Well except for that one, but we won't mention that one will we... |
| Another photo (nm) | Colin
Apr 8, 2003 9:05 AM | | |
| Wow, to think the fastest lap was the last one, after all that | pedalAZ
Apr 8, 2003 3:06 PM | | Quite a story, and one blistering lap! 39 minuts for that track is amazing. |
| re: The black plague of endurance racing.....me (good ending) | ck-mke
Apr 9, 2003 11:13 PM | | colin..
if i flat tomorrow because of reading this i'm going to be very upset.
-chris |
| re: The black plague of endurance racing.....me (good ending) | Shu993
Apr 20, 2003 5:11 PM | | I don't feel as good about beating you guys as I once did. We rode with no flats or mechanicals and still only put a lap on you guys.
Nice final lap,and nice race report.
Shu
Greenbelt Gurus |
| re: The black plague of endurance racing.....me (good ending) | Colin
Apr 30, 2003 8:37 AM | | For a bunch of guys from the midwest you guys were smoking fast! We watched your results the whole race. Solid times and great result!
Hope you come out next year!
Colin |
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