|   A Three Ring Circus Under The Big Top | crosstrail
Aug 11, 2003 10:21 AM | | A Three Team Circus Under The Big Top
Living Large. Tucked in amongst the conifer-stuffed mountains, a small meadow blossoms into a tent city teeming with mountain bike enthusiasts of all kinds. We add to the emerging skyline, erecting our 800 square foot red and white striped big top, surrounded by a multitude of sleeping tents and filled with lounge chairs, tables, stoves, lanterns, work stands, bike racks, bikes, trainers and all the other stuff for our annual retreat. It's good to be back at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin in Winter Park.
Prairie Home Companion. The new camping area looks great, especially for a hungry heifer. Three TriLife workers feverishly hack away at the 3 foot tall grass with a weed whacker, a borrowed lawn mower and even a chain saw. After awhile, a guy on a riding lawn mower makes a little more progress. The grass that needs to be mowed, gets mowed. The rest forms a soft mattress under our sleeping tents.
We Ams What We Ams. Togas, hot tubs, barrels of mead, upholstered furniture, reggae bands, and wanton wildness do not describe our pit area. Neither does wacky spontaneity. It's not Animal House and it's not I Love Lucy. We're mostly 40+ year old technical/engineer bike geeks with families. More like Gilligan's Island with kids.
Nose To Nose Under One Tent. This year, in addition to the customary competition between each other, we add a little team competition by forming two teams. Slugging it out in the 5 person 200+ age group category are RocketBoys (Bob, Frank, MikeD, Rick, Todd) and Snapped, Crackled & Popped (Carl, Craig, Dann, MikeS, Ryan).
The Unexpected. She's thought about it. She's talked about it. She's burned phone lines tracking down leads and making pitches. She's even experienced the joy of the traditional hunt to replace last minute bailouts. And now she's done it. With several days to spare, Frank's sister Kari crashes our cozy boys' club with Team Sassy (Julie, Julie, Kari, Rebecca, Tracy). Go girls!
The Best Lap. In Friday's mid-day heat, we bounce around the course like kids fresh out of school. The pre-ride is the best, as we ease up the climbs and bop over occasional rocks, roots, logs and bogs. Oh, man. Here's something new. A 3/4 mile gruntfest, some 400 vertical feet worth, conveniently placed after what used to be the last big climb. Suffice to say that those with greater fitness and lesser mass are more enthused about this little addition than the rest of us.
Star-filled Night. Most teammates and families scatter to condos, or even back to Denver, in search of a normal night's sleep. A few patrol the pit area, testing out the lounge chairs that later function as cots, breaking down the course and rotations, carbo-loading with Oreos dunked in hot chocolate and playing glow-in-the-dark Frisbee. One of the teen-agers counts 5 falling stars, before drifting to sleep under the gazillions still standing.
Pre-race Buzz. Race day morning at the pit area, we snarf down a smorgasbord of oatmeal, bananas, bagels, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, eggs and PopTarts, washed down with several pots of coffee and quarts of Gatoraid. The buzz heightens, as teammates and crew filter in. Before long, our first lap racers strap on their game faces. Showtime!
Blistering Beginning. In the rapidly rising heat of the start, Team Sassy bolts to the front, with Tracy claiming a pair of Merrell shoes by winning the LeMans run and then hammering her initial lap. After running and then riding for almost an hour, Snapped, Crackled & Popped Carl leads RocketBoy Todd into the transition tent by scant seconds. The race is on!
Alpine Faceoff. RocketBoys second and third racers, MikeD and Bobbie, are true mountain goats, who scamper around with sub-50 minute laps and actually relish the extra climbing. And don't believe them when they claim they can't ride technical stuff or descents. Snapped, Crackled & Popped second and third racers, Dann and MikeS, are more technical cross-country racers, but don't believe them when they claim they can't climb. If they're not mountain goats, they're at least bighorn sheep. Not surprisingly, the goats and sheep lock horns all race long.
Into the Night. The teams work through their rotations. The afternoon heat dissipates, soon to be missed. Team Sassy is just out of second place, while our guys teams run near the front of a very tight old fogies category. But a new race starts at dark.
It Happens. Snapped, Crackled & Popped fourth racer, Ryan, starts strong, before pinch flatting on one lap and being forced to cancel another lap due to another tire problem. Our first racer, Carl, later rides much of a night lap without any lights and most of yet another lap with a broken seat/seatpost crammed into a jersey pocket. We drop well off podium pace.
Go Hard and Recover. Meanwhile, RocketBoys switch to riding consecutive laps at night. They certainly have the endurance to give it a shot, and the added rest may well pay off in the morning. During the night, the reviews are mixed, especially on the second of the consecutive laps. Rick rides into stomach problems and Todd endos three times, none of which erase the ear-to-ear grin he's been sporting ever since the LeMans start.
Spirit of the Race. Team Sassy just keeps pounding out the laps, rotation after rotation, never missing a transition and avoiding serious damage to bodies or bikes. They push the second place team all night and into Sunday morning. With noon closing in and second place all but out of reach, those gals send out yet another chaser, when they could have just settled for third. Team Sassy really do the race right, with enthusiasm and grace. They finish third with 19 laps.
Morning Glory. Each of the RocketBoys hit the morning running hard, with Bobbie pulling a late morning set of consecutive laps to get Frank out for a final lap shortly before noon. They combine to complete 25 laps to finish fourth, just over a lap or so out of first.
No Quit, But Outta Time. Snapped, Crackled & Popped keep plugging away and gradually pull back into the race. Very strong morning laps by Dann, then Mike, then Ryan leave Carl with an outside shot of getting Craig out for a 25th lap. Carl drills one of his fastest laps of the entire race, but just misses, as he bursts into the transition tent at 12:03 pm. We finish fifth with 24 laps.
Doing It Right. All the little stuff adds up to a great event: the LeMans start, 24 Minutes of Adrenalin kids event, midnight corn roast, all night movies, helmet contest, pit area contest, dance contest, head stand contest, massage therapists, tech support, bike cleaning and lube station, high energy announcing and more. TriLife really has this event down.
Tolkein Knew. "History became legend. Legend became myth. And some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost." We break camp in the first bit of rain all weekend. Soon forgotten will be the endless laps through fatigue, dark, cold, sleep deprivation, endos, hunger, heat, thirst, pain and every sort of battered bike and body part. We'll be back.
See you out there.
Craig Groseth
Snapped, Crackled & Popped |
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