29inches

Last weekend I completed my first 12 hour race of the season and experienced parts of Tsali that I had not ridden before in the process. Here’s how it went. This race started at 11am on Saturday morning so I opted to skip the social Friday night camping and sleep in my own bed. After a good nights sleep I woke up around 6am and drove to the starting area. My Teammate Brian Archer and his family/friends had already set up the tent and were gracious enough to allow me some room at the supply table close to starting area and in the shade. I quickly set up and hiked my bike up the road to the gate here I would eventually be picking it up after the LeMans start. However, I didn’t get it past the gate, and this was the first of four rules I managed to break during the first 2 hours of the race.

The race started a few minutes after 11am and I quickly found my heart rate rising as I ran approx. a quarter of a mile up the road to find that my bike wasn’t where I left it. I continued to run another 25 yards or so and found my bike in the road waiting for me. The LeMans start actually worked as planned and broke up the front pack fairly well. I finished my first of 10, planned 11 mile loops and returned to the staging area where I was supposed to dismount at the orange line and walk through the taped area. I overshot the tape by about 4 feet and the fine young gentleman who was helping out asked me to return to the line and walk through again. I did. (Second rule broken). I quickly picked up another water bottle ate a gel and started # 2.

Lap two went well and my legs and lungs were feeling good. I knew I needed to pace myself due to the lack of riding I’ve been able to do since the Winter. I realized the week of this race that I hadn’t ridden a ride longer than 4 hours since participating in the Dragon’s Back the month before. I had been riding shorter interval rides and some 2 hour tempo rides due to my work and family schedule. Weekends have been held to 3 to 4 hour rides and knew this would eventulally catch up with me no matter how strong I felt starting. At the end of lap two I broke my third rule. I was heading towards my tent to pick up another bottle when some sreamed at me for being on the wrong side of the cones. Riders are supposed to stay on t he right. My tent was on the left. (I broke this rule every lap but after lap two I waited until I was closer to the tent). I ate, grabbed a bottle and started another.

As I started lap 3, I realized Brian had a few minutes on me and I used this to motivate me to keep up a good pace. I caught him quickly, but not because I was riding faster. As I was heading down one of the two semi-technical sections of the course a stick was sucked up between my cassette and spokes, locking my rear wheel and bringing me to a quick stop. As I stood there trying to pull the wedged wood from my wheel I looked up a saw Brian about five feet ahead of me looking for his eye (Not literally, he lost a contact and was trying to get it back in as about a dozen riders squeezed between us while navigating the trail. He eventully found his eye and used it to assist me with getting my bike back up to speed. This would be the last and only mechanical I would have in the race. Once again, the Vassago frame, White Brothers Rigid fork, Bike29 built wheels and WTB parts carried me through another full day of riding in the same dependable fashion they did last season. Oh yeah, at the end of lap 3 I broke my 4th rule. I had my mp3 player on and was asked to take it off. I managed to do the right thing for the remainder of the race. Sorry, for the all the mishaps. They want happen again….

Laps 4 through 8 were uneventful and blended together the way they do in all these “hamster wheel” races. However, I enjoyed this course. It was well marked, dry, fast and became more and more challenging as the hours ticked by. This course was divided into several different sections, each a little different in it’s own way. This assisted with decreasing the monotony as the laps added up. I was also able to chat with and meet many riders lap after lap. Some much more serious than others. The course cleared up tremendously after the 6 hour riders finished and the night laps were quiet and peaceful.

I finished lap 8 around 9:30pm and by this time I had realized that I didn’t have 2 more laps in me. I would have to settle for 9 of the planned 10 and hoped I could get motivated enough to do this. My legs and body were tired, but my mind was awake and trying to convince them to keep going. I stopped and ate some food and checked the postings. After realizing another lap would make a difference in where I finished, I parked the rigid 1×9 Bandersnatch and left on the Jaberwockey SS for my 9th and final lap at 10:15. Finishing up in 6th Place, Solo Open Male and 11th Overall, with a little over 99 miles and 9 hours and 41 minutes of actual riding time.

This was a well organized race and a pleasure to participate in. Thanks to the promoters for the work they put into this event. Congratulations to Chris Janiszewski 1st Place Solo Open w/12 laps, Danielle Musto 1st Place Solo Open Female w/11 laps, and Eli Geske 1st Place Solo Open SS w/10 laps. Congratulations also to teammate Brian Archer who finished 3rd in the Open SS class w/8 laps. (Both, Eli and Brian were riding Vassago’s OptimusTi SS).