more post race happy thoughts and pics. in case i forgot to mention it...the riding was amazing. no matter how much i was suffering there was always a part of me smiling because i got to ride this stuff. the speeds were crazy addictive. sustained 25-30 mph downhills on singletrack for what seemed like miles. 35mph+ for miles down gravel roads. i've never been so white knuckled in my life just praying that no one in this string of 15 riders raging down a mountain would lay it down, cause we all would've been in bad shape. i will come back. smarter and stronger. met some super cool people. finally got to hang out with
craig which was cool despite my having to ask him to do metric conversions for me every 2 minutes (i was far too mentally fried to do it for myself). again, the race organization and the volunteer staff was second to none. finishing my first hundred miler feels pretty good regardless of whether or not i met my own expectations. another huge thanks to
vassago for making such an awesome bike and for getting me back on one so quickly.
base camp brought to you by vassago
personalized number plates...impressive
5:30 a.m. race day. beef sticks for breakfast.
no, it wasn't raining. there was just that much moisture in the air.
geared up and chatting with craig
requisite pre-race briefing and equally requisite pre-race stance
controlled rollout through the village of coburn, pa
rolling out of aid station #1
craig getting situated at aid station #1
aid station #3 approx. 60 miles in. my world had already started to collapse when i got here. i stuffed my face. and yes, i am picking my chamois out of my ass.
leaving aid station #3. i think i rode another 10 yards then walked for the next 20 minutes. the singletrack climb coming out of this aid station was soul crushing.
yes, i wanted to die. i couldn't get my other sock off without at least 4 different muscles cramping at the same time.
7 comments:
can't even imagine it...outstanding!
Great!
ari
Also, your massive cramps were clearly a punishment by the gods for using one of those silly suspension forks!!!!
Not only are you the only guy I know who would eat beef sticks for a pre-race breakfast -- you're the only guy I know who would eat beef sticks for breakfast!! What is wrong with you?! Who eats a beef stick at 5:30 AM?
If there was a classification for for being more carnivorous than carnivorous, it would be called "Shockstarivorous".
so...if i told you i was eating a ham sandwich and beef sticks while reading this...
and charlie, that silly thing is being taken off in roughly 15 minutes and probably won't go back on til sometime next year. ouachita, maybe. i hadn't quite thought of it that way, but i haven't been smoten by the gods for a short time so it seems appropriate.
Some day I need to up my stupidity and do a few of these hundy's. But until then I can just live vicairously through you:) Cramps bad. Although after all the laps I've been doing at Boone preping for the 24hr, I put a boing boing on the Stumpy. When I won the 24 two years ago I went fully rigid, it was all good except the front side....hamburger hands blow as much as cramps:)
Don't lie sweetheart... you didn't even take that other sock off. I did. True love or some shit like that.
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