I had previously done this race in 2011, report here, and had some bike issues that forced me to withdraw. So I was really looking forward to this race this year! This would be my 3rd endurance type mountain bike race this season. The 1st being Ridgeline Rampage in Castle Rock, CO in the spring as part of the RME series. It was 60ish miles, 10 mile laps, I dropped out after 5 laps. Next was The Steamboat Stinger (best organized and most fun race I've ever done!) 50+ miles with around 95% singletrack and over 7k ft of climbing. I finished 46th in the pro/open class with a time of 5:10. Last endurance race of the 2013 season would be the BT Epic, and first since moving back to IL from CO.
We arrived at Bass Resort on Friday afternoon in time to unpack and head out for an hour ride. Trails were in amazing shape! Leafless and fast!
Dad had booked an amazing cabin for us all to stay in. It was huge! Great because it meant that the kids could have their own rooms! (Better sleeping for all) It was also right along the beginning of the course, so the kids could watch me ride by. Another perk was the TV so that I could watch the Birds in the World Series after the race on Saturday!
Woke up early Saturday morning to finish prepping bottles/nutrition and get my bowl of oatmeal. There was a bit of cloud cover early meaning it hadn't gotten as cold as it was supposed to get. This is good considering that after you warm up you still have to sit at the start line for about 15 minutes while things get ready to take off. Temp was about 40 degrees at the start. Sitting in the sun it was just perfect for only arm warmers. I wanted knee warmers as well, but didn't want to take the time to take them off at Berryman Campground, the 2nd checkpoint, and I prefer not to race with my legs covered anyway. Last time I did this race I got lined up too far back and then had to make up a ton of ground to try to catch back up with the leaders. I was determined to not let this happen again, so got lined up at the front of the group. 8:30 they fired the pistol into the air and we were off! The race starts off with a few miles of paved/gravel road and begins climbing almost immediately. Kind of a long ish gradual gravel climb. I hit that first climb with the leaders, however could not/would not maintain the pace necessary to stay with the front 10 or so. I could see Brian Jensen off the front with the small group of leaders a little behind him, then myself and a couple of others. I was estimating I hit the singletrack in the top 15. Right where I wanted to be.
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| Last race in Yeti's Kit... :-( |
Right before the singletrack the guy I was riding with came around me. I ended up sitting on his wheel for the first 20 miles. He was riding extremely smooth, picking good lines, and keeping the pace high. We began to pick off a few riders that had gotten into the woods ahead of us. When we popped out at checkpoint #1 the organizers were there and yelled "Go Dewayne!" I don't know this person, but I do know that I've seen his name on the t-shirt every year in the top 10! This kind of gave me an idea as to where I was, and I liked it! Although I wasn't really thinking I was that far up... We maintained a steady pace on the singletrack between checkpoint one and #2 which is the first time through the Berryman Campground and where my wife and kids were waiting for me. I only backed off the pace a little bit about 2 miles from CP#2 because I felt like I should begin fueling a bit. I had a gel and some endurolytes. I ended up riding into Berryman alone (little did I know that I would be riding alone almost the entire rest of the race...) That's one of the craziest things about endurance racing! Even though there are hundreds of other people out there with you, you often spend lots of time riding by yourself. Your mind starts to play tricks on you! It's tough to maintain focus. At CP#2 I grabbed 2 new bottles of FLUID drink and some more calories, Honey Stinger blocks and some gels. Leaving CP#2, I was right around the top 10, although I didn't know or think that at the time.
Out of CP#2 still feeling great I took off back into the woods. Shortly after, a guy passed me, and then I wouldn't see anyone for miles. From CP#2 the trail does a big loop and comes back into Berryman Camp for CP#4. CP#3 is a stump next to the trail where you have to grab a zip tie to prove you were there. The tub of zip ties had been spilled and was laying on the ground. I stopped to pick one up, and shortly after that, a guy on a single speed passed me. It was also around this time that I began to feel some cramps coming on. From then on I was trying to consume 3-4 endurolytes every half hour or so. We hit service road then pavement back to Berryman. Each time we hit a climb he passed me and each time it was flat I would pass him back (gears...) He eventually passed me on the climb up to Berryman for the last time (I thought). I had some more cramping issues on this climb, however I could just continue to soft pedal and they would go away. Into Berryman the 2nd time, grabbed some more endurolytes, a bottle of Coke, and a bottle of FLUID sports drink. This was the last CP before the finish. My wife did a great job doing support! It was into the aid, drop used bottles, get new ones and go! Very efficient. Mom said I was in or near the top 10 at this point. (I didn't believe her! I figured more around 25th...)
Shortly after leaving Berryman on the singletrack, the single speed guy passed me again. I was now having some significant cramping anytime I had to put forth a violent effort. Like tree root covered climbs. Or any rocky climbs that required short powerful efforts. I was thinking it would be best if I could just soft pedal and keep moving. I downed the rest of my endurolytes and a gel. It felt like I was barely moving... yet there was no one to be seen anywhere. I "knew" that at any moment I was going to get caught and passed by like 50 people... I just didn't understand where everyone was. At one point on this section, I had a major cramp, entire leg, and had to stop. 1 more guy passed me then. I just kept telling myself that the rock road back to the finish had to be coming up soon. Eventually (felt like a long time) it did. Unfortunately to get to the rock road you had to climb out of the bottom. This meant climbing extremely easy to avoid cramping again. Then I figured out that I could stand and climb, this helped with delaying the cramps. By the time I got to the rock road 2 more guys had caught me. One of which was wearing a Qdoba kit. I didn't know who it was but I do know all those guys are fairly strong roadies, so I must not have been doing too badly. Once we hit rock 2 of us started sharing pulls back to the finish. We were hauling, my legs felt ok as long as I didn't have to climb. Right before we hit the turn off the rock, to go around the back side of the campground to the finish, right before a sand pit, the guy that was working with me turns to me and asks, "is this the finish?" I said "yep" knowing what was going to happen next. (I had thought we would all 3 just roll in together, since we had been working/riding together for the past 7 miles and we were not in the top 10...) I knew when I told him yep, he was going to take off. And take off he did, and my competitive nature, I wasn't going to let him get away with it... So we had a nice little effort to wrap it up, and I rolled into the tent just in front of him.
I finished 17th. Pumped with that result! Had a goal coming in at 5 hours and/or top 20 overall. I finished in 4:55 in 17th place. Motivation for the next year of training? Knowing that 8th place overall was only 3 minutes in front of me! Only 3 minutes separated 8th from 18th! That seems crazy since I ended up riding the majority of the race without even seeing anyone else. I think, although I'm not positive, the guy I was riding with for the first 20 miles finished 5th? Next years goal will be to get my name on that T-shirt! With no cramping issues, it could happen.
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| I was wasted after the race. No long extended climbs, but just constantly up and down. Not much flat, effort free rolling. |
I thought I had the cramping thing figured out. No cramps at the Stinger in August, and it was much hotter, more climbing. This race and that one I consumed about 10 endurolytes/hour, with FLUID energy drink (which I really like), and gels and shot blocks for calories. I know part of the problem was that I didn't get anything into my system for the first hour and a half, as I was too focused on staying on the wheel in front of me. I need to find an easier way to get nutrition in rather than grabbing it out of my jersey pocket.
Got the necessities. Pie and soda stream My bike was great! No issues, no crashes! What a fun day riding around in the woods! This race has a beautiful location, well organized, free beer, and great post race party/prize giveaway! Highly recommend!
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