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Post by dgaddis1 on Aug 17, 2008 14:58:08 GMT -5
Just got back from the Fools Gold. Had a GREAT time. I rode well, much better than expected, and made my time goal even though I had some nagging problems slowing me down all day. The winner of the 100 miler finished in 7 hours and 25 minutes. WOW. I seriously cannot get my head around that...
Really sorry Nitro couldn't make it. Pretty confident he would have beat me by a lot. Hope that knee heals up quick.
Here's my story. Copy and pasted from a thread on the main SORBA forums. Enjoy.
Really sorry Nitro couldn't make it. Pretty confident he would have beat me by a lot. Hope that knee heals up quick.
Here's my story. Copy and pasted from a thread on the main SORBA forums. Enjoy.
What a great weekend! HUGE thanks to Eddie and Namrita and all the volunteers! I didn't hear anyone complaining all weekend.
This was my first time ever riding in the mountains, and the longest off road ride I've ever done, and I had some annoying problems that slowed me down all day long...on both the climbs and the descents. But, I'm still very happy with how I finished.
I've been riding my bike as a single speed for about 9 months now, but I knew I'd need some gears for 50 miles in the mountains. So, a week before the race I put my RD back on and set the bike up as a 1x9. Friday night my buddy and I decide to ride our bikes a ways up the hill till we get signal on our phones so we can make a few calls. On the way back down my chain falls of the chainring and gets stuck between the crank arms and frame. Not good. I need a chain guide. I don't have one...so, we engineer and hand fabricate a beautiful chainguide out of a piece of plastic coat hanger (which I had laying around in my trunk) and duct tape and zip ties:
Fantastic. We chill for the rest of the night. Talk to a volunteer who will be at SAG 4 and she tells us it's all downhill from there, sweet.
Sat. morning we line up at the back of the pack for the start. I'd rather work my way past people than slow down the serious riders. About a half mile up the climb everyone spreads out and finds their place in the group. I start working my way past people. I pass a lot of people, and only one person passes me. I was surprised to be doing so well, and hoped I wasn't pushing too hard to early. We finally get to go downhill. It's fast, it's bumpy, it's slippery. My chain stays on. Awesome.
More climbing, I pass more people. Then we get more fast, rough scary downhill. I get to the bottom and try to pedal and my cranks lock up. I look down to find my "chainguide" and chain jammed between the cranks and frame. We've ridden about 8 miles. Crap. I stop for what feels like forever to get the hanger piece out. Lots of people pass me. Ugh.
More climbing. I don't stop for SAG 1. Finally we turn onto single track, where I hope my good bike handling skills will let me gain some time. But, I can't go fast on the downhills, or my chain falls off. Almost every time I stop to fix it someone passes me. After it falls off the tenth time I quit counting. I'm getting frustrated.
I roll up to SAG 2. My computer shows 21 miles. Lots of people here. One of the volunteers takes my pack and refills it with water and gives me a banana (already opened!) to eat. I pick up my bike and start walking up the trail while I eat. I was stopped less than a minute. Bravo to the volunteers!
Three miles later my muscles start feeling tense. I've never felt this before, but I know what it is. Cramps are coming. I stand up to hammer up a steep section of trail and my quads lock up. It feels like there's a baseball just above my knee...I sit down and drop a few gears and pedal easy.
The rest of the ride went that way. If I pushed to hard on the climbs I cramped. If I went too fast thru the rough stuff my chain fell off. Because I had a 1x9 I didn't have a low enough gear for some of the single track climbs to keep my effort down, so I had to get off and push the bike. While getting back on, everytime I throw a leg over the bike my calf cramps bad. It hurts. I've never cramped before. My brakes overheated several times. They make stupid loud squealing noises and fade when they get too hot. Sure am glad I had new pads put on last week!
I stoped at SAG 3 to grab the stuff out of my drop bag. The volunteers hook me up with an oatmeal cookie and handful of mini oreos. I'm on the bike in less than a minute again. Then, the best part of the whole day. I don't know the name of the trail, but it was mostly downhill, it was smooth, it flowed, and all the corners were banked. It was awesome. Finally, I can get off the brakes and fly.
Then more climbing. Finally get to SAG 4. I say "it's all downhill from here right?" Someone says "Well, um..." but I don't hear the rest, I'm already gone. Turns out it's not all downhill. It's actually about 9 miles of climbing with a few short downhills thrown in. It sucks, and I'm not happy.
Eventually I'm in the ranger station, and I know it really is all downhill from there. I'm happy again.
Climbing over all those cedar trees just outside of camp sucked. I cramp pretty bad through there.
I cross the line at 1:30 on the nose. Six and half hours. My computer shows six hours and ten minutes of moving time. Both rest stops were under a minute each, and I stopped once to pee. The rest of the time was spent putting my chain back on.
What a ride. I had a great time. Everyone was super friendly, and the course was very well marked.
Favorite quote, on the way back to Augusta my buddy (who finished in about 7 hours and 30/45 minutes) was talking about the winner of the 100 mile race and said "He rode twice as far as I did, and he did it at twice the pace. He's four times better than me."
I'll be back next year. And this time, I'm going to train!
