Breck Epic Stage 4 - Aqueduct/CT trail stage
Since I rarely update anymore - I'm quite sure no one reads this blog - but I've been wanting to get my BE experience all written down...
Man - a good's night sleep was great. My legs weren't as sore today as they had been yesterday. Actually I felt pretty decent considering it was Day 4.
Day 4 was to be the most mileage and most elevation gain.
My friend, Kay had come up to ride and give me a massage after the race. She came to the start to give my stash of Sports Legs - I left my bottle at home and didn't have enough for the entire week. What a lifesaver.
The start was a party atmosphere as it was the last day for the 3-dayers.
Today I rode a bit at the start with Chris (3 dayer from Santa Cruz). Chris told me ended up DNFing on his day 2 and he was feeling better today. I was glad he was having a better day.
(big digression - possibly showing bad sportsmanship on my part) I also noticed a lady that had joined the group at the start of Day 4. Her name is Jackie. I kinda knew who she was - she was at the Breck 32 and i remember her because of her attitude. Very aggro demeamer. At the Breck 32 - I had wondered if she was in my age group (50+) because she looked older than me...but she turns out she's a hard-worn 46. I remember her because I figured that with that attitude that she was really good. In that race after the fiscso at 1 mile and the flat and broken spokes - I was dead last. But I ended passing her 6 miles after my flat and even tho i had a bad race (30 minutes slower than 2010) I was still like an hour faster than her. So I remember being surprised that she was so aggro considering her ability.
Anyway - I don't have ANY problem with people that aren't in the race joining in for a day or two of fun.
Heinous Hill was on today's menu. The beginning is fairly steep and I've ridden enough to know that if you just grin-and-bear it on the 1st steep pitch - it's rideable. As I approached the bottom I saw Chris and Jackie off their bikes. As I rode by I noticed Jackie make a noise of disgust as i rode past her. I can't even say how much that annoyed me. Are you fucking kidding me?? First of all - I'm not even CLOSE to being fast in this race. Secondingly, I'm on friggin' day 4 - even tho I'm feeling decent - i have 3 hard days in my legs and this lady is fresh is acting like she's racing ME? I am seriously annoyed by her aggro attitude. But I rode on and never saw her for the rest of the day.
I didn't think about her for the rest of the day as it turns out I had other fish to fry.
(end digression)
I was surprised i was feeling so good. Day 4 started off with a 6 mile climb (including the aforementioned Heinous Hill) and I was even in front of Molly during the whole climb - which was a first. I roll into Aid 1 fairly pleased.
After Aid 1 - I started getting gassy. Uggh...i had been doing so good on my nutrition and hadn't had any GI issues. I backed off my pace a bit and quit taking in calories hoping the gas would pass. (no pun intended) An hour later when I was hike-a-biking Vomit Hill the GI issues hadn't got any better. Actually things got really bad. I hadn't been able to take in any more calories during this time and the gas got worse. But it didn't quite feel like I had gas - i felt like I might be something more liquid or solid wanting to come out. I jumped off my bike ran to the side of the trail, pulled down my shorts and luckily it was only gas..because I didn't have toliet paper I didn't want to take a chance of really messing up my shorts. I felt better and jumped back on my bike.
An odd thing happened as I was hike-a-biking up Vomit Hill. Vomit Hill is steep - like 16% steep. I have cleaned it in the past but it's been when i was fresh - there was no way in HELL i was able to ride up it today. A guy with the number plate 17 RODE past me on his bike and he wasn't even breathing hard!! ?? I got out of the way and said 'so sorry - I didn't hear you coming - and you aren't even breathing hard!" He answered - 'i'm like a ninja'. I laughed at that as he rode off. I wondered what he was doing way back where I was - maybe he missed the start.(more on this later)
I finally make it to the top of Vomit Hill - the GI issues wasn't getting any better. The gas kept building and since I never knew if gas, liquid or solid would be coming out and I literally didn't want to have crap in my shorts for the next 30 miles so I would run to the side of the trail and pull down my short to let whatever was coming out - come out. I probably stopped at least 6 times during the race to run to the side of the trail.
I saw my friends Kay and Amy at the Homestead after the Vomit Hill decsent. I was so happy to see friendly faces I almost started crying. A big sign of my bonking state. Yes - I started bonking at mile 15 and never fully recovered from the bonk.
I struggled along - a climb that usually takes me an hour and 10 minutes took me and hour and 50 minutes! My decsending skills were very poor - but I kept plugging away. So dissapointing since the day started out so well. By the time I hit the Middle Fork of the CT - I was walking every little power move. I felt like i was crawling. But I rode what I could and tried to force some calories in.
I hit Aid 3 after 6.5 hours out and still had 8 miles left with a major climb. Molly caught up to me at Aid 3 - it was her birthday and she literally pulled out a magic wand out her of Aid bag. I laughed my ass off. That girl is so awesome! She ended up slowing down and riding the climb with me. It was so nice to have the company. She is a great and interesting person. It made the time pass more quickly and before I knew it we were on the descent and I rolled in a shade short of 8 hours.
Damn that was brutal. But I never wanted to quit - at the beginning of the day i had high hopes for a good day - instead it became a day of just plugging away.
Turns out the ninja guy was Colby Pearce. His frame had actually broken - he rode back to town and surprisingly someone was able to fix it and he re-started the race where he had left the race. He said he ended up passing 50 people - that was half the field.
Whew was a rough day but I knew after I made it through this day and I was on the downward stretch for the Breck Epic. Sadly, Alison had a rough day too. She got dehydrated and threw up several times but she was one tough cookie and she FINISHED the course - pounding out every hard mile. A well earned finish.
I accepted my 4th leaders jersey. Had a great meal from Lucha's and a wonderful massage from Kay. I slept like a baby that night.
Man - a good's night sleep was great. My legs weren't as sore today as they had been yesterday. Actually I felt pretty decent considering it was Day 4.
Day 4 was to be the most mileage and most elevation gain.
My friend, Kay had come up to ride and give me a massage after the race. She came to the start to give my stash of Sports Legs - I left my bottle at home and didn't have enough for the entire week. What a lifesaver.
The start was a party atmosphere as it was the last day for the 3-dayers.
Actually feeling slightly sassy this morning.
The Boulder Cycle Sport team.
Today I rode a bit at the start with Chris (3 dayer from Santa Cruz). Chris told me ended up DNFing on his day 2 and he was feeling better today. I was glad he was having a better day.
(big digression - possibly showing bad sportsmanship on my part) I also noticed a lady that had joined the group at the start of Day 4. Her name is Jackie. I kinda knew who she was - she was at the Breck 32 and i remember her because of her attitude. Very aggro demeamer. At the Breck 32 - I had wondered if she was in my age group (50+) because she looked older than me...but she turns out she's a hard-worn 46. I remember her because I figured that with that attitude that she was really good. In that race after the fiscso at 1 mile and the flat and broken spokes - I was dead last. But I ended passing her 6 miles after my flat and even tho i had a bad race (30 minutes slower than 2010) I was still like an hour faster than her. So I remember being surprised that she was so aggro considering her ability.
Anyway - I don't have ANY problem with people that aren't in the race joining in for a day or two of fun.
Heinous Hill was on today's menu. The beginning is fairly steep and I've ridden enough to know that if you just grin-and-bear it on the 1st steep pitch - it's rideable. As I approached the bottom I saw Chris and Jackie off their bikes. As I rode by I noticed Jackie make a noise of disgust as i rode past her. I can't even say how much that annoyed me. Are you fucking kidding me?? First of all - I'm not even CLOSE to being fast in this race. Secondingly, I'm on friggin' day 4 - even tho I'm feeling decent - i have 3 hard days in my legs and this lady is fresh is acting like she's racing ME? I am seriously annoyed by her aggro attitude. But I rode on and never saw her for the rest of the day.
I didn't think about her for the rest of the day as it turns out I had other fish to fry.
(end digression)
I was surprised i was feeling so good. Day 4 started off with a 6 mile climb (including the aforementioned Heinous Hill) and I was even in front of Molly during the whole climb - which was a first. I roll into Aid 1 fairly pleased.
After Aid 1 - I started getting gassy. Uggh...i had been doing so good on my nutrition and hadn't had any GI issues. I backed off my pace a bit and quit taking in calories hoping the gas would pass. (no pun intended) An hour later when I was hike-a-biking Vomit Hill the GI issues hadn't got any better. Actually things got really bad. I hadn't been able to take in any more calories during this time and the gas got worse. But it didn't quite feel like I had gas - i felt like I might be something more liquid or solid wanting to come out. I jumped off my bike ran to the side of the trail, pulled down my shorts and luckily it was only gas..because I didn't have toliet paper I didn't want to take a chance of really messing up my shorts. I felt better and jumped back on my bike.
An odd thing happened as I was hike-a-biking up Vomit Hill. Vomit Hill is steep - like 16% steep. I have cleaned it in the past but it's been when i was fresh - there was no way in HELL i was able to ride up it today. A guy with the number plate 17 RODE past me on his bike and he wasn't even breathing hard!! ?? I got out of the way and said 'so sorry - I didn't hear you coming - and you aren't even breathing hard!" He answered - 'i'm like a ninja'. I laughed at that as he rode off. I wondered what he was doing way back where I was - maybe he missed the start.(more on this later)
I finally make it to the top of Vomit Hill - the GI issues wasn't getting any better. The gas kept building and since I never knew if gas, liquid or solid would be coming out and I literally didn't want to have crap in my shorts for the next 30 miles so I would run to the side of the trail and pull down my short to let whatever was coming out - come out. I probably stopped at least 6 times during the race to run to the side of the trail.
I saw my friends Kay and Amy at the Homestead after the Vomit Hill decsent. I was so happy to see friendly faces I almost started crying. A big sign of my bonking state. Yes - I started bonking at mile 15 and never fully recovered from the bonk.
I struggled along - a climb that usually takes me an hour and 10 minutes took me and hour and 50 minutes! My decsending skills were very poor - but I kept plugging away. So dissapointing since the day started out so well. By the time I hit the Middle Fork of the CT - I was walking every little power move. I felt like i was crawling. But I rode what I could and tried to force some calories in.
I hit Aid 3 after 6.5 hours out and still had 8 miles left with a major climb. Molly caught up to me at Aid 3 - it was her birthday and she literally pulled out a magic wand out her of Aid bag. I laughed my ass off. That girl is so awesome! She ended up slowing down and riding the climb with me. It was so nice to have the company. She is a great and interesting person. It made the time pass more quickly and before I knew it we were on the descent and I rolled in a shade short of 8 hours.
Damn that was brutal. But I never wanted to quit - at the beginning of the day i had high hopes for a good day - instead it became a day of just plugging away.
Turns out the ninja guy was Colby Pearce. His frame had actually broken - he rode back to town and surprisingly someone was able to fix it and he re-started the race where he had left the race. He said he ended up passing 50 people - that was half the field.
Whew was a rough day but I knew after I made it through this day and I was on the downward stretch for the Breck Epic. Sadly, Alison had a rough day too. She got dehydrated and threw up several times but she was one tough cookie and she FINISHED the course - pounding out every hard mile. A well earned finish.
I accepted my 4th leaders jersey. Had a great meal from Lucha's and a wonderful massage from Kay. I slept like a baby that night.
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