True Grit
I am realizing that this blogging thing takes a lot more dedication than I am giving it to keep you all updated on my adventures. Sorry :(
I have been putting off writing a True Grit race report. I was super duper thrilled to be racing 50 miles in the warm desert and let's just say that warm desert failed me...and 178 other racers that day. The forecast was calling for it to be in the 50's and only a 30 percent chance of rain.
Start line. I lined up and took off everything. Ok not EVERYthing, I had the basics: short sleeve jersey, shorts, shoes and a helmet. Off went the long sleeve jersey, off went the headband for my sensitive little ears, and off went the knee warmers.
Start of the race. It was actually quite eventful. My friend Bry showed up at the last second to do the race, he makes every situation more fun, so Bobby and I were really excited about that. Then as we were all rolling down the 2 mile stretch of pavement that leads to the trail head, riders started piling up and crashing. One of them would run into a big orange cone and go down and the person on his wheel would follow, to the ground that is. It was unbelievable! I'm starting to think racers are no smarter than a deer caught in a headlight. Come on people, we're mountain bikers, not roadies, we should have some skills. Then as the road (still pavement keep in mind) goes up a very steep graded hill a dude runs into the curb and flips over! What the H?
We didn't start racing until 3/4 the way up that hill and I decided to let the girls go and not chase them. I really can only come up with one explanation for this stupid behavior and that is, I knew we had some technical washes coming up and I didn't want to slow the men down. Lame right?! I can totally ride everything in those washes, with ease. I guess I haven't done a mountain bike race(2 Xterra's don't count as a mtn bike race) in about a year and maybe that's what made me timid, whatever it was I don't like it. So I never really started racing. I caught up to my friend Bry and he was doing the race on a single speed. Crazy. Passed him and grateful I did because later he gave me the best compliment ever! He told me I descend crazy fast...'like a boy', as he put it :) That makes me happy.
Then about 20 minutes into the race the rain started, I laughed it off and was optimistic that it would go away soon. Boy was I wrong. By the end of that section of the race, about 16 miles, I was freezing and the rain was only getting worse. I made a decision that I would forfeit my 4 place spot and stop and get some warm clothes on. Only problem was that my parents whom came down for a weekend of sunshine and to watch us race had locked the car. So I had to go find them and get the key. That took some time, and I'm embarrassed to say that I lost my patience with them. :( Sorry Mom and Dad.
Back in the race with some warmer layers: knee warmers, arm warmers and booties. Had no idea where I was sitting in the race now. I saw Bobby waaaay up ahead and wanted so badly to catch him. Not to be competitive, but just to enjoy his company because my race never even started and I might as well make it a great day spent with him and my bike. The next section happened to be the most technical portion of the race. Zen is the name and it makes for anything but a Zen experience. I decided that the only relation to the trail and the term Zen is that you have to either have your Chi totally aligned before and while riding it or you have to be high. Either one will make this a fun ride I'm sure. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to align my Chi and I didn't have any weed, so cursing and swearing and getting off my bike every 10 seconds is how it went. I thought Zen was difficult dry, well it's even trickier wet.
Survived Zen with no injuries. Went to the feed zone to get some food and found Bobby there :) We rode up the next climb together and stopped at the top of Bear Claw Poppy to wait for someone to come by with a tool. Bobby's cleat on his shoe had come loose and it was hanging on by a thread. Waited. Waited. Waited. Finally someone came. Fixed that little problem, then flew down the trail. I mean we were hauling Aaaaa. So fun. First fun part of the race for me. When we got to the turn off for Stucki Springs I started dropping Bobby. I was feeling good on all the climbs, but how can I leave my husband? So I didn't. In the end all of the silly little times I had to stop didn't matter because of what was yet to come. Rode to the top of Stucki and started on the descent and hello problems! The ground was saturated with water which turned it into clay. When I say clay I literally mean clay. You couldn't ride. Your bike weighed about 60 lbs and was so gummed up with clay that the wheels wouldn't turn. Hiking in the mud with a 60 lb bike in the pouring rain is enough to dampen anyone's spirit. At some points when the trail became so steep I wondered if I would have to ditch my bike and make the trek on foot alone...without Moe. Ok that thought never actually entered my mind :D But in all honesty, I could barely get to the top of the big hills. I need to work on my upper body strength so bad it's ridiculous. The next 3 miles were spent walking in these conditions.
Left turn= continuing on in the race Right turn= head toward Santa Clara and get picked up in a truck.
I told Bobby I wanted to turn right, he told me no way and that we're finishing this thing. No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than he was tipping off his bike because of an extreme cramp in his hamstring. Ouch! Those freakin kill. So he agreed to turn around and head to the trucks. When we got there, there were a bunch of racers waiting to be picked up. Most of them were hypothermic. I went and got in an ambulance just so I could warm up enough to stop my whole body from chattering to death. A dude in there was told to strip down to nothing and not to worry that there was a girl (me) sitting right next to him "this is life or death" they told him. He was so cold that nothing seemed to be registering in his mind so they started helping him undress.
The ride back to St George. Bobby bless his amazing huge heart volunteered to ride in the back of the pick up truck so that several other people could get warm in the cab of the truck. I saw Bry riding back on the road and asked to driver to slow down so we could offer him a ride. Bry said he would rather ride so that he could stay warm.
The 1/4 mile ride back to the condo. Bobby and I got dropped off about a 1/4 mile from our condo. This is the most epic ride I've experienced and it was a quarter of a mile. I could barely ride I was so cold, my feet were shaking so badly I thought I was going to crash. Bobby looked back and saw me in this condition and knew that I was in bad shape. He literally coached me the whole way back and helped stabilize me so I wouldn't tip over. We got back and Bobby started taking off my shoes and knee warmers and told me to get in the hot tub. I felt guilty about getting in a hot tub with a layer of mud on me but like the paramedics said, this was life or death. Never have I been that cold. And never do I want to be that cold in my life again.
So how many people finished? 12. Out of 178. That's bad. Do you know what's even worse? Not one girl finished. I heard they actually shut the race down after we went by the last check point and forced people to turn back. Epic.
So that's my awesome start to a season! :D I got the muddy race out of the way, I'm ready for the next set of craziness!
Sorry too lazy to put pictures on because it is waaay past my bedtime.
