5 man open, 220+ years
14 laps
2nd place
Rain and mud
Arrival
Tick and I arrived around 1:30 PM on Friday and chose a spot one row removed from the first single track section. I was a fortuitous choice, as it made hand offs easier. We eventually stopped waiting around the chute and instead took off from our campsite. We were between Snowjnky's and Mountain Hardware's camps, right next to one of the many free kegs provided by the race organizers. The Mountain Hardware guys setup this incredible tent, the kind you see in National Geographic's pictures of Mt. Everest base camp. They said a larger version of this tent is used as a hospital there.
It was drizzling during setup, turning to steady rain as dinner approached. Carmen had volunteered to cook dinner, but rescinded her promise as the weather worsened. So, eight of us walked down to a pizza parlor that didn't have a liquor license. We quickly ate and then stopped by the bar on the way back to camp to carbo load and hydrate. Rough cut wood floors, pool table, both kinds of music on the jukebox, cowboy hats, none of this rhinestone stuff.
Jeff "Suave" Hecox
Remember that road trip scene from Animal House, when they walked into the bar and everything came to a complete stop. Even the music. Yeah, that was our reception. The locals warmed up quickly, though. In fact, Jeff could have had his choice that night. It was awe inspiring to see a master at work. The first blond in a soft leg cast said, " Oh, there's a tall one," and the second one eventually tried to sell him a house.
We're still chatting with the realtor, when a guy walks into the bar with a dog. He comes up to Jeff, grabs his hand and says, "That's my wife." Jeff's all calm and collected, as he's obviously dealt with this situation many a time. He casually told the husband about the race, and the guy offered Jeff $20 on the spot. He said it was a donation to our worthy cause. I called it a bribe to get Jeff to lay off his wife. We, I mean Jeff, didn't take his money, but asked him to make a donation during the race.
As we were consuming a plethora of Widmer Hefeweizens, this grizzled old guy comes in and starts setting up what I thought was a live band. Turns out it was Karaoke of all things. The realtor starts the show and she's a ringer with her version of Nobody Does it Better. Nobody wanted to follow that act.
Quite the Storm
We walked back to camp in the pouring rain and contemplated going to sleep at 8 PM. Tick went over to the Mountain Hardware tent and scored us an invite. It was dry and they had beer. We hung out with those guys until almost midnight before going to bed. It was howling and I kept getting up during the night to make sure our canopies didn't fall over. I hung bikes, a cooler and my toolbox on mine for weight. I even setup some guy lines. The rain finally stopped around 1 AM.
We Also Raced
The next morning, Carmen and Tick made breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, eggs and coffee. We discussed our strategy and prepped the bikes. Our order was Tick, Jeff, Marco, myself, then JL. We would have sent out our captain first, but JL didn't show up until 10 AM. The race came to a complete clusterf*ck within a minute as no one wanted to get wet and muddy at the first stream crossing less than a quarter mile from the start.
The proposed handoff area was right down the chute from the start line, but really didn't work out. Teams started lining up at the first turn where it was wider. At the beginning, the next rider was waiting for the previous one to arrive for a mythical baton handoff. Soon, it became once you reached the dismount point, your teammate took off. For us, it morphed into come and get me when it's my turn.
I only managed to ride everything on my first lap. I couldn't shift to my three lowest cogs and had to clean out my housing and change the rear derailleur cable. My night lap combined with mud, rain, fatigue and not enough lumens made me walk a few of the steepest sections. Rafael was still holding court when I returned at 1 AM. Fortunately he left soon after and I got a few hours sleep. Tick and his tent, unfortunately, were right next to Rafael he and heard everything.
I got up at 3 to relieve myself as Jeff was preparing for his lap. He told me that Marco looked pretty haggard after his lap and that I might need to go out early. I set my alarm for 5 AM and prayed for his speedy recovery. I was relieved to hear Marco stirring about when I awoke. I started getting ready during his lap when Jim stopped by to tell us the race was ending two hours early. I did the math, if Marco gets back by 8, I'm going. I had breakfast, cleaned and lubed my chain and rear derailleur cable and waited. Fortunately, Marco arrived with 2.25 hours to spare.
It was raining the whole lap which actually improved traction. Anywhere it was steep, I rode in the running water. I was nice and solid there, compared to the slick stuff on either side of me. As I made the left turn over the root near the end, I over cooked it, hooked the tree with my left elbow and went down on my back. I got up quickly and sprinted to the finish. Before I left, I gave Tick the keys so he could start loading the Explorer. I guess I was too fast, as only his tent was packed up. Oh well, we had plenty of time to kill, as it was a major traffic jam with double parked vehicles.
Podium
We never knew the team standings until 11:30 AM. Turns out we came in second, behind some Sho-Air ringers. We collected our hardware and took a team photo under the finish line. We'll have to PhotoShop JL into the picture as he left earlier.