Syllamo's Revenge 125k

I got my ass handed to me by Arkansas's Syllamo trail system.  I pre-rode the start and first climb the day before that race and that went well.  The first climb is about 1 mile long that starts at the Blanchard Recreation area campground and then jumps into the single track of the yellow loop.

The first few miles went fine, I settled into a good pace.  During the first climb I noticed a guy go by wearing a Bell's Brewery Jersey.  It turned out to be Lee Cook from Kalamazoo.  Lee and I worked together for the first few miles until we got behind someone going just to slow.  Lee asked to pass the guy ahead of us and my encouragement.  As Lee passed he got caught up in some brush and fell down an embankment of rocks.  I didn't see Lee until later when he went by me after I fell on a switch back of rocks.  I didn't see him again until the first aid station where he had his elbow bandaged up and told me that it probably needed stitches.

I decided to journey on, I can't tell you where I was because I have never ridden Syllamo before.  All I know is that the terrain got more and more difficult.  The downhill switchbacks where driving me crazy, they were tight and rocky.  I was also starting to notice a knock in my headset.  This knock would get louder and louder as the race went on.  In a way I felt way beyond my comfort zone and was pushed to attempt terrain that I was not accustom to at all or even ridden before.

After falling 3 more times on the damn switchbacks the rocks where staring to take their tolls on my body.  By this time my shins where all scraped and bruised up and my right hip was bruised.  My left palm was hurting too.  For some reason I decided to wear full finger gloves and was glad I did.   The last time I fell I was ready to give in, I kept saying to myself "This is stupid, I'm going to kill myself out here" I picked the bike up off from the top of me, checked it out and decided to get back on.  All of this and I haven't even got 20 miles in yet.

By the time I got to the second aid station the heat had really risen.  It had spiked to 113 degrees on my GPS.  I was downing water like I had drank in days.  This was probably the start to my stomach problems that reared it's ugly head once again later in the race (I have been dealing with stomach issues on long races for a year now and have yet to figure it out). 

To get to the third aid station took everything I had, there was a long hike a bike uphill section that was totally un-rideable, at least for me.  There was 3 stream crossing, one that I could ride across the other two I would had to dismount and walk through.  Each one was about 20 to 30 yards wide.  There where rock / boulder lined downhill chutes that I had to get off my bike and walk down because I didn't dare chance another fall.

3 of the 4 checkpoint wristbands needed, I didn't get the yellow.

It took me 6 hours and 45 minutes to get 30 miles and the 3rd check point, mentally I was defeated, physically I was drained.  I tried to recover at the 3rd check point but it wasn't happening.  I couldn't get my heart rate to come down and my stomach was up in my throat.  I took a couple of papaya extracts and 2 Succeed tablets and my stomach calmed down enough for me to get back on the bike.  After checking my GPS readout after the race I realized I spent over an hour at the 3rd check point but during the race I could have sworn I was only there for about 20 minutes.

I got back on my bike and started to head out on what they call the red loop.  This was to be the easier 12 mile loop of the track.  As I headed out a race official caught me and informed me that I could continue on but I would not make the cutoff time.  I decided to to go ahead and do the 12 miles anyway, with my ego totally blown, my stomach in my mouth and all my bangs and bruises starting to play a toll on my body.  It took me 1 hour and 50 minutes to go that 12 miles, but I did it when the easy thing to do was just quit and ride the bike down the 1.5 mile downhill back to the start after they told me I would make the cut off.

I told my wife when I was done that If I had pre-rode the whole coarse a month earlier I wouldn't have done this race.  The terrain was way beyond my comfort zone but I learned from it, I got through the toughest part of the coarse and I pushed myself and got 50 miles in.  I was glad my family was there for support and to ease the pain when I was done.  My wife took care of me as I laid on the ground next to our car with words of encouragement and a chocolate milk, thanks Honey!

I am already thinking of my next endurance event and what I can do different to make sure I do better, lets go ride now!

Fort Custer Stampede... Expert?

Well I took the plunge already, I moved up to Expert for the Fort Custer Stampede.  I called my coach Mike Schultz and we had a talk about what category I should be racing.  After talking about what would be best and we came to the conclusion that I should be racing the longest races I can to prepare for the 100 mile races.

I may not be as competitive in Expert as I would be in Sport, but the extra mileage will be good for me.  I also got a lot of grief from my training partner  Mark Boese for not racing Expert too, oh the peer pressure.  So the night before the race I stopped by Custer Cyclery to ask Dan Stewart if he know how to get a hold of Cathy Needham.  He called Cathy for me and got me moved me from Sport to Expert.

I pre-rode the coarse on Saturday the best I could, it wasn't marked yet when I rode it, but since it's my home track I wasn't too concerned.

I got up Sunday morning and my wife made me some eggs and rice for breakfast.  This was all I ate besides the few cups of coffee that I drank too.

I got to the race sit and set up my easy-up in team row.  I arranged for a spot for my team - Cannondale Midwest Racing with the promoter a few days earlier.  I was there about 2 hours before the race and really had too much time on my hands before I had to get to the starting line.

10:00 am was the start time for the Elite/Expert Categories.  I waited my time until our group was called to the starting line.  As the starter said go, I had a hard time clipping into my pedals and got off to a slow start.  I was next to last going into the single track.  I guess I was in no hurry to get the party started.  I got into a good pace and kept the majority of my field in sight.

Expert Men 40-49 at the Fort Custer Stampede

 It was just one long pace-line for the first 3 miles, that was until we got to Granny's Garden.  This is where 2 assholes from the group behind decided they needed to pass in the tightest most technical part of the coarse.  They cut me off on the inside of a turn which went down into a gully and then made a quick right hand turn with a quick uphill.  The 2 a-holes didn't even make it up the climb and caused everyone behind them to get off their bikes.  While I was off my bike my left pedal got stuck in another guys spokes... Thanks A-Holes (The A-Holes wore black and grey kits, not sure what team they are).

The rest of the race went pretty good, I worked my heart rate up just under my threshold and kept it there the whole race.  I worked hard and kept my lap times within 3 minutes of each other.  I ended up with a total time of 2:07:38 for about 27 miles, 17 minutes behind the leaders.  I ended up 22nd in my age group.  I passed about 10 guys and got clipped at the finish line by 1/10 of a second for 21st. 

I am glad I moved up and found out that I can at least keep up with these guys and not totally embarrass myself.  I guess I'll be racing Expert from here on out.

A Fallen Friend...

Yesterday I went out to Fort Custer for a little pre-ride on the race coarse for Sundays race - the Fort Custer Stampede.  While getting things ready in the parking lot a friend of mine, Mark Boese,  pulled up on his bike, he had already gotten 2 laps in and was ready to start his third. 

So we left the trail head parking lot and proceeded out on the red loop.  The red loop starts with some twisty single track through some trenches and then goes through a little rock garden.  After about a mile or so it dumps out into an open field,  About 200 yards into the open field there a couple of humps that we call the camel backs.  There are two of them and they are lined with lannon stone to stop erosion and to preserve the humps.

This is where it get's interesting, it was riding behind Mark when he went down after the 2nd hump.  It was surprising because Mark and I have been doing a lot of riding together getting ready for the Lumberjack and he rides Expert when he races, so he has skills.  We were not going at a fast past, just a comfortable pre-ride pace.

When I crested the 2nd hump Mark was lying on the ground at the bottom of the hump.  He had gone over the handlebars,  I quickly got off my bike to see if he was alright and that is when I noticed it.  It's the type of thing you hear about, but never actually think you are going to see it.  You learned about it in boy scouts and what to do when it happens.  It's in every first aid book you ever had with those cartoonish characters drawing of what it looks like... yes the compound fracture.

Yes, that is bone sticking out from below his elbow.

There he was sitting on the ground with bones sticking out just below his elbow with blood flowing out of it like a faucet.  I was thinking oh my god, we've got to get that bleeding to stop.  Mark pulled on the exposed bone first thinking it was a rock that had embedded into his elbow from the crash.  He soon realized that it was not a rock at all.

Neither of us had a phone with us (let that be a lesson learned) and we were fortunate enough that a couple of other riders came up on us and had a phone.  They called 911 for us and arranged for an ambulance.

At this point Mark decided that he was not going to wait for help to come to him, I believe his exact words were "I am not going to bleed to death here".  He had an experience before with his wife getting injured at Fort Custer and then taking forever to get help to her out on the trails.  So Mark stood up while grabbing his arm just above his elbow and applying pressure to help stop the bleeding.  I grabbed his bike and we proceeded to walk out to the trail head.

I couldn't believe he was doing this but he was very persistent that he didn't want to wait and just wanted to get back to the parking lot.  He was amazing that he could do this.  We talked as we walked to the trail head.  Mark was totally pissed about what had just happened and the fact that he was probably going to miss the Lumberjack.  I tried to come up with small talk to help keep his mind off what had just happened but I wasn't very good at it.  We just kept walking, me with 2 bikes and him holding his arm just above his elbow.  It's almost like I can remember every step of that walk.

In the end, we got Mark to the hospital with the help of EMT's, Park Rangers, and First Responders.  He talked with his surgeon today and found out that his elbow was shattered into 10 pieces,  he has surgery on it tomorrow and I only wish him the best and a speedy recovery. 

Mark, 2 weeks earlier at Yankee Springs TT