3rd Men's Open / 4th Overall
10 Hours 35 Minutes
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| Photo by: Jerry Jackson |
The 100 mile racers lined up at 0600 and rolled out to a
beautiful brisk morning that recent rainfall had brought us. We quickly entered
onto our singletrack that throughout the day was perfectly tacky aside from a
couple muddy spots that weren’t that bad. Patrick Blair, Gordon Wadsworth and
Greg Capelle sat up front and I settled in right behind them. Where’s Kevin
Carter, we had all seen him hanging out around registration, he’ll show up, he
always does; fashionably late.
Over the last years these trails have been my backyard to
romp around in, play and most importantly on this race day, learn. I knew this
race course inside out I knew where the log overs would be, I knew the lines to
take. I had my own strategies to save energy and when to put it on the line. I
knew when to get off my bike and run and the precise moments to do so.
I had been building my fitness focused on this race for the
previous months and of course with my year round training. Recent training
rides on and off the course with fast AFC team members and other friends had
helped boost me to where I was today feeling strong and ready to perform my
best.
With my preparation where it was for the technicality of
this course I really wanted to get out front on the course but not try to chase
down racers out of my league. This was tough from the start, Patrick and Gordon
were easy to let go. This left me Greg and Jesse Kelly to fight for our ranks.
Greg and I have done enough rides together that I know he is a stronger rider
than me. He gets bullied into being strong at our weekly Wednesday team rides
and still can usually out climb me on those tough days. I’ve raced with Jesse
once earlier this year and had a good race for me, but still came in about 15
minutes behind him. I knew both of these riders are strong, so I needed to
count on my training to prepare me to be a stronger rider today and most
importantly focus on my strengths for the day; this course.
Jesse quickly let me lead out during our first couple miles
of technical singletrack, but who’s this other guy behind me wanting to pass. I
was stubborn and decided to just pick up my pace a little but took the
advantage that I was in front and knew I wasn’t going to dab on the features.
This was a strategy for mine through the whole race; don’t sit behind someone
during anything technical, if they dab, I dab and then I spend wasted power.
Smooth riding all day conserves energy and allows for faster racing.
Arrival at the first creek crossing came shortly and
provided an opening for me to let my competitor by. We were moving into some
steeper climbing that if the person behind me really should be passing then we
shouldn’t have any issues. So I let mystery person by and, ahhhh, there goes
Kevin Carter. I apologize as he goes by and feel like if I had known it was him
I would have let him and his jet fuel past me. Kevin was super kind as always
in racing and was even patient even though he was needing to catch up to his
competition. Sorry I held you up Kevin :)
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| Cedar Creek Crossing First Lap, Kevin Carter coming up behind me. Photo By: Jerry Jackson |
Greg decided I was going to slow for him around mile 10 at
the top of a steeper climb into a big open field. I felt I had been holding him
up, I thought he was just going to stick my wheel and take off later. When he
passed I figured he had bigger fish to fry and was trying to catch up to the
lead group. From here I rode alone for the next 15 miles or so until out of
nowhere Jesse comes up behind me. Was I riding too casually to have him sneak
up on me, sometimes I slow down when I’m riding solo. He tells me about the
troubles that he has had early in the race and then we start swapping positions
back and forth. The urge to pee starts getting pretty strong for me and I pull
to the side with a small gap on Jesse. Dang the longest pee in the history of
Paul, there goes Jesse and here I am still peeing.
I worked to catch back up to Jesse but as we got to the
flats I had about a 10-15 second gap on him. He made sure to ride away with his
Jesse power. I let him go, figuring that the effort spent to chase him down
would burn me too much for the energy saved sucking his wheel and then I would
probably get dropped on the Johnnycake climb or go too hard. He put a good gap
on me and I went into my second lap without him in sight.
Into my second lap Greg shows up behind me somehow, he has
had a rough day riding and has crashed a fair amount of times. I had to give
Greg super kudos for even putting his wheel on the line, just about six weeks
prior he suffered from a separated shoulder and had worked up enough to still
race. The crashing was wearing him down though and I felt real bad for him. I
really wanted him to finish, but the troubles of the day along with a cracked
frame had him call it after his second lap.
I left Greg right before the Switchbacks and went to chase
after Jesse, I really want to catch back up to him. I’ve now passed the halfway
point of the lap which also puts me halfway through the race. Every long
stretch I have I am looking ahead for Jesse, but no sign of him. I get back to
start finish and throw down some boiled potatoes with balsamic vinegar, oil,
salt and onions, yummm. One V8 down the hatch, a kiss for Leesa, my wife, and I’m
off for lap three of goodness.
As I finished the picnic loop I see Jesse coming up towards
the start finish, he hasn’t been ahead of me all of lap two, he is about 10
minutes behind me. This gave me a surge of energy, I was back in third with a
strong lead. This surge of energy was short lived as I hit Pickall for the
third time, the most technical part of the race with steep climbs and rocky
rooty terrain. It wore hard on me this lap but I finally made it through it and
checked it off my list for the day. As I started fatiguing on the third lap I
got off the bike and ran instead of halting and crashing on a couple spots I
knew were troublesome for me when I am fresh. I felt I made the correct
decisions throughout the day on navigating this wonderful course. I hadn’t
crashed, I felt good, my power had been consistent due to fluid maneuvering of
the trail.
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| Two refreshing water crossings every lap!!! Photo By: Jerry Jackson |
I was so worried Jesse was right on my tail, I had lost ten
minutes, and these could be the same ten minutes I had on him. If he was
charging hard or keeping a same pace he could be right on my tail. I was close
to the end now, but close is still 1 hour and 50 minutes away. I had to
navigate Woodstock which only had two real climbs in it, neither were too
demanding. After Woodstock a couple longer climbs one that was draining with a
lot of rocks and roots with a steeper pitch at the top. Then of course to top
off the day for climbing in the woods is Hell of the North, a hike a bike
section, only rideable on a fun day. On race day, it would take more exertion
and not really save time to ride it. I also didn’t mind the hike, Hell of the North
would allow me to use my calf muscles more than my other muscles that have been
fatiguing through the rest of the riding. I was still much slower on this
segment than previous laps. Once at the top it is smooth sailing down some of
the sweetest downhill this course has to offer, jump on some flat riding and
hit the last road climb to the finish.
I kept looking back when I had long stretches to view, but
no sign of anyone was behind. I climbed my way to third place open and was
greeted by a bunch of friends and my earned my spot 3rd on the
podium. I crushed my goal of 11 hours by coming in at 10hr 35min. and I
accomplished my goal of 3rd place. Both were goals I knew were going
to be hard to achieve. My training paid off and I was very proud of my
accomplishments!
Thanks to my wife first for working with me on all the
training and racing I do. AFC for such a great race. Everyone who contributed
to making this race happen were amazing, Mid Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts(MORE)
and especially Ed Dixon and Eric Crawford have continued to keep Patapsco such
an amazing place to ride. Training friends to help me get here. No Film
Photography and his band of photographers for putting together some great
coverage.
