My Hardest Race To Date

Baker’s Dozen 2013: 3rd Place

Group shot with some fellow AFC teammates; The AFC motto above says it all, "Anything is Possible!"

        What a race this one was! Baker’s Dozen is a 13 hour Mountain Bike race in Leesburg, Virginia. I had not raced this course before, nor had I pre-ridden the course. I talked to many people and looked at the GPS maps of others riding the course and had a general idea of the course. Coming into the race I knew it was a fast course with some minor technical spots but generally a generally  easy course. First off, no course is   easy when you ride it for 13 hours!     
          
I learned a good bit about the course in a very fast first lap. I definitely learned that there is a decent drop-off in the first mile of the race, nothing that was a problem the rest of the race, but it was a surprise the first time around. I also learned that this course may not be technical, it sure was had a fair share of roots and other bumpy features to keep your bones rattling the whole day.

              

I decided to take a front line approach for this course and just hang out with Pat and Lance for the get go. I didn’t know when I would drop into my own rhythm and I was worried about going out too strong. We started the race and I pushed to stay on Lance’s wheel, who was making his way up to Patrick’s wheel. We definitely ran into the MTB first lap road rage guys; one who charged up a technical section when someone dabbed, screwing up a bunch of other people, not being safe and being very rude. Then guy who wanted to pass the three of us, but in a large area, all he had in him was enough to pass me. Then started complaining about whoever was in front of Patrick and Lance slowing us all down. Funny thing about this guy is any chance where he could of passed he couldn’t.  After enough of his complaining, he fell back unable to keep up anymore. These guys always make it into the first lap, what I find interesting, is I don’t see them on the podium in the end.

        Patrick, Lance and I pushed a good first three laps. Near the end of the third we got separated and I watched as Patrick took off. I didn’t want to burn myself trying to hang on longer, I was operating with an average heart rate just below lactate threshold and kept dipping into Z5. I couldn’t stay at this all day. I looked back for Lance but didn’t see him either. At some point he caught up and we rode together for a bit, but Lance left me like he does on Illchester every week. At this point I needed to settle into my own rhythm and do my own race. That is all you can do on such a long race is stay your own pace after you get your initial position.                  

        By the third hour my upper and lower back were starting to cause me a lot of pain. As time went on, my back was killing me. I rolled through one lap and asked Leesa to have some motrin ready for the next lap, I took it and halfway through the following lap, the back was feeling a little better but came back by the end of the lap. For three laps now I was just focused on how much pain I was in. I reflected on my race out at Rosaryville and remembered my back pain there and started to wonder if that wasn’t from crashing. I was pretty close now to where I would have been finishing out at Rosaryville and just wondered did I survive there because it was a shorter race. By 5 hours I wondered why I register for these crazy races, why don’t I just cancel my race regs for the rest of the year and just ride for purely the sake of riding. I would try to get myself out of this negative thinking and not focus on the pain, but I just couldn’t.

        At five hours I came into pit broken, laid down the bike and then laid myself down. I was so frustrated and in pain. My back was in so much pain, my triceps were worked so much more than normal, and my half glove had torn a bunch of skin off my thumb. I gave my wife a hug and let my dog try to fix me. I had in my mind that I was done for the day. I didn’t want anyone to see me, I felt like such a failure. Leesa rubbed my back and was very consoling. I told her how much pain I was in, and I wasn’t having fun. She told me I shouldn’t race if I’m not having fun. She is right on that, there is pain that is part of racing and there was this. Courtney helped me with some stretching to release some tension in my back, John offered some advice to help out. Everyone was so helpful. John offered to go out and do a slow lap. I started thinking I could go out and do and just have some fun laps here and there during the day, but my race was over. I was mulling the idea over and off went John.

        I love chasing people down when riding, I had already decided to head out but needed to change my gloves and get my nutrition replaced. I got out there shortly after John had taken off, and started my chase. My goal was to chase him down and then hang out with him. I was feeling good though and when I caught up with him I tried to get him to come along, but he was doing smart pace; I was racing stupid. Halfway through the lap all the pain came back. First I thought I would just throw down a fast lap here and there, like a relay racer, except I don’t have anyone on my team, and spend the rest of the time in the pits. By the end of the lap I was in so much pain again; I was done, I was not going out again. I took off my helmet took off a shoe and inspected a sore toe, ate doughnuts and two PB&Js, and considered my race done. At one point Patrick came through and I observed his state, he looked rough, but focused. I didn’t want him to see me, I still felt like such a failure.

        Shortly after Patrick came through Lance came through to lap me too. Well Lance had to stop, he had managed to rattle four out of six of his bolts off of his brake rotors, Lance just always seems in good spirits. Lance had a broken bike, he was struggling with a hard race, but still seemed happy. He got his bike fixed, but was having a hard time going back out. At one point he said he was waiting for someone to go with him, because he needed someone to get him back out there. I decided, I might be having a hard day, but Lance needs someone to get him going, and I can get out there and do a lap with him and then come back and hang out some more.

        I knew that my pain was coming from one of three things, either bad geometry of the bike, bad bike fit, or a weak body. I felt it was a little of all three, I started to worry that geometry was the largest feature, which really stinks because, that means I would have to replace a bike. The next was bike fit, I know I have long legs and I am tall. My height says ride a large frame, my legs say ride an XL frame. So I have to jack my seat up higher to keep me in fit with the geometry of the bike, this puts more strain on the back and triceps. So I decided before taking off, I would drop my seat some. I dropped my seat more than you would normally drop a seat for minor bike fit adjustment. I may have dropped it three quarters of an inch, to a whole inch. I was worried about getting knee pain from this, but that shouldn’t start in one lap. With my adjustment Lance and I were off.

        My body was struggling with this stop-go effort I was giving it. It didn’t know if wanted to sprint, settle into endurance, or rest; I was just destroying myself. The pedaling felt awkward at first, my legs were dead and I was using slightly different muscles because of the dropped seat. Lance and I went the first 3 or so miles of the course just chatting at a leisurely pace. We talked a lot about running, I used to run a lot and Lance had run for UMBC. I loved running, I just can’t really do it anymore. Running carries happy memories for me so it was nice talking on the subject while rolling with Lance at party pace. At some point Lance said, enough leisure and started kicking it up a notch. I slowly got left by Lance, but was starting to feel good. I set a goal of finishing 100 miles for the day, this meant I needed to do 5 more laps, this was feasible. I came through checkpoint, grabbed a new bottle and took off.

        I had finally turned my race around, I had got rid of my back pain, my knees weren’t hurting, I had finally settled back into a race pace and was moving. The rest of the race was like most any other endurance race; I settled my pace, endured the regular pain of racing, pushed myself, and did well. From when I took off with Lance I started holding a very consistent 45 minute lap. I asked about standing one lap and found I was in fifth and not far behind fourth. I worked my way into fourth and finished the race keeping a steady good pace, and pushed the last lap nice and hard. When we went up to the awards ceremony, I thought I finished fourth and this podium only went 3 deep. I was very surprised to find that I actually finished third, even with my two breaks!!

        I biked an 18 hour race last year, and that was very hard, but this race was such a hard race. I came out of it with a hand covered in calluses and very sore, It was an emotional roller coaster for 13 hours, but I am very excited that I pulled it together and not only finished the race, but finished so strong.