Last Saturday was the third annual Cowbell Challenge, a 12hr race about 2 hours away up in Charlotte. After 30 years of riding bikes this was to be my first actual race. .Not that I planned to finish mind you, my real goal was to see how far I could go in 8-9 hours, and use that to assess my training and fitness levels for the SM100 in September. Alas, even my limited goals were not to be.
The day started a 4:45am to the blare of the alarm clock. Its dark at 4:45am. I don't like being awake at 4:45am. In fact, I wasn't awake at 4:45am. A cold shower made short shrift of that luxury though, and it was time for breakfast. I had pre-made waffle batter the night before, and slammed down 4 waffles in between loading up the car. Mmmm, waffles.
By 5:45 I was out the door and headed north.
The venue was what was fomerly known as Riverfront Park, and what will in the future be known as the Ocoee Whitewater Center. Construction is underway, and the trails there are closed except for special events. This means they don't get a lot of the abusive traffic you'd expect so close to a major metropolitan area, and as a result the course, 6 miles and about 500ft of climbing per lap, was in great shape. I arrived at about 8:15. After chatting with my neighbors in the pits for a bit, getting registered, and putting the bike on top of the hill, it was down to the start.
A le mans start for a bike race is where the term "like a herd of turtles" originated I'm sure. At least when you're mid-pack it is. After more shuffling than running I was at the top of the hill and on the bike. I figured all the fast guys were long gone, and anticipated more of a parade lap than anything else. I was right. Still, there were only a few traffic jams and I only had to get off the bike and push once. My plan was to ride the first 3 laps straight through, then do either 2 or 3 at a time, depending on how I felt. There was one short steep that was a momentum killer and that I walked about half the time, otherwise the whole course was rideable. I expect most people liked the course most where it went through "The Bowl", but I liked the first 2 miles or so that included two fast descents, a deceptive climb that was putting on the hurt by the end of my day, and some real fun stuff down in the river floodplain. Traction on the red clay was awsome, although I bet that place is an ice rink in the wet. Here's the bike, covered in red clay dust, after several laps.
On my second stop, after 5 laps, I was getting a fresh bottle and snarfing down a banana when some yahoo starts taking my picture. At first I ignore him, then flash a goofy grin.
Turns out its Enoch from mtbr come to say hi. We chatted for 5 minutes or so and then it was back into the fray. Lunch was 2 PB&Js and a fruit cup. Then after changing into fresh clothes and a short pause to lube my chain and put some air in my front tire (I've had a slow leak for 2 months now that I'm too lazy to fix) I went out to start lap 7. Here's my game face midway through that lap.
Lap 8 was to be my final lap. About 2 miles in my seat rail broke. The saddle stayed on and I could still sit, but only gingerly and not on anything that wasn't real smooth. So it wound up being a long lap. I did it all, but used a lot of energy. I was done for the day. I went back to my pit, slammed down 2 bottles of water, some ensure, and a tube of Pringles, and then hit the beer. Here's party central at about 4pm.
In retrospect the whole 12hr concept was much better than I expected. I really figured that doing the same loop over and over again would bore me to tears. I was getting there, but I think I could have stood it for a few more hours. The short laps were actually good, as they were over quickly. When you're measuring progress by how many laps you do its good to have them short. That way you have a feeling of acccomplishment.
Final tally was 8 laps, or a little over 45 miles, in 5:39. Excluding stops my lap times were very consistent, ranging from 37 to 40 minutes. I'm pretty happy with that, but I'd like to know how long I could have kept it up, which was the whole point of being there. Next time I'll bring an extra saddle. Just in case.
The day started a 4:45am to the blare of the alarm clock. Its dark at 4:45am. I don't like being awake at 4:45am. In fact, I wasn't awake at 4:45am. A cold shower made short shrift of that luxury though, and it was time for breakfast. I had pre-made waffle batter the night before, and slammed down 4 waffles in between loading up the car. Mmmm, waffles.
By 5:45 I was out the door and headed north.
The venue was what was fomerly known as Riverfront Park, and what will in the future be known as the Ocoee Whitewater Center. Construction is underway, and the trails there are closed except for special events. This means they don't get a lot of the abusive traffic you'd expect so close to a major metropolitan area, and as a result the course, 6 miles and about 500ft of climbing per lap, was in great shape. I arrived at about 8:15. After chatting with my neighbors in the pits for a bit, getting registered, and putting the bike on top of the hill, it was down to the start.
A le mans start for a bike race is where the term "like a herd of turtles" originated I'm sure. At least when you're mid-pack it is. After more shuffling than running I was at the top of the hill and on the bike. I figured all the fast guys were long gone, and anticipated more of a parade lap than anything else. I was right. Still, there were only a few traffic jams and I only had to get off the bike and push once. My plan was to ride the first 3 laps straight through, then do either 2 or 3 at a time, depending on how I felt. There was one short steep that was a momentum killer and that I walked about half the time, otherwise the whole course was rideable. I expect most people liked the course most where it went through "The Bowl", but I liked the first 2 miles or so that included two fast descents, a deceptive climb that was putting on the hurt by the end of my day, and some real fun stuff down in the river floodplain. Traction on the red clay was awsome, although I bet that place is an ice rink in the wet. Here's the bike, covered in red clay dust, after several laps.
On my second stop, after 5 laps, I was getting a fresh bottle and snarfing down a banana when some yahoo starts taking my picture. At first I ignore him, then flash a goofy grin.
Turns out its Enoch from mtbr come to say hi. We chatted for 5 minutes or so and then it was back into the fray. Lunch was 2 PB&Js and a fruit cup. Then after changing into fresh clothes and a short pause to lube my chain and put some air in my front tire (I've had a slow leak for 2 months now that I'm too lazy to fix) I went out to start lap 7. Here's my game face midway through that lap.
Lap 8 was to be my final lap. About 2 miles in my seat rail broke. The saddle stayed on and I could still sit, but only gingerly and not on anything that wasn't real smooth. So it wound up being a long lap. I did it all, but used a lot of energy. I was done for the day. I went back to my pit, slammed down 2 bottles of water, some ensure, and a tube of Pringles, and then hit the beer. Here's party central at about 4pm.
In retrospect the whole 12hr concept was much better than I expected. I really figured that doing the same loop over and over again would bore me to tears. I was getting there, but I think I could have stood it for a few more hours. The short laps were actually good, as they were over quickly. When you're measuring progress by how many laps you do its good to have them short. That way you have a feeling of acccomplishment.
Final tally was 8 laps, or a little over 45 miles, in 5:39. Excluding stops my lap times were very consistent, ranging from 37 to 40 minutes. I'm pretty happy with that, but I'd like to know how long I could have kept it up, which was the whole point of being there. Next time I'll bring an extra saddle. Just in case.
I personally think you're nutz racing on a SS when there is 500+ feet of climbing involved, but that's just me 
neaky: