At approximately 10:30AM on Sunday morning while bouncing down a technical descent, I arrived at the bottom and looked up to find Namrita O'Dea struggling up the adjacent climb. The single speed group I was flailing off the back of had caught some of the pro/expert women early on in the first lap due to crashes and the heat and whatever, but I did not expect to see Namrita until the finish. I came around her and asked how she was, she mumbled something that led me to believe she was not feeling 100%. After talking a little more I found out that she went down at the bottom of the descent where there is a really rough rock garden, it obviously rattled her up a little. She rode along at my pace for a while and then got her legs back and took off.
The day for me started with my alarm sounding off at 4:30AM letting me know it was time to consume breakfast, affix the Kidney Shaker on the back of he FJ and take off for Chattanooga, TN. I had my usual fare; low fat, plain yogurt with Kashi and blueberries, FRS and Tazo Awake black tea. Afterwards I usually take in a LaCroix, a multi-vitamin for old people and two glucosamine tabs. I have learned to keep race morning as normal as possible and today was pretty normal except for the earlier wake up time. For what ever reason I felt nauseaus the whole drive to the race and was hoping this would pass. It did, sort of.
I was close and beginning the drive up the mountain road to the top of Raccoon Mtn. when I noticed a single speeder riding up the steep winding road toward the event. I thought to myself, surely this guy is not riding to the race as it was already very hot and humid and it was a long, steep climb.
Anyway, I arrived excited to race, and forgetting that I felt a little ill, stood in line for over 30 mins even though I had pre-registered. During regsitration I learned via anouncement that a course change had made the two lap distance of the race right at 25 miles instead of the expected 22 miles. I was happy to have a little extra distance even though the temps were going to hover around 95 degrees. There was a neutral feed zoned at about 6 miles into the first lap so I was okay with just taking my two smallish bottles. After registering and suiting up, filled my bottles took a quick ~5min spin and it was time to toe the line. When I found my single minded bretheren and lined up guess who was to my right? Yeah, the guy I saw coming up the road, I asked if he did the climb as a warm up and his response "This is a short race for me so I just rode from my house". Some other guy asked him if he was doing Leadville....again and he said "Definitely". What a drag, the single speed class is attracting some success oriented racers, this is not congruent with my mission of langudily cruising along to mid-pack dominance.
The whistle finally blew and we were off, spinning like mad on the pave' for a 1/4 mile before hitting the technical singletrack that would put us all in a dusty single file, grunting line. I entered the singletrack off the back of the main group and there was some pretty quick carnage and I gained two spots in the singlespeed group. The pace was hurried as I knew it would be so I just tried to keep the group in sight around the first part of the course. I held on for through the first part of the course and up the biggest climb and somewhere before I ran into Namrita I fell off the back and lost sight of the group for the rest the race. Before the end of the first lap I was felling a little sick every time I tried to push it a little so I knew I better settle in to a comfortable pace in order to make the climbs on the second lap.
After easing up a little and finishing up the first lap I surprised myself by continuing on for the second lap when I really just wanted to stop at the FJ, sit down in the shade and drink the one cold beer I had in the cooler. Instead I settled into a mechanical pace that I would hold the rest of the race. Right before the end of the race I had three pros (who started 12 mins before my group) come by finishing their third and final lap. They were still riding a fast, smooth pace. I am always impressed at the difference between weekend warriors and the pro pace these guys were riding like I did in the first 10 mins. In the last mile of the race there were a few racers that were suffering from their earlier efforts and I was able to come by a few people but did not catch any single speeders. I finished in ~2hrs 35 mins which was good enough for 19th place. I felt really good at the end of the race which tells me that I did not go near hard enough. I have got to figure out what is going on with this nausea that I keep having while racing. Maybe I am just slow and getting slower or maybe the single speed class is just getting a whole lot faster and more competitive. Either way the SERC #8 was a great race at a great trail network and I am sure that I will be suffering through it again next year.
Next race, maybe, 'Fools Gold'?
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