24 hours of Willamette Pass is coming up this weekend! Fraser has been wanting to do a race this summer and this will be his race! I am excited to be his support and pit crew ... it should be a fun weekend.
We spent the past 2 weekends finding and then riding the course ... and it's a good thing we did. The laps are 15 miles and will take around 1:50 to 1:55 including pits. They are a bit longer than expected! The course consists of loads of single-track - most of it with passing options ... and is basically one big climb followed by one big descent. It takes just over an hour to get to the top of the mountain, 25 minutes to get down, about 10 - 15 minutes on the road, followed by another 10 minutes of single-track! It is a challenging course with about 1600 ft of climbing and I would guess about 70% single-track.
Eating just before the big descent, using water to keep cool, and bringing enough to eat and drink will be crucial in this race! I did an 8 hour race sim on the course yesterday .. it is definately a course for the full suspension! The downhill is fun but long and will get tireing on the arms after a while. It is a good course for Fraser as he is a very skilled (fast!) single-track/technical rider.
Monday, July 30, 2007
24 hours of Canmore
The Canmore course was a fun technical course with ~1100 ft of climbing per 10 km lap. The weather was perfect, having cooled down from the high 30s (90 Farenheit) to a nice temperature. The only environmental concern was the wind and the potential for rain...
The start was my usual slow start ... a slow trot (beside a Solo dressed as Santa Clause) for the run and then mellow pace to the single-track where the bottlenecks had started. There was a wide downhill dirt road section just before a sharp left turn (Mike Z, you likely remember this) ... I was too close to the guy in front and fell suddenly ... and down I went. I did a major super-woman, landing on my left side and loosing most of the skin on my forearm, tearing my jersey, knocking the wind out of myself and tearing my shorts -- and removing more skin off my leg. I was hurt but more than that, I was upset. This was hour #1 of a 24 hour race. I had just done the stupidest thing .. I'd fallen, and fallen hard; at the beginning of a 24 hour race. I was soo frustrated.
Note: for those of you who have seen my famous crashes ... this was, by far, the fastest and messiest (ie most gore) crash I've ever had. My whole left forearm was raw and my left hip too. My ribs were sore and my jersey was torn in the front (I guess I didn't 'bounce' this time -- ha ha).
Everyone around me was so nice. They were offering mechanical services, first aide and one guy even rode with me for a while to make sure I was ok. My bike was totally fine ... it was just me. I love the sport of mountain biking ... the people are just so great. The rest of that lap was a bit shaky as I was timid on the descents and was still trying to 'shake it off'.
I came into my pit, got cleaned up, and went out again. We put some polysporin on the cuts, I took some pain killers for the pain and I kept on riding. I was determined not to let the fall impact my race. The second lap was better and by the third lap I was starting to settle in. I met loads of nice people on the trails .... Every root, rock, bump hurt so much. I could feel the swelling in my hip and arm ... I had to compensate with my right -- using it more as a shock absorber than I should. Other than the rocks, roots, and bumps, the riding was fine. ...
The thing I didn't count on, and the thing that killed me in the end was that your body swells so much from a fall like that. I needed to be drinking extra fluids to account for that and I wasn't. Around 9pm my stomach started to hurt. No big deal. I ate some oatmeal, downed some water and headed back out. That lap I couldn't eat very much. I ate about 3 chips. I came back in and ate some more oatmeal ... the next lap was my last. I had to stop several times for ... stomach issues. I sat in the pit for 15 minutes, trying to drink water and recover. It wasn't working. We got a hotel room thinking that I could sleep it off ... sleep for an hour and I'd be fine. It was a great thought but it didn't work out that way. I wasn't recovering.
In the end, I learned a few more things that I'll keep in my tool kit for the next race. #1 on the list is 'dont fall' :-). It was pretty frustrating for me as I was gaining on the lead girls little by little just before my last lap (which was pretty long) and my lap times were consistent. My legs and head felt fine .... It is very hard to keep in touch with yourself to the extent that you know exactly what's going on.
I met some great people on the course - loads of Solo's at this race! And, of course, now I have unfinished business on the course. I've already signed up for the Solo there next year!!!
My arm is healing but I still can't put any pressure on it ... my hip is almost healed and my leg is completedly healed. My stomach felt normal about 4 days after the eposode and my ribs are still a bit bruised but are also healing.
I'm already back on the trails which is great news .... and can't wait until the next race where I will get to ride the whole 24 hours. 12 hours seemed sooo short!!
The start was my usual slow start ... a slow trot (beside a Solo dressed as Santa Clause) for the run and then mellow pace to the single-track where the bottlenecks had started. There was a wide downhill dirt road section just before a sharp left turn (Mike Z, you likely remember this) ... I was too close to the guy in front and fell suddenly ... and down I went. I did a major super-woman, landing on my left side and loosing most of the skin on my forearm, tearing my jersey, knocking the wind out of myself and tearing my shorts -- and removing more skin off my leg. I was hurt but more than that, I was upset. This was hour #1 of a 24 hour race. I had just done the stupidest thing .. I'd fallen, and fallen hard; at the beginning of a 24 hour race. I was soo frustrated.
Note: for those of you who have seen my famous crashes ... this was, by far, the fastest and messiest (ie most gore) crash I've ever had. My whole left forearm was raw and my left hip too. My ribs were sore and my jersey was torn in the front (I guess I didn't 'bounce' this time -- ha ha).
Everyone around me was so nice. They were offering mechanical services, first aide and one guy even rode with me for a while to make sure I was ok. My bike was totally fine ... it was just me. I love the sport of mountain biking ... the people are just so great. The rest of that lap was a bit shaky as I was timid on the descents and was still trying to 'shake it off'.
I came into my pit, got cleaned up, and went out again. We put some polysporin on the cuts, I took some pain killers for the pain and I kept on riding. I was determined not to let the fall impact my race. The second lap was better and by the third lap I was starting to settle in. I met loads of nice people on the trails .... Every root, rock, bump hurt so much. I could feel the swelling in my hip and arm ... I had to compensate with my right -- using it more as a shock absorber than I should. Other than the rocks, roots, and bumps, the riding was fine. ...
The thing I didn't count on, and the thing that killed me in the end was that your body swells so much from a fall like that. I needed to be drinking extra fluids to account for that and I wasn't. Around 9pm my stomach started to hurt. No big deal. I ate some oatmeal, downed some water and headed back out. That lap I couldn't eat very much. I ate about 3 chips. I came back in and ate some more oatmeal ... the next lap was my last. I had to stop several times for ... stomach issues. I sat in the pit for 15 minutes, trying to drink water and recover. It wasn't working. We got a hotel room thinking that I could sleep it off ... sleep for an hour and I'd be fine. It was a great thought but it didn't work out that way. I wasn't recovering.
In the end, I learned a few more things that I'll keep in my tool kit for the next race. #1 on the list is 'dont fall' :-). It was pretty frustrating for me as I was gaining on the lead girls little by little just before my last lap (which was pretty long) and my lap times were consistent. My legs and head felt fine .... It is very hard to keep in touch with yourself to the extent that you know exactly what's going on.
I met some great people on the course - loads of Solo's at this race! And, of course, now I have unfinished business on the course. I've already signed up for the Solo there next year!!!
My arm is healing but I still can't put any pressure on it ... my hip is almost healed and my leg is completedly healed. My stomach felt normal about 4 days after the eposode and my ribs are still a bit bruised but are also healing.
I'm already back on the trails which is great news .... and can't wait until the next race where I will get to ride the whole 24 hours. 12 hours seemed sooo short!!
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