By the numbers:
- Laps: 17 (smashed my 14 lap record!!!)
- Miles: ~255
- Vertical feet: ~20,000
- Place in Women's Field: 1st
- Place in overall Solo Field: 6th
What a race! I don't even know where to start ... so I will start with the things that stick with me most:
- My support crew - Jonathan and Emily were out to support me - best support ever! Cheers, drinks, kisses, and Emily even wanted to come along for a lap! And because they were sleeping at night I couldn't be a wimp and stop - I had to just keep on going :)
- My new Norco 29er Team Carbon Race ... amazingly FAST and amazingly easy to ride for 24 hours. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
- My nutrition - Infinit. I moved to Infinit last year and ... well, it is amazing. And this is from a girl who ALWAYS has stomach issues. Stomach issues were mild and manageable. Awesome! Thanks to Coach Shaun for recommending this!
We had a cool pit set up - there were four of us Solos, all friends, set up in a row. Not all of us had support, so it was shared across the board, which was nice. One of these Solo riders would prove to be my main competition - Julie Kelly. Fun!
The weather was perfect. It was in the temperature range that is usually dangerous for me because I don't think I need as many salts, and this historically causes stomach distress. But I was ready, and was salting from the start. The run was the usual khaos, and I landed in the usual last half of the pack ... but determined to pace my first lap and see what happened, and how my legs felt. I wasn't totally sure going into the race because my taper had been longer than normal due to a cold that I was fighting. But i'd gotten more than my fair share of sleep so figured that would play in my favor.
As I mentioned, the first lap was to get a feel for the bike and the course (there were a few new sections this year - making the course longer both distance and time wise) ... and both felt good! I was averaging about 1:19 per lap, which was a good 'not too fast' pace. Around dinner time I took an extra long pit to change clothes, play with Emily, and sneak some real food. It paid off and I felt good going into the night.
Speaking of the night .. it got COLD! As night settled in I was adding more and more layers each lap! But I never got to the state of a human popsicle, which is good! My toes were frozen but the rest of me was ok :) The air was pretty dusty and my eyes were playing tricks on me - getting really blurred from the dust, and hurting from the cold air.
As I was out there racing the course I was reminded of a few friends who's lifes ended all to early in the past year. I felt so lucky to be alive, to be doing something that I loved ... that any discomfort or pain was put to the side.
Going into the night I knew Julie was a good 30 min ahead of me ... an interesting fact, but i knew to do well i had to just keep on doing my own race and see where the cards land. Around 7am I passed her as she was taking a pit stop in the woods ... and she did not see me. I wasn't sure if she had lapped me at that point or not ... but just knew that I was on lap 14, and was determined to do 3 more to reach my goal of 17 laps.
As the sun came up, my energy came back and my lap times came down. I got back to my 1:20 lap times and was determined to go as fast as possible .... my goal was to finish the 17 laps as fast as I could. I found out, after lap 15, that I was ahead of Julie and she was chasing me down. I tried to push harder, and I think one of my morning laps was the fastest of the 24 hours!
I was so happy to finish my 17 laps, and to get first place on top of that! What a great race! Emily came with me up on to the podium, which was fun too!!
Here are the bikes, all lined up .. you can see Emily's bike too!
Emily and I at the captains meeting
Running at the start ...
Finished at last!
Julie and I with coach Shaun (he was racing too)
Best Cheerleader ever!!!
Emily also enjoyed 'testing' my gear ;-)
Ready to ride!!
