The race started out pretty good almost getting the hole shot and hitting the pavement at a good pace. That was until I hit the first patch of bog mud. I was trying to spin through a good 3-4 inches of mud. Looking back it would have been probably smarter to just run through it but inexperience told me otherwise.
As I got to the end of the first lap (out of two) at least two dozen comments in my mind told me to DNF. The joys of DNFing and just crying in my car from all the pains this race had given me was something to look forward to. By the time I got to the end of that loop I was looking forward to being that quitter. That was until I saw my gf just waiting there enthusiastically waiting to hand off the next water bottle. Little did she know I was running low on energy and ready to bonk any time.
During the second lap I was pretty much warmed up and ready for the nasties to come. I took the mud like a champ and was able to keep up with the pack that was miserably slower than me. I was feeling ok... not good but ok... Then came the second half of the lap, out of any drink and having used up almost all of my GU, I started feeling the typical muscle cramps. As I pedaled I felt my inner quads firing off. Imagine those good old oil cool Harley Davidsons on a hot day in traffic. One second they are running, the next - boom - engine seize. Yep that was what my quad's were heading straight into a slow but sure muscle failure.
I thought to myself if I can just keep the blood flowing I can get them slowly hydrated and just to keep the muscles moving they wont seize. All was good until I hit a hill I lost momentum on. I was forced to get off the bike. And when I did that... thats when it happened... my quads locked up and was a goner. Two thirds into the last lap and I just screwed myself by getting off my bike.
After 30 seconds of doing some basic quad stretches I decided to get on the bike and head backwards towards the last course marshal. I thought I had thrown in the towel and given up. On my way back to the marshal my legs gave a glimpse of hope. That had briefly settled into a rhythm again. There was a little pain but not the locking I felt before. And at that point I decided that I might as well turn around and finish this thing. Even if it takes me till dusk.
By this time about 5 more racers passed me up. I'd like to thank my fellow Get-A-Grip teammates for not pushing me over as they lapped me :) I was feeling good about getting my ass kicked because my legs gave up on me and all I was using were the stupid granny gears to wheelchair my way back to the finish line. At this point I was wishing that the whole way through would have been downhill.. unfortunately that was only about 20 percent of the trail. The rest was either flat or up hill.
I eventually made it to the end after sprinting out some rider from some Oshkosh/Fond du Lac team. But obviously there was a price. After my tag was pulled at the finish I sat down and locked up again.
And so today it took me about 3 days to get my legs back to where I can hit the gym again and not worry about feeling geriatric.
I can confidently say though that this has given me insight as to what will come in the up coming months. Because this will not be my last race. It was the first of many since my 9 year hiatus from mountain bike racing.
Dare I say comeback? We'll see...
