This weekend included 24 hours of racing fun. But not in a row, thank you. The Dirt Divas 5 person female team included, in riding order: Patty, myself, Doc, Becky, and Gale. And we even shared our tent space with a second Dirt Diva female team of all first timers. Needless to say, hanging out with a bunch of mountain biking chicks was awesome.
And even though I'm not a camper, and have only over-nighted in a tent once (the first time I raced the Burn in 2007), I really enjoyed the weekend. We got the prime spot for out pit. The view was gorgeous day and night.
At noon on Saturday, we were off... Gale ran the LeMans start and tagged Patty off for the first lap. She did a great job fighting the crowds of guys and slinging through the mud. Yes, of course it had to rain hard on Friday before the race.
I did the second lap and had a good start. I began passing guys as soon as I got into the woods. But about 10 minutes in, I started feeling sick. Huh, I guess only riding once a week and then sprinting in the first 10 minutes of your race catches up to you. Who knew? So I scaled it back a bit and my tummy settled.
The course was slippery and wet. But the climbs were still fun; my favorite part of the Dark Mountain Trails. About half way through the lap, two guys crashed in front of me. I had to stop, get off my bike, and walk around them. When I started pedaling again, there was a girl behind me ready to pass. As she went by, we chatted for a while. Turns out she's on the other 5 person female team, Off The Chain, and the second rider too. Oh, time to gun it again!
She was faster on the downhills, but I was faster on the climbs, so I stayed with her through the woods. She was also much better and luckier at passing. Still I stayed on her wheel. When we exited the single track, I stood up and hammered by her. At the start/finish area I tagged off to Doc. But the other chic did not tag her teammate. Her teammate even called back, 'we didn't touch, but I'm going.' Oh well. It's a long race, no need to make a fuss.
Now we had competition though. This was getting exciting!
My second lap was drier and a little faster. Definitely more fun. But then as soon as I finished, I realized I had the dreaded night laps ahead. During daylight we do one lap each. At night we do two in a row, so the others can get a nice block of sleep. The first time I did the Burn, my night laps were at dusk and I barely needed the light. This time, they would be 10:30PM-12:30AM. Yikes. That's really dark.
So I set up my lights and tried to eat something. Food is the hardest part of these team endurance events for me. Some girls can finish a lap and then eat a sandwich. I normally cannot eat for hours after a ride. But this doesn't work when you need to refuel to do another lap. But even my most favorite foods made me nauseous.
Anyway, back to my night laps. I couldn't put the light battery in my camel back like I normally would because it was too heavy on my shoulder. So I strapped it to my frame, which actually felt better for balance.
The start of my lap was fine, the flat field, big rocks, and climbs were great. The downhills freaked me out a bit. And the shadows became small animals chasing me along the course. Thankfully I had my Ipod to keep me sane. If you consider racing your mountain bike in the middle of the night sane.
The first lap felt super long and slow. I had one small slip and fall on a wet root. The second lap felt a little better, but half way through the battery fell off my frame. So I lost a few minuted strapping it back on. The rest of the lap I spent apologizing in my head to my team about my slow night laps. When I got done, I felt like I have been out there for three hours. So when I checked my times and they were 56 and 57 minutes, I was so relieved. And that was with a fall on the first lap and dropping my light battery on the second lap. I was pretty happy with those times. My day laps were about 47 and 48 minutes.
All of the sudden I felt great, just really proud of myself for making it through the night laps at a decent pace. Remember, last time I rode with lights was 2007.
It was about 12:30 in the morning and time to cool down and get some rest. I had an hour to kill until I woke up Becky when Doc came through after her first lap. So I hid between two cars, stripped, dumped a gallon of water on my head, soaped up, even washed my hair, rinsed, and put on some warm jammies. I felt almost human again. I hate being dirty! I downed a chocolate protein shake and climbed into my sleeping bag. It was almost 2am.
Then for what seemed like a million years, I listened to the guy in the pit next to us chat. Ugh! No sleep for me. My body however, melted into the earth. I actually felt every cell fall asleep individually. It was incredible.
Morning came and it was time to do a few more laps. I felt so fresh, so glad I took a shower last night.
My first Sunday lap was fast and fun. But two guys crashed in front of me again, and I lost some time. Doc was next, then Becky. Gale wasn't up to another lap, so Patty went out again. And with only two minutes to spare I got to do a sixth lap too.
Patty came in so much quicker than expected since the course was drying out, I didn't even have time to put my jersey back on, which was a good thing as the temps were really rising. So I had a fun last lap and made it back before the cutoff.
Remember that girl from my first lap? Her team won. We came in second. A guy next to us said congrats to me. I said thank you, but we didn't win, we got second. But they were 20 year years younger he says. OUCH! But so true, so true. They even rode trainers in the tent to warm up before each lap. I laid on the grass and stared at the lake between laps.
I guess I am getting old. Maybe it's time to stop wearing spandex!?!
