Sunday, October 28, 2012

2012 24hrs of Rocky Hill Ranch

Sorry for the long post but this is my first 24 hour race I finish so I have a lot to tell!

I tried this race last year and didn't finish it.  I stopped at 19 hours due to extreme neck and shoulder pain and hand numbness.  This year I focused on dealing with those issues:  either through fit, exercise or posture.  However, it wasn't until a few weeks ago when I ran into an online article about this problem that I realized what my problem was:  locking my elbows and hunching my shoulders.   2 weeks before the race, I did 6 hours at Rocky Hill Ranch and turned in laps within a minute of each other at a good pace and without the hand, neck, or shoulder issues....

So my coach and friends that were signed up for the 24hrs of Canmore World Championship race in July found out a few weeks before their race that it had been cancelled.  I asked if they would come down for the RHR 24 and a few weeks before the race I found out they were coming which was great!  Shaun and Dave drove for 40 hours from Canada and arrived Thursday before the race.  Julie--another one of Shaun's athletes--flew in from Canada.  I tried to meet them for a pre-race lap on Friday but I couldn't get out of work early enough...so I got there as they were doing their lap, and they setup their tent as I was doing my lap.  Then I setup my tent after they had left to get some food and much needed sleep.  The temperature for the afternoon seemed a little warm but thankfully from doing the race last year (which was about 10F hotter) I was prepared to deal with it by pacing myself and drinking extra water.  I went home (about 1hr away from RHR) to mix my bottles, make myself dinner and sleep in my own bed.

After 10 hours of sleep (usually I'm happy with 6 before a race!) and feeling pretty relaxed, I got out the rest of the tools, supplies, etc. and do one last minute check on the bike.  I did find one minor issue and felt the rear hub was a little loose but I figured it would be OK.  At this point I learned that John and Thad would be doing pit support for us which was great.  They asked me about my drinks and what I needed, etc.  I told them I was pretty low maintenance as far as support was concerned, but was really glad to have my two friends tending to me...I would need them dearly in the latter part of the race.

Based on my 6hr test, I decided to not do a warm-up instead opting for an easy pace on the first lap which usually has a lot of walking involved.  There is a Le Mans start (run for 1/4 mile or so to your bike) but this year they gave an option of skipping the run but waiting for the last runner/walker before you could go (or so they'd said).  I decided to be a traditionalist and did the 1/4 mile jog on the round pebbles and sandy soil of RHR in my bike shoes (last year I actually switched shoes.)  To my disappointment, they had waived the non-runners off before we were done walking/running (I was close to last by this point.)  OH well, it's the first lap anyway.  I was going to probably be walking all the steep climbs since it only takes one person to dismount ahead and everyone is forced to in the back. I decided to expect this and not get worked up about it and it was fine.  Someone grumbled about it and I told them it is to be expected in the first lap.  In general, 24hr races in my experience are pretty relaxed and people chat during the race all the time.  At some point going up one of the last steep climbs in the start, I was really surprised to see Dave pass me.  I guess he got a slower jog than I did but I forgot to ask him so I'm not sure.  I yelled at him "GO GET 'EM DAVE!" and I actually didn't see him much after that.

During the lap I was very careful not to go above lactate threshold but as usual first laps for me are very hard to control.  It felt like I was going pretty easy but my HR was still a bit high.  I just concentrated on keeping under that LT number for the whole lap...having learned my lesson about a month back with a race in which I was redlined for almost the full first 15.5mile lap and not finishing the race.  So I was mostly effective in staying below LT but I was higher than I wanted to be.  I attributed this to the higher temperatures in the afternoon.  I also noticed some shoulder and hand discomfort.  Then I remembered I had set my shock to full travel (120mm) when I was cleaning the bike, vs 95mm when I did my 6 hour test.  I stopped on the trail and changed the travel back down and hoped for the best.  I came in at about a 1:06 lap...which including the run (and the early walking) was a little faster than I planned or expected.  I dropped my empty bottle and was sent off with a fresh bottle and a partial bottle.  Since I was doing >1hr laps I needed to carry two bottles with me.  Even 5-10 minutes without Infinit can put me behind in a hurry in my experience.  As I was starting my 2nd lap I wished I had stopped to drink some extra water.  I forgot to do that but I figured the day wasn't at its hottest yet so it'd be OK.  This lap it was more clear so I was able to ride everything (unlike last year which for most of the 19hours I walked most of some of the loose and steep climbs).  I felt myself getting into a rhythm but also felt the heat and wished for the extra water at this point.  I came back to the pits with a decent lap time and stopped to drink I think a half a bottle.  During the 3rd lap I wish I had drunk the whole bottle though.  Nothing exciting happened in this lap...except for my coach Shaun lapping me.  That's right...I was getting lapped by half-way on lap 3 which shocked me.  I think I told him to "GO SHAUN!"  That would be the last time I would see him for a while.  I was doing a very slow lap and this was the hottest lap for me.  It was around 4pm.

By my 5th lap the heat had peaked but it was still very warm.  I was drinking lots of water during the pit stops though and I was looking forward to the night.  At this point Thad asked me if my bike needed anything, I told him I thought maybe my rear caliper was rubbing and when he grabbed the rear wheel he noticed a half inch of play in the hub.  Luckily I brought my PowerTap hub training wheel as a spare.  It had a worn out WTB Nano Raptor tire which I actually preferred to the Aspen I had been running with the other wheel.  I felt the bike was better balanced this way (I prefer it a bit loose instead of pushy and my front Specialized Control The Captain tire had lots of grip.)  Thad swapped the wheels and I was off.

At some point here before 5pm the timing officials made me add the lights which I didn't want to do yet (rules say if you come in >=5pm) but I decided to put them on anyway while I drank more water.  I did a full lap with the lights mounted but not on.  I try to limit how long I have the lights on my helmet since I do feel the difference in weight even though they are very light.  At some point late in the afternoon Julie caught up to me for the 2nd time on the big climbing section of the lap (toward the start).  I just try to go as slow as possible up the climbs and make it up on the flat sections and any descents (0.5mv^2=mgh). I knew if she didn't pass me there she'd pass me eventually but it took a couple of laps of her catching up to me before she passed me.  Then I passed her as she was stopped on the trail in Off the Lip with another cyclist.  I asked if they were OK and they said yes so I kept going.

The first partial night lap was just amazing.  At this point the trail was very familiar to me.  I run without lights until I absolutely don't feel comfortable so as to save batteries, then I turn on my Ay-Ups at half power so I only need two sets of batteries for a whole night.  Each set lasts me at least 7 hours and they give amazing brightness on the trail even at half power.  I love my lights.  It's one of my best bike related purchases.  I'm pretty sure I hooted as I was flying on the super fast chute almost all the way back to the pits.  I love that section.

Most of my night laps I don't remember...I do remember that my first full night lap was not as fun and my zombie lap happened very early for me.  I didn't experience this yesterday but by 10pm I was doing the super slo-mo eye blink.  I was looking at the piles of soft and cushy pine needles and wanting to stop.  I wanted to lay down and take a short nap.  I think if I'd had an way to setup an alarm I would have done it.  I also remember how the temperatures seemed to stay up and it was very humid so I was soaked in sweat for 24hrs.  I got back to the pits and took a caffeine tablet to wake myself up.  It really didn't seem to do very much.  My lap after this was also very bad.  However, it must be very slow absorbing caffeine because after that I felt slightly better.  I think it was during one of these laps that Julie passed me for the final time during when I'd stopped to rest.  She was kicking some serious butt in the race.

After watching a Jess Douglass interview a couple of years ago in which she mentions how she breaks up the race into quarters, I've been doing the same thing.  So before 2 am I somehow tricked my mind into believing this was the 2/3 point and around 2am I had a clear enough head to realize I had been wrong.  I still had 10 hours to go.  For me getting to the halfway point and 2/3 point were big psychological boosters so to trick myself into believing wrongly I was 2hrs closer to the end only to discover I had been wrong was a bit demoralizing.

It was also around this time of the night that I started experiencing clicking noise when applying the rear brake.  I got to a point where I could stop only to discover I was missing a caliper bracket bolt.  I had also, earlier in the day, given my only zip tie away (and wouldn't remember when I was in the pits to grab another one.)  At least it was the rear caliper and not the front.  So I just aligned it and tightened the rear bolt and hoped for the best.  It held for the rest of the lap. I told Thad about it and John heard me.  Shaun was also in the pits at the time.  They didn't think they'd be able to get a caliper bolt.  I don't have a spare bike...but I'm also the grandson of Antonio Garza Muñoz who was compulsive about saving every bolt, nut, washer, wire and piece of string.  I just have a few ziplocks in my toolbox with all this detritus.  I remember being rather cocky with Thad about betting about me having a caliper bolt...but maybe I was just hallucinating.  I emptied the bag on the table and picked up a bolt.  Thad couldn't believe it.  We made sure it wasn't too long and he lined it up and tightened everything up and I was off again.

I honestly don't remember a lot of the night laps.  I do know that probably the last complete lap before the sun rose once the sun rose I was in sad shape and begging for them to let me sleep for 15 minutes.  John and Thad were adamant that I keep going since I had been moving up through the night and was both in a threatening position and in a threatened position.  Another caffeine tab later (this time the kind that is unbuffered...so it was like a shot of espresso giving me almost instant energy) and I was doing a fast and fun lap.

The next lap my energy crashed again and it was much slower.  I don't remember much of the morning except for John Thad and Shaun kicking my butt out of the pits to get another lap in.  I believe it was around 9:30 I came in and heard there was a chance I was 2 laps in front of 7th and 2 laps behind 5th so it would have been hard to gain or loose a position which would mean my race was over with...however, when we checked with timing and scoring we found out 7th was in hot pursuit of me and doing fast laps.  I did a really slow lap--I think 2hrs long--being paced by another race with the perfect pace for me at the time and we chatted for about a half a lap which was great.  I was thinking this was my last lap so I took it very easy.  I got in at 11:27am only to find out 7th had turned in a smoker of a 15th lap and was out getting his 16th.  Which meant I had to go out for #17.

Now here is where there was some controversy.  As I understood the rules, we could have come in at 11:59:59am and gone out for a last lap which had to be 90 minutes or less.  However, Scott from Terra Firma Racing happened to be there and said that we had until 1pm to finish...so 90 minutes or less if you start at 11:30am which was true for me.  I had just been turning 1:45's or so and even a 2hr lap and I just didn't feel like I had a 90 minute lap in me.  So I got going again but I was feeling dehydrated since it was much warmer than the previous day and even though I drank almost a full extra bottle of water at the pits, I was not feeling too good.  I knew that if 7th place guy was riding a 17th lap at a good pace I was toast.  My plan at first was to ride very hard to try to get the 90 minute lap but by the 30 minute mark (now a full 24 hours of riding in) I was toast.  Then I walked for a bit thinking if he came up on me, I'd just ride behind him and hope to out-sprint him at the end (wouldn't that be a glorious finish?!)  I was also doing math in my head trying to figure out how long ago he could have started his lap and still hoped to finish.  I had also ventured a guess that this lap would be slower because of the heat and because he'd gone so fast on the last lap.  At some point I was sure he hadn't started but still, there were about 5 people that passed me who I asked if they were racing for 6th in Solo Open and they all said no (I did see the guy that took 5th place too).  Some of them also asked if I was OK since at some point I just wanted to sleep, I found some soft pine needles and leant against a tree.  I was thirsty by this point.  I felt I got some energy and kept walking.

By this point I decided the race was over.  I ripped my number plate off and my wristband off and put the in my back pocket so that if I found a shortcut I could take it and not be accused of trying to cheat.  At some point someone else racing solo came by and we talked about the rules while he ate some fig newtons.  He'd also thought he had until 1:30pm.  I told him what Scott had said, but I told him to go ride just in case I was wrong.    I tried to ride for a bit more on the downhills but by this point...my nether regions were having no part of it (apparently it is known that once you're off the bike for 30minutes or so after riding 24 hours, it's really painful to get back on the saddle!)  I kept on walking through the trail called "Off the Lip".  Normally I like the swoopy rhythm trail but right now I hated it with all my heart and I couldn't find my way out of it so I just kept on walking.  I was out of water and wanted to get to the water station hoping it still had water (I knew the station after that was dry.)  I made it out only to find out the tanks were dry.  I laid down on the bench to cool off a bit and without knowing it, I fell asleep for 1hr.  It was now about 1:30pm and above 90degF and only someone riding their bike by woke me up.  At this point I knew I'd have to ride some tough loose rocky hills on a jeep road (Fat Chuck's Revenge it's called and it's not part of the race loop) backwards to make it back to the pit.  I got to the first water station and it had water!  I drank 3 full 24oz bottles of water before I wallowed back to the pits...which were deserted since everyone was getting their awards.  I went to my car to text Holly that I had finished and I was OK and now going to take a shower.  I grabbed a Bombshell Blonde (shower beer!) and proceeded to find my mates and let them know I was OK and grab the shower.  I was lucky that I didn't have to wait.  I used only cold water and it felt great.

After that it was nothing but packing up (painful, dry, and dusty) and deciding on where to eat.  Shaun was set on BBQ so we opted for Rudy's in town.  It was good to get some real food in me.  I went home, sat down, and fell asleep promptly for another 2 hours or so.

Estimated totals:  14,400 calories burned in 24 hours.  11,200ft of elevation gain. ~150 miles (Garmin reads it at 9mi/lap or so but it may shorten some of the tight sections.)

It's now 7 days after the race, my bottom is still recovering and I haven't dared get on the bike even though I am actually eager and looking forward to the Enchilada Buffet next weekend. I don't want to take a chance on setting back the healing process.

I couldn't have done this without the coaching from Shaun ((Forward Momenum Coaching) or the support of my friends and teammates who have a lot more experience in these races.  Thanks guys!