Super-Six Enduro at Bluff Creek Ranch

This was going to be my first time racing at Bluff Creek Ranch in years.  The last couple of years I had meant to do the Dirty Dozen, usually with having some kind of cold related problems.  This time I wanted to do it, but I was advised to do only the 6hour race.  It was good advice considering how little I've been training or even riding.

Hook 'em Horns!

With a 7-8am race check-in, a 9am start, and only 1hr 15 minute drive, I decided to drive the same day.  I woke up at 5:15 but I was for the most part packed up and ready to go.  I just needed coffee and something to eat on the way. 

Race check-in was uneventful and here I found out Terra Firma is using an RFID tag for the solo riders.  That meant not having to wait in line to scan the wrist band and not having to get off the bike on every lap.  That was pretty cool!

I had my toolbox but wasn't going to setup too much of a pit since Brian had a nice setup already.  I just needed a small place to stash my cooler and I'd be set.  I saw Tony on check-in and then later found Brian and Melissa starting to get ready.  Soon after, I went off on my warm-up.  I decided to do a lap of the first part of the course since it goes close to the pits on the way out.  I was feeling pretty good with good speed and low HR for the RPE and was testing out the course.  We had ridden it the previous weekend and it was in good shape.  I found a couple of spots where the trail had deteriorated and noted them in my mind.  I got to a spot where it dips into a dry creek bed after a sharp left with a berm.  I tried to rail the berm like the previous weekend but it collapsed on me.  I went down hard.  My left shifter got messed up and I re-sprained my right wrist badly.  My stem was a bit askew as was my saddle.  I got up and other than the wrist pain and some blood on the left forearm and left knee, I knew I was in good shape.  I straightened out the saddle and rode the rest of the lap.  I was now worried about making it to the race start in time since I had to stop by my car to makes some fixes and pick up a couple of things to take to the pit (spare chain.)  I was able to fix my shifter and stem quickly, I rode by the pit, tossed my keys (and that's it…can you tell what I picked up at my car and didn't toss out that I should have?)

I don't know why but I knew I was going to go hard today.  Maybe it is the months without racing, or the very low amount of riding the last few months (I went a month without riding and several weeks with no riding at all!) but based on my rides the last few weeks and the leg openers I was feeling confident and a bit rambunctious.  We did the usual LeMans running start and I ran a bit faster than normal and felt good, but still not the sprint that a lot of folks/runners were doing so I was probably in the back third or quarter of group.  

These were everywhere on the trail.

Pasture section between the first section and the rest
of the trail.

The first lap was like a sprint race with all the folks that go all out for the first 15 minutes only to collapse later.  Most of the people were nice since Scott Hudson from Terra Firma had warned people about passing/lapping, and courteousness.  The slowing down of the train was so bad that at some point we thought there was a big wreck since we almost stopped.  The guy behind me was wondering what happened…then we rode over--I kid not--a 2" root in dry sand before a gentle left hand turn and we sped up again.  He made me laugh when he half-jokingly said, "wait, THAT WAS IT?!"  BIKE SKILLS PEOPLE, BIKE SKILLS!"  this is when we both turned up the wick to try to pass people.

One kid was fairly slow but steady…he was wearing khaki chinos and a white t-shirt, street shoes and flats…yes, he had a race number!  He was pretty cool though in letting people by when there was a chance.  Another kid was not so nice.  He was on flats too and was putting his foot down on very easy turns, and when I saw a chance to pass and called "on your left" he started sprinting!  "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" was what went through my head.  I quickly passed him.  I was redlining with every pass, but I had a goal of 8 laps so I knew what I had to do to accomplish that and I did not want my first lap to be over 50 minutes because of the slower folks. I knew it was going to hurt later but...well...I knew what it was going to feel like.  We left that first tangled section of trail onto the cow chute and "bike skills" guy passed me and we wished each other luck.  There was a long stream of people heading up the pasture and I desperately wanted to sprint and pass as many as possible before Gas Pass but I held back a bit.  It turned out to be not too bad in Gas Pass other than for two dismounts in front of me, but I was able to track stand and push through.  My heart was about to come out of my mouth by this point.  My rear tire was squirrely. I know that feeling as a tire that was low on pressure.  I think I may have burped it when I went down in the warm-up.  I knew I would have to stop to put air in and that was un-scheduled and not good for my 8-lap plan.  The added incentive to go fast was to put some distance between the non-technical folks I had passed so they wouldn't pass me as I was airing up.

This is where the 4 years of training with Shaun, and the times watching and hanging out with the fast guys pays off.  My fitness is probably at a 2-year low but my experience is at an all-time high.  My coach is my Unfair Advantage.

Lap 2 had a few more people to pass but it was mostly much smoother.  I got to ride behind a lady wearing a Colin's Hope team kit  (the executive director no less!) so we got to chatting about it and said her goal with the team kits was exactly that: to have conversations and bring awareness during a race.  This is the cool thing about endurance racing, you can have a conversation with folks while you ride.

I kept the balls to the wall for a few laps and was doing pretty even splits but one lap I thought I slowed down 3-4 minutes [it turns out it was actually a faster lap than I thought.  I think I must have been in more of a rhythm not having to expend energy passing people so it felt slower/easier] I knew what I had to do to do two more laps so I turned up the wick and did a fairly fast first split.  I could go harder but I also knew I wouldn't have much left on me if I did.  I had to go just hard enough and if I finished that lap and had at least 45 minutes left I would try another lap.  (Over 6hrs it doesn't count.) I was doing ok but I hit the wall at some point in the last third of the race.  I couldn't go very fast at that point.

Throughout the race, I kept pushing and feel like I was mentally strong.  As soon as I wanted to coast I started pedaling.  That worked for me and I plan on using that in the future.  In addition, for some reason passing people gave me a boost of energy too.  My calves hurt and felt like they could cramp any minute but nothing like my quads.  On the last lap, I got to the bridge climb and the quads started seizing up.  I had to stop and stretch and that was probably enough to keep me from meeting my target time.

All in all, I had a blast and it was a good workout and a really good mental test.  It was probably my best race as far as strategy and execution.  I set a new HR threshold too.

Once again, shoulders were what caused me to slowed down one lap.  Though all the fitters said my fit is ok, I will go down to a 90mm stem like John recommended to me.

Later after the race, I was able to analyze the results…and I'm not sure I understand the timing.  When I crossed the finish in my 7th lap, my clock indicated we had been racing 5:22 minutes or so.  My Garmin 705 time was 5:15 or so but I did not start my time until after the run, and I had it shut down (a random shut down...happens every so often) and lost a minute or so.  The race clock was showing 5:76 (yep, seventy-six) and was thinking it should have said 5:26, but I was fairly sure I had my times right and it made sense if I had assumed correctly one of my laps had been over 50 minutes.  It turns out, my laps were extremely consistent until the last lap when I stopped for 3-4 minutes!  From lap 1:  42:45 (includes the run!), 43:41 (includes a pit stop to add air to rear tire), 43:39, 44:31, 45:30 (this is the lap I thought I had slowed down more), 46:30, 49:28 (includes 3-4 minutes to stretch the quads and calves.  I think by my calculations and assuming 2-3 minute run time at the start, that I would have had to do a 40 minute lap to have had it count.  That was impossible at that point for my legs.

I'm pretty sure I ate some cow poop

I believe I was a lot more dehydrated than I thought.  During the race I stuck to a bottle of my custom-blend Infinit per hour.  After the race I drank 2 24oz bottles of water, 2 16oz bottles of water, 1 16oz bottle of milk/WPI recovery drink, 2 16oz glass of water at home.  At 2:30am when I woke up hungry and thirsty, I drank another pint of water and ate a bowl of cereal, then another pint of water after.  In the morning, I was still peeing darker than usual.   Next time I will supplement with some water during the pit stops.

I can't wait for my next race, but first I'm going to do race support for my coach and a bunch of his athletes at the 24 hours of Old Pueblo.  That should be fun!