Ok, I found out 2 things about myself today; one, you cannot train 6-8 hours a week and call yourself an endurance racer and two, starting off like the race is only 2 hours long, is stupid. That being said, my friend Will, who is 17 and I who is 43, hmmm odd couple indeed, did a male duo for this event. We both have the same view on racing and how it is so hard to pace yourself at a 12 hour race-uhhh, lets go all out in the beginning and see if we can hold that impossible pace. Now, it is rare that this method ever works, but today it did. We were in 1st from lap 1, and by lap 2, we had a 10 minute lead on 2nd. We had built a 26 minute lead at one point, but we were getting tired and they werent. We ended up finishing with 12 laps in 11:17, 17 minutes ahead. I kind of liken it to scoring 6 runs in the 1st inning and winning 6-5, not ideal, but a win none the less. Last year, my fastest lap time was 58:07, this year was a best for 9th overall 49:51 on the Superfly SS. In fact all my laps, except the last were all far better than last years.
Quantico is a pretty difficult course 1600ft of climbing per lap-ouch! Nothing is flat and nothing is smooth. Each climb is a 20% grade and even the fire roads were just plain evil. Jim Harman and the EX2 staff are just great. They still know how to throw down a grassroots race venue.
My last 2 laps were nothing less than dismal. Not from going out too fast, but not keeping the nutrition in the body. Just the thought of food made me ill. Dont quite know what to make of it. I am not to bothered by this because endurance races arent my thing anyway. HR reached 160, but the legs were non existent. I even tried to encourage them, but they said "we are fine, so beat it pal." I wasnt out of breathe as well.
I did do something that I never do, though; I ran the Superfly HT for 4 of the 6 laps. The other 2 were done on the Superfly and the Big Pink Rig. Of course this would not be possible without Jon Rogers and Brandonian Buth. These guys are the reason I am where I am with my race results.
I did have a difficult time with the handling, not because of the bike itself, but because I am used to jamming out of the saddle on the SS. It was hard for me to sit and spin, so I couldnt seem to get my bearings. That being said, the bike was amazing on this rock infested, pock marked and endless climbing course on the Marine Corps base. I was running a 44/29 up front and a 12/27 in the back. What I really want to make mention of is the Bontrager Evoke 3 saddle and carbon versions. 2 words AMAZ-ING! If you like the way your broken in saddle feels, than you will love this even more. Full padding on a carbon railed saddle and 130 grams. The Ti version is 186 g's. Very flexy and super comfy. Comes in 3 widths as well to fit your hind quarters.
Overall, I was pleased of the 1st place result, but not super overjoyed with how we had to maintain it, but again, it is still a win. I did surpass last years effort with my first 5 laps in comparison to last year, so I will call it a pretty good day.
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