This weekend we sent two duo teams to Leesburg VA for the Bakers Dozen. A 13 hour enduro event. Before the race Shawn and I discussed our strategy. We decided to run single laps to keep ourselves fresh for the end and that I would take the first lap. The 7.7 mile course was fast, flat, and very choppy with a few log overs thrown in. Nothing too complicated but with the speed that you can run on this course, you could very easily burn yourself up quick.
Looking around at the start line it seemed to be about 120-140 riders on the line. I knew hitting the singletrack in the top 15 was key with that many starts. Let's face it, 40 riders would be a lot to all be hitting singletrack at the same time. The gun went off and I was eating dust. I kept my focus and picked off riders when I could. I hit the singletrack somewhere between 15-20th and as riders made mistakes picked them off. When we hit the double track I pushed hard to get around as many as I could. I knew our competition was tough. One team consisted of the reigning Semi-Pro Short Track National Champion and his partner is the reigning Junior Cyclocross National Champion. That's a lot of fast on one team. About 4 miles into the lap I picked off Jeff ('Cross Champ). He flatted. I made sure he was ok before motoring on. I went into 100% mode knowing that he was down. I wanted to get as much time on him as possible. I pulled into the transition area and sent Shawn on his way. A 29 minute lap. I refueled and waited for Shawn to come back around. This was the story for about 10 hours.
We were winning! Tom and Joel were right behind us too! First and second...
When the night fell the fatigue set in. Our lap times which were steady 28-31 minutes started to slip to 35 minutes. At this point Tom and Joel had fallen to 4th or 5th. Shawn took a spill and Wes (Short Track Champ) and the third place team went past. Even if Shawn hadn't gone down, those two teams were coming up on us fast. I doubt I would've held them off. I was spent. We ended up third with 25 laps about 10 minutes back on first. 192.5 miles with an average speed of 14.5 mph for the day. That's a tough pace for 13 hours. Tom and Joel had 24 laps and finished in 5th or 6th.
Not a bad day.
Being on the podium we knew we were getting cash. Woo Woo! 80 whole dollars to split. You can see we do not do this for the money. They had various other awards too. One was for fastest lap. We knew it would be Wes or Jeff. After all they are National Champions right?
"With a time of 28:14. Allied Milk." went across the PA. The four of us looked at each other. "But who?" we asked. "The first rider on the team that podiumed." Shawn and I looked at each other. He said "That was you." I am still in disbelief. $50 for that effort. Of all the things I've done riding/life, it ranks in the top 5 of my proudest moments.
Looking around at the start line it seemed to be about 120-140 riders on the line. I knew hitting the singletrack in the top 15 was key with that many starts. Let's face it, 40 riders would be a lot to all be hitting singletrack at the same time. The gun went off and I was eating dust. I kept my focus and picked off riders when I could. I hit the singletrack somewhere between 15-20th and as riders made mistakes picked them off. When we hit the double track I pushed hard to get around as many as I could. I knew our competition was tough. One team consisted of the reigning Semi-Pro Short Track National Champion and his partner is the reigning Junior Cyclocross National Champion. That's a lot of fast on one team. About 4 miles into the lap I picked off Jeff ('Cross Champ). He flatted. I made sure he was ok before motoring on. I went into 100% mode knowing that he was down. I wanted to get as much time on him as possible. I pulled into the transition area and sent Shawn on his way. A 29 minute lap. I refueled and waited for Shawn to come back around. This was the story for about 10 hours.
We were winning! Tom and Joel were right behind us too! First and second...
When the night fell the fatigue set in. Our lap times which were steady 28-31 minutes started to slip to 35 minutes. At this point Tom and Joel had fallen to 4th or 5th. Shawn took a spill and Wes (Short Track Champ) and the third place team went past. Even if Shawn hadn't gone down, those two teams were coming up on us fast. I doubt I would've held them off. I was spent. We ended up third with 25 laps about 10 minutes back on first. 192.5 miles with an average speed of 14.5 mph for the day. That's a tough pace for 13 hours. Tom and Joel had 24 laps and finished in 5th or 6th.Not a bad day.
Being on the podium we knew we were getting cash. Woo Woo! 80 whole dollars to split. You can see we do not do this for the money. They had various other awards too. One was for fastest lap. We knew it would be Wes or Jeff. After all they are National Champions right?
"With a time of 28:14. Allied Milk." went across the PA. The four of us looked at each other. "But who?" we asked. "The first rider on the team that podiumed." Shawn and I looked at each other. He said "That was you." I am still in disbelief. $50 for that effort. Of all the things I've done riding/life, it ranks in the top 5 of my proudest moments.
1 comment:
way to go guys! congrats!
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