I had to wait for my bike coming on a different truck so I took a look around and said hello to my friends from Clarkson Cycle and Fitness. These guys are great and give some wicked service! Once the bike showed up I did a quick change and headed off to get warmed up.
With over 600 riders it was a busy, busy place; and I am always surprised at the wide range of people you see out at these events. Hardcore riders on bikes I could only dream of affording (although I am sure they get them for free!) to those in it just for the experience on some very old school bikes I’d be scared to ride to the corner store.
As the start time neared I began to get ready. I had eaten breakfast before leaving the house so I had been nibbling on some Gu Chomps for the past hour. About 15 minutes before the start I down a glass of water and a packet of Gu Roctane. I had two more packets for the race and a package of cliff bloks just in case. For “water” I had two bottles, both with about a scoop and a half of Carb-Pro and a Nuun tablet (Lemon-Lime and Cola). I figured that should last me two hours and be just enough fuel to get me by.
At about 10 minutes to 11 I headed up to the start and riders had already been filling up the staging areas for the different start waves. I was in wave 1 that had 225 rides in it. I was in the back 1/3 of the start corral but wasn’t too concerned. Waiting to start was a killer, I just wanted to get this race underway!
Over 600 riders waiting to start.
The race began with about 3km of paved road heading north through Port C. As expected the start was fast and furious. Once we got moving the pack was flying, well over 40km/hr. I managed to work my way up through the crowd, but there were still quite a number of riders in front of me as we made the turn onto the canal trails (groomed, fine gravel trails). One thing I noticed as I was moving up was a kid, couldn’t have been more than 12 flying with the main group at the start, holding his own....it was unreal to see. I am sure he will be a powerhouse in a few more years.
A few of the turns on the trails slowed the group down, but there weren’t any real bottlenecks to speak of so that was nice. The next section of the course was mostly groomed trails along the canal. This section of the course was new to me but I had heard other riders talking about it - I knew we were in for some muddy ATV trails soon and it had rained for the past 4 days. It was going to be sloppy!
I never really run knobby tires so I didn’t know how my set up would handle the mud. This was by far the slowest section of the race with a few rolling hills and trails abused by the ATVs that frequent the area. The trail was littered with deep ruts with anywhere from 6-12 inches of water in them. Navigating between the ruts was tricky with riders on all sides of you, and if you managed to squeeze on the narrow dry spot your rear wheel usually slid off into the rut. If you weren’t ready for this you were off and running with your bike until there was a section dry enough with a big enough gap between riders where you could get back on.
Covered in Mud!
I was pretty much covered in mud head to toe at this point and couldn’t see out of my glasses at all. I stuffed them in the leg of my shorts once we hit some more groomed trails which made things much easier. The next 10 km were pretty fast, most on groomed/semi-groomed trails or roads along the canal.
One interesting thing of note happened in this section. I was with a group of about 8 riders moving quickly along the canal and I noticed a trail intersection heading back up the hill onto more muddy trails. I clearly saw two blaze orange arrows pointing straight ahead so we kept going. However, I looked up and saw several riders had turned there...perhaps it was part of the course last year...I don’t know? I guess they missed the arrows and it cost them. After hearing some riders talking I think it was most of the lead pack, and they were not impressed! I saw a few of them drop down at the next chance, but I am sure the leaders at this point were long gone. The section may have been a couple km, but no more. Even at the finish lines I could hear riders bitching saying others “took the shortcut”...riigggghhhttt! I just kept to myself, but knew they were the ones that took the wrong route. The fact that I am used to racing unmarked courses makes me pay much more attention and I don’t expect the course to be handed to me on a silver platter. I managed to get a decent photo of the course map that was posted at the start and it clearly shows the correct route right along the canal in this section in question. I am sure we will see better marking in this section next year.
Flying along the canal path.
Now the course started to get into some of the areas I had been on previously. After we had to dismount and run across a train bridge (we actually had to sign a waiver from the railroad company saying we would do this!) there were a few turns until we had to cross another small bridge. Coming down a hill and moving pretty quickly we needed to make a sharp left onto the bridge and up about an 8inch metal step, all while trying to avoid a large boulder in the middle of the trail to stop ATVs from crossing. I got my front tire up but didn’t pull up quick enough and my back wheel caught the step and tossed me sideways. Still clipped in I was now stuck between the narrow handrails of the bridge that we framed with chain-link fencing.
Luckily there was no one right behind me and I had time to figure out how to unclip and get moving again...it was anything but graceful! Once up and moving again I tried to clip in my right foot, but it wouldn’t go. With all the mud I had been struggling with this before so I wasn’t surprised. Once I got clipped back in I noticed I couldn’t straighten my foot. I guess my cleat had turned on my shoe and now I was stuck riding the last 25km with my right foot pointing at about a 30 degree angle inwards. I got used got used to it after a while, but it wasn’t very comfy that’s for sure.
The next half of the race was pretty uneventful. It was nice to be on familiar trails which helped me keep a good pace. My legs started to feel pretty fatigued at 35km or so and I didn’t have much power heading up the few small hills. I’d been drinking and had popped my two gels so I knew I was fuelled, I was simply getting tired. The good thing was the last 10-12km was pretty easy riding, some very well groomed trails along a creek, then up to some paved roads towards the finish.
I had been riding with one other rider for most of the last half of the race with very few other riders in sight. As we hit the paved sections I noticed a few guys catching. It didn’t really matter at this point, I had been told by a set of volunteers about half way I was running about 20-25th, so if I was 22nd or 25th I didn’t really care at this point. We rode together for the last few Kms and all finished together...except for one greedy bastard who had drafted us the last 5km then decided to pass with less than 500m to go. We all thought this was pretty cheap but didn’t fight it. The finish took us off the paved roads down a short but steep mud hill into the beach in Port D. I guess there are some good wipeouts there sometimes so I took care not to face-plant in front of the crowds at the finish.
A steep muddy hill to the finish.
Once finished I removed the mud-caked timing chip from my ankle, grabbed a banana and headed straight to the water to rinse both myself and my bike off. The water felt great! My bike must have had a few extra pounds of mud covering it....it’s still sitting in my basement half covered as I write this. I guess I should take care of that soon! After a quick change it was off to get a burger and coke (free for all riders) and relax for a bit while I waited for the results to get posted.
Crossing the line.
Overall I was pretty happy with my performance. Turns out I was 26th overall and 11/122 in my age group in a time of 2:03:02.9. Full results posted here. Pretty decent considering there were some pretty great riders in the field and I know I will be much stronger next year. A kid in the 12-15 age group actually finished 5th....craziness!!!
Less than 3 weeks till my next race, then I get a month and a half off! I can’t wait to adventure race again, but the time off after will be nice to work on getting stronger and faster on my feet and the bike for the fall races.
...and sorry about the photos. Yes, I did pull them off the photographers website (printscreen works wonders on protected images) but there was no way I was paying $23/digital download...and who buy prints anymore? Come on now!
