This past Saturday was the 6 and 9 hours of Conyers put on by Kenny with Chain Buster Productions. Bill and family traveled up early Friday afternoon to preride the course and hang out with da "LORD" and his family. Steve, John, Mitch, and I (Josh) left Albany around 5 Friday afternoon. Carb loading began while loading the Tahoe. The Tahoe was loaded down with bikes, gear and the camper on steroids. After stopping in Macon for burritos at Calientes, a spin off of Moes that is way more yummy, we discovered that Mitch's lid to his cooler had flown off somewhere. Sorry to the person whose car was struck by a flying plastic object traveling 80 mph on I-75. Please send the repair bill to STEVE JULIAN. He often forgets the incredible power of WIND. EASY UP!!!!!!! Anywho... We had one more stop before arriving at the International Horse Park in Conyers. Krogers which for years now has been improperly pronounced and should actually be pronounced K-Rogers. We you can only imagine what 4 men with a list and no idea of what they really want can do with time in a K-Rogers. 45 minutes later we departed the parking lot headed to the horse park. Of course the list said that we needed beer.
Bill had already saved us a pretty good spot in the middle of the field but it took all 4 of us getting out of the car and giving Steve advice on how he should park the camper. I must say that Steve did a fantastic job and within minutes we had the camper up and were readying ourselves for some sleep. But first I had to pull out my trusty sewing kit to mend my racing gloves for the next day. For some reason I always seem to leave small tasks like sewing for odd times. All were asleep by midnight. Those that have camped when Bill is within a 50 mile radius know that it is a good idea to sleep with one eye open because you never know when he might slip in with a "STTEEEEVVVVVEEEEEE, WHAATT'SSS UUUUUPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
We awoke Saturday around 6 am to 4 wheelers and cars arriving. Seemed to be a touch early for a race that started at 10 AM. Upon sunrise at 7 AM, I believe it was Mitch or John that said all those folks at the porta potties don't really look like mtn bikers and come to find out Kenny and Tim (Dirty Spokes) were teaming up and putting on a 10K and a 5 K trail run before starting the mountain bike race. Sorry girls, this was an honest mistake. We had no idea.
We busied ourselves with minor tasks, like eating and preparing our gear for the race waiting for the arrival of Bill and da "LORD" but as it turns out they were a touch late on arrival and you would never guess that Bill needed some minor adjustments to his bike. Like always at a mtn bike race before the start everyone is sharing tools and stands to make sure that everyone around has what they need for their coming adventure. There was a nice group of guys next to us that let us use their stand and in return we gave them some pain killers (advil).
10 AM came quickly and after the prerace meeting we all made sure that Mitch and John (6 hour virgin) had everything straight in their minds about what was about to happen. I realized after the race that I did not mention to John and Mitch that they would probably want to lube their chain after a couple laps but I also did not realize that we would have 4-5 stream crossing per lap.
It was a mass start with call ups. Bill got called up from his result at the first 6 hour at Heritage. Bill was leading the 6 hour at Heritage but had to leave an hour or so early to get back to A-town for the Daddy Daughter Dance but still manage to finish 3rd while he was driving in his truck, go figure. I managed a second row start and others were not much further back. At this point, I will tell some details from my race and try to remember stories from the post race carb refueling session. My plan was to ride toward the front but not go off the front and try not to lose contact with the front guy. Sometimes that is confusing when there is a mixture of team and solo riders and you have no way of determining the difference until you ask them "Hey man, are a team or solo?" So I took my chances and stayed toward the front of the main chase group down the double track and jumped into 2nd going into the single track. Within a couples minutes, I had determined that the guy in front of me was racing the 6 hr solo (like myself) and that we had about 30 seconds already on the folks behind us. I was content easing off the gas a bit but he continued full throttle. I settled for somewhere in the middle as I could feel the efforts I had put out on Thursday nights road ride and kept thinking about the fact that I had not ridden my bike any longer than 3 hours this year and that was back in early February. The way the trail cuts back on itself you can see other riders almost all the time but you have a hard time gauging just how far or close they are to you. For the 1st 3 laps, I could see first place but just kept riding my pace. Since we had put down a sub 40 min lap the first lap, I knew that I had gained a few minutes that I could use over the course of the 6 hour race and could settle in to race my race and see if 1st place came back to me.
It was some where on my 3rd lap that I came across Mitch and John. Both doing a great job and seeming to have a great time. Coming through the start finish at the end of the 4th lap, I looked over to see the 1st place guy(David) still in his pit area. Steve was in the pit at that point and he helped me out by getting me some bottles and sending me on my way. I know that he went out for another lap after that and finished with 4 laps for the day but look for more from the Chief HavaLongToe from Albany, we are about to get him on a top secret training plan that will have him putting out solid rides. David and I exited the pit together and rode most of the 5th lap together. I will still content with riding in 2nd place because I had calculated at this point that I was going to be riding 8 laps and knew that I had plenty more race to go. So if he wanted to attack and waste energy, I was going to let him. At the end of the 5th lap we came in pretty close together, I headed out on my 6th lap unsure if he was in front of me or behind me. During the 6th and 7th lap, I had to fight cramping a couple of times and went into conservation mode. I got so thirsty one time that I almost stopped and drank from a water bottle on the side of the trail. I managed to get more electrolytes into me, eat a bit more and get an extra bottle the next time in the pit and I continued at my pace, calculating how quick my last laps needed to be so that I would make the time cut at 4 PM. See the photos below for the conclusion.
Mitch ended up having a mechanical on his 5th lap (broken chain) which seemed to be quite common, I would imagine b/c of the frequent stream crossing that were following by leg searing short climbs that caught you in the wrong gear trying to shift under great pressure. Mitch hadn't discovered that he needed to carry a multi-tool with him during a race but I feel very confident that at the next race he will have a multi-tool and a master link or two in his back pocket. As it turns out. A guy came by Mitch and asked if he needed any help. Mitch told him that he had broken his chain, the guy gave Mitch his chain tool and then just decided to stay and help him fix it. Unfortunately, they needed a master link. So a short period of time later, which I am sure felt like a millennium, good ole Dave Muse comes by with a master link. TRAIL MAGIC that be!!!! Thanks Dave. Yet another example of why mtn bikers are so fun to be around. Mitch finished his 5th lap limping b/c his front der had gotten twisted during the chain break. If not I believe he may have had time to go out for a 6 the lap!!!!!! Good ride Mitch.
I am going to post this now but will be back later to complete the story of Meat on Your Grill. Don't worry Palmer, I didn't forget about you.
1 comment:
Uh - what'd I do???? ;-)
Awesome write up!!
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