Midlife Sooner

I went thru 17.2 miles of ****

Here is the synopsis of the race this last weekend, I will try to account for the race as well as its effect on me. Those who don't know I was in a 17.2 mile race this last Sunday morning at the wichita mountains.
We started off at the line with 726 fellow riders, the day was cool and windy but fair. with that many people the start gun went off and it took about 30 seconds for us to start rolling and even then it was a crawl. Matt and I had agreed to try to stay together throughout the race to help each other finish, although now I see he had trophies in mind. After the first hill he took off and left me like the true friend he is. On the down slope of the first hill I washed out and got slapped into the rocks, everyone around went "oooohhhhh" That is when I started to question the idea of racing again. I think that I must have hit my hip and cut my leg at this point, I am not sure. for those of you that have been in this race you will remember that it is mostly pushing your bike up hill and then struggling to keep it from crashing on the way down, oh yeah and dealing with seven hundred people also is a big part. Well I caught up to matt again a ways down, I could hear him yelling my name as I was peddling up past him. shortly after that I had to stop and push, I would like to think that someone was in my way and I had to stop, which honestly was the case in many instances. Well Matt got on his bike before I did and took off, that was the last I seen of him. It is here that I regret not getting on sooner and trying to stay up with him.
The course is through Fort Sill and you ride past danger signs saying impact area lasers might be in use. At first you hope that you stay clear of the lasers then after riding for 2 hours you start to hope that you get hit by a stray laser and put out of your misery. I soon fell into a pace that was rough but manageable. still no sign of Matt, punk. I did notice that my bike was very unstable on the loose rock more than it should have been. I am riding a 17 inch (a little small for me) with basically a slick on the back and high pressure on both wheels. I could be riding and my front or rear tire would wash out suddenly and send me careening off the course. After a while I compensated (rode slower) and did better. The jagged rock, that was not loose, my bike did excellent in, also in the single track through the trees. I like the trees and single track the best, but there was not much of that on this course. And when I was on the single track I was stuck behind someone so I could not advance. In the trees you hear distant yells and screams behind you, you know that the course has taken down another rider. You grieve and keep riding, and then rejoice that it wasn't you. I noticed that there are some people that like to scream out "low bridge" "big hill" "loose log" while going along for the benefit of others. I think that this is admirable, but maybe a little annoying at times. I found myself trying to add humorous things such as when someone would yell "log!" I would ride up and since there were several logs I would say "zzsss" trying to add a plural to their warning.
I stopped at the way station (water, snacks, etc) just for a few minutes to get my power snacks out of my backpack and then off again. I started to stop more at this point and rest, usually after pushing my bike up a huge hill and then seeing another bigger hill with riders all pushing their bikes. These times were the low points of the ride, very demoralizing. Apparently the trail planners don't understand about switchbacks. One time I stopped and sat down to enjoy my wife's homemade trail mix. One rider stopped and said "I will give you five thousand dollars for a handful of trailmix" I shook my head and said "come here you go you can have it for free" like I was their parent taking care of them. some may question why I didn't take the 5K, I knew that he didn't have it on him and I wasn't into making loans. Matt said that I should have traded him bikes... I should have done that. After my snack I felt better and continued on. I must say that everyone was really nice, mostly they were just trying to survive so we all were in the same boat. I learned something about humans, or at least was reminded of it. That we are drawn together in adversity, that comfort and ease are not all we were made for. Trouble and pain are not something to run to, but also are not something to necessarily run from either. There were a few jerks but there always are. I talked to several people like we were long time friends.
I noticed that my bike seemed a lot harder to peddle than before and I was sure there was something wrong with it, Matt experienced the same feeling. After about 3 hours the people on the side of the road said it wasn't long to go, maybe .7 miles. they encouraged me, then I looked up and saw that it was .7 miles uphill, that discouraged me. When I rolled across the finish Matt was there sitting waiting for me...punk, he had rolled in 15 minutes ahead of me. I can't remember what place I got, I think I was mid pack for my age group and maybe a little ahead of mid pack for the whole race. I am glad I did it but I did something to my hip and I am waddling around like a penguin. I have several abrasions on my leg (I am quite proud of). I took 800 mg of Ibuprofen last night and went to bed on top of a heating pad. I haven't seen Matt yet today so maybe he is really suffering....all because he left me! On the way home we stopped at Meers to eat at the famous Meers rester aunt with food as big as your head. it was a good end, I had a hard time getting out of the car.

posted by Flippo @ 8:56 AM