Renee - You out there?

[mtbdarby]

Hey Girl,
Been thinking about you. I was wondering if you had heard of a new 12 hour race called Thunderdown at the Underdown? It's up here in Merrill and on the Wisconsin endurance series, here's the link: http://www.wemseries.com/Thunderdown05.html

I remember you said you loved hills and ski trail type courses so this would definitely be up your alley. Drop me a line if you get a minute. I won't be racing it, I'll be there supporting my bf who is doing the 12 hour solo.

Dar

[madisongrrl]

Dar-
I heard of it...it is one of the races in WI's 12 hour series. But i'll be busy doing the Chequamagon 40 that weekend. I'm not really looking foward to it though...I'm not ready to race 40 miles.

Life has been a little scary for me in July and August. I had to take some time off from mt biking and exercising in general. I was having some crazy symptoms. Numbness, tingling, fatigue, nausea, lost motor control of my hands, seizure, spine pain etc. I was totally scared! The doctors thought I could have Lyme disease or MS. All my tests came back negative for lyme, but they treated me anyway. My MRI was negative, so they thought no MS for now. A few weeks ago my symptoms faded away for the most part, so I got back on my bike and have now raced 2 times since. Boy have a lost fitness, it really sucks.

I raced yesterday and finished 6th overall. Two people beat me who usually don't. So it really was disheatening and a disappointing result for me. The mt bike race had a huge road component. A 2 mile lead out to the trail head. Racing on the flats at 20+ miles an hour on knobby tires like that (I was running way too aggressive of a tire for this race) absolutely tore up my legs and doesn't really play to my strengths in general. I was racing as fast as I could and I was getting dropped by the majority of the field. Though I did catch most everyone right away of the single track because they went out too hard. This always happens....everyone one takes off and the pace is so absolutely and insanely fast. There are only a few racers that can sustain this pace, and then the majority of the field blows up or and has to slow down.

I also made a huge mistake. I degreased my chain the night before and let it dry a bit overnight. I thought my brother had lubed the chains that morning. We drove 45minutes to the race. My brother then tells me that he didn't lube the chain....damn... So I lubbed it 30 minutes before the race and wipped it off. That wasn't sufficient time for the lube to dry so lots of dirt stuck to my chain. I had problems shifting and had some chain suck. At the end of the race, I was right behind the 3rd, 4th and 5th place riders. I was going to stay right on them on the single track, then drop them on the 2 mile road section back to the finish. I shifted into my small ring for a climb and my chain dropped. It was caught between my frame and the bolts for the small front chainring. It took forever for me to get the chain unstuck and back on the cogs. It was a stupid, stupid mistake that wouldn't have happend if the chain wasn't full of dirty lube..... This mistake cost me a possible 2-3 spots in the overall and I won't make this mistake again if I can help it.

Though it was not as bad as the mistake that my brother made yesterday. He races in the Sport class and had an awesome start. He was in the front of the pack with a few other guys for the two mile lead out. He had a very good position when he got to the single track. A mile or so into the single track he flatted. He had his rear tire off and a new tube out in under 30 seconds. He goes to grab the CO2 cartridges, then realizes he has no CO2 cracker because he left it in his road bike bag. Race over. It took him 15 minutes just to find someone who wasn't racing who had a pump just so he could ride back to the start and report his DNF.

How is biking season going for you? Any more races?

[mtbdarby]

Renee,
Good to hear from you! That is quite a scare - I'm glad you're alright but it's frustrating when they can't figure out what's wrong. I just hope you stay symptom free.

I was thinking about doing the Thunderdown but my bf went out to ride it the other day and flew over the handlebars down the first hill. He's lucky he did't break a vertabrea because he landed on his back on a rock. He bruised his lower back pretty bad so I don't know if he'll be racing. The Underdown is SO hard for me - that's why I thought you'd do great there. It's very rough - they just put the single track in. And soft. When you see a caution there they aren't kidding! I'm in better shape for this one than I was for the first one but I don't know if I have the legs for this one. This place is nothing but soft terrain and steep hills. There's 8 "difficult" hiles on this 7.5 mile course!
And I'd have to do this one solo because I don't have a team. I have thought about doing the 3 hour so we'll see. Only if I can get out there and try the course today or tomorrow. We'll see.

Anyway, I haven't seen you posting and I knew you ran this series. I just wanted to check with you cuz I thought it would be great to meet you if you were coming up for the race. Good luck with the fat tire - let us know how you do!