12 hour race report

Well,
The endurance race went off yesterday. Anyone that lives in the northeast knows what the weather was like. It started raining on Friday and it did not let up all day yesterday. And man, did it pour.

So needless to say, the 7 mile course turned into a river, or pit, or luge run, of mud.
There were about 200 racers, many of whom rode solo. I bow down to their greatness. I was glad to be on a team,not only for the break from riding in the mud, but for the support. Anyone with disc brakes lost their brakes after several laps, makes the muddy downhills interesting!

Most of my riding buddies were racing, so it was a a lot of fun, in that punishing, wet, cold, hypothermic sort of way. The only disappointing part was not really being able to test your skills because of the conditions on the course. That is frustrating after training hard for a race. But we finished, and none of my team members waivered on their enthusiasm the entire day. And I think our lap times were great considering. We even beat some all male teams...always a plus in my book!


Now all that is left to do it the long process of mud removal from bikes,clothing and gear.

Ruth

Sounds...messy. Glad you had a team and you kept going. I have to clean my bike today too. It's 95 out and I don't have any plans to ride. Maybe a little before it gets dark.

Way to go, Ruth. I was thinking about all you guys yesterday! I don't know why the race promoters didn't consult with the Weather Gods, before setting the schedules this year! I don't think there's been a dry race yet. Glad to hear you guys had a good time, though. I knew you would.

Kerry

Great job Ruth! I absolutely hate muddy conditions, so glad it didn't deter you and you still managed to beat out some of the mens teams!!. I've been considering doing a 12-hr race, we had one in Gallup NM last month and considered it an then chickened out. What kind of training are you doing?

Hubby's done some 24 hr races and I provide support, I'm always amped that I'll try it in the future, but the chicken factor kicks in (afraid of letting the team down sort of issues).

My fingers are crossed in hopes of better weather at your next race!:D

Snowtulip,
Just get on a team that has a good attitude, and go for it. The attitude is really the whole battle. Now don't get me wrong, I am very competitive, BUT, for this race, I had a different mindset, and I really just wanted my team to finish the 12 hours and do our best. Which we did. So getting on a team that is going to be supportive of your performance...that is the key to a good day.

Now as far as training. I just did an adventure race last month, so I just kept on training. Running, biking, lifting. I tried to do some rides at race pace, as hard as I could go for X amount of time, usually 1-2 hours. Other days I tried to ride a little slower and go longer.

Depending on the size of your team, muscle endurance is KEY. So you need to have a strong base.

Does that help????

I want to post a picture, but i can't figure out how to do it....help????

I guess I do!!!!

Nice! :D Mud is great fun, until you have to clean it up. :rolleyes:

Hey, that looks like fun...I sure hope your washing machine handled the load well...!!!

mud!

c

Multiple sets of riding clothes for two racers.....caked on mud.....it took a hose off in the yard, a bucket wash and 4 trips through the machine.....

Today....we start on the bikes. They have been rinsed, but we have to do brake pads, and cables, and on, and on.....

Ruth

Wow, good job on the race! That's great you beat out some of the men's teams.

Just out of curiousity, you said people w/ disc brakes were without after a couple laps. I currently have V-brakes but always heard disc are better for poor conditions. So, did the rim brakes fail after a while also or just the disc? If just disc, how come?

Wow Pigpen!!! I don't think I will ever see mud like that!!!

Well,
I think that the disc brakes are better in general in poor conditions. I have had both, so I can speak from experience.

However, when you are out in those types of conditions, in the heavy, heavy mud, the mud gets on the brake pad and literally sands them away. So you have a sandwich of mud and metal and when you apply the brakes, it just grinds away the pads.

It is the second time this season that we have raced in those conditions and it happened both times. The experienced mud puppies brought multiple sets of pads with them and some racers changed them every few laps. I just tried not to brake....Ha Ha ha......it actually worked the first two laps.

Ruth