Eiger Bike Challenge

The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation. –CS Lewis

My race result at the Eiger Bike Challenge is not what I was hoping for. My journey getting to such a tough endurance race in the middle of the Swiss Alps was everything I was hoping for and more. The 2 months or so leading up to my current Europe trip have been a challenge in themselves. I pushed myself as far as I ever have at work, in training / resting, and in planning. Most importantly I didn’t forget my faith and that I need the grace of God to get through every single day. Of course everything wasn’t perfect and there were plenty of stressful days. A week of relaxing with Beth in beautiful Lauterbrunnen at the base of the mighty Jungfrau Peak made it all worthwhile though.

Then it was time to race the Eiger Bike. At 7am the gun went off and the next 60 minutes were spent ascending a 3,000 foot paved climb, heart rate pegged at 180 to stay with the 3rd group of elite riders on the road. A few of the top marathon racers in the world were on hand and were already putting minutes on the rest of the elite riders. The next hour and a half weren’t much different with some very fast descents, several thousand more feet of climbing, and heart rate running only a couple beats lower. Half way through there was finally enough of an off road descent for me to pass a few riders when a random rock badly cut my rear tire and I flatted. I had to cover the cut inside the tire for the spare tube to even work so it was a slow change and quite a few riders came by.

Once I did get going again the result I was hoping for was suddenly out of grasp. Then my legs started cramping. We were doing some long descending before going out onto the last third of the course (another 3,000ft climb) and the rolling terrain was wrecking my legs. Every time at the end of a downhill when I needed to start pedaling my quads would try to lock up. I was able to ride through the cramps but had to start backing off my pace quite a bit and start settling for just finishing the race. The last 2 hours were long! In the end I was 37th overall out of about 200 riders that did the long course, and about 1,000 total mountain bikers at the Eiger Bike.


It wasn’t my best physical performance, but I feel totally blessed to have finished.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107654979