Marathon
Nationals is kind of the opposite of the Whiskey 50 event. Partly because Nationals
moves venues year to year there is almost no "event" going on.
It's a bike race for a couple hundred serious racers and that's about it.
The course and racing were pretty darn good though!
Georgia is also kind of the opposite of Southern California. Very green, lots of flat open land and a whole new world of places to eat. I had a nice smooth trip out - a travel day without a toddler is almost like a day at the spa. The race was at a really nice state park and the weather was perfect. Pre-riding the first few miles was exactly like Ruston, LA where I raced a bunch of times when I first got into mountain biking. The trails were super fun single track winding through the woods. Pine needles kept you on your toes cornering and the pump track like ups and downs kept the effort level high.
The race start was fast and aggressive as expected since everyone wanted to be in a good place in the single track. I got myself in the top 10 and was really comfortable in a train following the leaders the first 30min. Then the course jumped in and out of a bunch off jeep road sections and the pace got a lot harder. About 12 guys pulled away and slowly got out of sight ahead of me and I settled into my own pace. Then there was a solid hour of ripping single track back to the start / finish at the half way point of the race. Me and 2 others were going hard and I was feeling good. Right as we pulled out of the last part of the trail, everyone ahead was right there in sight. We chased down the lead group. Then we went through the feed zone as a big group of 15 or so and I could not see the bottles I had left there. I slowed down, but didn't completely stop knowing we just got the leaders and had some road sections just ahead of us...
Things went downhill slowly from there. I suddenly felt heavier with the effort of the first 2 hours and knew I was in for some trouble with hydrating. The last feedzone which had neutral bottles was 17 miles away. I dropped off the back of the group and slowly ran out of water. Once that happened I was pretty worthless on the bike and switched completely to survival mode. It was a long hour or so trudging along slowly and somehow my fork also blew out and had no travel. Once I finally got to the feed zone my stomach felt pretty sick. I beat myself up pretty good at that point and decided there was no good reason to drag it out another hour to finish the last 10 miles of the course. I was done.
It was disappointing. With a better day I know I was capable of a top 5. But somehow I wasn't that disappointed and had a strong feeling that a better ride there just wasn't meant to be.
Georgia is also kind of the opposite of Southern California. Very green, lots of flat open land and a whole new world of places to eat. I had a nice smooth trip out - a travel day without a toddler is almost like a day at the spa. The race was at a really nice state park and the weather was perfect. Pre-riding the first few miles was exactly like Ruston, LA where I raced a bunch of times when I first got into mountain biking. The trails were super fun single track winding through the woods. Pine needles kept you on your toes cornering and the pump track like ups and downs kept the effort level high.
The race start was fast and aggressive as expected since everyone wanted to be in a good place in the single track. I got myself in the top 10 and was really comfortable in a train following the leaders the first 30min. Then the course jumped in and out of a bunch off jeep road sections and the pace got a lot harder. About 12 guys pulled away and slowly got out of sight ahead of me and I settled into my own pace. Then there was a solid hour of ripping single track back to the start / finish at the half way point of the race. Me and 2 others were going hard and I was feeling good. Right as we pulled out of the last part of the trail, everyone ahead was right there in sight. We chased down the lead group. Then we went through the feed zone as a big group of 15 or so and I could not see the bottles I had left there. I slowed down, but didn't completely stop knowing we just got the leaders and had some road sections just ahead of us...
Things went downhill slowly from there. I suddenly felt heavier with the effort of the first 2 hours and knew I was in for some trouble with hydrating. The last feedzone which had neutral bottles was 17 miles away. I dropped off the back of the group and slowly ran out of water. Once that happened I was pretty worthless on the bike and switched completely to survival mode. It was a long hour or so trudging along slowly and somehow my fork also blew out and had no travel. Once I finally got to the feed zone my stomach felt pretty sick. I beat myself up pretty good at that point and decided there was no good reason to drag it out another hour to finish the last 10 miles of the course. I was done.
It was disappointing. With a better day I know I was capable of a top 5. But somehow I wasn't that disappointed and had a strong feeling that a better ride there just wasn't meant to be.
Then my lower leg got completely swollen on the way home. I remembered being stung by something during the race but don't know for sure what it was. Benadryl didn't help and next thing I know and I was getting shots and a prescription for antibiotics. It was a rough week. Mountain bike racing is hard, if you have big goals you will fall short most of the time. But that is also one of the things that makes it so awesome.
After a couple days of rest and a lot of support from Beth as always, I decided to stick to my original goals for the year. May 31 is the Grand Junction Off-Road and I petitioned USAC to race the Marathon World Championships at the end of June. I won't know if I'm going until June 1, but I'm already working hard to make the most of it if the opportunity comes through. God may still have a special ride in store for me before my season is over. Thanks for reading!
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