I thought I was a mountain biker, and then I rode the Boyne Marathon.
Long, slow climbs that never seemed to end followed by blazing fast downhills into long stretches of rim-deep sand. One particularly insane drop off must have claimed 2 dozen endoes before the day was over. I walked it both laps, and both times someone following me crashed. It got my riding partner Eric, fortunately without injury.
I learned an important lesson today. The first rule of racing is…Cross the finish line!!! I found out the hard way that the timekeepers did not record my finishing time because I didn’t run through the proper gate, a gate which was not distinguished from the “continue” gate in any way. No arrow, nothing. Yes it seemed most people went through it just fine, but I was not the only one who blew right past it. My buddy Eric also missed it and fortunately I was there yelling my head off for him to turn around and go back through. I stood there for fifteen minutes and saw at least 6 people blow past the gate and then have to double back. Luckily for them people were yelling instructions at that point.
No one was yelling at me when I went past. I went back to the car, washed up, changed, grabbed some food and drink and headed back to the line. Suddenly as I walked I had this sneaking suspicion that something was not right. I talked to the timers and indeed, no record of my finish! Arrrrrgh! After pleading with the mostly apathetic timers (they did have a race to monitor after all) they agreed to record my finish as the current time instead of a DNF, a full half hour after I actually crossed the line. This was pretty good of them all things considered. And as it turned out, my real time would not have improved my class standings, so I didn’t lose any points. So anyway, keep in mind when the official times come out, mine should be about 2:50, not 3:20
Aside from that mishap the day was awesome. The weather was beautiful, low to mid eighties for temperature, humidity didn’t seem too bad, and a nice cool breeze coming off the mountain. Most of the trail was wooded and shady so that made riding all the more pleasant.
Knowing this would be a tougher ride than most, my main concern was having enough energy and staying hydrated. English muffin and granola bar for breakfast, washed down with a full water bottle. At the start I ate a GU pack, and then another at the turn. During the race consumed my full 70 oz Camelbak of Gatorade. Felt good the whole way, no cramps, never felt thirsty. Post race had some beef jerky, apple, and some pretzels for recovery along with another full 1000 ml Nalgene bottle of plain water.
The hills were real killers, the climbs I’m used to are steep, technical, but generally short. These were mildly sloped but extremely long, and required more endurance than I posses. By the second lap I was in the granny gear on virtually every climb, sometimes going so slow I thought I would fall over. But oh did it feel good to make it to the top after passing a couple walkers. The downhills were just a blast, although they were so long and intense in places that it really challenged my hands/writst/arms - need to work on that!
I did wreck at one point, going extremely fast through a tight, sandy section after a long descent and I just flat out slid off the trail and rolled. As my long ago friend Matt O used to say, I just “fell right” because I barely have a scratch on me, and no damage to the bike either. Although it did twist the magnet on my computer so I was without speed or distance measurements the rest of the ride. Plus I was completely covered with sand.
I had a huge branch lodge itself in my front fork at one point, it ground me to an instant halt, but another stroke of good luck it didn’t find its way into the spokes - and it surely would have snapped a couple. I also busted one of the ratchets on my shoe, possibly when my pedal slammed into a stump, or maybe when I wrecked, can’t say for sure. The other shoe was already busted but usable, so now I definitely have to replace them both.
Otherwise things went pretty well. Pacing was good, and had just enough energy for the finish. It was a pretty cool finish, the final stretch is on pavement through the resort parking lot, and there were actually people camped out there to watch people come through and cheer a little. I came through going full speed in top gear, though I don’t know what speed I hit. The one bad thing was that the finish gate was located up on the grass, and to get to it you had to go up a hard curb with no ramp or anything. So I’m coming at it full bore and think, well I guess I better bunny hop this thing or I’m gonna go flying. Now is a good time to mention I’ve never cleanly cleared such a hop in practice, but today was my day I guess, because I nailed it.
Results are posted:
Beginner 30-34
- 316 TALUS PARK DEXTER BIKE & SPORT 2:14:36
- 317 GLEN RUCZYNSKI CYCLE TO FITNESS GREYHOUNDS 2:19:49
- 320 BRIAN BROWN PRECISION CONCRETE/B&B CONCRETE PLACEMENT 2:27:52
- 318 DOUG SANTOS 3:15:15 (2:45:15 – my estimate of actual finish time)
- 319 ERIC SANKO 3:24:28
Some GPS data from another rider gives you an idea about the hills.
