Postponed twice, with the third date conflicting with a personal engagement, it seemed fate did not want me to complete my first 6-hour race.  Then at the last moment – a cancellation freeing up my Saturday for bike racing!  So with virtually no prep time, I committed to doing my longest race of the season.

It wasn’t a slam dunk however, it rained constantly for three straight days before the race, evoking fears of a repeat of an infamous prior muddy running of the same race that resulted in unbelievable mud caked carnage – documented in online photo galleries.  That did not look like fun.

The rain seemed to keep the racers away as turnout seemed light.  The wimps missed out though, Addison held up beautifully to the rain and was in excellent shape except for a few small mud slicks.

I ate a hearty pre-race breakfast of eggs, fruit, juice and lots of toast and coffee.  I carefully planned out my nutrition for the whole race budgeting one water bottle for every hour, and a gel and Cliff bar alternated every lap.  Fluid wise I was dead on, maybe even a little overboard considering the cool temps.  Food was also a little too much, but better than bonking.  Gels went down easy but I found that cramming down the Cliff bars was a real challenge after about the second one.  Worked out though, never felt I was at a loss for energy the whole race.

I worried most about my back or neck getting sore as they sometimes do after a long ride, but never really was an issue.  I think it was somewhere around hour 4 that my legs started cramping bad after every big hill climb.  Still had to press on, not that hard since I otherwise felt fine.  I succeeded in staying on the bike the whole race, pausing in the pits just long enough to swap bottles and grab some food.

I had good timing and rolled to the time check with 5 minutes to go, perfect chance to get in an extra lap.  But by this time I had decided to start listening to my legs and call it a day.  I could have moved up 2 more places had I finished that extra lap, but I haven’t lost any sleep over it since.

Ended up completing 7 laps good for roughly 50 miles and 6th place in my class.  I’m hooked on the format though.  This series has a bunch of 6, 12 & 24 hour races all around Michigan, and I plan to do more next year.  The big question is: should I spring for the lighting system necessary to run a race longer than 6 hours?  Or just focus on the “shorter” format?