My biggest fear with going to fast, too soon was that I would blow up and want to die at some point. Well that happened anyway at about mile 150. I made a critical mistake of not eating enough food throughout the day, and it caught up to me in a big way. I strongly considered pulling out at that point, but my wife aka support crew for the day basically told me I was not stopping. It was a painful last 50 miles, but I'm glad I finished it. I tried to set a relatively conservative goal of 14 hours before the race, and I finished in 13 hours, 57 minutes. So it was a success for the most part, and I even finished before dark to earn a "Race the Sun" print. Below is a picture of me as I'm approaching the finish line. It might be difficult to see, but the combination of relief to be finished and disappointment for not being faster was pretty intense.
After a week or so of licking my wounds I got back into race mode and started to eye several mountain bike races. I also converted my mountain bike to a singlespeed, so I raced several races in the SS category. Overall they all went very well, and I even picked up a couple of wins. As of this writing I'm in first place in the UFD West series standings in the SS category. I have no idea if there is anything more to that than feeling awesome, but I'll take it.
I also had more endurance racing on the cards in recent times. It started with the Farmhouse Classic, which is a 100 mile gravel race put on by Joe Fox of Cycle City. I probably started this race too fast and suffered near the end with some pretty intense leg cramps. I was able to defend my win from last year and finish in first place, so that was pleasing. Joe created a killer course with some intense climbing near the end, so kudos to him for the challenge!
Next up was my second foray into the race called Gravel Worlds. I raced it for the first time last year and blew myself up about 75% into the race, but I was able to hold on and limp across the finish line for the win. This year was a different story. I went in to the race very fresh after an easy week of riding, and I took the first 100 miles pretty steady while also trying to maintain a good pace. The entire day saw me chasing other SS riders, and I knew exactly who was in front of me at every checkpoint since we had to sign in. At about mile 100 I was feeling great, so I started to really push my pace and use the energy I had conserved all day. I picked off SS riders one by one until there was only one left in front of me - Rafal Deloto. I caught him with 8 miles or so to go, and we rode together until the finishing stretch. At one point he asked me if we were going to have to sprint for the win, and I muttered out something about how I doubted either of us were going to give it away. With about 1/2 a mile left he started his attack. I thought this was pretty early and I knew if he could sustain it that I would probably lose. I tried to keep a solid pace, but I wasn't trying to stick with him at that point. I noticed he was slowing, so I picked it up a bit in order to catch back up with him with about 1000 meters to go. I was able to go around him as I caught him, and at that point I gave it all I had. He stayed pretty close to me, but in the end I was able to hold on for the win. So believe it or not, I won the SS category of Gravel Worlds for a second year in a row. That means I won another sweet jersey! I think next year will again be a challenge since Peat Henry will likely be participating. He was there this year to provide support for another rider, but after watching all day I can only imagine that he wants to get involved.
At this point I am about 3 weeks away from my first cross race. Considering cross is pretty much the reason I ride a bike during the rest of the year, I am pretty excited! I also have a new bike coming at some point, but that date keeps getting pushed back by Cannondale. It is the gorgeous blue SuperX pictured below, but I got a SRAM CX-1 1 x 11 group to replace the Rival components. It should be fast! Until that arrives I will just be racing SS, which starts in Hermann with the annual Hermann Cross weekend. It is always an incredible event, so I'm looking forward to it. The SS category selection for that weekend was also partly due to the fact that my wife wants to make a weekend out of it in Hermann. Since the SS race times allow that to happen very easily, I thought I would give her this one since I'll be racing all fall and winter!
