Salty Dog 6 hours enduro MTB race 2012

It was a hot day, that is the first thing that comes to my mind as I am typing this... The forecast temperatures for race day were 28c, but in the last section of the gravel road was 33c according to some people up in the aid station.

I met with some Terrascapers on Saturday for a 10am pre-ride. Andy, Jeff, Ryan, Alana, Nichole, Deanne and me. Andy showing off his great new flashy 29er as well as Alana were pump about racing with bigger wheels (and so was I too). We split the group into two as Jeff, Ryan, Andy and I went for the pre-ride while the girls were waiting a bit to take off. I chose 32/19 which I think was a bit to big a gear, but Gabor advised me to set up the gears for the fire roads and flats and if I had to walk some of the steep hills it wouldn't matter (thanks god I did follow his advice, because I kept up pretty much with everyone on the fire roads and climbed everything up to lap 5th).

7:05am on Sunday and we set up the tent, coolers, table, etc... went back to the campground to have breaky with Maria and Nick as I had to wake her up to give her the big Mother's day present !!!! yeah, Salomon XR cross mission trail running shoes :-) sweet, nice set up for making her come to a race on Mothers day /// :-).

Andy's special for breakfast once again as it never fails (whole wheat pancakes, peanut butter, strawberry yogurt and bananas ummm) and lots of water to start hydration.

9:00am off to the race to get ready for a long and hot day. The entire team was there and we were all getting ready to hammer, table set up, coolers ready, food, etc. This year we didn't have to do the lemans start, so mass start for everyone from the school up the fire road to split the peloton quick. Big guys like Gabor, Cory, Jeff, Tim were all lining up in the front and I didn't get to see them any more. 1st lap I felt good as I was chasing Amit and Andy all the way to the top. Went down with a clean descent and feeling comfortable all the time. Laps 2, 3 and 4 felt great as I was holding a good pace (2:49 until then that gave me a lot of confidence). I think I did lap 2 and 3 with Amit trying to work together on the fire road, but having only one gear I needed to hammer all the time as long as the legs would take it and therefore it was hard to wait. On lap 5 I was starting to feel tire and my upper buddy was cramping bit (so weird...). By this time I had already picked up some french fries that Maria brought me just in time yummmm, I could totally feel the salt of them going through my blood (just what i needed for the cramps). Half way through the climb on the single tracks I heard "on your right" and I wasn't sure if there was even space there to pass, when I turned back it was Cory Wallace (which I think now he is a goat dressed like a cyclist, because the guy went over a gigantic rock to pass me with no effort whatsoever), so I road with him (for at least 2 seconds) and then decided that he wasn't in my category and wasn't worth racing him LOL...  Lap 6 was horrible (and as it turned out after talking with Gabor I wasn't the only one in the race considering switching sports and selling the bike, that is so funny lol). Lap 7 wasn't as bad and I was already getting pump again to hammer the last lap. As I started lap 8 I knew I wanted to hammer it since it was going to be the last one and by the time I got the fire road I had already made a good time, so I was shooting for under 6hours to complete the 8 laps. I got to the aid station and even thought i used all my water bottle to pour on my head i didn't want to stop for a second as I had 15min left before the 6 hours mark to make it to the finish line... and as Jeff was telling me the day before my mantra was "smooth and slow is fast" and wasn't even touching the breaks as much sweet !!! got in with 5:58 and 8 laps, very happy with the results. Few minutes later after hanging out with the team I left to the campground (it was to hot and dusty for Nick), anyway, now in bed after a nice shower and some play time with Nick decided to check the results and told Maria "I hope i didn't make it top 3 because I will regret not to be in the so wanted podium" and Maria was like "no worries, maybe you came 5th of so...." crap !! Maria!!! i came in 2nd!!!!!! holy crap i missed the podium !!!! NOOOOOOOO.... well, at least Alana and Jeff got my wooden medal.