Golden 24, June 18-19, 2016

Another great weekend to celebrate life ! great company with my wife, kids, my mother in law and many riding friends to hang out with !! At only 3 weeks after my last 24 hours race in Spokane, I was still tire but ready for another one. I was signed up for Golden 24hours since last year, so I didn't have a way out ::---)) the forecast wasn't promising and with plenty of rain in the radar I considered several times just NOT to go.... but, there is something about commitment, and once you cross the line back, it will be easy to back out again and again... so, always move forward ! even if it is at slower pace (that is my mojo !).
Took a vacation day from a busy office and headed to Golden early morning on Friday. Got there and set up the camp for the weekend thanks to my buddy Steve S and family that kindly picked up a site for me right beside them.
We hanged out as usual with the kids and went to town to shop last minutes items.. like ice, coke, and candies of course.
We convinced Andrew and Michelle to adventure a camping night with Eliza and lend them a tent !! they were racing next day the 8 hours 2 person race which had a start time of 11:00am same as for the 24 hours group !
It was a bit of a rough night, but woke up at around 8 am and was getting pump and ready to roll !!
I finished the last details and by 10:45 am was line up to start with Leman's run around 4 baseball fields and a prologue on the bike around the same fields... off we went, I didn't pre-ride the course so I was getting to know it on the first lap, took it easy as I found where all the sections were and realized how much climbing there was !!! 500mts of elevation gain in a 14k course is a lot !! I picked a 32/21 gear ratio that felt good all the time, except the rain started to come down and making the climbs really slick and grease... The part that I liked the most (the down hill at the 13k mark) was the best section ever to fly and have lots of fun, however after lap 2 or 3 the wet/grease conditions made it super sketchy and dangerous to say the least.... A guy was sent to hospital with a concussion in that section, and for sure I didn't want to end up besides him.
By lap 5 I found my buddy Steve S. at the top of the 7k mark with some stomach issues... tried to stay with him and motivate him, but he is a veteran old dog and knew how to keep pushing on his own... he encourage me to keep going yelling that he wanted me in the podium !! so off I went.
In my 8th times that I have done 24 hours races, the weather has NEVER been sooo bad and with a terrain so technical and difficult. Not only the climbs that were all over, but the rocky sections and steep down hills.
By mid night the rain was stronger, and with that I couldn't even wear my glasses, my time wasn't dramatically impacted by this, but it was tough.....
I made a huge mistake, I always have a burger that I eat only a few bites at a time lap after lap, well this time I ate it all at once ! crap what was I thinking ??????? a McDonalds are you serious Cesar ????? I can't believe I did that..... from that moment on, the riding with a stomach in pain was tough... I drank probably 6 out of the 12 bottles that I planned for the race and that is a huge mistake. I ate other things that went well, but boy that burger was a bad idea.
I felt good with some fries, chips, mustard pretzels, banana (1), I had a gel (ok), I had 3in1 which is always good. The oatmeal in the morning felt good, but it was too late... I should have eaten my pasta and stick with the juice.
Anyway, this time my motivation was there, the love for the adventure and the bike were there, the support from friends and family were there, but the stomach wasn't.. I will never forget what coach Shawn Taylor told me on Sunday morning, he said "we all want to eat at some point of the race a burrito, or burger, a pizza... but we know we can't !" only a few people can tolerate real food... I will never forget that. He is such a nice dude, he even changed my front tire at night, despite I was racing against three of his athletes.

I laid down in the trailer to wait for the light to come up and kept going, when the lights were up I went out again committed to one more lap. Done ! I did it, I feel alive, I feel alive I feel grateful to have these opportunities to celebrate life. Michelle and Andrew helped me pack and that was the best ever ! I was done.....
Finished 4th place in my age group and 6th overall out of 29 Solo. Conditions were challenging, but it was the same for everyone in the race. Lot's to learn for next time :--)
Sunday morning (Father's day my son Nick woke up with a gift and card for me :--) so sweet I can't express how much I love those kids.