Got Tha' 12 Hours Butt
 

The race went much better than I thought. I really wasn't sure that I could finish one that long since my longest training rides were just 6 1/2 hours. I was actually in second place until I busted my rear wheel on a descent around halfway through. I lost a half hour fixing it but I did get going again. I ended up bonking after 7 hours and was laid out on the ground for almost two hours. During this time I was hating life. I was pretty sure that this was the dumbest idea I had ever had. Once I got some food back in me, the strength came back and my last four laps were my fastest of the day. With three hours to go I was four laps behind the leader. At the finish I was just over a lap behind. Not a bad way to finish the race. I was fourth overall with 13 laps completed. I hung around the area for the crit. in Maryville the next day. Several people offered to pay my entry fee if I would race just so they could see me in an extreme amount of pain, but I declined as I could barely sit down in the car let alone on a bike seat.

I did a few TBRA cross country races before my next attempt. Most of them were just a play ride for me. Like at Lock 4 I showed up on my heavy downhill bike just to see if I could beat anybody on it. I was a little more serious at Montgomery Bell, I flatted early on and spent the rest of the race trying to get back to the lead. My second attempt at the 12 hour discipline came at the 12 Hours of the Canal Loop in Grand Rivers, KY. The Canal Loop was a very difficult course for a race that lasts all day. The climbing is spread out more than at Fontana and very steep in sections. Its an 11 mile loop which takes almost an hour to do, so time between pit stops is much longer too. I felt horrible on race day. I had absolutely no sleep the two nights prior. One night was due to my grandparents breaking down on the interstate, the other due to me camping. A stupid owl sat in the tree above my tent all night and hooted in the weirdest kind of way. I think he was constipated from the sounds he made. The race was miserable. I was sick to my stomach nearly the whole day. I finally did get sick on the fourth lap which made me feel a little better. I just had no energy all day and was forced to keep taking breaks of 5-10 minutes which is much longer than I wanted. I still won the Pro class with 10 laps but I was very unhappy with my performance.

I had to redeem myself with one last shot at it so I went down to Memphis two weeks ago for the 12 Hours of Stank. This course is very fast like Lock 4 and is 9.5 miles long. I had good legs this time and just ripped it all day. We drove down at 4am which I thought would be a problem, but evidently I was well rested. I got the lead on the second lap and held it the rest of the day. The first three laps were done at my normal race pace. I was averaging above 95% heart rate for the first two hours. That got me a gap that held until two hours to go. Some local guy got to within a minute of me just before dark but I dropped him at night. I was willing to hang it out a little more in the dark than he was. I was not about to give up the win that close to the end, especially when I had been leading for over 100 miles. I did pop a tree with a few hours to go and broke my shoe. We all thought my foot might be broken too, but its ok now. It hurt for the rest of the race, but I think it was a good thing because the pain jarred me out of that monotonous rhythm of just turning the pedals over. I knocked off 15 laps for a total of 135 miles in 12 hours 19 minutes. That was a new course record as well which was a nice bonus. I attribute most of this success to my lack of stopping. I only stopped twice all day for more than one minute. You just have to keep moving in those long races.

So now I have just a few mountain bike races to go and then its full on into cyclocross. I did the two Nashville series races this past weekend and did fairly well. I hadn't ridden all week after the Stanky 12 hour. The effects of riding for 12 hours will make you wonder if its even worth it. I had swollen knees and fingers, super sore joints, and 12 hour butt, which is something only 12 hour veterans can begin to comprehend. My legs came around late in the cross races, but my big 27 lb. mountain bike is no match for an 18 lb. cross bike. I'm hoping to get my hands on a cross bike for the rest of the series. That would make things a little more interesting.

I hope you are all riding strong or enjoying some down time right now. Thanks for reading. All you mountain bikers remember to keep ridin' dirty.