This page has been pretty quiet for the last few months. There has been a lot of things going on in my head since my last post. I have tossed around ideas how to try and explain it all, but so far it has not made it in to this page yet. Maybe some day I will try to explain, maybe I won't. I have had a couple weekends that were worth putting posts up, but those too just didn't seem to make it. Last weekend I finally did something that made me want to post on here. I am hoping this trend will continue.
Friday afternoon we headed down to Sheltowee Camp to check in to our home for the weekend. This is a great place and owners go above and beyond trying to make their guests enjoy themselves. We had a blast last year, so it was a no brainer when it was time to make a reservation for this years race. Now granted, this race was supposed to be several months ago, but we were ready to be here. There was a lot of rain in the forecast earlier in the week, but it was looking like it might be better than expected.
We drove through some rain on the way, but it was scattered all over the place. Pouring rain one minute and sunny the next. As we were getting closer it looked like a cloud was over the camping area. It turned out that they did have a little shower before we got there, but was looking good at the moment. We ate and set up camp. By then it was almost time we could check in, so I waited to ride until after that. My plan was to do a trail ride with my wife, but we got there a little later than planned and with the cloudy skies the woods were darker than normal. She told me to get the ride I needed with out her.
I headed out on the trail section. The trail was in really good shape for it just having a little shower. The only issue I had was that it was so muggy that I was completely soaked in no time and was having trouble seeing through my glasses for most of the ride. I was still getting used to a few of the changes I had made to this bike, but overall it was riding well and I was having fun. I popped out at the boat ramp and figured I better take a look at the map before going farther. I had a fair amount of distance to get back to camp and it looked like I would have even more if I kept going on the trail. It was going to get dark quickly. I had a head light, but still didn't want to be out there as long it could have ended up.
I went about getting as much stuff ready for the next morning as I could. It started raining and being lovely. When we finally went to bed it had seemed like it was cooled off and should have been ok. Well that was far from reality. It was so hot and humid in the tent that we really struggled to be comfortable and get to sleep. I adjusted the vents as much as I could with out letting the rain come in. Eventually it was better and I fell asleep, but this was far from ideal. I woke up several times and my legs had a little hints of cramping through the night. I tried to hydrate and rest as much as I could. Eventually I could no longer lay there and got up and getting ready. It was earlier than I wanted to and I was way more tired that I would have liked to have been, but not much I could do about that now.
I had to get my Christopher Bean Coffee going so I could really get moving. I felt like I ate a good breakfast and finished getting my bike and stuff ready. It was kind of raining on and off, but I could not tell if it was from the trees or actually raining. It was nice relaxing a little before the race. I always feel like I am running around trying to get all the last minute stuff taken care of before it is time to line up. I still felt like I was a little last minute, but maybe that was because I was not riding around warming up like a lot of people were. I was not that worried about it. I knew it was already going to be a long day and with the road ride down to the start and then the start climb, I figured I didn't need any more riding.
I felt like I was moving better than the previous year, but Strava disagrees. Maybe it was because I was riding gears this year and was not working as hard as normal. I know I sure was breathing better than last year. I hit the trail and it seemed pretty spaced out. There was a couple that made a mistake or so and I got by. I was holding a good pace and followed some people going about where I needed to hold. Toward the end where the steeper climb is, it felt like it hurt more than it should have. After that I was not quite as strong as I felt I should have been. I didn't ride too bad on the road, but I was definitely not as strong as I expected to be.
As the gravel started showing up, I could already tell I was not as strong as I was hoping. I didn't plan on stopping at the rest stop the first time, but I was not expecting to see it where it was. I think it was not set up at the correct intersection. The climb up on the first part of the gravel loop was really hard. I was climbing everything, but the pace was much slower than I was hoping I would be able to hold. At least the views were good and I was enjoying the pain. We eventually rolled up to the turn off for the mud road known as Middle Ridge. This year it was supposed to be less muddy than before. I am not sure how bad that section was, but this section was pretty similar to what I expected after last year. The only thing I know for sure was missing was the tech downhill in to the rock overhang. I didn't miss the down hill and last year I was working so hard to just stay standing that I didn't really get to enjoy looking at the rock features.
I must have been riding the mud section pretty well since most of the people that I was riding with were no longer to be seen. I don't like the deep mud holes, but I have done my share of riding this exact kind of road. So many trails had very similar sections, you know, BITD. lol. I did ended up sinking my back wheel in one of the holes. My shifting instantly sounded horrible. I figured it was just more bad juju that this bike was giving me for putting gears on it. It has not been kind so far. I started to have issues shifting out of the the big ring in the back. At one point I had to actually stop and help it shift off of the big ring. From that point on I just tried to keep it a cog farther down.
As I rolled in to the rest stop that was where I expected it to be (and was not there earlier) I stopped to get my drop bag. I didn't really need most of it since I had not been eating enough, but I wanted to put some more CarboRocket Half Evil in my bottle. The issue was they were pretty much out of water. The one lady had part of a bottle and said there was another area farther down that had more water. I took part of a bottle and saved the rest for someone else and took off. I was feeling pretty rough threw this part and was way behind of what I needed to be eating or drinking. I was looking forward to the road section thinking it would help me spin and start to feel better, but I just could not get my pace up very much.
I finally made it across the dam and could get more water. I had already been fighting cramps in both legs since leaving the rest stop. Not too bad and I could ride threw it, but they kept getting worse. In the trail section I had to walk any of the steep technical climbs. I just could not put the power down needed to climb it. Eventually I rolled up to the last little part and the final climb to the finish area. It was something else having Becky cheering me on at the finish and being there to catch me if I fell over. I made my way back to camp, but was moving pretty slow. It took me a little while, but eventually I got my kit off and finally remembering where I was. Normally I am ready to have a beer, but today I could not even drink a beer right away. I am glad to say that eventually that passed and I forced myself to have a recovery beer or so.
The rest of the night was spent eating, relaxing and trying to stay awake. I saw the fire in the big circle getting kicked up. This brought be back to life a little and we headed over to watch the fire and enjoy some good conversation with the Durkee's. After a while it was time to try to go to bed. It was later than I expected I would last. Tonight I took our canopy and put it over the tent and completely removed the rain fly. I slept a lot better that night. I'm not sure if it was just because it was cooler or the fact that I completely destroyed myself on the pedals again. It doesn't matter to me, it just felt good.
I ended up in 11th place for the 40-49 class and 46th place overall. It ended up taking me about a half an hour longer to finish the race this year. I was hoping to be faster especially with having gears. I know easier gears are slower but bigger gears also go faster on the road and gravel sections. I am happy with my bike choice for the weekend. It would have hurt a lot more if I would have only had 1 gear to push. I do hate my bike not being a SS, but I sure like not having to work quite as hard all the time.
Sunday morning there was talk about a ride or a hike. My bike was
completely trashed, so a ride was not really a good option. We decided
to head down to see Cumberland Falls. I have been thinking about checking it out sometime and after the rain we had I figured why not. I was wishing I had my jeep as I took the back way there. I took a lot of the race loop to let Becky see the rock overhangs, huge climbs and steep drop offs. It took us a little longer to get there, but it was more about the trip than the time.
The falls were raging and it seems like we just beat the crowd. We took a little extended hike on the Moonbow trail to check out another waterfall and just enjoy nature. I always enjoy seeing places like this no matter if I am on the bike or not. I also makes it even better to be able to share the experience with Becky. I know she does not mind me going on all by biking adventures, but there is nothing wrong with her being able to go too.
I know he already has next years race scheduled for 5/8/21. Hopefully the next race will not need to be rescheduled again. This is a great race to attend. It is a very easy going feeling with a variety of racers. Some will be out there for a while and have a great time. There is also some very fast riders there. There is not easy podium in the open class. This race pulls in some heavy hitters that are typically fighting for NUE steps. The second part of this is to please camp or just hang out. There is a huge fire pit plenty of dry wood to burn. There are gas grills and lot of other amenities there to make the experience even better. Hope to see you there. You know where to find me. Thanks for all the hard work Keith and all the volunteers. You always go above and beyond to make everything go smooth.
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