Big Wheel Racing

So I was leaving Aid 3 for 4 and was feeling good after landing on my head…

Remembering exactly what happened and what I rode is already fuzzy. I know I climbed up some stuff, I know I descended some stuff and I know I asked after we got to Aid 4 I was concerned about my time. I asked a fellow racer what time it was and if he knew the mile we were on. He told me we had ridden for 6 hours and had done 43 miles…. Ummm, I hope not. So I let him think that and rode away from him. As I left he mumbled something about needing lights as I took off and I shook my head and knew we were around 60 miles and beginning the big climb up to Aid 5.

I had heard and read that this climb was the “death march”. It was hard, and it wasn’t much fun, but “death march” it was not. I rode a good part of the climb had to walk a bit and here and there and passed people and passed people and passed people and finally hit the Aid 5 station. I grabbed my gel flasks, was offered pizza and turned it down, had to fill my own bottles and had a very nice woman give me a cool towel to clean up. That towel was heaven! I choose not to eat the pizza because it felt and was sure that it would just sit in my belly making me feel sick, so I left as fast as possible. From Aid 5 to 6 is supposed to be a climb that makes one want to hang themselves from the nearest tree.

The trees weren’t tall enough to hang me from and in my world they climb wasn’t fun, but really not that bad. I knew once I crested the climb I would have the race in the bag. So I walked a bit, rode a bit, walked some and walked some. It was at this time I began to feel as if I might have ridden 80 or so miles….. apparently I had. People passed me, I would get back on the bike and pass them back and this yo-yo thing kept going until the top of the climb. Once I got to the top, I believe I still climbed a bit, but at least I was on single track. Then the trail really turned downhill and I forgot about the climb and let the bike go. This trail was rocky and a bit technical which was likely because of fatigue not so much the actual trail. Once the single track turned downhill for real I just let go and coasted, then it got steep and grabbing brakes seemed smart. Then it got fun again and then I got scared and grabbed more brake and so on and so on.

In hindsight I believe I was beginning to bonk again from the lack of food from Aid 2 to 3. I never really got back to even on the calorie intake and was paying big time. The trail wasn’t that technical and I was really struggling to stay focused. That was a sign my head wasn’t clear and a sign I needed food.

Aid 6 popped up out of nowhere, well not exactly, but it surprised me. It was across a creek and never has a creek more hated than that crossing. Getting wet and bounced around didn’t seem to appeal to me but what choice was there. Across I went and then I made the biggest mistake of the race.

Two bottles were given to me, I left the station with little food and didn’t refuel. Bad move and I paid big time. Not being prepared for what was coming cost at least an hour of my life. Out of Aid 6 the race followed roads we had ridden earlier in the day, unfortunately that was bad. It was the first real climb of the day and now appeared to be the last. The first time I rode up this climb it was fun and fast and passing people was fun. This time I crawled to a stand still. From the stand still I began to walk and got past by people. That made me angry, upset and demoralized me into a state that was bad. It didn’t matter what I did every bit of motivation had left me and all I could do was walk. Every bit of my energy was gone, bonking was not the word for what was going on. I am not sure what to call it, but every bit of me had given up. Well I was going to finish, but it was going to be 13 hours… I was shattered, but kept walking. 4 miles. Arriving at what was the jeep trail I got back on the bike cursed and pedaled as I could and walked where I had to again. At this point I walked every climb, but could have ridden every one of the climbs easily but I didn’t….. End of my rope, looked like a 13:30 finish.

Finally the course turned downhill and I coasted to the finish and looked up and saw 11:02 on the clock. What 11:02? The clock was wrong, it had to be, but 11:02? Now I was mad, at myself. I had a sub 11 hour race in the bag, and 10:30 maybe a 10:15 but I had walked myself to an 11 hour finish. Dumb Ed!

I should have eaten at Aid 6, I needed to eat at Aid 6, I have learned that if I go back I will visit Aid 6 for food and coke….

Oh, by the way, I finished in 2nd place in the Clydesdale Category and 204th out of 450 or so people…..  not great, not bad.

This may be two installments, or not, but as for the title the irritation I feel with myself seems to grow every time I think about the race. The short of it is as follows, I rode really well and well within my limits for 39ish mile, totally blew up, ate nearly all my food, crashed on my head (literally) woke up at mile 42 (or so) rode the Aid 3 refueled had a awesome ride until mile 89 and then just gave up, no excuses, no reasons, no real idea why…. finished, moaned about how much the last climb sucked and got into my car drove home and thought, “why the hell and what the hell happened to me? Why did I stop trying….” I finished, but I am really not happy with myself and not sure if I want to go back. Oh, I finished in 11:02 not sure of placing as I left earlier than I should have….

So for a bit more detail, but above really sums up what happened and I took no pictures.

Alright, I will skip all the pre-race stuff and start with Mile 0. Upon hearing Chris Scott talking about getting ready to leave the realization that my front wheel was behind my car, my chain not lubed, and I was nowhere near my starting block. So I quickly got ready, rolled to the start line and got into my “start time” block and in hindsight picked the wrong one entirely. More on that later. Moments later, and that is literally, I hear, GO! and off we don’t move at all. Two minutes pass and the unruly cluster of lycra clad fools beginning a ride of foolish proportions finally roll for ten feet…. stops…. then this happens again…. and again…. and again…. and then off we actually start rolling. And I pass people.

We, as a loosely defined group, kept moving with little hold up for about ten miles. During this I passed people, nicely mind you, and tried to get around people who are already worrying about finishing the race… we were not even ten miles in and I was already hearing, “I have my lights at Aid 5, I will finish!”. Thinking to myself came this, if you are already that worried get off your bike, go home, ride that bike, come back next year with some fitness. How they got ahead of me is simple to explain. They all lied about the finish time they hope to achieve. I lined up in the 12 hour group, where I belonged, these folks lined up in the 8 hour group… what they thought that at 8 hours they would be getting their lights….

So onto the next 15 or so miles, I passed people, I passed people, I passed people, as nicely as possible until we hit Lynn’s trail (or whatever it is called) and walked and walked and walked and them finally got to the top of the climb and descended down what I think was Wolf’s something which was fun and passed people, and passed people and passed people…. into Aid 2. Where I have my only complaint about the help at the race. The volunteers are always great, alway kind and always helpful, except one guy. I went into the Aid station believing I could fill up at least one gu flask with gu… I asked the Aid station helpers for gu and am told go “over there”, I get there and ask if I can fill up my flasks and am told sure, them this dude walks over, literally tells the volunteers to stop filling my flasks as the are not a “hammer gel” station and tells me to literally get moving. I can’t have any gel here….. Why The Face? So off I go from Aid 2 to Aid 3 with no gel for eating, not food because I don’t eat fruits and I pass people and I pass people and I pass people and I pass people knowing trouble is coming as I am positive I will be bonking (or run out of energy) very, very soon.

Soon came as we began a climb called Smokehouse or something like that… I believe it was called kick the hell out of Ed and watch him suffer and laugh as bonks and has to walk up this terrible climb while he bonks and gets passed by people gets passed by people gets passed by people. It is at this point every last bit of gel in my pockets was consumed, every drop of water and HEED was drunk and I searched the bushes for berries…. okay that last part is made up, berries cause cancer, blisters, warts, and several other diseases. (At least that is my take on them, damn berries)

Pulling it together was difficult and I took a moment and thought that this might be where I pull the plug on the race, except that I don’t pull plugs on events, I push on until I get pulled or ….. well I don’t actually know. I have a couple DNFs but one is because the race director refused to believe I finished the race even with proof from my GPS files, and one because I had a slight breathing problem, AKA a real life asthma attack, so unless the folks pull me from the race I am moving on, one foot in front of the other, walk fool walk. It took a bit of time for the gel to actually enter my system and my brain finally began to wake up, my legs felt better and I saw one guy turn his bike around and begin to head off the trail for a DNF. At this point I pointed out his bike was pointed the wrong way, urged him to follow the fat guy up the hill, reminded him the descent couldn’t be too far off and Aid 3 was very, very close. Aside from the fat guy bit, it was all not true, I had no clue where the peak of this climb was, I had no idea where Aid 3 was and maybe he needed to stop, but he turned around and followed me up the climb. At the top, it felt like hours, I jumped on my bike and promptly crashed and landed on my head. That woke me up quick fast. That crash got my body back in gear and I ripped down the descent into Aid 3 and felt almost brand new, almost as if I hadn’t ridden 45 miles.

At Aid 3 I had three little bitty cups of cokes, grabbed my personal gel flasks thanked everyone and jumped on the bike and off I went quickly. Lets not waste time talking, lets ride. Now I will let you guys (yeah nobody has read all of this) take a break and finish off 4-finish tomorrow.

BWR hosted another Stan’s No Tubes clinic in coordination with the Durango Dirty Century. The race had an excellent turnout with racers prepped and ready to roll just at 6 AM. Stan’s No Tubes was represented in the morning at the San Juan Cycles bike shop and again later in the day with demos across the street at the race finish.

Early AM start for the racers. Coffee provided by Bread!! Sealant samples provided by Stan's No Tubes!! Thanks to all who supported this event.

Last minute race instructions. Starting point...San Juan Cycles. Thanks, Tom for opening up early and being there all day!!

On July 2, 2011, Durango members of Stan’s No Tubes team, Shannon Gibson, Kenny Wehn, and Kaila Hart were present with BWR to give demos of Stan’s tubeless setup to folks finishing the race as well as other interested parties at the race finish and those who meandered across the street from San Juan Cycles.

The Stan's checkin area for the race finish, right across the street from San Juan Cycles at Durango Brewing Company.

This is the second year for this event, and the attendee numbers grew significantly from the first year’s event. The race and clinic were a great hit!

After providing demonstrations and discussions on the ease of setting up tubeless, members of the audience were willing to give it a shot themselves to prove just how easy setup can be.

Finished! Stan's No Tubes setup is easy!

In addition to the demos, the Stan’s No Tubes pop-up remained in place to display Stan’s No Tube sealant samples and catalogs for folks. Additionally, the Stan’s No Tubes race team and BWR members were around to answer individual questions people had about Stan’s No Tubes in general. Many were enthusiastic to give Stan’s No Tubes a try for the first time. They’d heard great things, and after seeing the ease in setup, were willing to give it a try at home.

Shannon Gibson, Kaila Hart, and Kenny Wehn (not pictured) were at the event to help out with demos and Stan's Q&A.

Thanks to Stan’s No Tubes for providing product samples and catalogs, and to the Stan’s No Tubes race team members who came out to support the clinic! It was a great success and we hope to do this again next year!

We are very excited to announce that Bike Works Albuquerque has agreed to be the local New Mexico shop sponsor for Big Wheel Racing. This is the coolest shop in New Mexico, if not the WORLD!! Please go check out this shop and tell them Big Wheel Racing sent you!

So, I got my new White Brothers Loop fork and I’m now waiting for the wheel changes. Man, it looks like no Loop for Breckenridge, but all other races there after should be a go! I’m finally gonna be sporting 100mm travel – and now with a 15mm through axle. This is sweet and will make those classic CO 3 to 5k descents much more enjoyable.

You can get the fork in white or black, and this time I chose white. The 15mm set up comes with it’s own axle in lieu of a quick release, so no more purchase of the separate quick release and it will now be a lot less flexible.

Since I switched to 29er, I’ve been running White Brothers – since 2005. I’ve got every 100-miler, 12-hour, and 24-hour race I’ve ever done on either White Brothers BW or Magic suspension forks, save for a couple of full rigid races. I briefly ran a Maverick inverted fork with the 20mm (I think) through axle up front and I was really impressed with the stiff and no flex hub. This new approach for White Brothers and the 15mm should be a hit!.

In addition, I stopped over by Chris Herting’s work shop and the 3D Racing owner set Jeni’s Carver 96er up for another water bottle mount. Just drill the holes, and pop in a threaded rivet insert all for the price of $10 USD. Chris has been building bikes longer than most people reading have been riding. Don’t believe me, well then read this. Pretty nifty, huh?

Rock and Roll!!!!!