2012 Race Schedule

Well, the offseason has been enjoyable, skiing, mountain biking, and running.  It looks like 2012 is shaping up to be a ton (literally) of mountain biking and running.  I have a 24 hour mountain bike race and a century road ride follow by the Leadville Leadman Race Series .

Date                  Race                                  Type/Cutoff Times
June 8th            Erock                                 24 Hour Mtn Bike   
June 16th          Denver Century                 100 Mile Road Bike   
June 30th          Leadville Marathon           Marathon / 8.5 hours
July 14th           Leadville Silver Rush 50  50 Mile Mtn Bike / 8 hours
July 15th           Leadville Silver Rush 50  50 Mile Trail Run / 14 hours
August 11th      Leadville Trail 100            100 Mile Mtn Bike / 12 hours (9 for gold belt buckle)
August 12th      Leadville 10k                     10 Kilometer Run   
August 18/19th Leadville Trail 100            100 Mile Trail Run / 30 hours (25 for big gold belt buckle)

So that last one is the one that scares the crap out of me.  To put it in perspective, Ironman cutoff is 17 hours, this one is 30 hours.  100 miles of running, all above 10,000 feet with I believe around 13,000 feet of climbing on mountain trails half through the dark of night.  This is the race that Dean Karnazes (aka Ultramarathon Man, 50 marathons in 50 states 50 days in a row) DNF'd his first 2 times.  So scared and excited indeed!!!  But somewhere deeply immersed in that fear I know I will find clarity and meaning. 

As for fundraising the hope is to have a Sustainable Endurance fundraising campaign and help the planet.  The fundraising will be directed to CORE http://www.corecolorado.org/ which is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting sustainable business practices and a more responsible economy.  I need to iron out the details on this, but I am confident this can be done relatively painlessly.

Happy Training!

Go Fast 24 Hours of Erock - Race Report

Well this was my first 2 person race.  It was also my first 24 hour race.  And most importantly it was my wife's first race ever.  Yes she jumped into the deep end of the pool for this one.  We arrived at the race site around 3PM for the 6:30PM start time after both having worked a half day, yes this looked to be a hot one at around 90 degrees.  We quickly went about setting up the tent and I realized I needed one thing for my bike so drove home (nice to race 20 minutes from home).  I got back quickly and we had about an hour to go.

So the race works like this.  Any number of people from 1 up to 8 can enter as a team.  Teams can be male/female/coed.  Dana and I would operate as a 2 person coed team.  Each person must complete at least one lap.  A lap is 8.3 miles or so with about 565 feet of climbing.  Dana and I decided to alternate at the start with me going first since the start has about a 500 yard run with your bike.

At 6:30 I was lined up and ready to go.  I took off on my first lap with the run and finished it in about 38 minutes.    Pretty close to on target.  Our initial goal was to get around 240 miles.  The thinking was optimally I could do 140 and Dana could do 100.  But 2 weeks after TTT was too close for my legs and it became apparent early that I would not meet my goal, but my second goal was to at least go over 100 miles on my mountain bike.  After my lap I started to eat and get ready for lap two.  Dana finished way faster than I expected in about 42 minutes.  I quickly ran over to start our 3rd lap.  We did another alternating lap each and then at midnight started doing doubles through the dark so the other could rest.  Mistake one was not trying out our lights before hand.  Dana had some trouble with hers.  My front brakes busted on my first lap at night.  I was able to fix them with zip ties.

The thing about a 24 hour race is you can't really rest when there are only 2 of you with no crew.  We were always prepping food or bottles or something.  Plus you are kind of jacked the whole time so it's hard to sleep.  Dana had some stomach issues in the middle night with cramps etc.  I did fall asleep waiting which was good.  Around 4:30AM while I was finishing a double I could see the sunlight beginning to peak over the horizon.  Pretty cool.  Dana got to watch the full sunrise while I tried to nap again.  The middle of the night was quite difficult to stay motivated but once the sun started pounding us I wished it was night again.

As the day wore on our spirits wilted in the sunlight.  Around 1:30PM we started to meltdown.  We recovered after taking a brief brake and sort of walking it off.  We committed to getting at least 12 laps each. So that was finished and we had 199.6 miles or something.  So I decided to do one more lap to put myself over 100 and us over 200.  I was struggling with some issues downtown, with all that sitting in hot, sweaty sandy bike shorts.  Anyway we finished with 25 total laps and 208 miles.  Dana did awesome.  I was very proud of and happy for her.  It was a heck of an experience.  The after party at the race was quite enjoyable too, with Wahoo Fish Tacos and Avery Beer Company.

We beat one 3 person coed team and 2 all male teams in the 2-3 person category and tied another.  There was only one other 2 person coed team who we ended up making friends with during the race.  They slugged out 29 laps.  Quite an endeavor.

Happy Training!