Thursday, April 17, 2008

I rode in the Fort Davis Stage Race this past weekend and I wanted to write a little about it. I headed up there with a team mate named Jon Myrhe. It took us about 7 hours to get there but it went fast because Jon didnt stop talking the whole way. Last time I went up there I was talking to myself the whole way and it sucked alot worse! I was surprised to see mountains or at least really big hills in Texas.

Friday night I rode up the next days hill climb for fun. I figure I wont have to many more days to train on those kind of hills so I wanted to get some good miles in. It was a very steep 17-18 degree slope which is very steep. I knew it was going to be a hard race when I had to stand and force out a very difficult effort near the top. I was only going 4 miles per hour!

Saturday morning I woke up early and got warmed up for the Time trial. It was only 35 degrees outside. I rode as hard as I could and ended up coming in 28th position out of 40. I couldnt beleive how good everyone was. I was only three minutes back from the leader, and 5 minutes ahead of the last place guy.

That afternoon I rode in our first road race, the hill climb. it was a 16 mile straight up race. I mean the road went straight up!

I felt so tired and sore from the morning that I could never quite get my pace and never felt comfortable out there. I got dropped on the first section and fought back from last place to 25th at the finish line. After the race there was a guy giving out tuna subways at the parking lot so I grabbed one.

Usually at cycling events there is no food, just some water at the finish line.

At this point I had about 75 miles for the weekend and I was living off protein bars, water, instant oatmeal and sleeping on a teamates cabin floor. We had no tv, heater, ac, etc. I had to hike 5 minutes to the public bathroom to go, and shower etc.

The two races had also givin me a very bad saddle rash that killed to sit on my seat anymore.

So sunday morning i awoke in pretty good spirits and got ready for the big race of the weekend. It was a 76 mile road race with the hill climb course, the time trial course and another 50 miles of climbing involved.

I felt awesome! the 76 miles took me 3:42. I raced hard finished strong and although i finished in 22nd overall I could have gone and run an hour or two afterwards. The climbs of the day were easy, I was powerfull, I had enough water and food (which I normally run out of early and die). I had no flat tires. And after I initially warmed my hands up in the morning in the 34 degree weather, I was warm all day.

I was excited to call Robyn and tell her about all of it, but out in Fort Davis there is no cell phone coverage. So I had to talk to her via texts.

I finished the weekend with a good 150 miles under my belt. And I really want to go back next year, only with Robyn by my side! I missed her a ton, she is the best fan and supporter not to mention she can kick butt on her bike as well.

Here are more pics:

http://gallery.jbuntz.com/p/2008_ft_davis_mt_locke_hillclimb/dsc_846024#photo_s


My next race is going to be the Honu Half Ironman in May.

1 comment:

saltysista said...

Glad you had such a fun week end away racing and that you did well.