Burned Out

Front Squish, 34x22

Front:  Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4, 32 psi

Rear:   Maxxis Ikon 3C/EXO/TR 2.2, 35 psi

Trail Conditions: Ideal (weather too for that matter)

After falling off the workout wagon for the last couple months and the soul-crushing event others call PMBAR, I went into the Burn24 full of optimism. I even taped motivational stickers to the top tube.

It didn't work.

Or at least it didn't work against chest congestion, which I'm just getting over 1 week later...

On to the complaining/excuses!

I decided to drive over Saturday morning. 3 hours driving immediately before the race vs 18 hours of angst trying to "camp" in a field the night before the race. I arrived around 10am and found ample parking available for the event. The other times I've done the race, the parking field was packed. This time ideal pit spots were still available during the racers meeting 45 minutes before start. No wonder it was the last year. Seriously, I'd like to hear the story about why it's ending...

Before I go any further, I did call James to tell him the story of what really happened.

I should say that I've witnessed Kelly kick James off the trail because James was experiencing what most would call food poisoning, so I knew that I could "spill it" to James without worry. At the conclusion of our phone conversation he assured me that my entire experience was great blog material and that I should tell it.

If you've ever responded to an email or Facebook post with "TMI" you should probably stop reading now...

Still here? Good.

The only thing that went well for the race was bringing a timer to clip to my collar if I sat down to prevent me from sleeping all night. The first couple laps went okay too.

Sometime during the third lap, I had a couple vurps (trace vomit + burp) and I attributed that to mixing my bottles a little strong to make sure I was getting enough calories. I was also blowing snot rockets constantly. (Another positive was avoiding my shoulders, especially once I started getting tired. I prefer the side snot rocket to the downward trajectory option, but sometimes I don't clear a shoulder.) The gas pains were fairly discomforting and the only relief (farting) I gained was during walking. So I walked more than I needed to, figuring it would pay off later that night when I needed it. This all started around 3pm, only 3 hours into a 24 hour race.

Around 5pm I spent a good 15 minutes in a portajohn hoping that something would explode out of me and bring some relief. It was awful. There are numerous other places I can think of spending quality time than a portajohn. I even work at wastewater plants, so one would think if anyone can handle the smell, it's me.

With no relief, I trudged on with my laps, walking numerous sections. I also started diluting my bottles way down. For a period, I even completely abandoned my nutrition plan and drinking just water, hoping to get back on track. I started taking tiny sips off the bottle every 10-15 minutes. Around 7pm I started feeling better and started riding more sections that I was walking.

Around 10pm I felt a toe had blown through a sock, so I stopped after the lap to change socks. It was the first time of the race I sat down in a chair (not counting the portajohn). There was no hole in my sock. Instead, my feet were numb. I decided to pull out the timer and nap 20 minutes with my shoes off.

Then I napped another 20 minutes and still had numb feet.

Then I decided to lay down in the truck for an hour and let my feet come back. I stayed dressed and ready.

1 hour later I woke up to the beeping and coughed a decent amount of chest congestion up. So at that point I decided to call it a night and make sure I wasn't getting sick right before a work week of travel. Besides, last I had checked, I was the 4th place singlespeeder (yeah, I didn't puss out and race 40+).

I woke up around 7:00 and discovered there was just as much chest congestion as before. I trudged over to the scorer's table to see how I was doing. 5th place with 8 laps in 10 hours. I needed to turn 3 laps in 4 hours to regain 4th place, AND I needed 4th place not to do anything and remain sleeping. There was no way to catch up to 3rd. I pondered the situation and finally decided that I didn't feel good. I also decided that 8 laps in 10 hours sounds a lot better than 9 laps in 21 hours, so I decided to turn in my timing chip.

I stood beside the chip return bucket for about 5 minutes before finally letting the chip go into the bucket.

I walked back to my bike and pulled off the stupid stickers.

Cleaned up my stuff, packed, and watched the 5 man team I pitted with try to fight their way into 5th place. 5 man team is definitely the way to enjoy a 24 hour race.

In retrospect, I think the gas was caused by trying to drink the bottle too fast. I should've been taking slow and steady sips all along. Also, the bike handled like a dream. No leg cramping either. I've learned that as of now, I can ride continuously for 10-12 hours straight before starting to succumb to the elements or whatever factor I didn't take into consideration. I hope I can build on this and be ready for the hundies later this summer.