Tribble Mill 6 hour

After last weekend, I have been anxious to race again..and the next thing on my schedule wasn't until Sept. 18. I searched the interwebs for something not-too-far away and came up with the 6/12 hour race at Tribble Mill which is at a local trail I have never ridden. I asked Eddie if he'd want to team up..he said something about being tired from all the Fool's Gold marking, take-down, and clean-up and also something about an impending race across Georgia next week..fine, fair excuses. I asked a few ladies if they would want to team up but it wasn't a good weekend on the calendar. SO....I thought about 12 hour solo for about 1 second before I decided 6 hour solo would be the better option. I haven't done a SOLO lap race in 2 years!!! Wow. Those really used to be my "thing" so 6 hours should be no problem to hammer out. I desperately needed to blow off some steam from last weekend's Fool's Gold work and this week's 10 hour days at school...Back to School is a bi+ch.

It was nice, for once, driving to a race that was only an hour away from home. We got there kind of late so had to cart all our pit gear to the way back of solo pit row.

I didn't recognize many of the women there except some of the Sorella crew. It was nice to see a lot of people I haven't seen in forever. I had no idea who the competition would be for the day, and I also had no idea what the course would be like. A few people told me it was really fun and fast with "not much climbing" and "not many roots". OK, sounds good to me..I ended up running my full suspension bike anyway with the Conti X-Kings but put a little extra psi in the front and rear shocks.

photo by Dave Muse

The 1/2 mile I was able to check out before the race was super smooth so I felt like that was a good move..I would have a really stiff, light and fast bike with great traction for the day. I lined up at the front with all the fast guys and when they said "Go" we were off rolling on a fast downhill start to a sharp left hand turn into the trail. Except, I couldn't get clipped in!!! I think 50 people passed me at the very start. And, then when I finally did, I started coming around people as fast as I could..someone must have stirred up some bees and I got stung on my left calf. OMG, this hurt like hell. I tried not to think about it but it felt like the jerk left his stinger in my leg. It is still sore and itchy one day later.

I know lap race reports can get kind of long and boring and the race was long and boring enough so I will keep it short. About 1/2 way through the first lap I remembered there was a $100 fast lap prize and I didn't think there were any other women ahead of me so I rode as hard as I could to try to get it...a bad idea for the next 5 hours but whatever..I would deal with that later. (It turns out someone beat me by a few seconds, I think?)

photo by Defiant Photography

I did pay for it later. My toes started cramping a bit and to be honest..I was not enjoying the course at all. It had zero flow and it was way bumpier than I thought it would be. My extra shock pressure was a horrible idea now and I felt like I was riding a jackhammer. I didn't want to take the time to stop, though, as I had no idea who might be behind me. I was just going to suffer through it..it was only 6 hours. I had a REALLY bad lap in there somewhere..maybe even two. This was the first race this year that I was not having fun in. It seemed like there was a good bit of climbing, which was fine, but no reward for it. The downhills were choppy and turny, and there was very few places you could just let off the brakes and enjoy. Plus, there were many awkward turns. Mentally, once I stopped having fun I was in a bad place. My body was feeling beat up and my mind wasn't helping anything at all. Eddie told me I lost 10 minutes or more on one lap and told me to pick up the pace...I laughed at him and said "yeah, right". This is the part of endurance racing that I love and hate...there is so much more time for your mind to have an effect on your performance and outcome. Today, I let the negative thoughts and energy enter my mind and it basically ruined my race.

When I finally realized that it was my last lap, though, all of a sudden I felt 200% better. Adrenalin is amazing!!!!! The cutoff for the last lap was at 3:15 and my watch showed 3:16 when I crossed the line..so I was DONE and in 1st place. Except....then Kenny looked at his watch and said "6 minutes". That meant my watch was fast and I had made the cutoff by 6 minutes and had 51 minutes to finish my 7th lap by 4pm. 51 minutes was plenty of time but I was so mentally done and over this course that I did NOT want to go back out. I did, anyway, but for some reason didn't take a bottle hand up. I immediately regretted this as the adrenalin was gone and I was left alone to finish out another lap with about 2 ounces of PowerBar Endurance left in my bottle. About 1 mile in, I actually stopped and turned around. I really didn't think any other women made the cutoff because with how slow I was riding now, surely I would have seen someone. But, then I felt like a loser. It's only 8+ miles. Come on, just ride it.

I was riding so freaking slow that there is no way I was going to make the 51 minutes. I stopped a few times and chatted with people doing the 12 hour...it was basically a cool down lap for me. I knew it wouldn't count officially in the results if I didn't make it back by 4, but I honestly really didn't care. Besides my first lap, that last unofficial one was really the only one that was slightly enjoyable!

The Chainbuster Racing crew put on a great event. I was not a fan of this course but would definitely do their other events. Thanks to all of their hard work!!

photo by Dave Muse

And, thanks to Eddie for the support! Does anyone have photos from the race?