I was waiting for some pics, but I will go ahead and post w/o them, look back for pics soon!
Boggs IV 8hr MTB Race is put on by Carlos with Bikemonkey, and what a great experience it was. Hats off to Carlos and the Bikemonkey folks who put it on!! One cool tidbit, they ran all power needed for the race on solar power and never once had to start up a gas/diesel powered generator, that's sweet!
Boggs IV 8hr MTB Race is put on by Carlos with Bikemonkey, and what a great experience it was. Hats off to Carlos and the Bikemonkey folks who put it on!! One cool tidbit, they ran all power needed for the race on solar power and never once had to start up a gas/diesel powered generator, that's sweet!
We arrived at the Boggs Demonstration forest near the city of Cobb around 4pm on Friday, picked a camping site away from the crowd already gathered in order to get a better night sleep. There was a lone Taco parked in our general area. Maybe 10 minutes later, after we unpacked the truck and were starting to set up the camp site, someone climbs out of the Taco. Keep in mind we are in Lake County, I will leave it at that.
Guy: "I left to get groceries and came back (pointing to where dozens of racers were already camped) and your people were there. So I came up here to get away from your people."
Marja was a bit worried, but chimed in "Oh, for the bike race this weekend?"
Guy: "Yes, your people are down there. I didn't know you'd be here."
Me: "There is going to be a lot more people before the night ends, there is a big race here tomorrow and it fills up in here. But we and the people we are camping with will be quiet."
Guy: "Oh, okay. I have some garbage buried in the fire pit over there (well away from where we were setting) DON'T TOUCH IT...its gross!"
Me: "Sure, you got it."
He went back into his Taco to go back to sleep. Now, a stream of vehicles was coming into the camp area as we were talking and it just kept filling up. A few more folks pulled in near us among them was Lou and Linda who pulled in between my Taco and the disgruntled camper who wasn't part of our "people."
He got out of his truck and confronted the people above his camp site who had kids, apparently rambling on about "kids and dogs, this just won't work!!!" He came to us again and confronted Lou. Lou assured him that if we moved, someone else would surely pull in, probably louder than us.
Guy: "I don't care if you are loud, I just have to sleep 8 hrs or else!"
Lou: "Or else what?"
Guy: "I don't know, I just need 8 hrs so we will be okay! This thing I have, I need your help so nothing happens!"
Okay, by this point I am certain this guy is off his rocker and Marja is really freaked out!
Guy: "As long as your dogs and those kids don't touch me, you'll be okay! DON'T touch any plastic I have touched, and stay away from my trash!!"
WHOA!!
A few minutes later the CDF folks role in and graciously "moved him" to another camp ground on the other side of Boggs.
After hanging out and enjoying the night with Lou, Linda, Dawn, Mike and of course Phil and Maddie with Ginger and Roxy! We turned in for a "good" night sleep. Well, I slept okay, Marja on the other had was up until about 1am listening to some campers drinking beer.
Staging for the start I noticed a lot of heavy hitters on single speeds - Yuri, Cameron, Schultze....the list went on. Race started on time, that was weird. All the Pros and the SS started together. I settled in with Roger on the first lap. We chatted for most of the first climbing sections, but I was having issues. My legs felt great, but as I looked down at my Garmin, it read 188 heart rate. Hmmmm. The majority of that first lap my heart rate was in the 180s.
Rolled through the first lap and back out with Roger. Still a good pace, but breathing hard with a seriously ridiculous heart rate. I kept my cool and backed of just a little on one of two climbs, not stressing out at all. Roger took off and caught the two in front out in front of us. I just stuck to my own race.
Start of lap 3, after I grabbed another bottle from Marja, I passed Roger at his pit and headed out on the course. I never saw Roger again...I started to settle in and just kept pushing. Marja and Mike kept me going with support from Lou drinking beer in his lounge chair on the other side of the trail! Hilarious! Thanks guys!
Lap 4, 5,6,7 were more of the same. Pushed hard over the bigger climbs and just kept pushing once over the top, trying to ride consistent laps. Going into 8 I realized I had 2hrs to complete 8 and 9 in order to be able to go out for 10 (averaging 52). Lap 7 was a bit slow at 56 (with pit) but if I held that pace, no worries. Lap 8 was 52, lap 9 about he same despite a lot of traffic on the single track with people who didn't want to go out on another (having to start your last lap by 4:30, finish by 5:30) just cruising.
The final climb was a tough one on the SS, steep single track climb with a thick layer of slippery pine needles a few inches thick...ouch! But the top never felt so sweet as I flew down the decent toward the finish.
Lap 10 was 53, kept my laps very consistent for the 8hrs and 50 minutes I was racing. The 10 laps would have won the expert class last year, this year it landed me 6th behind a strong field of pros and other strong riders on a SS. Using it as an indicator of my fitness, I am very confident!
The day found me battling my triceps and lats cramping every climb after lap 4, sort of figured that would happen as I have been riding my cx bike a lot and haven't spent enough hrs riding the DeSalvo in Auburn...legs had hints of cramps here and there too but nothing I couldn't keep cranking through - it was my first hard effort of the season. Scott's recommendation of a Gu and diet coke may have actually worked too!
Final tally from my Garmin:
-86.25 miles in 8:50:18
-12,113 feet of climbing
-11,697 calories
The Gu count will come later, they are all stuck together still!! Figure every 23 minutes the alarm went off and I was eating, usually a gu.
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