I’ve done many stupid things, and this is one of them… but with no regret… ish
it’s a mountain bike “race” for those who are competitive, but it’s just a painful long ride for one who’s not quite fit for such challenge…. The course is about 10 miles lap from the Trailhead, straight up to the Horse Trail into the North loop and its extension, and then down on the Monkey back to the trail head, and compete for the numbers of laps you can make with in the 6 hours limit. I was hoping to do a Duo team (2ppl entry, so I only had to ride the half of 6 hours), but couldn’t find anyone who’s stupid enough to do it with me…
I did practice runs in the last couple of weeks, (yeah.. only two days of a single practice laps are all I did… talking about under prep…) and already knew it takes just shy of 90 min to finish the single lap. The course record is 7 laps in 6 hours, so I knew I won’t be winning, but just thought it would be fun to try it…
It was rough, and painful… as expected. I probably will feel some accomplishment once my muscle aches are gone. lol
I tried to keep up with other riders, and ended up over working my legs, having cramping on both thighs even before finishing the first lap. The muscle spasm kept coming back on any steeper hills, and I had to take frequent stops thereafter. I ended up 17th out of 33 entries, officially a very very mediocre rider! I finished my 3 laps (Total 32.21 miles / 2350ft of elevation gain) in 5 hours 20 min, with total moving time of 4 hours. If I had paced myself on the very first lap, and kept my legs from having cramping, I may have finished in a little less time, but I truly doubt if I could do another lap… I don’t really understand how those top riders did 6 laps…. no way….
The hero of the day goes to SWMBO. She did support for me at every pit stops, getting me new bottles and snacks, and have a chair and massage gun for me. I also needed to borrow her bike for this, as my bike only has one bottle cage, while her’s have 2, and I definitely needed 2, or probably could have used 3 bottles.
