SARATOGA 2008 Race Report
As with all race reports, this race report starts well before the race. When I started thinking about RAAM, I started thinking about how to get ready for it. So, I started with riding centuries, then the 12 hour and then the 200k, 300k, and 400k (which I didn't do) series leading up to this 24 hour. It isn't lost on me that I did my first century in January and the 12 hour in February of this year. I could not have done any of these things last year and all of these events are still a considerable stretch for me actually. This event, like the others, has allowed me to learn a great deal and grow in many different ways. This is actually a hard race report to write because there is so much going on in my head but I think it is good to document so here goes:
Thursday was the great shopping trip.
Friday was the day of great preparation and drive to hotel. We got to the hotel, went to dinner - pre-race dinner of salmon is almost a mandatory tradition for me anyway! And then went to bed.
Saturday morning - Race Day.
I wasn't nervous - but had been earlier in the week. My head was in a very good place actually. I was optimistic and ready for the challenge, whatever it may bring. I got up and got ready. Then the bike inspection. We had to have one steady front white light and two rear red lights, one blinking and one steady. All was well and approved. The night bike went back to the room - the road bike had been designated the night bike because it had more hand positions than the Time Trial bike and I had been told that if I started to fall asleep to not ride in the aerobars. It is a little stiffer of a bike (new information gained this week) - so it is a little less comfortable and that might help keep me awake as well. We went to the prerace meeting and without further ado or much pomp, we were off.
I was doing well, in a good zone. I had preridden the course with the race director back when Gary and I were up in Saratoga earlier in the Spring for the fit class and thought I remembered it well - it is a simple loop 32-mile course that wasn't that hilly. I was wrong on all counts almost. Note to self - always preride the course the day before.
So off we went, mile two is the Hill - 3/4 of a mile at 10%. A real leg burner - grinder. I had a compact on both bikes and an 11-32 on one bike and an 11-34 on the other. I needed all the gears on that hill and the other many hills on the course. There were two checkpoints on the course - one at mile 0 and one at mile 15.
I really enjoyed the first 15 miles. It was a rolling course - several 4% grades, several 6% grades but most of them weren't too bad, even at the end of the race. Lots of farms, shade and quiet wind.
I rolled past the second checkpoint announcing my number, #135, and kept rolling. I had planned on keeping at 17.3 mph average which is what I needed to break the course record of 415 miles. I like big goals and in the absence of any other goal, the course record was motivating for me. I was on target for the first 15 miles anyway and felt good.
I came around the corner where there was a light - there was a lot going on - the course was well marked with mile markers painted on the ground every mile and every turn marked before and after the turn but this particular turn was a right turn and an immediate left turn. I missed it and kept going straight. Before long, I realized that the road was not good and there was a lot of traffic. I thought, this is going to suck every time I come around. And then I heard the hiss. I knew it was a flat - even though I have never had a flat tired on the road before - after all these miles - this was my first flat. I called Gary - on both phones - left a message that I was a mile 20 (I didn't know I was off course at that point) and told him that I had a flat. In the meantime, I started to fix it. I took off the rear tire and went to work. No problem getting the wheel off, the tube came out, in went the new one and then I struggled with my cartridges and blew one. One down, one left And in the process of getting air into the tube with the second cartride, I broke the valve stem on my only spare tube. So I was done - no more air, no more tubes. Gary called and asked me if I had fixed it - unfortunately, no.
And then I sat. I kept waiting for the bicyclist that I had just passed to pass but he didn't. I convinced myself that he might have gotten a flat, too. I had to pee. Looked around and found a ditch - was happy that I actually had to pee. Not doing so had been a problem in Sebring. And then I started to stretch - yes, roadside yoga. I messed around with my Garmin display - putting all of the metrics that changed on one screen and all of the metrics that didn't change that much on the next screen so I could toggle back and forth. Geek. And then I drank some more. Stretch some more. And then started to fidget as I started to calculate how much time I was losing. I was out of the 2-way radio range that we had with us and cell phone service was sketchy. It was then that I realized that I had to be off course. It was possible that the one guy that I had just passed had had a flat, but it wasn't possible that all of the people that were behind me all had flats - I called Gary. He said, we can't find you. Yeah, I just figured that out. So I told him and Marge how to get to me. They found me - I was only about a mile off course - I traded bikes and went on my way with a head of steam to get back to my 17 mile an hour average. I was at 14. I started to watch how fast I had to go and for how long to see a tenth of a mile per hour increase in my average and knew I couldn't sustain that so I thought, well, no more course record. I wasn't that upset about that actually - truthfully, I knew that if only a 30 minute delay had put me out of the course record, it was going to be beyond my abilities anyway.
And then I hit the hill at mile 25. A not very long but 8% cruel hill. AND Where the hell did that head wind come from? So the back 16 as I started to call it was along the Hudson River and had a head wind and several long and short hills that were not that much fun.
But the pay off for the back side was that every mile got you closer to the check point where there was food and feel good stuff like tylenol and cold towels. AND that 10% hill at mile 2, we got to go down at mile 30. Hitting 40 mph on every loop became a small sub-goal and was glorious.
I came into the checkpoint at the beginning of the loop and gave a list of the things I needed over the two way radio about a mile out - sunscreen, towel to wipe off the grit, water, infinit, tylenol, more tubes and more cartridges and food. Got what I needed without much delay from our awesome crew of Patti, Marj, Marie and Gary and I rode back out. I started to divide the course into the front, favorite, fun half and the back half that sorely tested me every time.
I was off again. To my favorite half of the course. But then....I came around mile 14 heading to the second checkpoint and I couldn't turn the bike. Why was that? - turn the handlebars and no turn - I look down and realize that I am riding on the rim - another flat. I can't believe it - two flats in less than 40 miles. I didn't even call Gary. I just fixed it and as fast as I could. I was back on the road in 5 minutes. Still I had lost another few tenths of a mile. I actually stopped at the second check this time for more water. I went through 2 bottles of water and one bottle of Infinit roughly every lap.
And then the back half.
And this is how it went. Every lap I found something I hadn't seen on the lap previous. On one lap, I found this great house with the most beautiful landscaping. I saw deer, ducklings, cows, calves, carved bears, a blue herring, narrowly missed a mouse and a frog - both survived (me and them) but nothing more exciting than that. One lap was a scouting trip for where I would pee. My ideal spot was either a ditch (where the shoulder fell off considerably and when I squatted down no one from the road could see me) or a small road into the many corn fields. The MS riders had a porta-john and once they were thankfully off my course (ha!) I used their porta-john with gratitude.
I had great laps where I buzzed along and didn't feel the wind. I had bad laps where I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish. I could feel good one minute and like I was going to throw up another minute. Everything changed very fast. It was so hot at one point in the race that I needed to sit longer than I like at the checkpoint and cool off. But then I was fine. I really underestimated how quickly I could recover and go back out for a good lap. Riding through the night was very interesting. The bugs all came out. One guy rode with a face shield and when all the bugs started hitting my face, I realized why. Some guys with very small bikes - one of them was pink even tried to race me about 3 a.m. They cheered me on even as they couldn't keep up. I don't think I was going very fast but it was nice to pass someone even if it was drunk guys on stolen kids bikes!
I listened to a book - The Alchemist - on my iPod for 6 hours. that really helped. There are three laps that I don't really remember because I was in my head and in my book. Otherwise, a ride like this gives you A LOT of time to think. Sometimes a thought gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out. I rode the first century with no music but the rhythm and pace of my pedaling reminded me of various songs that played in my head over and over. At night, Rob sang to me! I can't say that I recognized any of the songs but it made me smile.
I didn't feel sleepy on the bike until after the sun came up again. I didn't really believe that I would make it to see the sunrise at points. I actually couldn't think about the enormity of riding for 24 hours. I just had to keep smaller goals, like raise your mph average another 10th. Get to your favorite house. The second checkpoint has apple pie - get there. Get up Bacon Hill (yes, Bacon, not Beacon) 10 times. I had my Garmin data to count how many laps. I couldn't keep track of that. But I did lots of math in my head.
Finally, at the end when I had revised my initial goal of the course record to something more reasonable, I decided that I wanted to break my previous longest distance of 193. Check. Next goal, want to break 200. Check. Want to break 245. Check. Then it was break 300 and ride for the full time - no sleep breaks. Off I went. I came into the Checkpoint #1 at 7:00 a.m. I had an hour. I was at 291 miles. I needed to do 16 mph to make it to Checkpoint #2 before 8:00 a.m. I rolled into checkpoint #1 announced my number and rolled right back out with a head of steam. Poor Gary didn't know what the hell I was doing.
Break 300. Break 300. Get to the second checkpoint. I don't know how or where the energy came from - maybe I liked the added challenge of being literally so close to breaking 300 that I needed minutes. If I slowed at all, it wouldn't have happened. I actually came out of the saddle to climb some of the hills. And then it started to rain. I didn't feel it at first but then it got a little harder - but I just kept riding.
Gary started honking when I broke 300 but I wasn't having any celebration. I knew I had to make it to the next checkpoint. I had 7 minutes to go 2.5 miles. I think. Don't correct me if my math is wrong. But somehow, I rolled into the checkpoint right on the dot - 8:00 a.m.
I didn't know until very late into the race that the other woman that had signed up for the 24 hour race, did not come. I had won the North America Ultra Cycling Championship before I started. But the trophy that I got is really just a symbol, not only of my mileage victory, but of doing something amazing. Of expanding experiences. Of knowledge gained. Of not melting down when I got the first flat, or the second. With not melting down at all really. With the positive place that my head was at almost all the time. I never really got into that negative record that sometimes I have a hard time stopping.
I am not ready to do another 24 hour race any time soon. I actually have come to the conclusion even before this race, but especially after this one, that doing events like this shouldn't be taken for granted. Being able to do them is a blessing, a privilege that should be celebrated - like a fine wine - treasured. Doing events like this all the time would be really hard and would somehow diminish how incredible they are. Have caviar every day and you start to take it for granted. This experience should be savored and reflected on for a long time. Respect what it takes to do something like this or the Universe will make sure you respect the event.
Next year, talk to me about doing one next year. It was the hardest thing I have ever done - and I learned the most.
I can't thank Marie, Gary, Patty, Marj and my other teammates enough - both those that were on the course and those of you that were back here. I never could have done this without you.
