W101

The trip started out rough, a 4 hr flight delay in Houston, put me into State College, PA about 11:30 pm Thurs. Woke up Fri. a.m. to rain that stayed around most of the day. Did manage to get in a short spin though to shake out the legs.
A 7am race start meant a 5am wake up call. The previous days rain left a pretty good layer of fog throughout the valley. Temps were comfortable though, no need for any extra gear.
The start was a neutral roll out with a moto controlling the pace until we got a little out of town, made a left hand turn and the hammer went down. The first climb was upon us, and I was immediately up to LT, sitting in the top 25, just off the first group a bit.
I got together with a group of about 8-10 riders and we worked together over the back country dirt roads. We blew through aid 1 without taking anything and kept the pace going good.
Hitting the first single track section put us into the first of many proto-typical east coast style single track......roots and rocks......none of it smooth. The days earlier rains had the trails muddy and slick, so the going for me was pretty slow compared to the locals. I stayed in contact through this section and made it to aid 2 with a few of the riders that hung on.
Just past aid 2, probably 3 miles or so, I was out front of the group doing some pulling, when just as I down shifted into my middle ring I heard my chain suck......then free wheel. I broke my chain! Shit! So many things went through my head, the first being that I didn't have a chain tool. The second thought being, " I cannot DNF again". One of the riders that was spit off the back of our group was cool enough to give me his tool, so I went to work.
Shortened the chain up a bit, put the pin back through(or so I thought) and was back going in a pretty short time. Just as I started to put some good pressure on the pedals, a mile or so later, it busted again! This time it bent a couple more links. Thinking I had no other choice but to get back to aid 2, I rode back towards that way, chain in one hand, pushing my bike down the road like I was on a skateboard. Another gracious rider offered me a quick link after a couple miles of that crap, so I decided to give it a try. Shortened up the chain a bit more, put the link in, and was back in business. At this point I had lost about 30 minutes and over 100 positions by the time I got back to the place where I broke the chain the second time.......sweeeet.
I went back into early race mode, riding high tempo/LT passing rider after rider on the open roads and even on some of the sketchy single track sections. I did this for over an hour, my rate of passing other riders started to slow, and I rode into aid 3 just starting to get some leg cramps.
Filled up my hydration pack, took a couple bottles, bananas, some chips and was off up the next climb.
This climb was a doozy. Single track climb littered with rock and roots that I just couldn't ride at some points. I was starting to fade. Most of the race to aid 4 was in the trails. I'm pretty sure at this point in the race I really wanted to see an uphill jeep road rather than any more of the punishment these trails were unloading on me. The problem was, when we did pop out on the jeep roads and went up, my cramps would be back. It was a vicious cycle the rest of the race, all 30 or so miles that were remaining.
Once I got to aid 4, took in more food and drink, and went into survival mode to the finish. More climbs, more rough and tumble trails, some real narrow hiking bridges, and even some old railroad tunnels kept me chugging along through aid 5(12 more miles).
With the exception of "fisherman's rock"( a super techy section at this point in the race, and yes I walked it) it was pretty smooth sailing to the finish. Even at the pedestrian pace I had to keep in order to hold off the cramps.
Finished up 15 seconds shy of 10hrs, 66th in the open men ......not very impressive, but I finished.
Some of you may be wondering about my nutrition, or lack there of, and why all the cramp issues......Good question! Here's the crap load I took in during the race:
-2.5 70 oz. camelbaks of electrolyte drink
-6 bottles of electrolyte drink
-8 sportlegs
-3 caps of endurolytes
- 1 coke
- 3 full bananas
-10 pringles
- 12 gels
- 1 bar
..........yeah, exactly, WTF!

I can't dwell on this too much. I'll keep it fresh in my memory for a week or so, and try to come up with a plan for Tahoe-Sierra in Sept. That one will be no joke either. 100 miles and over 13,000 ft of climbing. I'll be back in Cali though, it'll be all good.

L8