Here's the long and short of it. Previous day was fraught with biblical cold and rain, leaving me wondering if I had brought enough cold weather riding gear (who knew I would would be needing winter weight gloves so early in the season?) Luckily Sundays weather was a bit more mild, bringing in a mid 50's temperature average. I found myself quite comfortable in my short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, vest, and of course my Endless Bicycles singlespeed socks (yes they ARE singlespeed specific). So what ridiculous event did I sign myself up for? Solo 6 hour enduro at the 2011 Tidewater Challenge. To up the pain meter I chose once again to ride a singlespeed against 19 other solo riders. How do you properly start a race? Break the cardinal rule of not making changes adjustments right before the race, say while sitting on the starting line. First casualties of the day, stripped axle and bolt on axle nuts. Nothing like that sickening feeling of having the wrench all of a sudden go all slack :(.
Of course this was only a problem because I was running a frame that had horizontal dropouts and required a bolt on hub to keep all parts where they were supposed to live. I knew that this was going to be a long day, and that I wouldn't be able to crank too hard on the hills due to imminent wheel slippage. Woohoo first three laps required pulling over every mile to reset the wheel and prevent the tire from eating the frame. I had planned on knocking out 17 laps since that was the winning number last year, and planned on not pitting or stopping for any reason. So much for that plan of action. I was determined as hell to keep on the bike no matter what. The last endurance race I participated in, resulted in a woeful DNF. No F-ing way I was quitting, even if I had to walk the stupid thing for 6 hours.
Lap 5. I guess things had gotten kind of boring staring at the same roots and rocks for 4 miles at a time. Up down and around, up down......crack. Great now what? Come to find that the freehub was not so free anymore. I was now riding a fixed gear. Nothing like trying to ride a really easy gear downhill as the crank revolutions try to rip your legs off. Gotta finish. I fire off two more laps on this craptastic setup. The whole time, the bike trying to buck me off. In anticipation of the freehub failing on this race, I had packed a tomicog, expecting that the freehub would let loose, and not engage anymore. I did not foresee it doing the opposite and locking up on me.
Back to the pit area. Gotta find a replacement bike. No I'm not sure what the rules are on that. Hell, I'm on a singlespeed. I doubt that I pose much of a threat to the field. I grab Ritchie's bike and head back out on the course. The bike was set up for short track with a much higher gear ratio, no suspension fork and bars with much less sweep than I was used to. Oh well, not much choice, and heaps better than trying to continue to ride dumpster bike.
By this time, I was so discombobulated by the days events, that I had actually lost track of the lap count. I couldn't even venture an educated guess. All I knew is that it was time to sack up and ride. No more pitting, no more trying to fix things, just go. I pretty much rode non stop for the next 4 hours. Got passed by Jeremiah Bishop several times as he went for the triumvirate win in all his events, and tried to keep myself from locking up. 3:30 comes around and I figure I can sneak 2 more laps in, bringing me to an unknown total. On lap 2 I come to find that I have the option of heading out for a 3rd lap. I decided to take it, not knowing whether this final lap would make any difference. As it turns out I ended up with 15 laps (two shy of what first and second place put down) and came in 7th overall (or first, read only, singlespeed). I guess I'm pretty stoked on my results regardless of all the ridiculousness that ensued during the day. Still got to ride one of the most fun trails in Virginia and didn't DNF. Great way to wrap up the mountain bike race season, as the snow begins to fall.
Big thanks to Steve and all of the volunteers from the Eastern Virginia Mountain Bike club for braving the cold weather while keeping all of the events running smoothly.
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