12 hours of Jackrabbit, Hayesville, North Carolina

46 degrees.   Fog.   Wet grass.   Perfect trails.   Today was the day.  Coming into this race season I had never dreamed of racing a 12 hour solo, and here I am battling it out for an overall series podium.   I had ridden more miles,  more loops of the local trails, eaten more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and made myself more nauseous than I thought was even possible from a sport.   4 days before the race I replaced my bottom bracket, (it had slop from the mudfest known as 'Fool's Gold')  and upgraded to the new Crankbrothers Eggbeater 3's, since I broke my SL's.   I'll let you know how they hold up.  Also, I bought a new chain, cassette, and brake pads for good measure.

I started on the rear end of things, knowing that I would be there all day.  Easily passing riders for the first couple hours,  for many of which it was their first race.   I caught my direct competition (Keith Kudlac, 2nd in the series standings)  and on the second lap he missed a shift and I rocked past him.  Put 7 minutes on him that lap.  Everything was going perfectly.   Should have known better than to pass Mark Duffus though.   He sets a great pace.  If I passed him I was probably going too hard.   No.  I thought to myself,  he is breaking in a new bike,  so he's just being more cautious, that's all.   Lap 4.  Had over 20 minutes on Keith.  I was smoking this course.

Enter the 5th lap.  Halfway through,  in the middle of a tight U-turn, my front end washed out.  landing me on the drive-side of my bike.   I didn't think anything of it,  this has happened before and everything turned out fine...    halfway down the next hill, I realized my shift didn't quite take.   Crap.  I had bent my derailleur hanger.   Rolling the cable's barrel adjuster while riding,  I got it to work for half the gears.   Finished that lap.  Started another.   1 mile in...   upshif.....  BANG!   The tension of the shift was just too much for the bent hanger to take.   It gave out, and the whole Shimano XT derailleur went crashing into my rear wheel.  Dang.  At least I was only a mile in.  I could minimize the damages by breaking the chain, and 'Fred Flinstoning' it back to the pit area.   So 25 minutes after I started that lap,  I started it again.  With my backup bike.  A v-braked, dual control shifter/brake lever combo mutant 26er.   Which is also too large for me.   After the most uncomfortable lap ever,  I dreamt up a way to get my Niner EMD 9 rolling again.

Singlespeed.   I ziptied the cassette to prevent the chain from dropping down,  shortened the chain to fit quite snugly, and I was off.   Gawd, I'm so spoiled.  Disc brakes are so amazing... how could I ever ride v-brakes again?!   A mile in again, and the chain doesn't go down to a harder gear.  Nope.  It jumps up to an easier one.  In a heartbeat I had gone from 32x20  which is a pretty easy gearing,  to 32x23.  A bit too spinny for even a gear loving guy like myself.   The problem though, wasn't the spin factor.  It was the fact that now, the chain had become soooo tight,  it was nearly impossible to turn the crank.   I did anyway,  killing myself for 2 more miles.  Then without my knowledge,  chainring bolts had fallen out and the front chainring just collapsed.  Now I was 3 miles into the trail,  and couldn't even coast.   Wow.  This is a disaster.   After another 20 minutes,  I effectively removed the chainring by flexing it with my bike tool until it broke off.  All the chainring bolts had fallen out luckily, making this feat much more simple.   Hahaha.

The rest of the lap was a test of scootering skills.  I ran up hills in my bike shoes, and coasted down them, with the seat dropped as low as it would go, so I could push off the ground to keep moving faster when gravity was starting to slow me down.   I got back in time for another lap on the backup bike, in the dark with lights on.   That always adds fun to any trail ride.   Made the day actually.  I didn't end up in last as I'd feared, but second to last.   Also, I maintained my overall series 3rd place,  and I got to stand on the podium later on that evening with Mark and Keith.   Next season they better look out  ;)  Above is a picture of the '12 hour sport class overall series finishers'   Mark Duffus gets first,  Keith Kudlac in second,  and myself in third! 

Goin down to South Par.... er uh..... Dauset.

12 Hours of Dauset was quickly approaching and I had no plan to attend.  I had nothing against the trail system, in fact, the only time I had the opportunity to ride there was over a year ago and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  No, the reason I had no plan to attend the event was more of a financial issue.   Just bought a new car,  and the down payment I put on it left me fiscally tighter than I originally intended.   

In comes my good friend Sheri Taylor.  Jokingly I told her to sign up for 6 hours solo on her rigid singlespeed.  She laughed and then asked if I would do a 12 hour co-ed with her.   I told her "You buy, I fly"   :-)  This decision happened 4 days before the race.  Timing was great as I had nothing unusual planned for the weekend ride anyhow.

We pulled in that morning around 8am with my new Honda Pilot stuffed to the rafters.  Camping gear, racing gear, multiple changes of cycling clothing as well as after-race wear.   Charles Weaving III was kind enough to hold us a spot close to the transition area, and right next to the trail too.  We set up Sheri's big neon pink pop-up there and started getting ready.  The race had a 'Lemans start'   which means basically a sizable group of cyclists standing without their bikes,  but in full-race attire, run for a bit before getting to the invention of interest for the day.  It looks quite humorous,  just picture for a moment a mass of people running in lycra with bicycle helmets and cycling shoes,  waddling like ducks more than running.   Yep.  That was me. 

First lap time was kind of slower than I hoped because I'm not a quick runner, so I got stuck behind a bunch of slower bikers by the time I made it to the ride.   The race turnout wasn't huge,  but with Dauset's tight twisties and a nearly 10 mile lap of unfamiliar trail,  slower was smarter the first lap.   That, and there were a few pile-ups,  and probably a half dozen flat tires on the first lap alone.   My tires are set up tubeless so that wasn't a concern for me.  Finishing up, I handed Sheri the 'baton' which basically was a rubber coiled wire that you would hang some keys from.  55 minutes.  I blame the run  ha!    I figured if it took me 55 minutes it would take her an hour.   I think it was an hour and a minute which is absolutely respectable.  We stayed very consistant,  my laps between 51 and 55 minutes and hers between an 1:01 and 1:10. 

We both were expecting to be fairly competitive in the co-ed field,  but as it turned out there was NO 12 hour 2 person Co-ed.  There was 12 hour 4 person co-ed,  or just 2person open.  So even after busting our asses for 11 laps and feeling quite good about it,  we were in 6th of the 8 2 person teams.  Grrrr.   Luckily we checked out the timing sheet and saw they missed one of our laps,  which moved us up to 5th.  The only teams that beat us were 2person Male teams,  and we even beat one of them.  It turned out okay.  That course was so fun and had lots of flow.  I actually yelled out loud at one point  'I LOVE THIS TRAIL!'  while I was flying around a turn. 

We had the privilege of seeing Eddie and Namrita O'Dea tearing it up on their 3 person team,  as well as a 4 or 5 other professionals.  They make normal beings feel slow on our best of laps  lol.   Mark Duffus got 10th out of 50,  and once again,  had their been different (or CORRECT) class structure,  Mark would have been a top finisher.  However,  there was only 'Men's open 6hr'  so guess who won?  Yes,  the pros.  Mark deserves a round of applause for getting 10th  still with that kind of pressure, he rode very well. 

After the race wrapped up, we retired to our mini-grill and I whipped up some awesome angus burgers, and enjoyed a few Sierra Nevada Rye Pale Ales, as well as 1 or 2 Terrapins.  Great weather all day and night.  Good people, good times...