One of my friends who I run into very frequently at Tribble Mill Park, Craig, mentioned to me that Jose Paz signed up for 9 hour Sport. Jose is a friend of mine, who runs, rides, and lives very near Tribble Mill Park. This is his home turf. I was kind of nervous about that news at first. But it was good to have a friend in my class because it made me train harder. I went to Tribble Mill park several times in the 2 weeks before the race, just to make sure that I was mentally ready for the climbing. Here is the official 2011 course map.
If you want a tour guide sometime, hit me up, I'm always game for some Tribble training laps.
I've come to realize that if you (mentally) prep yourself for a hard day of racing, it becomes much much easier when the course is actually laid out in front of you. I ran into some of the GATR riders a few days before the race, and pre-rode the course. There was a new hill, a couple of new loops, and an extended hill over last years course. I loved it. This is one of my local trails and I ride here frequently, so a new way to go about it definitely helps.
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| Emergen-C for me? YES PLEASE!!! |
Tuesday - 4 days before race day, I start feeling like crap. Throat was tight, light fever, and even a little nausea. Friggin great. Less than a week and now I'm getting sick. ARRRGH! Last year at Tribble Mill's 12 hour I was very sick too. I think that time it was strep throat. I still managed 68 miles and I couldn't even talk at the end of the day. This year seemed to be repeating... hmmmm. Maybe the race-gods are trying to tell me something?
Friday - less than a day before the race. I have taken it easy for 3 days, stayed hydrated, eaten only healthy foods, taken my Emergen-C, and drank excessive amounts of organic green tea. I actually felt kinda good, except for the congestion and the weakness that comes with being sick. I called up my awesome gal, Nikki G., and told her I wanted to pre-ride the course before dark, so I could tell how my body was doing.
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| My awesome gal, Nikki G! |
We got to the park around 5:30 or so and chatted with Clay and Krista (
GATRs) and spoke with Carebear for a few as well. Then we went out for a lap. The first climb felt awful. So did the second and third. I thought, "Daniel, tomorrow is going to hurt". But then I thought soon after... "It's going to hurt and you are going to like it!" So I stuck with the latter thought. :)
Saturday - Race morning and I only slept about 6 hours, which somehow seemed to be the perfect amount. My Niner was groomed and ready for battle, thanks to some parts I recently got at the LBS-
The Bicycle Doctor, and my legs and lungs actually felt about as good as they ever had. This was the first day that I had no fever all week. Good timing.
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| You are heading the right direction if.... |
The race started out with a bang, and a few hundred racers tore off into the woods. I started in the rear as I like to do with my singlespeed steed. This trail is very twisty so I wore my camelbak and this way I also eliminated stopping between every lap. This worked to my advantage after a few laps, when I began passing the first few people from my own class. After 4 laps I passed Jose and didn't see him again. After 5, I caught David Blalock (was 3rd in the series at the time)
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| Jose Paz and Daniel Topley at the 2010 Tribble Mill Race |
Some of the best (fun) laps I had were laps 6, 7, and 8. Lap 6 I rode nearly half the lap behind Nicki Sutherland. She usually podiums in her 6 hour events and today was no different. I knew that if I pushed myself to hang with her for a while it would help my lap times. Eventually I think I bugged her from talking too much so she insisted I go by. I almost couldn't go any faster to pass her! I was out of gearing!!!
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| Turbo-woman Nicki Sutherland let me draft her for a bit...Thanks Nicki! (credit to Mark Duffus for the photo!) |
On lap 7 I thought to myself that usually after the 6 hour race ends, it gets a bit quiet in the woods. Instead, I rode up on a group of 5 or 6 guys and we all chatted a bit between gasps for breath. The company and the conversation made the lap seem much faster. I even bumped into Tommy Vu on the 7th lap for a bit. He's always good for a laugh, and usually he refers to me as his 'caucasian brother'.
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| A Good friend of mine, Cale, takes a moment to show the importance of pounding down the Electro-Mix, a sports drink mix developed by the makers of Emergen-C; the Alacer Corp. |
Finishing up lap 7, I came through the timing area and my buddy Cale C. yells out "Go Go Go!!!" and some other things I can't remember.... but he also told me 3rd place was within reach. So I rolled out for a turbo 8th and final lap. Everyone I passed on the first climb (which is not a friendly one) was hiking their bikes. I pressed hard on the pedals and torqued away on the bars and slowly left them behind. A few minutes later I began reeling in a guy. For a while he would pull away from me, then I would catch him again. Then he finally settled down a bit and we rode almost 7 miles together of the 9.2 mile course. After a little bit of conversation, I found out he was racing in my class. His voice sounded familiar, but I could not see his face since he was riding in front of me. I was on lap 8, he was on 7. This was a good sign...
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| Me, rocking the Singlespeed steed up the final hill in the course. |
I came back through and finished the lap, and the race for that matter, with 73.6 miles in 8 hours and 22 minutes, and I find out to my amazement that I wasn't in 3rd. Nope. I bumped up to 2nd. It turns out the number-one-man-to-beat, Chad Parker, didn't go back out for an 8th lap when everyone thought he had. He hadn't recovered fully from the Fools Gold 100 miler the week before, and was cramping up too seriously to go back out. Ladd Dunwoody smoked me and the rest of the field of Sport class racers and got a lap up on me. He ended the day with 9, me with 8, and the next 3 or 4 guys (including Jose) had 7.
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| Not a bad day in the books... |
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| An honorable spot... Left to right: Chad Parker with 3rd, Ladd Dunwoody with 1rst, and me on the right with 2nd! | | | | |
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| Winning has it's advantages... I will have to continue this trend ;) |
At the end of the day, I moved from 4th place in the series up to third, and the feeling of being on the podium really charged me up to start training for the next race at Jackrabbit Mountain, in Hayesville North Carolina.
See you all there!
