Training Log: mayer22

Podiatrist looked at my toe. It was growing in great but after Epic it all went downhill. He said a new nail is already coming in. Time to give it another try.

Easy ride in. Legs felt better afterwards.

Long night's sleep. Good.

Event: QOC Mason Neck
 

Final ride to the finish. Good roads most of the way. Started out on pavement and made a poor decision to ride through Winona. Thought it would save us distance at the expense of elevation but it was apparently worse on both accounts.

Then rode up out of Babcock SP through the Hunting Club and across the muddy road up top. Then road down to Thurmond on a long and super fast decent. Finished with the climb up to ACE.

Totally wasted myself getting us up the climb as fast as possible. It was a good feeling.

Finished behind CP0 and Odyssey. Curious how our last bike splits compared.

C • Winner? 2

Napped on the way to Covington

Event: Odyssey Wild, Wonderful 24 Hour AR
 

Slept in the VW van in the ACE parking lot. Easily saved us 30 min to an hour sleep.

Great race on a great course. Strong team effort all around. Persevered through some troubles and learned from some mistakes but were confident in what we did and did the best we could.

It was great to have such a tight race. Really kept things exciting and made for some good conversations. Always love racing against Odyssey and congrats to them on a great race. Wish we could have made it closer.

Prologue
Determined seeding for the waved rafting start. Started off with an early lead. Had trouble with CP 4 of 5. Odyssey came up alongside us for the last CP. We finished mere seconds ahead of them to finish first and be seeded in the same raft as them.

Paddle from Thurmond to Fayette Station. River was at 5.5 ft which made for some nice waves. 3rd fastest paddle time earned our guide $50.

Given the option to choose from 3 sections. Made the most sense to start with the foot section since we would have wanted to hike to our bikes first to do either of the other 2 sections.

Section 1 required swimming across the river and a class 4 climb up the hill. We teamed up with Odyssey and used their sling to make it up. Got the first 4 or 5 CPs with CP0 and Odyssey within shouting distance.

Eddy knocked her head so hard on a fallen tree that her contact came out. Luckily she had a spare. We saw an awesome triple waterfall and on my way down to it heard everyone yelling rock but couldn't see through the thick brush. Scrambled down as fast as I could and put my hand down to catch myself at the bottom when a cinder block sized rock landed on my forearm. Shane was the culprit. It would be fine but proved to be painful on the rocky mountain bike sections.

Had trouble with a few CPs. One was described incorrectly and another the next required a bearing through some "flat" terrain. We then had to cross 19 which meant walking back to the bridge so we could walk under it. Luckily CC spotted a culvert big enough for us to crawl through saving us 30+ minutes. This was the highlight of the race. (Odyssey and CP0 used a footbridge in Fayetteville which should have been identified in the race rules or on the map.)

Ran into town to grab the two CPs with coordinates we found on earlier CPs. Hard not to grab food or beer at the Pies and Pints CP. Got the last two CPs and then back to TA. Finished the leg with Odyssey.

CP0 arrived while we were in TA. We decided to go for Section 3 next. This looked like a straight forward ride with some trails sections to obtain CPs. Attacked the wrong reentrant on the first CP which allowed CP0 to catch up. Did the next couple CPs with them.

CP12 was tricky. It had a parallel feature before it. I recognized that we hadn't yet arrived but unmapped trails made me want to check the reentrant first. We did and confirmed my assumption.

Continued to ride with CP0. They lost touch when one of their teammates crashed on the trail from Hawks Nest to Fayetteville which was in much better shape then at Nationals.

Again CP0 and Odyssey followed us into transition.

Section 2
Odyssey, CP0 and us finally went different ways. We had trouble with one CP, lost time due to local knowledge/route decision and had a major mechanical. I popped my tube. We replaced it and checked the tire for thorns. None found. Spare tube popped. Used another tube. Popped again. Rechecked the tire to find a rock shard. Removed shard and realized our last 2 tubes were actually 26" (my fault). Tried to patch a 29er but were missing patch cement. Ended up using a 26' tube. Worked fine the rest of the race. Lost 30 minutes.

Made a route choice to ride down to Nuttalburg the long way. Considered going down the mine shaft switchbacks but backed out. Bikes in Nuttalburg made that section fast but the ride around was time consuming. Odyssey rode the mine shaft and back up the long way. CP0 hiked down and back. Think our route may have been the slowest but CC was grateful to be on the bike.

Got back to the TA before the long ride back to the finish to find out we were already an hour behind the CP0 and Odyssey.

Event: The Longest Day
 

Talked maps and some strategy with SP last night.

Up late. Still didnt get my new brake pad on.

Missing bike to work day but not disappointed. Trails are likely packed.

Warm ride. Easy on my legs. Potential rain this afternoon.

Wind lighter than the past couple days but still some gusts. Not too hot and no rain. Turned out pretty well. Trails were fairly busy. Not as much as tomorrow though.

I took this ride easy without pushing my legs much at all. Time to rest up.