enduro?!?

Camp Hilbert - 3rd Annual 3/9/08

Mike Carter and I had planned to head down to Richmond, VA for the 3rd Annual Camp Hilbert race. We had heard how nice it was down there last year by Solt and Pete - they had 70* weather last year and a dusty dry course.

Well as all well laid plans go - this one got messed up. Originally we were gonna leave Mike's house at about 7pm on Saturday night, which would put us in VA at 12pm (really 1am - with DST) So I talked to my boss about leaving early - 2:00. All was going well as I headed home to pack the "toaster", I got everything in and was moving the bike around to make room and BOOM - another Stan's explosion with the Kenda Small Block 8. After about an hour and half of cleaning the wheel, bike, and car - I mounted a Maxxis Crossmark with a tube and was on my way. I arrived at Mike's house at about 5:30ish, loaded all his stuff and drove off into the 50mph winds and rain that we were having.

We made a few wrong turns along the way, but all was well as soon as I turned on the voice in the GPS - which Mike affectionately called "bitch" for the rest of the weekend. We rolled in to the motel (which I thought we were staying in a hotel) at about 10:30, we were given a high tech key-card, so we were thinking it couldn't be all that bad of a room. Not so much the case, smokey smelling (non-smoking room), towel rack falling off the wall in the bathroom, and probably bullet hole patches in the wallpaper. So a few bed bugs and 5.5 hours of sleep later we checked out left for the race.

We arrived at the venue to find Solt and Liz alreading unloading their gear, so we hooked up with them and went registration. Turns out almost everyone was doing Enduro - same as Mike, Liz and myself, Solt was doing pro/expert. We found a nice place to set up out pit area and got dressed for the 28* start - brrr it's supposed to be warmer here??

The promoter was also doing a Run race before the bike, so the start was pushed back about 20 minutes. They let the Sport riders go off first, then Enduro men, then women. I probably went out a little too hard off the start trying to stay in touch with the faster riders [mistake] Mike was trying to catch up to me and got caught up in some traffic, but then figured he should dial it back a notch. He caught to me about the time I realized I was going too hard with very little warm up, so we rode the next two laps together.

After completing the second lap it was time to shed some gear, and take a quick break. Mike went right out for his 3rd lap, I shortly caught him about half way through. However, by lap 4 I was starting to cramp pretty bad, despite my constant drinking and eating. I rested for probably 8 minutes the next lap and ate half a PB&J, stretched a bit and starting feeling a little better. The cramping still continued on, so I just took it a little easier and it would go away for a little bit then come back again - I'm probably done about this point.

I came in for my 6th lap at about 4:20 kind of tired and sore, I sit down again for a few minutes and go out for my 7th lap. I felt pretty good for this lap, somewhat like a 5th wind or something. As I came through the start/finish area I saw 5:06 on the clock - damn I should've picked up the pace a little more or rested less and I could've gone out for my 8th lap. I don't really think I was up for an 8th anyway. After Mike came from his 8th lap we packed up and got on the road - the promoter was having trouble with results and Mike and I figured we didn't podium and took off.

All in all, it was a great venue and we all had a lot of fun. For my first lap enduro I'm pleased with my ride - I was going out planning to 8 or 9 laps based on last years results. Apparently the course was run backwards this year which is a little slower.

7 laps in 5:05ish, 4000 feet of climbing and about 42 miles (garmin lost signal)

Here's the aftermath - now I really gotta clean the bike.

-matt