Friday a bunch of us headed down to Leesburg, VA for the third annual Bakers Dozen 13 hr mountain bike race. The vibe at this race is very cool, and was a great time last year. This year I did this race solo instead of the 2 person team I did last year.
My plan was to ride roughly 40 min laps and go steady all day. Well all plans change, at the start a few guys got a little too excited and were sprinting off the start like an XC race. Unfortunately they crashed into each other, then crashing into me - twisting my stem/bars and seat. I had to run over to my pit area and straighten everything out. Now I was out on my first lap behind the train of people, most of them walking the rock up. Just about now I noticed my knee is cut up and hurtin' and there was a golf ball like knot in my calf - from the crash at the start.
I pulled in on my first lap and went right back out for another lap, probably putting down a little quicker time than I should have. That wasn't really in keeping with my plan of steady. The next lap I switched over to my Jet9 full suspension, as I was already noticing some lower back issues from either effort or the rutted access road between the two loops. This was a great decision as I could immediately feel a difference, until my fork started giving me some issues. It was bottomed out on travel, so I locked it for the remainder of that lap.
Next lap I jumped on the Cannondale 29'er, and asked Josh from Saucon Valley Bikes if he could switch out the fork from my SS bike I brought for Dan K. as a back up. He worked on it, getting everything switched over, so when I came back through I switched back. Great work Josh!
So the day started with the crash, some fork mechanical issue, and then I started to cramp. My legs were cramping, and stomach was starting to feel kinda knotted. I was taking some time off the bike between laps trying to get the cramps to subside. The cramps kept on coming, so I decided to just chill for a bit and see how things would go after some more time. Dan K, Pete, and I went out for another lap - I think number 10 for Dan and I, and like 12 for Pete. At the end of the lap I was done - I figured I got 71 miles in, not quite what I wanted. But no biggie, since I got to hang with some good friends and ride my bike for quite a few hours.
Now my legs are still a bit sore, probably from the cramps I guess. I had some off site training for work today, and was able to get out for a nice hour spin after the training. It was an amazing day, until right around now (7ish) when its starting to get a bit ugly out.
We'll see what's next on the schedule, probably Michaux or Granogue. See ya soon!
-matt
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