Talladega National Forest, AL – Open 100 – 6th/14
I’ve never written up a race or ride before, really. I wanted to write this one up because it was definitely the most physically challenge race I have ever done, mostly due to my own stupidity, but the best part is, I did great. I thank God for making me disciplined after so long, and I had been consistently training for a while.
This story starts on Tuesday, Sept 10. I was doing my usual loop at OM, and on west ridge, I got a little off balance and punched a tree with my right hand on the handlebar. Wasn’t that bad, pinkie and next finger’s knuckles were a little bloody. I thought about some downhill gloves at home that have protective padding in that area.
Thursday night, the 12th, back out for another loop. Actually, it might have been the same damn tree. Repeat, and the knuckles were a little bloodier this time, the pain was like a shot of lightning. I continued on down Hyde and Jeckell and by the time I got to the bottom, my palm was killing me, so I took the road home. It hurt to put the hand on the bar.
I didn’t really ride any more until we started the MS-450 on the 18th. I had rolled around a little on the road bike, and the left half of my right hand did not hurt, so I could ride on the hoods and the drops without any pain from the right side of the hand. It actually did fine the whole way down, except for the one or two times I bumped it and almost dropped to my knees in pain. Aside from that, it was fine.
Something odd did happen on the way down that I really didn’t pay attention to until much later, like after the Hundo, but I’ll just say on day 2 of the MS-450, about 50mi in on a 100 degree afternoon with no shade, logging trucks rolling by, I started smelling ammonia, on the ride, at the house, out on the boat. Weird.
The MS-450 was tough. It was hot every day, we had a lot of wind on day 3. The two days at the beach weren’t bad. Grace Ragland spoke at the banquet and totally rocked it. I was done with a great group of friends in a big house with a big boat and we partied big. And, Team Poor Marty was number 1 Friends and Family fundraiser with $8,366.
I came home and rested on Monday, but still needed to know if the hand would be ok in the hundo. I had taken Tuesday off to recover, but I was feeling a big ride in me. I took the gravel bike for a 50mi loop at OM, and rode tons of single track on the hoods and the drops, and I was fine. I relaxed the training a bit, did an easy 30mi road ride on Thursday, and then rested until the race on Sunday and ate well.
I had already opened the Ride with GPS route that was provided. I looked through the cues, and couldn’t have recognized where at mile 19, the route makes a left turn, instead of going straight to where it meets back up a few miles later. Brent announced at the beginning of the race, loud and clear, that all turns were marked with blue tape in the trees. Fair Enough.
Mile 19 – All Hell Breaks Loose. I had done pretty well so far, was keeping up with the front of the middle group, hanging with a couple single speed mountain bikers from TN. We got to mile 19, and all 3 of our navigation devices said to take a left. So we did, even though there was no blue tape. We went about a quarter mile, and the road turned into cleared field, with a tree line, that looked to me like the route on my navigation. The single speeders turned back and I said screw it and followed the tree line.
At the end of the tree line, I found a jeep road. Checked the navigation, it thinks I’m on course, so I keep going. Five minutes pass and the jeep road starts diminishing, and turning into very thick brush. I was using my front tire to separate the thickness to get through, and had to go around and back at several points, it sucked. Plus, while still following the route, I went down into a ravine and found myself in a beautiful creek bed. I walked the creek bed until I got near where the route meets back with the road, I looked ahead, and then up. The road was only about 60’ in front of me, but probably 200’ up. I took my saddle in my weak hand, put my bike on my back, and scaled that wall to get to the road.
I had quit several times in my head in that thicket and creek, but once I got on the road, and finally saw Waldrop at mile 25ish, he said he had taken the wrong turn too. He hadn’t done what I did, no one did. Everyone else that did take the wrong turn turned around after about a quarter mile. I hit the rest stop at mile 29, noticed I was drinking exactly how much I planned and packed for, I was feeling good.
I started passing the rest of the tail of the 100 milers at mile 40. Another at mile 42, 46. I was back in this thing. I felt great, until about mile 65, I quit in my head again then too. Heat was probably about 103. One girl ahead of me had pulled off on the climb to Bull’s Gap and another guy and I asked if she was ok. It took her a second, but she said she overheated. She had shade and water so I kept climbing, and quitting. Fortunately the rest stop at the top of the climb had a big ass fan, and ice. 5 minutes later I was ready to go again.
I kept a steady fast pace, kept squirting cold water on myself, and kept asking myself how the hell I got back into the race. It was exciting catching folks. Brent was at the finish. I told him about the turn, and what I had done, and I think he was surprised that I wasn’t mad. I had had a lot of time to think about the name that should be on my trophy, either the Seeking Bigfoot Edition, or the Dumbass/Baddass Award.
I got to soak in a cold lake, have a cold beverage, snack, and watch some great podium ceremonies. It was great seeing everyone, and this is always a very well organized and supported event. I can’t stop thanking Brent and the volunteers for putting it on. I can’t wait until the next one.
For now, I finally made a trip to the doctor. I’ve got almost 700mi in two weeks on this hand before I found out for sure that it was broken. No, not smart, but I was doing these events, and the hand never hurt in any of them. As for the smell of ammonia, I did some labs today and will have results back soon. From my discussion with the doc, and other racing cyclists, I am pretty sure it is ketosis, and am already working on adjusting nutrition.