7/1-2/23 – 24 Hours of Iron Maiden
@Chainbusterracings 12/24 Hours of Iron Maiden at Tannehill State Park was as excellent as it has always been. It is my favorite venue for racing and hanging out with friends. It was great seeing all of my Chainbuster racing family from GA, as well as all of the Alabama racers, and all of those that came from other states to create the great culture we had this weekend. Tannehill is a beautiful park, and I enjoyed sharing some of my favorite spots with friends.
Big thanks to Peyton Miller for the special announcement on signs of dehydration before the race. The temps were brutal, and I passed several racers who were struggling with it, and took the extra time to make sure they were ok, as many others did as well. It was great having that expressed at the beginning.
I got out a little too fast at start, with a 54min first lap. I told myself I was going to ride out in the back and take it easy, but found myself riding out in the middle, and passing a few folks. The heat was not unbearable yet, but it was getting hot.
After my first lap, I did a quick bottle refill and headed back out. It started getting hot on that lap. I got back, hosed off at camp, took some time to eat a sandwich, refill bottles and started out on lap 3 at 12:30pm. That was the hottest lap. I’m pretty good with not dehydrating. I was carrying a bottle of Carborocket 333 and a bottle of Skratch, and draining almost both of those each lap. I don’t typically sweat a lot, but I do if I stop, so I had to stop 4 times for about 30 seconds each on my 3rd lap to let myself sweat, and cool off as I rode on.
I took a longer break after that one, and took my 4th lap around 4:30pm. It had cooled off significantly. In restrospect, had I waited to start the race until about 3pm, I might have gotten twice as many laps in. That heat was a monster. Congrats to everyone that got up on the step today. Hate I missed podiums, but at least I got a 5th lap in tearing down tape. Another epic Chainbuster weekend in the books.
Photos – https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4agqp4e7vlmggwjhde0uo/h?rlkey=6d6d9yvcf6me0qaoy2nlhbj0p&dl=0