Boggs VII 8 Hours Solo 'Round Three'

[Carl Sanders]

Somewhere past hour six, mid-way into my eighth lap, bouncing down a loose rock-strewn single track left, I heard and felt stuff falling off my bike. No time to look or stop, bike still functioning and rolling fast, heading toward the fire road below, I chose to roll it out and deal with it later. There was no way I wanted to give up the 15 minute lead  that I’d made by lap six over my competition.

This was to be my third round of Boggs, back to defend my two consecutive Expert wins. Nearly 700 registered races of all number of categories had shown up to crowd the start. I set up on the front line, ready for the neutral start at 0800. Looking around, it was hard to know just who I might be up against as the day ahead progressed. Next to me were members of teams, a few single speed nuts and the rest of us solo fanatics. The challenge would be guessing just who to pace and who to let go. Team members would put down blazing lap times only to be replaced by fresh meat, while the solo riders slogged on. My goal was to stay steady and strong.

Into the first lap, my adrenaline surged, the lungs expanded, the legs felt strong, but the heart rate seemed to lag. I immediately let a number of riders go, including Ryan who took off like a jack rabbit up the first climb.  I Knew full well I had to monitor and moderate my output, if I expected a top finish eight hours later.

The course was familiar, matching most of what we had raced two years ago; a solid mix of buffed out single track and steady fire road climbs. I knew what to expect; my aid station just before the finish had two ice chests full of bottles and fuel, a stand, tools and lube at the ready; the race would progress through distinct phases; the initial rush to action, finding a groove, creeping doubt and surge toward the finish. I felt prepared for the day ahead.

Once into the second and third laps, passing the slower lapped riders in all categories proved taxing on most single track climbs. I tried to be polite, calling out ‘rider back...on your left!’, with a burst of speed up and over the cut bank on a clear line around one or a group of riders up front. These kicks, often repeated dozens of times per lap, proved exhausting.

Not really knowing just who I was racing against, I motored on through the mass of riders on the ten mile course at any given time. Yuri, a monster on his single speed, traded leads with me a few times up steep climbs. Berkley chased me down a single track for a while only to be relieved by a team team mate shortly after. I was racing myself, for the most part. As the fatigue grew and the focus waned, I repeated my race mantra:

"My mind is clear, focused and relaxed.

My body is strong, limber and fast."

Without tunes to carry me forth and detract from the growing discomfort, I had only my tested routines of pedaling efficiently, fueling and hydrating consistently, shifting smoothly and riding confidently.

Wondering just what fell off the bike, and rolling off the fast single track descent back onto a fire road climb below, I quickly stopped and discovered that the entire contents of my saddle bag had been belched out across the trail behind. Nothing to do but pedal on!

Tearing past my aid at the end of lap eight, I contemplated trying to refill the lost contents of my saddle bag. Replace the tube, Big Air, tire irons and tool or blaze on? Too close to the end to stop now. Run it out. 

Sure enough, part way into a lap nine, I over-shifted the front derailuer and it bound up around the crank. Momentary panic overtook me realizing I did not have a chain break if needed. Thankfully, I untwisted the chain that had somehow gotten siezed and knotted up between the crank and chain ring.

With a fatigued pickled mind, I attempted to calculate my average lap times and at what point I would need to pass across the finish to beat the 4:45 cut-off time. It appeared that I was knocking out 45 min laps on average, so I just needed to get across before 4:00 to complete one more lap.

 Riding steady and strong, pulling conservative lines on the final lap, I finished at 8:24:00 with eleven laps completed putting me first in the Expert field. 

Three Expert wins in row. Somewhere in the top five overall. Only the teams were able to knock out more laps on this crazy long day of endurance suffering at its best!

 

 

[Jim Hewett]

Great job, Carl!

[Paul Montgomery]

Impressive as always...!