Mid-Atlantic 12 hour Race (1) 6 weeks after completing RAAM I now had my…
Mid-Atlantic 12 hour Race (1) 6 weeks after completing RAAM I now had my first Ultra-Distance Race again. Did a Gran Fondo race in Boone NC the weekend before but this was a bit more important to me to see how I am doing and specifically how much I recovered from the 3065 miles of RAAM Solo. I was not sure and thought I would simply do my own race to test myself and not worry much about results. 😎 So at start I was a bit unsure but went right behind the car leading us out for the first possibly 2 miles. Once the car was gone the first riders passed me and I went right on to their wheel. I think first pull was done by Georgi ... I was impressed about the speed the small group developed (recumbent rider Larry Oslund and Carol who was on a relay team, John, Jimmy, Georgi and I). Speed was awesome. However after first turn and getting unleashed once the car in front of us left I was unhappy noticing that I put the wrong battery in my rear derailleur (dumb user error). So I was stuck with I believe 14t rear chainring. I debated briefly if I shall stop and swap front and rear batteries or keep going. So I decided to keep going. It's tough not being able to shift at all but the momentum riding with that group was simply cool. Most of us did take a good share of pulling while Jimmy was pulling mostly and admitting that around end lap3 or beginning of lap 4 I could not stay with the lead persons any more. Was hoping to do a bit sharing with Georgi in lap 4 but noticed he seemed to have an issue (at that time I had no idea what it was). So I decided I keep going at my own pace. After lap 4 I had to do a fluid refill stop every lap to stay hydrated and used the 100 mile stop for a new battery. Unfortunate I did burn a few matches riding on one chain ring for a bit long. So I adjusted my goal a bit down already. Rest was a bit of a lonely ride ... One other mistake was that I should have start to eat the jelly sandwiches latest after lap 5. I noticed a power loss in lap 7 and once eating I regained power again. That power loss could have been avoided completely by eating as I planned initially. Goal adjusted a bit and was focused to make at least 230 miles on the race. That goal got changed one more time drastically ... in lap 9 after 10 miles I noticed front went flat. So I looked at time left ... distance to finish line for lap completion was 15 miles ... Afterwards it's easy to say should I have done it different but at that moment since I had no idea what was causing the flat I decided I keep going. A cut in the tire (it looked afterwards it was a bigger cut that caused it) would have stopped me possibly completely. So I learned from RAAM when crew was leap frogging and I had a flat with zero cell phone service I kept going and rim survived well. So I knew it takes much more power and speed will be down. My goal now was ... finish the lap 9 and see if I can add another mile. Kept an eye on my front wheel mostly and had to slow down a lot in every curve or turn. Noise level was crazy and bike was shaking badly. I am sure at the finish line area people have been a bit surprised and confused. Noise level was extreme and instead of stopping I kept going since I wanted the extra mile. Tried to tell Carlos (Ill Candido) that keep moving until 12 hours are done. He was kind enough and got in the car to at least drive me back once race was finished.
