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atomrat

The day went pretty good. The rain held off till about 6:30 PM, then it kept coming down.

Tinker was racing. He was amazing to watch. He just kept going and going. Several people said that he passed them like they were standing still.

This was my first endurance race, actually my first XC race period. I teamed up with Raceadict to create a 4-person team. We did pretty good for the first time out at a team. Everyone had fun in the pit.

The trail was in great shape. Till the rain started. I was the last rider out from our team. The course got really slick. My time slowed to a 1:18 in the Rain and Night, not to bad considering. I want to get my times down into the 50's for the June race.

At one point during the day, we were in 5th place out of 6 4-person teams, with only 16 seconds separating us from 4th. I don't know where we ended up, will need to wait for the results to be posted. I am really hoping that we pulled into 4th.

My Lap times
Lap 1: 1:03
Lap 2: 1:09 (had to tighten light mount)
Lap 3: 1:18 (Night/Rain/Wind Lap)

Will not be my last Race, I loved it.

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slayer

congrats.

i was out there too, i finished 3rd in the expert solo men.

i did 9 laps in total. my garmin had me at 89.72 miles and 13,258 of elevation that i climbed. good VQ training. my leggs are like rubber. and i don't think i'll be able to sit on the bike for a few days.

i got lapped twice by tinker juarez, that guy hauls ass.

thanks, chris

atomrat

congrats Slayer.

I want to try Solo next year. I wish I could do that many laps. I need to train a lot to be able to compete solo.

There is one guy that did 11 laps solo on a single speed. He came to our pit after the race for a beer. I am not sure how it came up, but we were able to accommodate him. I just happen to bring some Snow Cap and ThunderHead.

I think we were pitted next to each other.

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airgabe

congrats chris and thanks for the epic......

mp3

Congrats to everyone out riding yesterday. Fun course eh? Thanks for the cheers.

Did Mr Pho get his medal?

The singlespeeder is Matt C -- great guy, very strong rider.

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Pho'dUp

Hey Mario!

Great seeing you out there and thanks for bringing my jacket back to me. It only took me a year to get it from you.

Medal? I couldn't stay for the awards ceremony. So I don't know what happened. I did 5 laps before I called it quits. That'd be cool if I did, I regret not going out for #6 but I was pretty fried.

Mario, I chatted with your race partner out on the course. She was definitely movin' out there on her orange Niner.

How'd you guys end up doing?

Matt C? Was he on the custom Spot SS? That guy totall ripped the Dam Climb on his single. It was great seeing Tinker and Monique too. I dig the vibe out on the course for endurance races. Everyone is totally working it, working hard, but still totally supportive and friendly out there.

Before I forget, BIG Thanks to Nam, Willie, Traci, Jared, Megan, CC, Springrubber and friend, Duke777 and friend, Jesse's family for coming out and handling all the logistics, and running an awesome and fun pit area. I think we had the best Pit Area out there! Dubjay, Neil, Michael (Shudder), Shudder, RidetheRAAM, it was great riding out there with you guys. Neil you are a HORSE man. 2 laps in the rain and night, and you totall y hammered the downs and g-outs on Nam's rigid salsa.

mp3

Good thing it didn't really rain last year.

I was pretty sure I heard your name announced. Think the STR folks picked it up for you. Congrats!

Yeah Heidi was doing great for her first mtb endurance event. We did 12 laps (6 each) for first place.

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dubjay

Pho'd - you got 3rd in our class. Congrats! Neil picked up the medal for you.

I ended up doing 5 laps as well. I was battling cramps after the 2nd lap and my times slowed down quite a bit after that.

Any suggestions as to how to avoid cramping so early would be appreciated. I'm sure it might just be a fitness thing too.

lukewiens

Animal!!!

I'm jealous........damn flu!!

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dubjay

Forgot to ask - anyone know where we can take a look at race photos? There were a few different photographers out there.

Pho'dUp

Dub, did you pre-hydrate a few days before the race? Drinking more water and such. Checking by looking for clear and copious pee. I also like to start drinking my electrolyte replacement drink about 30min. before I start riding.

I start to feel a little tightness in my calves after lap 2. But I drank Pickle juice and that seemed to help a lot.

3rd Sweet! Again, Dubjay, it was a great effort out there all day. You definitey did a good jub grinding it ou on laps 4, and 5.

atomrat

http://www.egofoto.com/

They said they would be up on Monday.

What kind of electrolyte replacement drink do you recommend? I tried propel, but I didn't like it, really thick in my throat.

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shudder

Glad you had a good first race atomrat. If this was your first race, then I expect you'll do exceedingly well as you progress!!

I had a great time out there. Got passed by Tinker and Pua a lot (of course), and mostly everyone else, too. My knees said it was cool to go for that fifth lap I was looking for, so I did what I wanted to do (although Neil found me standing next to my bike staring out into space at one point during my lap five -- I knew a lap six was out of the question for me at that point -- I was just glad to get back in after that...).

At the end of my third lap I blew up my chain going up Marine Corps Hill (that last, steep, uncleanable-except-for-Tinker climb), so I rolled down the final mile back to the finish line dragging my chain (and then it finally fell off -- looked like a dead snake in the middle of the trail next time I went by it...). Folks standing at the top corner of the final downhill looked at me funny cuz I was all hunkered down on the bike, trying to stay low so I could keep my speed (which wasn't really working, so I just looked silly as I passed them by). Once I got up to them I just had to point down and yell out, "I gots NO CHAIN!!" They had a good laugh. One of the guys from Cycopath (Joe) set me up with a new chain for a 20 spot and I was back on the road again.

My bro Patrick and his gal, Lisa were out running support for me, along with Willie (who seemed to be everywhere yesterday). That was really great: I love not having to think about much when I roll back in. I took about a 20 to 30 minute break between laps, just to clear my head and get it together for the next loop.

dubjay -- As to cramping up, I am trying EVERYthing these days: Endurolyte pills (by Hammer), Elete in my water, bananas, and even pickle juice (that sh*t will wake you up after a hard lap, for sure!). Ralphs sells these perfect little individual dill pickles in plastic. Rip open the corner, drink down the generous amount of green liquid they are packed in, and then throw it away (or keep the pickle for later, whatever). Workin' for me. I hardly cramped at all.

David Bourne was out with his four man team. His bro Troy was doing the shooting (I think in the BMX loop). They do a great job with the pics at egofoto. The url is listed above in atomrat's reply. They even raffled off a couple of 8x10s last night, which I thought was very cool of them.

It was great hanging with everyone in Neil and Traci's disco ball EZ-up. Willie loved it as well, though he really, REALLY wished he'd been racing. He was bummed when he heard Gene, the 14-yr-old had only done 3 laps (Willie did 4 in November, and could have made a fifth easy). Oh well, you break an arm, you suffer the indignities and sacrifices. He'll be well soon enough.

Thanks again, everyone, for a good time! Traci, Neil, Cathy, Nam, Carl, Jared, Eric, et al!!

shud

atomrat

I lost my chain on Marine Hill also on my last lap. I coasted down the hill with the chain in my pocket. Got speed by pushing much like a scooter.

We were in the pit next to you, between you and the KHS pit.

I can't wait till June for the next race. A lot of time for some training. Since I live in Temecula, guess where my training ground is?

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tkblazer

her sure did! i have his 3rd place medal and Shannon's 1st place medal... there was an error in the results in which Carl should have gotten 2nd place and i believe Weyland (dubjay) should have got 3rd...

great race tho guys, really inspirational to see everyone out there racing and still managing to have fun... I am saying it here so its on the record, i will start training for the June race and try racing it solo.

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Guero: dayum, i wish i went. alarm went off and everything, even got a call from nam at 745 but i couldnt get out of my bed, it was too warm.

dubjay

It'll be good to see you out there Nam!

So there was in error in the results? Where do we file the protest?

RidetheRAAM4

Hey everyone, didnt really see anyone this race. Only saw pho'd up right before that marine climb. My team had an OK race. It was me and my buddy Nick and his uncle. Me and Nick were having the best race of our lives, but his uncle was going quite a bit slower. I think we ended up in 5th in the 3 person open category. Could have possibly had 4th, but I was on a loaner bike and the rear tire had little tread so I couldn't get the last lap in on time (was not even at the top of the tunnel of love with only 20 minutes left). I think my first three laps were 54, 59, and 1:08 (in the dark). Nick had 53, 54, 58, and then I think somewhere around a 1:10 (in the dark). His uncle was doing like 1:07, 1:08 and like 1:20.

You can bet we will be back in June and hopefully Nick's uncle can pick up the pace. I think Nick and I will be hovering around 50 minute laps in June. Hope everyone else had a blast!

Oh yeah, and I was one of those lucky suckers out there in the rain. Went out for the final lap at just before 8. It wasn't really bad until I was going up that fire road to get to the tunnel of love. Right at the bottom is where it seemed really muddy and I was just sliding all over the place. The rest of the course was fine as long as you stayed out of the lower parts of the trail where the water was running down.

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Race Progression

slayer

i went all 9 laps and had no cramping. this was the first time that i had none.

here's what i did:

drank 1 bottle of water and 1 bottle of cytomax every 2 laps.

took 4 hammer endurolyte pills every lap.

took 1 powerbar gel pack every lap.

ate 5 fig newtons every lap.

and on 1 of my pitstops i drank 1 bottle of gatorade, 1 bottle of water and ate 1 banana.

that's all i had for 12 hours. and it seemed to work pretty good. this worked for me but everyone is different.

RidetheRAAM4