Bakers Dozen (2014)

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/37554200@N03/

It has been officially one year since I started to race MTB. Last year Bakers was my first race ever and I'm glad I did it, even though I only had a month of (maybe) riding experience under my belt. This year I had no real major goals other than to just go as long as I can without having any major issues. I know last year I wasn't smart on nutrition or drinking so I ended up having a series of cramps which eventually led to bonking. This year, I was a little more conscious of my regimen.

Prep: Not much really, I bought some probars and carried them (but I never used them). The wife and I packed a full cooler with some bananas, three gallons of water, the honey peanut butter (my favorite!), nutella, and some other nic-nack essentials. We packed up the car Friday night and went to bed rather early. Oh and I had ice cream!!

Race: The morning of I was up a 4:45 and make my usual CX juice drink blend of beets, oranges, spinach, and carrots as well as having a decent breakfast, and we were off to Leesburg. We showed up decently early and found Paul and the rest of the AFC gang and after that there wasn't much for me to prep. I carried a spare tube, CO2 cartridge, and a pump (just in case). As for food I had some Stinger chews and I had a bottle of water with Cerasport, thankfully I was talked out of the Camelbak by Esther! As the race started I kept to the front as much as possible without over doing it, which was good for me because I never hit the bottle neck that normally comes with this race. I mainly just kept a decent pace and tried not to overdo it on my HR. After every lap I would stop, refill my water that I would completely drink every lap and swap between water and water/Cerasport each lap. Every two laps I would eat a PB&J and a banana and occasionally grab a couple of Stinger gummies or the occasional swig of my Hammer Gel from my flask while on the course. The weather was a little hot in the afternoon so I made sure I was hydrating properly while making sure my salts and electrolytes were replenished, in which I believe I fully accomplished since I did not keel over and two my jersey is completely covered in salt! I also nut-checked myself once and took a spill on the knee but those were minor. I went over most of the obstacles minus the thigh high rock jump, which I CX'd every time after my fall on the first lap (that was the nut-check/knee), other than that it was a moderate spinning pace with little to no stopping on the course.

I completed a total of eight laps which was +1 from last year and I probably could have done more minus the fact that my hands, forearms, and biceps were pretty much useless from all the bumpy pastures and roots on the back side of the course. This is one thing I need to work on I believe, I really wasn't ready for such a beating to my upper body, but I'll get there. Either way Bakers this year was extremely fun and I am looking forward to it next year. Maybe next year I'll hit 10+ laps...

By the end of the day I got my last lap in and waited for my wife to return from her lap, which by the way this lady endo'ed on her SS (which we thought she might have seriously injured herself), took a small break, and then went out I believe two more times on the bike! After that, the wife and I cheered on everyone else went by and then eventually we packed up and made the tiresome drive home.

2013 Cranky Monkey 3-Hour Solo, Rocky Gap State Park, MD

Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/55151948

Let me be honest here, I was not planning on racing at all this weekend. Especially since I rode 40 miles on Friday for the Bike2Work Day event (in which I just biked to a day off of work). Anyway my wife and I met up with Paul Tarter and his wife on Friday and immediately Paul and I went out for a course recon pre-ride. This was my first time seeing Rocky Gap from the other side of the lake and I must admit now I know why they call it Rocky Gap. The course had some pretty steep climbs, somewhat thin single track, a few rolling hilly parts, a soul sucking road climb, a really big soul sucking rocky hill climb (I think it’s called “Evitt’s Revenge”), a couple technical rock crossings, and about three crazy rocky downhill runs! They also had a small side step trail because a 25 foot portion of the course was literally hub deep in mud. So they had to route alongside it, in which that too became a sloppy mess by the third hour of the race. The rest of the course pretty much ran along the lakefront  it was a slim single track with some areas wide enough for racers to pass if needed. The slope was a little intimidating at times, but then again I really thought about going for a swim at one point. The waterfront trails provided to be a little testing since they had a decent amount of roots and some small muddy spots. Also the trails were open to everyone, so there was the occasional bystander either cheering you on or dashing to get off the trail. When climbing out of the lake side area the terrain turned to a rocky and at times wet/muddy mess, the rocks were loose on the down hills and pretty solid going up, minus the crazy steep muddy mess of Evitt’s Revenge.

On the pre-ride I handled most of these pretty well only the steep rocky climb and the two rock crossings got me. But taking my time Paul and I finished the pre-ride in 1hr on the dot.

On to the ironic part! I saw they had a three hour solo race going on at the same time, and since I knew I could endure one hour of the course and that I could take a beating from the time spent at the Bakers Dozen, I starting to think I should sign up. Of course it didn't help that Paul did a little Jedi mind trick of his own...

So after much consideration and $105 spent, and on the day of the race mind you, I grabbed my bike, my gear, and signed up. I had pretty much everything I needed and if I didn't I could borrow from Paul Tarter.

The 9-Hour guys started off first at 1000 and the 3-Hour started off 20 mins later. I carried my tool, a bottle of water, a couple Cliff Shots and Cliff Bars, and some luck.

When we were off I did what I could to stay near the front without trying to tire myself out and for the most part I held onto that for some time! I also realized, during the first road climb, I forgot to start my Garmin when we were released. I really pushed hard on my first lap to get a significant gap between me and everyone else, but it didn't last long because a small group of three caught up to me right as we go to the road climb. After they passed me I decided to just enjoy the race since I knew I probably wouldn't catch them, even if they weren't in my racing category. So I eased up a bit and helped several racers along the route with mechanicals while letting the 9-Hour racers fly by. Not to mention the most awesomest high-speed “Bones-Explode” when Paul blew by!

On a side note I was kind of disappointed at some of the team racers out there, the majority of the people racing were encouraging, patient, and great, but there were a few who would get behind me and get irate with my speed saying, "You're killing my time, etc..." which is kind of annoying because I'm not you, sir, and I am not racing as a duo/trio... So please, with all due respect, chill eff' out. As for teams like The Bike Lane, Crosshairs, and SBR... You guys were helpful, and I thank you for that.

Off my soapbox now, being that I was doing a three hour race I felt that I had to at least get in three laps, which I did and they were all around an hour per lap, though mad kudos to the guy who got in four! I think my most difficult area was the climb and out of three laps I was only able to successfully bike up it once, after that I heard someone mention that it was just as quick to walk it with not nearly as much effort. So I tried on my second lap to bike up it, in which I only made it halfway  by the third lap I just walked since it was a muddy/rocky mess.

Speaking of my third lap, since I was taking it a moderately fast pace, I figured I was kind of in the middle of the pack until I returned from my second lap. When I stopped my wife and Leesa both told me that I was leading in first place and the second place guy was two minutes behind me. I was shocked, mocking the idea really that I was doing so well… so I refilled my water bottle and took off like a bat out of hell! I pushed it really hard on my third lap, especially when I saw one person pass me with a two digit number!!! I couldn't read his calf to determine if he was in my category or not but I didn't want to take the chance that he was my competitor for first place so I hung on him as hard as I could till the last quarter mile, in I asked and then politely passed him… then I nailed it into warp 9.8 to the end, so much that I almost passed out at the finish line.

I felt great! I didn’t believe I did so well and I felt better than I helped so many people along the way and was still able to pull ahead. Unfortunately that feeling didn't last long, when the race officials realized that they gave me the wrong chip and someone else had mine… so I went from first to fourth in a matter of ten minutes. No worries though, because in reality I was just happy to do as well as I did and even better yet help everyone else who needed a spare tube, CO2, or a little encouragement along the way.  So I as extremely satisfied with fourth considering all my riding during the week off the race and my serious lack of preparedness.

My nutrition was sparse to say the least, I ate somewhat little while relying more on just water and the Gatorade at the midway station. I'll make sure to pay better attention to that next time, but really what can go wrong in three hours other than dehydration or low electrolytes?

Afterwards I did the podium and then went on a small but nice bike ride with the wife. I also would like to thank her for encouraging me through this race, as well as *jokingly* giving me false motivation about being first (really hon, I am kidding!).

Anyway it was a great race, the course was awesome and I had an amazing time! Though I am considering whether to do the 3-Hour Cranky Monkey at Quantico… I’m a sucker for torture!

2013 Baker's Dozen Race Report - Leesburg, VA

Let me start by saying this was an amazing day for a race and it was awesome to see such talented racers on the course! There was a lot of firsts for me this day: First bike race ever, first time going longer than 22 miles,  first endurance race, and the first time (well maybe second-thirdish) really being on my MTB since I bought it a few weeks ago... okay technically fourth time, but the whole "rear wheel taco Patapsco fiasco" doesn't officially count because the bike only went a mile.

The 2013 Baker's Dozen course was a pretty fast 8.5 mile course with some (in my mind) decent climbs at certain spots with a few obstacles to "liven things up", just a side note there were only two obstacles that I couldn't work up the gull/speed to really get over, but for the most part I was successfully able to negotiate pretty much every obstacle on every lap I did. 

The race started promptly at 9 am and my goal for the Men's Solo was to take each lap at a steady pace, allow the better racers to pass when needed, and just keep going as much as I can for as long as I can. The end result was me being able to complete seven laps in about 7 hrs 35 mins (total moving time). I think for the whole time it was around 10-11ish hours, with the three pit stops included. Funny thing is I did four laps before the first pit and then one after each following lap and every time I stopped I'd say, "Okay, I'm done!" but then 15 minuets would go by and I'd want to get back on my bike and ride another lap... this was mainly because I was motivated by seeing the other AFC racers go at it again and again and again! Wicked kudos to you guys!! After my last lap, it was getting dark and even though I had a bike light I decided to hold off and call it a day, I felt that I would need more experience in that area before take up on MTB night riding. 

For the most part everyone was friendly on the course, I did make a few "ride friends" during some laps and the majority of the pro-racers were very courteous when they passed by me. I made sure to give everyone a wide berth when passing and most of the time I would just stop and cheer them on as they flew by (*bones-explode fist bump*). 

As for nutrition, I did a mix of using the three Cliff Shotblocks, one Cliff-shot gel, a water bottle with 2 scoops of Perpetuem, about 3-4 bottles of water, half a Chipotle steak burrito, a couple bananas, a can of soda, some Dunkin Doughnuts minis, and one water bottle a bit of Gatorade mix in it.  I know it's quite the mix of food! In hindsight I didn't know how to fully handle the Perpeteum, so next time I'll make sure to carry some extra water when using that stuff. The good news is I didn't have any cramps or dehydration issues!

For injuries, I went into the race with a shoddy (at best) left hand, thankfully I had the Ergon GP1-L grips to leverage my grip better with the bike. I also small taped my left ring and middle finger just in case I really wrenched it on a fall, etc. Speaking of falls I only had one major(ish) fall to where my bike slid out from underneath me on some rocks, thankfully my arse took the brunt of the impact and all I got out of it was a couple of scrapes and a hole in my shorts. By the end of the day all I could account for was a little sun on the arms/legs, some muscle soreness (expected), a couple scratches and scrapes, and now a even worse left hand. But hey I had fun! It just means I'll be going to see the OT here this week to fix my finger abduction/gripping issue. 

Finally my bike held up to the test on this course, even though I wasn't pushing it, I had both tires set to 35 psi which worked out well with the slightly tacky mud spots in the beginning. I didn't have any blowouts or mechanical issues and those Ergon grips were amazing and comfortable! Surprisingly enough I feel pretty great today, not really sore and definitely still stoked about the 2013 Baker's Dozen Race!!! 

Oh and last time I checked I was 45th place out of 66th (or something like that), not bad in my book.... 

Strava Results

Oh and on a side note, I need to remember to bring a handkerchief to put on my head to reduce the sweating next time, also make sure that my camera actually has a CF card in it... so sorry about that guys!