The forecast the night before predicted a balmy 92 degrees.. I hydrated thoroughly as I prepped a nice pre-race meal and then dressed the new Explosif to the nines. 6:30am rolls around fast and already it’s warm. By 8:30 I’m at the parking lot, registered, changed into superhero/spandex with a butt pad garb, and listening in to the racers meeting. Carlos Perez gives us the downlow, i.e., “temps are high, this race is no joke, save some in the tank, don’t get stranded without supplies or leg power, godspeed…..”
9:00 or so … We’re off. Solo racers turn a mellowish 2 laps on a steep paved climb to overgrown skinny descent loop to thin things out. There I see the glove I lost during my warm up lap on the second round thru and roll right over it. Picking it up is unwarranted as its partner is waiting in vain for its mate back at the car. We dump out onto singletrack that will take us essentially around the perimeter of this larger than anticipated lake. Quite fast, flowy, and undulating narrow stuff I’m happy to be invested in riding all day long. The single speed gives a few sooner than expected heart in the throat moments with a couple of sustained ups in a single file line of riders, but nothing too bad to spin off. I keep a good pace that doesn’t have people passing me and has me gradually picking off others. Ride a solid 5 miles with a buddy Jon, who notes he’s happy to have chosen gears today. That comment remained a constant with a half dozen or so others also commenting to me that they’re happy they left the single at the house in favor for the geared squisher. The heat, the distance, the blah, blah, blah….
Whatever suits you, sir…..
Twenty miles or so into it I’m feeling a bit cooked, but am confident my pace is gonna work out. I pop out into a parking lot with two others and the three of us eat some orange slices at the rest stop and refuel with new juice in the bottles. It’s a steep 1/2 mile or so climb grind on blacktop that is radiating heat like a mo-fo. We crest the top and head to another tent across the road. I bang a left and start to descend on a fire road. 1/2 mile or so passes and a herd of riders, oh hey those are the leaders!!!, are climbing back up in the reverse direction. BUZZKILL!!!!! It’s noted they got to the lake and there were no further trail markings. Riders tried a few options but to no avai. Turns out someones idea of a funny joke came at the expense of botching our epic. We amass back at the road and ask a volunteer, “WTF?” It’s determined we should return via the road to the start and discuss things with Carlos. Our pack, humbled at best, spins 2 or so miles back to the start and give word to Carlos that someone has removed markers and gotten us all screwed up.
At around the same time the two-way radio buzzes in to him and informs of a water/supply shortage at a few of the aid stations. The heat has racers gulping down anything they can get their hands on. Carlos, already stressed with the news we delivered, is now posed with a choice no promoter ever wants to be faced with. Does he wing it, send out the racers for a second lap and try to sort out the altered course, risk shorting them supplies at rest stops, and gamble his integrity at this inaugural event? Or does he call it quits in hopes of everyone making it back safe and sound? He ponders, we wonder, time passes, and he chooses the latter.
Don’t get me wrong, I was one of many initially frustrated with the outcome of events, but I also understand the overall picture and realize that with small, grassroots events such as this things can’t ALWAYS work out. The heat was atrocious anyway. He was doing us a favor in a sense. And there’s next year. There’s always next year. I’ll certainly be there. Thanks for the effort Carlos. The trails were incredible and the course/event is certainly going to be difficult to top…when it’s carried out in entirety – in 2010.
