So much that I'm still mentally and physically unpacking from this race. I can't think of anywhere that I have ridden or raced as much as this loop, yet I was amazed at how little I remembered, including the hilly drive in to the campground. It's bizarre to me.
Mesa decided to do the Burnin' 12 Hour race here in 2004. I bought a size large base model Specialized Stumpjumper HT the week before the race after not having mountain biked all season and focusing on the road. It was too big and I'm sure the lighting and nutrition were questionable, but I suffered through it and won with 8 laps, I think. I was carrying a compact disc player with a few CD's in my pocket.
I won again on the same bike, but upgraded in 2005. I had done almost all road racing that year but rode a ton and think I finished with 9 laps. I had my first iPod.
In 2006 I was 4.1% body fat when I had a V02 test done at SIUE in March and pretty much lost all motivation to do anything by midway through the season. I raced on the road but don't remember a ton and sat out the race that year.
I quit racing on the road in 2007 to focus on endurance racing and had a great year. My goal was to do 10 laps at the Burnin'. I did a 12 hour race at Landahl in August where I lapped the field and was able to stop an hour early and did the same thing in September at the Mohican Wilderness 12 hour. I was totally dialed in, My first two laps were 1:06 and change. On the third lap I gashed my tire and when I went to change it found the tube I had been carry all year had had a bent/broken valve and the CO2 cannister I had was empty. That was that. It was a 5 mile walk out and I quit.
I can't mention 2004-2007 without mentioning Dwyane. Dude was such a beast. Dwayne and his NOS energy drinks. I would have liked to see how the race would have played out in 2007 with both of us taking the endurance thing seriously and with great fitness/preparation for the showdown.
After the dream crusher that year, I committed to a goal that arose while back home in MA for Thanksgiving. MTB Nats were in Mt Snow, VT that year and I decided I would give it a go after a little too much holiday cheer. I changed my focus to XC racing and planned out my whole season around Nationals, which went well considering the circumstances- I got food poising the Sunday night before a Tuesday flight back east, barely made the plane and went from race weight of 148 lbs to something like 138 leading up to the race. I finished 4th and will forever question the what if, but was super stoked I persevered the way I did and the result is something I am incredibly proud of. There was a major rain storm during the Rim Wrecker race there in March, probably the wettest race I've ever done and I won with Ploch in second. I decided to do the 6 hr race at the Burnin' and one of my strongest competitors that year, Matt Keeven, was signed up as well. I was expecting a battle but Matt had some issues and I won with 5 laps in 6:09. My future wife came to this race with some friends the post race partying and having the chance to get to know her will always make this year super special.
March 2009 was the Rim Wrecker snow race. Chris and I battled and he won. The snow melted, things got downright nasty, and it was brutal and comical at the same time. Lots of running. I tried to repeat the Burnin' 6 hour race and detonated. It's the only race I've quit unrelated to mechanical issues that I can think of.
The rain in 2008 and the snow in 2009 were pretty outrageous.
I got married in 2010 and between the bachelors party back in MA, my buddies wedding in CO and our wedding in Aug, I didn't' really race that much. In August I decided to convert my S-Works HT 29'er to a SS and race the State Championship race at Binder Lake. I rode it once the week of and showed up with a 38x18, if I remember correctly. I won the jersey with Dan Miller and Garrett Steinmetz in attendance, two blazing fast SS guys at the time, still are. I was stoked and Matt James and Christopher Conolly and I decided to do the SS Team, which was 10 days after returning from my honeymoon in Italy for 2 weeks. We shattered the SS course record and I'm assuming it still stands. We finished 10 laps by 8:45 pm and didn't have to do the 11th due to the lead. This was the hardest of all the Burnin' races for me, basically like doing 4 races in a day... brutal.
The few races I did in 2010 were the last races I did before selling all my bikes and quitting racing. I did some 5K's but didn't ride at all until resuming cross in November 2021. I started mountain biking again in June of this year. I think the Burnin' had fizzled by 2014 or 2015 without Russ and Adrienne's involvement , not sure. It was a great period in time though.
I thought my mtb season was over as, ironically, I have no interest in racing for more than 2 hrs these days and didn't realize the OED had the two lap option. I saw it on Fakebook the week before and my excitement definitely spiraled out of control. For as many laps (70+ ?!?!?) as I've ridden there I didn't remember much. I watched a full lap on You tube, which jogged my memory to some extent, at least for the placement of the big climbs and rock garden. The weather was looking terrible all week and a rainy or wet race was very likely. I didn't think much of it. I've been running a Racing Ray/Racing Ralph combo since I bought the HT in June and flatted while riding with JR and Miller on Saturday and then again on Tuesday so ordered some new tires which I mounted the night before. After reading the reviews I heard the Vittoria XC races were pretty supple so I figured I'd ride higher pressure. I had a great ride at GF on Tues, took Wed off and ran out of time to ride on Thursday at lunch and lost my window. Friday I did an easy ride assuming that a good warm up and long race would allow me time to settle in by the second lap.
Weather turned a bit for the better after a few days of rain and during a little recon to see how the tires felt and get scope out the first mile or two it didn't seem too bad. Tires felt ok but with 2psi higher in the front and rear over the Schwalbe's, they didn't feel that supple but I was worried about going any lower and flatting or burping after reading about how supple and squirmy they were. This was not the case at all but when I found out my rear lockout had stuck in the on position after the pre-ride, it made me feel better and assumed that would help.
We lined up and Wes was talking about a guy named Kater that was racing with us after flatting our shortly into the 50 mile race and how fast he was. Not wanting to wait to find out, I drilled it off the start to get into the woods first, which I did without towing anyone along. Immediately I was losing my front wheel and having trouble cornering, but not too many issues with the wet. Kater and I had a gap right away with me leading. My legs were heavy from the car and extra day off but was pretty sure I'd loosen up after 40 minutes or so.
15 minutes in or so, before the first climb, Kater came around me which helped with following lines, though I quickly learned that technically I was going to have trouble keeping up. He had a few seconds on me before the climb and set a strong pace but I was able to bridge and latch on. I later learned that he was trying to drop me and realized he wouldn't be able to on the fitness end of things. Aside from dabs and slide outs I found his pace to be slightly slower than what I would have been riding but opted to play the long game, or so I thought, and wait it out. This changed when we hit the rock garden. I had no recollection of the lines or how long it was and he gapped me right away. Surprisingly I was able to close it before the drop in at the end but ended up crashing hard over my bars onto my knee. Air was gushing from somewhere, which fortunately turned out to be the valve on my CO2 and not my tire and my bars were at 45 degrees and my left brake had been pushed all the way to the grip. I forced the bars straight, mostly and set off to chase.
The next semi major mishap was reentering the woods after the beach. I didn't remember it and was already committed when my front wheel gave out on the wet rocks. Fortunately I didn't crash but was off the bike again running up the hill past the rooted section.
I hadn't seen Kater at all since the rock garden and was chasing hard when I hit the first footbridge before the boat ramp at an angle at full speed. I didn't think the first one we crossed close to the campground was slick and definitely wasn't expecting to immediately lose my front wheel and slide into the lower rail of the bridge, knock it off with my chest and fall off the bridge. A quick assessment and I found that I was mostly ok. The rail was loose enough and I hit it mostly across my torso, which felt tight and breathing hurt, but the wind hadn't been knocked out of me.
Back on the bike and chasing. I was finding a little bit of rhythm on my own and kept reminding myself there was a lot of racing left. I managed to stay on the bike and had the benefit of having seen the trail again after 14 years.
When I hit the first climb I was amazed to see Kater making the first left hander and timed him to be about 40 seconds ahead. Motivated, I chased hard knowing he didn't see me but did not see him again until I turned right to start the second climb. He was a good distance ahead but still hadn't seen me and I put in the effort. I didn't remember how much of a climb we had after the false flat and was prepared to attack but caught him just as we crested and it would have been fruitless to make a move there, so latched onto his wheel and recovered. Turns out I had closed over a minute gap.
Once again I found Kater's pace to be a little slower than what I would have been riding but second guessed myself and believed he was cat and mousing me. This really blew any chance I had at controlling the race before the rock garden and I can't say it cost me the race, but it kept me from making it a race.
We hit the rock garden and Kater very effortlessly rode away from me. I was blown out just trying to get through it and he gapped me by a good 10 seconds by the time I hit the grass. That was the race. I never recovered from it and while it occurred to me that I might catch him on the last climb, a few more times off the bike for me meant him extending the lead back out to 45 seconds or so and that was that.
My key takeaways after my last XC race of the season are this-
I don't think I've ever been able to push myself and as motivated to race all out as I am now. Assuming it's a maturity thing, or possibly that I'm not chronically overtrained anymore. Not positive, but I'm really happy that I stay engaged and don't give up, no matter the circumstances.
Equipment changes should never be made that can't be fine tuned prior to race day. Ever. New tires do not ride the same as tires that have been ridden a few times, I don't care what you tell me.
Over rested and flat outweighs trying to ride the knifes edge of fitness on race day, even for dirt crits.
