So let's get started... around the beginning of January I started thinking about maybe racing Old Pueblo. I know, I know I left it way too long, but I was getting bored sitting on my trainer and getting a bit tired of riding in the -temps here in Calgary. Plus I knew 2 other racers doing this event (Julie Kelly, and my Coach Shaun Taylor) so that kinda of got me thinkin. Which is dangerous if you ask my lovely wife....
So the hunt was for a spot. You see the official
registration for the race was closed way back in December. So it was up to me
to possibly purchase a spot from another racer who would sell me their spot.
Sure enough a spot came open from a racer in
California wanting to
sell his spot as he had a new baby on the way and the race would not work for
him. So with a little admin work I was in the race. Now to complete the cycle
of doing things backwards I started looking for a flight. I had told Cor at the
start of this venture to not worry about cost of flight as I had a ton of airmiles
so all I had to cover was the taxes and the extra cost of shipping my bike. On
to Airmiles.ca, and discovered no flights available around or near or on the days
I needed for travel to and from this event. Are you kidding me? So I started
looking at other options, driving to
Spokane,
Billings, Kalispell, and then flying off to
Tucson. None of those
options worked as they would have me taking more time off work and in the end
cost more than trying to find a flight out of
Calgary. Which BTW was becoming more expensive
by the minute thanks to the demand of travellers for these dates.
This is where Marda Loop Vet Centre comes in, I have known
Jeff and Laura (the owners for a few yrs now) thanks to Diesel and Zoey. They
stepped in were able to secure me a flight to and from Tucson
out of Calgary so
that I could make this race. Excellent!
Now all I have to worry about is to get some solid training in leading up to
the race and off we go.
Around the middle of January and in the middle of a big
training block, I started to get a nagging cough, (here it comes) I get sick
and not just sick, I get a bad case of the Flu, and it goes into my lungs and
put's me out work and training for 5 days, with the help of antibiotics I was
able to finally beat this thing with about 10 days to go before the race. This
included me losing my voice for the 2 weeks .
Fast forward with a bit more training and the bike loaded
and my gear loaded off to
Tucson
I go.
"The Plan" was to arrive
in
Tucson on the
Thursday, get settled into our accom's at Oracle and setup our bikes on Friday.
Friday afternoon we were going to ride a lap at the race course and get any
fine tuning out of the way. Saturday 12 noon sharp start racing for 24+ hrs.
The Trip:
First stop was in Lax to transfer planes, where I am told by
the flight attendant and again once more
from the ticket agent that "Yes, your baggage will get transferred to your
connecting flight". Ok, great! I
jump on my flight from LAX to Tucson.
I'm greeted by all smiles as I see Shaun, Julie, and her
husband Steve. We stand around for a few minutes and then head off to the
oversize luggage office for bike pick up.
This is where I find out that my bike and luggage did not
make the trip with me from LA to
Tucson.
Delta assured me that I would get my bike delivered to me by Friday afternoon
where we were staying in Oracle.
So with some groceries bought at 'Whole Foods' in
Tucson (where Shaun was
as happy as a kid in a candy store). Around the 9pm mark we make it to our
cabin in Oracle. The Triple L Ranch, this was made with a few turnarounds and
side stops, but we made it.
The view from our cabin porch
Friday:
While everyone else is unpacking their race bikes, I am on
the phone with Delta's baggage service
on the lookout for my bike and my luggage. This proves to be non confidence
inspiring when I get a recording and then I get an attendant telling me my luggage
is on its way... but they weren't certain whether it got picked up or not.
Really??
1pm my bike and luggage appear at the front gate. I run down
and with the help of Shaun and Steve haul my gear back, only to notice a fair
size hole has been smashed into my hard rubber maid case. I inspect my gear and
no damage. I get my bike together and within an hour we are all loaded up and
heading to the race course for a pre lap.
Heading to the course for a prelap
I started my pre lap with Steve and thanks to a close call
with a huge boulder (on my part) and taking the easier (by mistake) of the 2
separate routes through an area called the "Bitches", we ended up
getting separated from Shaun and Julie. So approx 16 miles per lap and 1200' vert
gain later we called it a pre lap and headed back to our cabin for a great
dinner and some fine tuning of our bikes (with a pre race IPA of course). Good music and some great laughs, I turn in
for the night.
Raceday:
We get to the course setup on pit row and find an area to
get setup literally a couple of feet off the course. We were really setup barebones, not tables no tent just our premixed bottles on the ground, a box or two setup with spare helmets and shoes, batteries. In essence nothing like I am used to, but very much doable thanks to Steve
, Our pit site, our tree but not our tents
I knew that Steve
signed on to help us with support, but I knew he would be super busy the first
half of the event, so I
wanted to be as
self sufficient as possible and then maybe later in the event when things
settle down, maybe he would have a little bit of time for me. Boy was I wrong!
Steve took care of each and everyone of us without question or flaw for the
whole event. I was impressed and thankful.
Before you know it, our bikes are racked and Shaun, Julie
and I are standing at mid pack of the race group at least 1000 people deep
ready to run and race. Countdown and we're off'. Shaun and Julie disappear into
the abyss of bodies while I get swallowed up by the fast runners as I trot to
my bike in my own mediocre fashion.
A few minutes later I see Steve and he is waving where my
bike is as the place is just a maze of bodies and bikes everywhere. The place
looks completely different at this stage of the race. You could totally run
past your bike if you weren't paying attention.
The first few laps went very well. My laps were very
consistent and the course was well groomed and fun to ride except for some
really scary cactuses that lined some parts of the course. Very important to
keep this is mind and to say focused.
As the day wore on the winds seemed to pick up especially on
the top portion of the course where you ride into a headwind that was sporting
70km/h winds.
Around the 8pm mark I start to get some upper neck pain, I
know it has a bit to do with a lot of things; my rushed fit trying to get my
bike together, the stress of the event and probably some residual effect of my
flu virus that has only subsided 10 days earlier.
Anyways, I start working myself through this, knowing that
it will get worse before it will gets better. The pain is getting worse... a
whole lot worse. So bad that at the 9pm mark I have to stop and do some
stretches in the van for 20 minutes. I rode in on this lap in 14th position and
went back out in 16th. But I felt better a lot better.
As I go out and in the next few hours I am able to work my
way to the
top 10 of the field.
I feel great, the stretching helped and I was
in my zone. However,
I was having a hard
time keeping my
riding glasses clean. The
dust from the wind and the smoke from the campgrounds
was noticeably worse. Several times a lap I
would have to give the glasses a quick wipe and it was getting difficult to see
in the dark thanks to the shadows and the riders coming up behind me.
When I came in with 17 hours of riding behind me, I was
making good time and had worked my way up to the possibility of a podium
position. However, with 8 hours to go, anything can happen and in my case it
did.
When I went back out ,I noticed that my eyes were a tad dry but
not out of the ordinary. I made a mental
note to remove my contacts and start
wearing my actual glasses when I come back in after this lap. This will be the
first time in 3 years that I have needed to do this. Little did I know that I
should have turned around at that point and taken care of that right then....
Within 40 minutes of being out on course on that lap my
eyesight started to diminish a little bit every few minutes . I kept thinking
to just keep wiping my glasses and all will be good, but I was wiping my
glasses and it was not making any difference at all. In fact it was getting to
the point that I was starting to lose my way on course. For instance, the
detail items, like stones and small ruts I couldn't see at all. Then it got worse. I even missed a turn and
rode off course a couple of feet, because I just couldn't pick out any sort of
detail. I kept thinking that my contacts were just plain dirty and dry and so if
I just take them out I'll stand a better chance of getting through this lap and
go put my glasses on.
Bad idea. I pulled over to the side of the trail and with my
dirty fingers pulled my contacts out and my eyesight did not improve at all. At
this point I am pretty much riding blind and I'm starting to get a bit
concerned that maybe this was permanent. I rode on for another 20 minutes
incredibly slow... wandering all over the trail, until I finally came up to a
checkpoint where I asked a medic for help.
With the help of 2 medics guiding me into the first aid
centre I was pulled from the race by the acting physician. Just like that... my
race was over.
After a few eye washing under my belt, the medic explained
that they had had this type of race weather conditions in past years and that it
was not uncommon for this type of eye condition to develop from it. In fact I was not the only one to get pulled
from this event for this year thanks to this condition.
I meet up with Shaun and find out that between a bad wreck with a cactus (that involved a trip to the medic tent) I told you those cactuses were bad . Throw in a busted fork, and his race was over as well.
That left Julie, to get the job done.Which she did, she busted out a 2nd place finish in the largest 24hr MTB event in North America. We were all very proud of her accomplishment and happy to be there to see it.
A day later and some awesome Tex Mex and lots of laughs (not
to mention a small run in with a young
Bark Scorpion), I am back on a plane headed home.
I got me some sunburn and some chapped lips to show for the
race, and most important, my eyesight returned to normal by the following day
after the race.
Conclusion:
I enjoyed the race, I enjoyed the camaraderie with my
friends, the great experiences there, but I was glad to be home to see my
family. Rest assured I am totally racing
this event next year (just without contacts) and I am hoping that everybody can
make it again.
Of course, I want to send out big thanks to my sponsors. As always they go above and beyond to help me
with this endeavour.
Active Sports Therapy, Dr Dave and Dr Claire.
Pedalhead Bike/Ski Works
Marda Loop Vet Clinic
