Suitcase of Courage

As Phil Ligget said in a previous stage of this years Tour de France about French rider Thomas Voeckler, "he's digging deep in his suitcase of courage right now". This quote rang home for me. I love how Voeckler races. He puts it all on the line, everyday. He rides hard until he cant anymore. I need to take a page out of Voecklers book.

Anyways, its been over a week since the PC50 race so I figured I better get a little report up. It was a shitty race for me. End of story.

Ok, I started out pretty easy but, on this course easy was not really a walk in the park. The first half of the race held about 6000 vert with another 2000 in the last half. Survive the first half and your golden.

I was in a group with Banks, Bright, JThomas, and others for the first 10 miles or so. I watched Banks and DT ride away from me shortly after the aid station at mile 8. Bright caught me around mile 15 as I was pulled over for a rest. Day was not starting out how I envisioned it. I was in for a long sufferfest. Can't put my finger on it. I had a decent breakfast, had CR half evil at half strength in my camelback and a bottle of water. I had eaten 3 GU's and a honey stinger waffle in the first 3 hours or so and after that, I just couldn't take anything in. Stomach was angry. I crawled my way to the 23 mile aid station, took a rest, drank a coke and some water. Refilled my camelback with regular CR tasted it and whoa, it wasn't going to fly, not today. I dumped it and filled it up with water. I figured I would go as long as I could. I thought it wouldn't be long until I was seein stars since I wasn't able to take in any calories. I was pretty pissed to because I started the race and specifically said I am going to stay on top of calories. I started out pretty good but, somethin just wasn't sitting well.

My stomach quite cramping around mile 30ish. I tried to eat a bar and promptly spit it out. I decided water would be my sole source of fuel for the day. Yay me! MMT re-route is the devil. That trail nearly killed me last fall in P2P and it nearly did it again. If I wasn't able to pedal, I walked. I didn't give a shit. I was like the honey badger but less aggressive. I was too far into the sufferfest to NOT finish that fucker. I thought about it though. I wanted to. But, I didn't let the demons of self doubt overtake me. So, I got that goin for me.

I was finally rewarded with a long 7 mileish downhill all the way to the finish. Man, it was rippin. I wish I had more energy on that section because there was some sweet 1 track there. I think I am narrowing it down to the GU'S. I think I can handle those in moderation throughout the day but need to take in other things as well. I made the mistake of goin straight GU'S for the first half. Idiot. Next race will be done sans GU. If I need to stop to eat a nutroll or somethin, Im going to. Better than blowin up and riding with those stomach issues. Its just not fun. I enjoy the suffer but not like that.

Few observations:
The volunteers rocked! Bent over backwards for people. This has been well documented.
MMT Reroute is the devil.
There was a huge amount of moose shit on MMT Reroute. Like pile after pile. If it was chocolate I would think someone was leaving me a crumb trail.
Riding with no energy is not my idea of a good day
Mentally, I feel like I overcame a lot
No more GU
Having the crew from Suncrest all hanging around for my sorry ass at the finish was pretty damn awesome. Seriously, thanks. It meant alot.
Riding and suffering with strangers is way better than suffering alone.
Suffering alone is a very, very dark place.
600 calories is not enough for a 50 mile race
Dunking your head in ice cold run-off feels amazing. I did this no less than 4 times.

I think I had dug a hole with the training and not sleeping very well prior to the race. With a newborn at home, its tough to do it all. I think I was fatigued before I even lined up. Took me a week and a half to recover. I went out for a ride last week and just felt SLOW. No pop, just really, really tired. I put the bike away and tried to rest. I went out today and I am feeling much better. Sleep is good.

I hope to take alot away from this. Including riding like Thomas Voeckler. Dude just rides his ass off until he can't. Much respect. He's a badass. Hope he holds on for a podium spot this year.

Jdub kicked mean ass in this race. As did his better half Annie. She rocked her first endurance race after suffering a few mechanical mishaps. Banks, finished that mofo and got this monkey off his back. We all knew you could do it. You're riding strong this year. Excited to see you roll across the line at P2P. Bright rolled that mofo after hackin up a lung the week before and boozin it on the cruise the week before that. Bright, if you would stop makin out with strangers on the cruise ship, you wouldn't get sick. DT rocked it as well, even with those sticks he calls legs. Good shit man, you got any meat on you? Seriously, if I am ever stranded somewhere and have to resort to cannabalism, I don't want to be stranded with you. Seamons kicked some mean ass after his training this year has basically been a few rides and some runs on the streets of China. Im guessin here but, he has been in China more than Utah it seems.

If I left someone out, I am sorry. You kicked ass as well. Good job. Thats all for now.

Oh, no pictures, I swear I saw someone taking pictures on the trail. Apparently, I was hallucinating. Sorry, this was a long post.