12 Hours of Lodi Farms, 5.07.06

12 Hours of Lodi Farms
Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
May 7, 2006

First let me say I'm not 100% sure of my results yet. As soon as they are posted I will make corrections or updates if necessary.

Now on to bid-ness...

I'd been looking forward to this race for a while. It's a great course, much like the trails I train on, and the promoters from Team Bike Works are a great bunch of people.

I had good race last year putting in 11 laps and grabbing a 3rd place podium spot so in 2006 I was looking to equal or better my previous accomplishment.

Saturday morning I loaded up the Element with all the Solo racer necessities, threw in a wife and son for good measure and headed off on the 5 hour drive to Fredericksburg, VA.

When we arrived the weather was perfect. It was sunny and in the high seventies. Any sign of the previous night's storm was gone.

I spotted my buddy John and was happy to see he had already secured the same sweet pit area as last year and was able to nab a sweet pop up tent from his local shop. (Thanks!)

After a quick camp set up and catching up with some old friends Fernando, Loretta, Jake and others I "chamoised up" for a pre ride on the Dos Niner.

Just as I was starting I ran into Fatmarc, Buddy, and a few of their other friends who were also just starting a pre ride. We chatted briefly and rode together for a while. (Sorry I wasn't more social guys, had some pre race nerves going on.)

The course was tight and dry and the Dos Niner felt so good on it I decided that the Dos Niner would be the bike for the race. Going against my orignal plan of using the El Santo.

After dinner I took a short nap and tried to mentally prepare for the race. Then it was up to hang out with the gang and talk bikes. Funny thing when you're hanging with a bunch of bicycle-heads, all we pretty much talked about was bikes, racing and training and not once did I long for a subject change. As I've said before I live for this stuff!

Had a few folks stop by to look at the Dos Niner and El Santo. Some folks had questions about the 2006 Dos Niner's improvements which I was more than happy to point out and explain. A few other folks asked about the El Santo, saying they didn't even know Salsa made a full suspension. Yikes! Where ya been people? El Santo's new Rojo-A-Go-Go color seemed to be a hit too. Good work Salsa!

Next up was the pre race meeting where we were given the bad news that the Le Mans style run was being increased to a 1/2 mile through the woods. F#ck! I freaking hate running! I hate running at night, in bike shoes, through the woods even more, but that's how the race starts, so you do what you gotta do.

About 11:30 I got the Bikeman.com kit on and hit the Greyhound Juice Anti-Friction cream pretty hard to keep all my friends living below waist line happy and comfy.

Just before midnight I decided to go with my original plan and race El Santo. Figuring the suspension may help make up for my lack of night riding skills. Really it wouldn't have mattered, both the Dos Niner and the El Santo are great endurance machines rolling over most everything. I spent the week prior to the race damning Salsa for making my decision so difficult.

Then just as I'm heading to the start line some teenage kid who was kinda like a Jerry Lewis circa 1950 stops by the pit and starts chatting. After he finds out I'm solo he starts going on and on and on about how there are pro and semi-pro guys in the field and how hard it's going to be, I shrugged it off, agreed and politely laughed, but for 12 hours that turd's words would echo through my head. It didn't help that the mere thought of Jerry Lewis makes me want to throw up.

On the line was some familiar faces from the mid atlantic region, Steve Schwarz from IF Grass Roots, Bob Anderson, and others. The "nutty professor" was right there was some tough competition. Bring it on though that's why we're here!

Midnight started with the above mentioned 1/2 mile run through the camp area, into the woods, then back to the start/finish to grab the bikes.

My run went better than I expected but still sucked non-the-less. Once to the bike it was into the woods and the real action. I don't consider myself the best night rider, but I was feeling pretty smooth trough the single track.

The first few laps ticked off pretty well, no problems, bike was running well and I was feeling ok. I had a CamelBack full of Hammer Heed, a Flask of full of Hammer Gel and a bottle of Perpetuem that I tried to take some hits from during each lap.

Just before lap four I stopped and swapped batteries for my NiteRider light so I could be sure to have light right on through the a.m.

It was about this time that my legs did not seem to have any "jump" in them. Not sure. I was doing some consistent laps but something just wasn't right. Then just as I was trying to get the voice of "Jerry Lewis" out of my head again I got lapped by the Solo leader. Great, enter one mental blow.

Before I knew it the the birds were starting to wake up and sun was peeking out. Hmmm only about 6 MORE hours to go.

I pulled into the pits just before my eighth lap to dump the lights and grab some food. I was STILL chilly from the night and was trying to warm up. JoErin hooked me up with some coffee she got from God knows where, forced me to eat a Balance Bar and gave me some words of encouragement. Thanks baby! It was also nice to see B-Man up too.

I knew I needed to shake things up. I figured I was already off the box so I was gonna have some fun. I grabbed the Dos Niner and decided to just enjoy some great single track in the woods as best I could.

I headed out feeling some heavy bonk. Got through a couple climbs and pulled over a couple times just to regroup, think about throwing up and think about napping in the weeds. If it wasn't for Lodi's infamous poison ivy rep I just may have!

Eventually the coffee, Balance Bar and Advil from the last pit stop kicked in and I felt pretty good. I hooked up with another Dos Niner rider ('05 edition) and we rode together for a while. His bike looked familiar due to the raccoon tail hanging from the seat. I asked him if he was at last year's Wilderness 101, and he was. We joked about how you can remember racers more from their bikes than their names or faces. It was also pretty cool to be riding along another Dos Niner. (Side note: on this kat's last lap he would wear what looked to be an 80's looking dress. Nice touch)

Eventually I passed by the dude, got back to the pits, grabbed some more food and went to check in.

When I got to the check in my buddy John was working and said that it looked like I was in 4th or 5th...WHAT!!?? Cool!! I knew they were paying out to the top 5 so I was pretty geeked. So I stomped on the gas and freaking motored my 9th lap. I'm sure it wasn't my fastest, but it was my most inspired. The Dos Niner and I were flying through the woods. I have NO idea were I was getting the strength from. I was standing, hammering the climbs, passing people, rolling over everything, it rocked! This was the feeling I was missing. This is how it's supposed to feel!

I wanted 10 laps real bad and pushed hard, BUT (why do all my race reports ALWAYS seem to have a "BUT" in them?) I got to the pits and JoErin says there's good news and bad news. The good news was I had a killer lap time and had all kinds of time to get 10 laps in. The bad news was that John (new to check-in duty volunteering) had not known there was a second page of Soloists and that I was actually in like 7th or 8th place. DOH!!!

My will for lap 10 exited faster than a wet fart on taco night. JoErin said I'd stay in the top 10 if I didn't go out, but there was no way for me to really move up. She said if it would make me feel better (It would have) I should go get that 10th lap in (I didn't).

With the realization of my actual place I decided to sit in the sun with B-Man, and wait for noon. I hung out with Bob Anderson (last year's winner, this year's 5th place finisher) he said he was having an "off" day too. That kinda made me feel better too, knowing that even I guy that could hammer out the consistent laps that he did last year can have a bad day. That AND the fact that he said he checks out The Soiled Chamois and even told a few others about it. Thanks Bob!

All in all I have to be happy with the results. I mean a top 10 finish with over 50 soloists. If I have any disappointment, it's not from my placing, I mean shit happens. Solo racers are freaks and some are f*cking FAST freaks! My disappointment is more from know that SOMETHING wasn't going right with the engine.

The echoing voice of the Jerry Lewis kid in my head didn't help, but it was more nutrition. No matter how many calories I took in I could not get that weak, hungry feeling out of my stomach. Coke seemed to help the best. I could get some simple sugars in and get my energy up and the carbonation would make me feel full, But then of course I'd crash.

I'll be posting more about my theories for this later in the week and hope to get some input from some of you (Jeffs (K & W), Andy, Adam, Dave. H. etc.)

Both El Santo and the Dos Niner ran great, no crashes, my NiteRider HIDs never failed me and I had a great time with some good people, and as I've said before EVERY race I learn a little more.

Now it's time to take a few weeks off from racing, recover and then ready for Phase II of the race season and the Mohican 100 on June 3rd.

NOW LETS PHOTO BLOG!


B-Man carbo loading.


EARLY a.m. Not sure why the hell I'm smiling. Must be gas. Profile needs work too.


Wifey finding the Advil I'm sure. B-Man chilling with this new GF Jenny.


Still shot from some video that John took. I think I splashed that pho-tog pretty good. Sorry man.

And I leave you with a "moment of zen" or the image that nocked that kid's voice out of my head and made me laugh. Sorry Jerry. Sort of.


Thanks for reading. Later!