Updates in Mediocrity

On August 28th, I raced the Unnamed Epic, a 76 mile mountain bike race that went from Mineral Point, WI to Blue Mounds. The race was on a mix of terrain -- road, doubletrack, singletrack, with lots of climbing, but also big stretches where we basically rode a road race.

Chris Jensen was the real hero of the day, driving the pace in our group, and climbing better than I. At about mile 30, I started to cramp up some and fell off the back of our group and Chris Jensen, hero of the day, gave me a massive tow all the way back into the group. At the Barneveld climb (which came after the Barneveld descent where I hit 50 mph), I started falling apart and started riding solo on the trail up to Blue Mounds. In the park itself, I had the worst leg cramps I've ever had -- it was as if my legs were coursing with electricity. I rode one mile into the singletrack, starting veering left and right into trees and rock, and stopped. I looked at my bike and down into the hill toward huge razor-sharp rock gardens, boulders, and gnarled trees, and turned around and rode out of the woods.

Yeah, I quit.

Unlike my DNF at Palos, I was accepting of my fate and my inability to complete the race. As I left the race, I started riding up the hill to the parking area and ran into Dan, who encouraged me to turn around, ride back down the hill, and get into his car. I was OK with that as well.

Chris finished the race in 6:45 -- and finished around the middle. The Unnamed Epic was a stupid hard race -- I may do it again next year, most likely not. I'm just not tough enough.

The next day, Chris and I raced the xXx-Racing/Athletico relay cyclocross 1/2/3 race at Jackson Park in scorching heat. I also did the co-ed race with Allison. My race with Chris went pretty badly -- we came in dead last. My race with Allison went much better -- she wasn't keen on riding offroad or barriers, so I tried my best to make up the difference. She was also on her singlespeed Raleigh One-Way commuter and way overgeared. We ended up 39/49.

Allison finally learned what cyclists mean when they say they rode so hard they felt like they were going to puke. She came close, apparently, so good for her. She's not going to give cyclocross too much of a go, but she may be out racing on occasion if I can entice her.