Yesterday, I completed my first mountain bike race out at the 12 Hours of Temecula (www.12hoursoftemecula.com).
The morning started out a little rough. The plan was to get to bed around 8PM the night before and wake up around 4AM, leaving the house at 4:30AM and getting to Temecula around 6AM. My bladder decided that I should wake up at 1:57AM instead. The problem was, I couldn’t fall back asleep. Maybe it was the excitement or anticipation, so in bed I just laid until 3:38AM. Figured that was close enough.
After getting a cup of Circle K’s finest java, I started the trip out to Temecula.
The weather actually held up, and it didn’t start raining until about 7PM. I ended up completing (only) 5 laps in 8:17 hours. Total mileage was 49.11 miles with 7,124 ft of elevation gain.
I think I could have pulled out one more, but I started cramping at the end of lap 2, so I was fighting cramps for 3 laps already. Also, it was getting windy and the threat of rain was looming.
In hindsight, I should have went out for one more lap. That would have gotten me 2nd place in men’s solo beginner class. Instead, I think I ended up 4th instead (20 minutes out of 3rd). I’ll have to wait for official results to be released.
One of the highlights of the day was getting passed by Tinker Juarez - 4 times. He’s pretty amazing. When I was in my granny gear crawling up the hills, he was in the big chainring just pedaling along with what seemed like little or no effort. Just for comparison’s sake, I think he did like 12 laps in 10 hours.
The next 12 hour event at Temecula will be on June 14th. I am planning on doing it solo again, and hopefully riding for the complete 12 hours this time (and placing). I just need to figure out this cramping thing.
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