Here’s how my weekend went at the season finale of the 12 Hours of Temecula. There were at least 14 Beginners pre-registered, but I’m not sure how many more registered the day of. I had a goal in my head of 8 laps (each lap being ~10 miles with approximately 1300 feet of elevation gain).
I was expecting it to be warm, but the winds and the low humidity made it tougher. I don’t recall any moment where I was actually dripping sweat on the climbs like I normally do. Instead, my sweat would evaporate immediately and just leave the salt behind. My throat still hurts today from the dry air and dust.
I think I went out a little too quickly again and despite my heat fueling plan, I started feeling twinges of cramps early on around lap 3. I never got full on leg-locking cramps, but just twinges in my calves, hamstrings and inner thigh. At that point, it was more about cramp management.
I finished up with 7 laps at 10:42 (7:42PM). There just wasn’t enough gas in the tank left to crank out an 8th lap in 1:15 lap to beat the 9PM deadline, so I called it a day. Plus, I don’t think I would have been able to gain a spot in the standings (and beer and food was calling).
My 7 laps were good enough for 3rd 4th place. Official Results.
Later that night, I received affirmation that I should never race in the Beginner class again in the form of this nice trophy.
And just for kicks, here’s what I consumed during the course of the race.
420oz of water w/ Elete
(3) 22oz bottles of Vanilla-Orange Perpetuem/Fresh Apple Cytomax Mix
(3) Clif Bars
(3) Gu Gels
(3) Hammer Gels
(2) Packets of Clif Bloks
(1) Coke Zero
(1) Gatorade G2
(8) Salt Stick Tablets
(1/2) Monster Energy Drink
(1) Pickle Juice Sport
Tags: 12 hour, 12 hours of temecula, endurance race, mountain biking
November 20th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Weyland,
Congratulations on your 7 laps at the race this past weekend. I finished just behind you in 5th place. I also had some slight cramping beginning on the 3rd lap. Funny how it always started at about the same point, just after the big hill they removed from the course. I would start to cramp for about 2-3 minutes, then it would go away. I wonder if that was because I only took electrolytes between laps. I was wondering how you “received affirmation”, that you should no longer race in the beginner class. This was my first solo race and I was wondering if there are any rules for graduating to the next level.
Andy Sybrandy
November 20th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Hi Andy,
What a coincidence. My legs would tighten up a bit there as well. I wonder if it’s from tensing up trying to keep the bike straight going down that nasty stuff.
I just started racing earlier this year, and just stuck it out in the Beginner class to see how I’d do in the overall series. I’m not aware of any strict rules on bumping up to the next class, but based on how you did, you would have finished mid-pack in Sport. That’s pretty good for your first time! I figure in my case, after 3 races, I shouldn’t consider myself a Beginner any longer.
See you out there in January?
-Weyland