We Beat Boys

The 13 Hours of Santos was a blast! It helped, of course, that we beat boys.

I was on a 3-girl team with Beth and Courtney. The day started off with Courtney doing the run start and first lap. She set me up with a great time. My first lap went smoothly, except for a few places where I chose to let a string of people pass. The trail was great. It started with a mildly technical section called "Sink Hole." It was very tight with 90 degree switchbacks, lots of roots in treacherous places and a few croppings of rocks. Aside from about 3 spots, I cleaned the section. What followed was this sadistic hill called Magic Mountain. I learned quickly that it took me a lot less time and energy to just run up the beast, so that's what I did. After that, it was flat flat flat! Lots of wide, sweeping trail with no obstacles. It was super-fast and the corners were ones you didn't really have to brake through. SO much fun. Then came the dreaded "John Brown" trail. It reminded me of Razorback. Up and down, rocks here, there, everywhere. Roots, trees, steeeep ups and downs. Whew! I was able to ride about 70 percent of it -- and I felt like I was doing great! It was funny, at the end of the night, in the dark somewhere near 11 p.m., I cleaned this one particular section that I hadn't made in the daylight. Go figure!

So after my second lap Beth headed out and I ate some food. Then I started to feel REALLY sick. I laid down on the ground with a cold towel on my head and sat up a few times feeling very sick to my stomach. Then Courtney headed out on her lap. I must have passed out at some point, as the next day Beth and I were catching up and I don't remember anything between me laying down and Jake waking me up. Then I don't remember much other than Beth standing over me saying "Do you want me to take your lap?" I must have mumbled yes, because she went out for me. We basically traded laps, so I was next up. After drinking some water and walking around, I felt a lot better. Jake decided to ride my lap with me since I wasn't feeling good (he was racing the solo class). What a good boyfriend.

As an aside -- I think the heat sickness was a direct result of tubing down the Rainbow River for 4 hours Saturday afternoon. I put on a lot of sunblock, we all did, but I was as red as a tomato. It was too painful to even put on my sports bra until I had to change to ride. Ouch! And here I am, on Tuesday, still looking like a tomato! My super-white, redhead boyfriend didn't even get this burned. WTF?

Here's me and my good boyfriend before I was feeling ill:


Anyway, as soon as I started riding again, I felt better! My upset tummy went away and so did my killer headache. I even turned the lap about 5 minutes faster than I expected, and when I rolled past our pit, Courtney was still standing there. I hollered at her and she sprinted over to transition.

At some point we realized we were racing for first place. The second place team was hot on our heels all day. It started to come down to the wire and they were catching up -- did I mention their team was 3 guys and a girl? So Courtney went out with 58 minutes till cutoff, which was 10:30 p.m. That means she would have to turn a 58 min lap in the dark. She was turning 57 in the daylight, so she had a big job to do. The opposing team's rider went out 5 min after Courtney -- so he had even less time to make it. I suited up in hopes she could do it and the ENTIRE pit crew gathered in transition with me to wait. Courtney came out of the woods with 30 seconds to cutoff and we all cheered her in. She got in with 20 seconds to spare! I took off on my final lap and was radioed a minute later with the news that all I needed to do was finish to win. The other team hadn't made the cutoff, so we were one lap up on them! Wooo-hoooo!

I took my time on the last lap and played it safe in the dark. Another rider had started ahead of me and we rode together the entire time. Knowing I was the last person out, it was nice not to ride completely alone. We came across a kid (13 maybe?) lost in John Brown. His light had gone out and he was terrified. So we walked him out of John Brown, and then rode him out the rest of the way. About 1/2 mile from the end a search party came in looking for him. Poor thing. Good thing I didn't have to hustle on that lap, cause there's no way I could have left him out there in the dark.

So as soon as I came in the awards ceremony started. Beth, Courtney and I -- and a big-ass trophy! -- all managed to climb onto the podium. It felt REALLY good. We went into this race thinking we didn't stand a chance with only 3 people on the team, and being all-female competing in a class where the only requirement is 1 female teammate. Our game plan was to ride hard and have a great time. And we decided beforehand that if somehow we found ourselves in podium contention, that we'd give it all we could to make it happen. And it did!

Here's a shot of us on the podium. Props also to the third place team, as they are locals and friends (from left, Sarah, Diana, Angie and Steve) and to all the other locals who put in a good showing:


I've awarded each of my teammates an MVP award for Santos, here's what we got:
Courtney: For turning a 58 min lap under extreme pressure, in the dark, securing us the final lap for victory.
Beth: For taking my lap for me when I was feeling sick, even though she'd just eaten a sandwich.
Me: For going from spending an hour and a half passed out on the ground nearly barfing to turning a lap five minutes faster than expected.

Now I'm totally excited and stoked about the next mtb endurance event -- although it probably won't be till next year. Now I turn my sights on the 4 Hours of Pork this weekend. It's all for charity, and I'm doing it on my singlespeed. It will be the longest amount of time I've spent on that bike, so I'm looking at this event as a personal challenge. Happy spinning!