Just one week after getting destroyed at the 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth with Dina, I was back in action for another endurance mountain bike race. I said that I have the itch to do some longer races, and I also wanted to race somewhere new. The 6 Hours of Blankets Creek checked both of those boxes. We were also hoping to get over to watch NASCAR at Talladega this weekend. It turned out that the drive from Canton over to Talladega, AL was not really that far. Epic weekend locked in!
The shoulder was very sore for a few days after Hill of Truth. It felt pretty good by the end of the week though. Shannon and I left out for GA after work on Friday, spending the night at a rest area off I-75. We finally got to test out the bed insert I made for the van. It had to be left behind when we went to Canada due to us wanting to take three bikes instead of the two that the insert accomodated. It was a bit cramped, but the first test went well.
We rolled into Blankets Creek on Satutrday morning just in time to snag the final good parking spot near the start/finish area. There is a lot more set-up for an endurance race. I usually take a 10'x10' tent for shade and a big table to lay my tools and food on. I always have a plan for everything. The food I will most likely want is ready to grab off the table with the cooler sitting right underneath. The tools I am most likely to need in the event of a mechanical are also sitting out, with all the others close by. The weather has continued to be hot and dry, especially down here in Georgia. The trail was very dusty so I had extra chain lube set out in the event my chain got too dry in the middle of the race. Six hours is a long time and I can't stand listening to a squeaking chain.
The race began with a mass start. They asked that faster riders be let up toward the front, but it was jam packed near the front. I almost forgot my final snack before the start and lined up late, putting me way back in the field. I didn't really know anyone up front so nobody would let me in. I had to start near the back. They sent us down the divided four-lane road outside the park first. We went down one side of the road on a small climb, then did a 180 at a break in the median. The road then tilted downhill as we passed back by the start area on the opposite side of the road. It then turned uphill again to another 180. We were then back on the original side of the split road. It was downhill back to the start area, where we took a fast right turn into the parking lot and onto gravels before finally seeing the dirt on some doubletrack. The singletrack finally came with a hard right a few hundred meters into the doubletrack.
The start was insane. There was over 300 riders that started at once. The road start was a log-jam in the turns, but I managed to pick off a good 50 riders. It was a parade through the first singletrack section and up the first climb. The climb was steep in places and had some root ledges you had to hop up onto. People were falling in front of me constantly. I got held up a lot, but stayed calm and steadily passed those that I could. With all the classes being jumbled together, I couldn't tell who was riding on a team and who was riding solo. My thinking was just pass 'em all!
I finally got by a whole line of people when we exited the first singletrack loop and onto more doubletrack. This doubletrack lasted a while before narrowing up again and starting another tough climb. This one wasn't as steep, but was long. Once at the top, it was a jump-filled descent back to the bottom and onto doubletrack again. One last piece of flat, twisting singletrack took us to the trailhead to complete the lap. I was 11th overall exiting the woods. I would say I passed at least 200 people that first lap, including the start segment. Crazy.
We had to dismount and run through the finish line each lap. I passed a couple of more people who were slower at remounting. People were pulling off left and right in the pits. I had no idea what position I was in for my Solo class, I just kept trying to pass more people. I kept my same pace up on lap 2, knocking 35 seconds off my first lap time. There were still riders ahead, so I kept hammering on lap 3, picking up a few more seconds on my lap time. On lap 4, I dropped the pace and began to settle in for what was left of a long day. This trail was pretty tough. Both of the main climbs were challenging and the descents were choppy and rough, really working over the upper body. It definitely tested the sore shoulder at times.
I stopped starting lap 5 to refill my pockets with food and get an update from Shannon. She had been recording the riders who were swapping out and obviously on a team. She was pretty sure I was the leading Solo rider. With this news, I backed the pace off a little more as I was starting to feel some fatigue on the climbs. Lap 6 started to get tough as I was fading. I always seem to have a dip in energy levels in races this long, I just have to eat enough to get through it quickly. I always seem to come back to life before the end if I replace to calories. I stopped again starting lap 7 for more food and a quick lube of the chain. Shannon was ready and sprang into action like a pit crew. I hopped off the bike and rolled the pedals backward while she sprayed and wiped the chain. We had never done that before, but you wouldn't have know by watching us. By her estimation, I was leading by 7-8 minutes at this point.
The bonked feeling lasted another lap and I slowed my lap time again. Second and third had gotten together now and picked up their lap times. They had cut five minutes off my lead in just one lap. Shannon was able to tell me during lap 8 that I had lost a lot of time, but I didn't know it was quite so much. Thankfully, my body started to come back to life and I picked my lap time back up. The two chasers also took a long stop in the pits and gave me back nearly every single second of that five minutes they had made up on lap 7. I didn't know that though.
On the last long climb, I could see a rider coming. He was slowly cutting into my gap, making me think he was a solo rider rather than a team rider that should close the gap much faster at this point. I crested the hill just ahead of him and bombed the descent. He hung with me though and attacked me in a full sprint on the following doubletrack. My legs were screaming, but I answered the attack and then attacked him back to try to reach that last singletrack section in front. I was thinking this could be for the win! It seemed like forever to reach that turn into the singletrack. He got another run on me and we sprinted the last 200 meters to the turn. We were sprinting so hard that he lost control and went off the trail into a small ditch, nearly taking me out in the process. But I snuck by and hit the singletrack in front with a gap. I then gave everything I had for two minutes to get through that last section. I held him off, only to find out that he was on a team. Oh well! I am glad to see that I still had the legs to do that kind of effort at the end of a six hour race.
I knocked off eight laps on the 7.5-mile loop in 5:41:44. Despite feeling better that final lap, I still lost time to 2nd. He chopped off over two minutes after the long pit stop, coming in just over three minutes behind me. Had he not stopped in the pit we would have been very close to each other at the finish. After we got a chance to look back at the official lap times and Shannon's notes, it turns out that I took the lead starting lap 2. I was the 4th Solo rider out of the woods to end lap 1, then passed all three ahead of me during the remount and through the pits. It wasn't until we climbed on the podium that I realized who I was racing against. Both 2nd and 3rd were Team Type 1 pro riders, 3rd being the legend Phil Southerland. It ended up being one of the most quality fields I have ever raced against. And I had no idea the entire ride. I would put this win up there with the best I have ever had. I definitely have room for improvement, with still having two laps where I felt bonked, but the low was not as low as in past endurance races and didn't last as long.
Some of my old Wood-N-Wave buddies did the race as well. We got to hang out for a few minutes after the race which was nice. We were going to get some dinner with them after they got showers, but I think they forgot about us. We hung out with Gary Collins for a while longer, then grabbed our own food at a barbecue joint on the way out of town. We drove over to the Alabama border and slept another night in the van at a rest area.
Sunday morning we were up and over to Talladega well before the race. We had time to attend the local church service there in town, then headed over to the track. Richmond last year was Shannon's first NASCAR race. Talladega is sooo different. Richmond is a short track at 3/4 of a mile, while Talladega Superspeedway is around 2.2 miles per lap. The cars run in a giant pack drafting, very similar to how we race in crits. The roar and speed of 40 cars passing by in less than two seconds is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. I had come to 'Dega once way back in 1997 and I was super excited to be at a race here again.
Talladega has the parking and camping experience figured out. You can get premium parking and camping, but don't really need to. They have fields of free parking with free shuttles to run you to and from the track. Field camping is also free if you have a ticket for Sunday's Cup race. Traffic is also a breeze with all lanes moving in one direction and labeled so you know well in advance which lane you should be in for the lot you are going to.
Before the race they did something pretty special. Richard Childress brought out Dale Earnhardt's old #3 car, the very car he won the Daytona 500 with in 1998. Richard led the field around on the pace laps with it. Once they released him from the pack, he ran a fast lap with the car before pulling off. It was so cool to see that black #3 out there again, rolling off Turn 4 at 180 mph on the track where Earnhardt won so many races. I am glad I got to see Dale race here when we came in 1997. We heard afterwards that Richard's good friend, Johnny Morris, owner of Bass Pro Shops, was riding in the car as well. Those race cars only have one seat. Johnny was sitting on the floorboard of the passenger side of the car...at 180 mph!
The race was a blast, but it was short-lived as rain moved in at the end of Stage 1. That first lap was so awesome! It's almost silent when the cars are on the back stretch because they are so far away, but when they come off Turn 4 and fly by like a pack of angry hornets, the entire grandstand rattles. They attempted to dry the track, but more rain moved in and forced the race to be postponed to Monday. We both had to work on Monday so we had to go home. I am glad Shannon got to see a few laps of the Talladega speed, but I really wish she could have seen the whole race.
On the way home, I was thinking of every way possible to get back the next day to watch the end of the race. I got up early on Monday and called work. I wasn't scheduled to work on Tuesday so we decided to call everyone and see if they could move their appointment back a day. By some act of God, every patient, with the exception of one, was able and willing to move their appointment to Tuesday. That one patient was willing, but had other plans for Tuesday. It just so happened another therapist had an opening at that same time and was able to see that patient so it all worked out. Next thing I know, I'm on my way south again, headed back to Talladega. My Mom took Shannon's ticket. We were able to drive down, watch the rest of the race and roll back home with relative ease. I can't believe a plan actually worked out!
