Tall Oaks Challenge (my first race report)

Getting up early everyday is supposed to be confined to school and work days, that is unless you are a cyclist.

Can't have enough cowbells! (Bell Lap Bell Lap Bell Lap)

5:20 A.M and all I want to do is slam my alarm off and fall back asleep but the bike calls and I must leave the comfy,warmth that is my bed. I drag myself, dog, and siblings out of bed and give the commands. Brother cooks food, sister takes dog out, I load bikes, all while my dad is off taking his GF to the airport. About 3/4 of the way through all of our work my dad gets home to help with the final touches and make our super high energy tea smoothie.

On the road again....
We make it out between 6:00 - 6:30 and start heading out to Jeff city for the Tall Oak Challenge 6 hour mountain bike race at Bender Lake. Nothing like getting to see the sun rise on a beautiful day for a ride (66 degrees out when we left the house). The weather was looking promising. Always good to wake up to some friends too. We saw Kat and her husband on their way to the road race out in Sedalia and a couple partners in crime (more of the Ethos crew riding up in Burnsey's van) who we caravaned up with until some one had to make a potty break.

We got to the race just in time to get a primo spot for our team pit. We needed a lot of space considering most of our team was out there racing. Got all of our bikes down and placed them to seal our pit right next to the course so we could set up the shade and water when Burnsey finally pulled up. My dad and I register and of course I got some ties that were pink and green. Gotta match the team colors even if they don't match the bike. By that time we had some shade set up and we could pull everything we would need for the entire race out and set it up. The rest of the team pulls up and gets changed right before they call 5 minutes till rider meeting. What a great reason to ride right there. Lots of team mates and friends to support you and cheer you on!

With a speedy riders meeting a shotgun shot starts us off on our first lap. We start on a small section of pavement, make a hard right onto a grass path, go through the start finish, and head onto the trail. At first it was little hard to regain my bike handling skills because I hadn't mountain biked in a while but around 1 mile in to the course I started to feel better. For the first 2 miles I rode with a friend who is faster than me but eventually I let him pull ahead so I wouldn't burn up in my first lap. I finished my first lap in about 45 minutes and at that point knew that I would have to slow down a lot if I wanted to keep riding for the whole 6 hours. Even thought I went too fast I was having a lot of fun. This is why I race my bike.

My next two laps went by in a blur. I knew that I had slowed down but I was still going too fast by turning over 50 minute laps now. Every time I came in for a lap I would get some water with EFS and Mango smoothie mixed together and I would eat some cookies or fruit. At this point I could defiantly  feel my legs from the CC meet I ran the previous day but I would have to tough it out. About 3/4 of the way through my 2nd lap I dropped my chain right before I hit the technical rocky climb and Kay passed me up to move into first place.

When I came in after my third straight lap in a row I had to stop and eat more food. From what my duo teammates told me Kay was about 2-3 min in front of me now. I took the time to replenish my hydration and drank some straight smoothie and some straight water.I also went up to check on the times and see how I was doing. Unfortunately the time keepers made a slight mistake which they fixed while I was out on my 4th lap but, none the less, cost me. They put my lap time on another solo 6 hour female rider so it looked like she was ahead of me. After a couple of min of rest I left for my 4th lap which was a little slower than previous ones but I was on the chase to catch my teammate and the phantom rider in front of me who actually passed me while I was checking my time...

When I was in the middle of my 4th lap I started to feel the pain from going to hard in the begging and started to slow a little. Climbing more consistent and bombing the down hills. When I came in for the start of my 5th lap I was a cooked goose and wanted to stop to take another rest but with the help of my teammates I was encouraged that continual movement is better than stopping and I started off on a very slow 5th lap where I basically spun my legs out. My 6th lap was very similar but this time I had the power of Coke on my side. Caffeine does wonders to numb the pain, along with mind power. If you just tell yourself that there is no pain you believe it.

I knew that we were getting close to the end and I was happy, but also a little sad because I was starting to really be able to shred the downhills and let loose. I stopped at the tent to see how much time was left and they told me 20 minutes. Ok, that can be either good or bad. So I asked how far back 4th place was. 9 minutes. In a split second decision I take off and yell "One more lap!" My dad yells back and tells me not to burn up in the first part of the lap.

This is what I live, breath, and sleep cycling for. The moment where you can just let yourself and the bike be one. That's what I did on my 7th lap. I time trialed the whole last lap and I'm pretty sure that my final lap was the fastest of every single lap I put our there. I left everything on the course, sprinted the up hills, peddled on the downhills, powered the flats. Everything I could think of the drop the lady behind me even farther back. I felt like I was flying. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I was loving every second. I didn't want to stop. But all good things must come to an end though. So I finished my race in 3rd place and despite the pain, was quite happy to have done that well. Needless to say, the Tall Oak Challenge is not an easy course.

Ethos Grrrls Rock (grrrlz rule and boyz drool)

I took in my recovery drink, talked to a couple of other juniors out there that had raced, and got my awards. Ethos had a strong race with Kay getting first in solo women, me getting 3rd in solo women, Travis and Garrett getting 1st in the open duo, and Jp and Jesse pulling in a 6th in the open duo class.

It was a great race made even better with friends and teammates. Everyone out there raced strong and the Tall Oak Challenge is a race I will defiantly consider going back to next year.
Big thanks to everyone who put on the race and who cooked the food!