All that said, I finished, and arguably finished fairly well, so did the Chief get his revenge on Big Head? Or did I finally foil the 19th century Creek Indian Chief? Let's take a brief recap of Saturday's suffering:
Maddie & I drove up with Ellie (new Comfort Retriever puppy) Friday to camp. Blanchard Springs was full, so we went to Gunner Pool. Fantastic camp ground! You gotta see this place, it is gorgeous...
After a surprisingly restful night Friday considering I weathered 2 inches of rain, thunderstorms, and high wind in a tent with my 5 year old and a puppy, I woke up Saturday with the usual race-day enthusiasm and excitement. I got to Blanchard and met the wife who took over kid & puppy duties so I could warm up. I decided to warmup with a brief stretch then a hard climb up that mile-long 8+% fireroad climb that starts the race. It was muddy & loose. A precursor of the day.
At the start I worked fairly hard to get into the top 50 up the climb and into the woods, but tried to keep it reasonable. This was the first marathon race where I made a conscious effort to go hard out of the gate. I liked it and sort of wish I would have gone a tad harder. Within 3 miles of singletrack it got wet, sloppy, and nasty and I was stuck behind a train of roadies who could climb that first hill like scalded dogs, but honestly had not business riding Syllamo even in good conditions. I spend a good hour working my way around 2 dozen or so of these guys. Tally: Chief Syllamo 1, Todd 0.
That first section of Jack's Branch trail was indicative of the damage done this year by the ice. There was down lumber, face slappers, and huge mine-holes left by the evacuated root balls of old growth hard wood toppling over. It seems like you'd ride 3-4 minutes, then slam on brakes and scurry over or around an obstacle. That being said, all racers had to ride the course, so I don't feel this was a huge disadvantage to me and I feel like I managed it well. We'll call it a draw. Tally: Chief Syllamo 2, Todd 1.
I rolled into the first aid station 20 minutes after expected and was covered in mud, but otherwise unscathed. I slowed down just long enough to jettison my camelback, and put on a new one handed to me by my lovely wife Amanda. Man she's the bomb...
I rolled onto the green trail feeling great. I spun slowly up that first climb so I could eat a little something, then rolled back into race pace. I chatted with a few guys who clearly were suffering worse than me. I started to have good feelings. The mental state is as important as physical in this thing. I gotta take a point here. Tally: Chief Syllamo 2, Todd 2.
Up at the top of the green trail in the midst of the big rocky tech stuff, my fork decided not to move any more. This is bad. I have at least 30 miles of this think left. I just had it rebuilt recently. Must have already blown those new seals, now it's running dry as a bone and not moving. Ouch, this will hurt. As I rolled out of the green trail and into the big orange downhill, "The Polish Dozer", it did hurt. Man, I tried to bomb that downhill like I always would so I wouldn't lose any time and by the time I got to the bottom I was exhausted. What a drain on the core and upper body without a working fork! I could really feel the fatigue as I struggle through the lower end of the orange and blue trails. I was having a hard time keeping a good pace and good cadence. I crossed the very cold and swift Livingston Creek and into aid station #2. There I swapped camelbacks again, and Greg Jeffers helped me lube my chain. I needed a break and was using any opportunity to rest. Tally: Chief Syllamo 3, Todd 2.
Now comes my least favorite part of the race...the section of blue trail east of Hwy 5. That trail is already in my head. Throw in the additional fatigue, anxiety of my bike not working right, and the conditions, and I was having serious doubts as to whether I could even finish the race. I certainly wasn't thinking about my performance. The Chief was playing mind games with me. This was so bad, and I was so discouraged, I have to give him 2 points here. Tally: Chief Syllamo 5, Todd 2.
Crossing Hwy 5 again helped out mentally somewhat because I knew that if I just got up the big blue trail climb, the worst of the race would be behind me. That, of course, is easier said than done. I was beat. But I persevered on this one. I was able to talk myself into a better mental state, and I climbed sections of trail so steep I've only walked them before. Tally: Chief 5, Todd 3.
After finally making it up the blue, I now had that 3 miles or so of Jack's Branch (yellow) to get to aid station 3. I started to get some pain in my right knee, but was able to find a new position to keep it from hurting so much. I got into the aid station, and Greg & Carol Jeffers passed me a new bottle, took the weight of the camelback off me, and told me I was #39. #39! Are your frickin' kidding me? That's actually a good place. I felt like I should have been competing for DFL, how am I Top 50? For the first time it occurred to me that maybe the conditions were hard on everyone. This put me in a new good mental state. Tally: Chief 5, Todd 4.
I rolled onto the 14 miles of red trail and it felt like 80. It would never end. This time, the fatigue was real. This wasn't a perceived mental state. My legs were out of gas and my wrists, arms & upper body were sore from the rigid fork. The only thing that kept me going hard was I kept hearing a bike behind me and I made a deal with myself that I would NOT let anyone pass me on this trail. I was actually able to pass a few guys on this one myself. Towards the end of it, however, some dude was breathing down my neck. He finally passed me on the big downhill going back into Blanchard. I was doing about 35 over incredibly loose & muddy terrain - I could barely see because of all the mud and grit flying in my face - and he passed me doing at least 10 mph faster.
Once I finally rolled in, I my time was 6:42 - 10 min slower than last year. However, I was 35th place compared to 53 last year. So statistically I improved. However, I was still disappointed. Everyone kept telling me I was crazy to be disappointed, but I still was and still am. I know I just didn't have my best legs. Yeah, I had a top 10% finish. Yeah, I improved. (Not sure where I was in my age group.) But I still know I was pedaling slower than I should have had to at some points. I know the conditions played a part, but I think I left as much as 30 minutes out there that I should have been able to crank out. Oh well, there's always next year.
For the final tally, let's do some bonus points: Riding without any mechanicals, flats, etc: Todd +1. Winning the mental game, making me believe I was defeated for most of the last 30 miles: Chief +1. Breaking my fork and wearing me down: Chief +1. Riding with a broken fork: Todd +1.
Final Tally: Chief 7, Todd 6. He got his revenge, but not by much. And as with each race, I've learned a lot and will be better prepared next year. I still had a blast, what a great race!
