Felt good the first lap. Despite the heaviest, most impassable traffic I ever remember during that lap I still came in at 2:35, just a few minutes slower than last year. That was about what I expected.
I hit my aid-station truck at the ice rink before lap 2 and ate a banana, half a Snickers, took an alleve and a couple caps of Sportlegs.
OK great, heading back up Boreas Pass Road for lap 2... feeling some fatigue but about normal. Not far past the lower Bakers Tank TH and my vision started closing in. A rider passed me and I could hardly see him. And I really got freaked when I heard a car pass by me going downhill and I didn't see it at all. I thought I felt ok, but I was going freakin' blind. I needed to pee anyways so I pulled over and faked a cramp.
The details are hazy, but I remember thinking that my "race" was over but I just needed to drink and eat and get my shit together so I could finish. Quitting is just not an option. I was bumping into unseen logs and the thought of descending fast singletrack was preposterous, but I just rested and drank and ate and slowly it started coming back.
Dehydration is the only thing I can figure. My confidence was pretty much shot but I got back on the bike and kept riding. I would grab on to someone's wheel and just follow them. It felt better to follow someone. Probably ten times the rider in front would ask me if I wanted a pass, but I would just tell them I was hurting and just trying to finish. Sortof true, but my body felt decent. I just couldn't see.
First Lap = 2:35; 2nd lap = 3:45 for a 6:20 finish. Just horrible and a full 1hour15min slower than last year.
I drank about 10 gatorades and still woke up peeing brown the next morning so I'll chalk it up to a bad day and severe dehydration.
Friday I met some friends at Winter Park's Trestle Bike Park and crushed downhill all day. Had so much fun! Rode all day and by the end I was clearing the huge jumps. I rented a World Cup DH bike and that's the first time I've ever ridden a bike with 9 inches of travel. Certainly bails you out if you land short.
I was feeling pretty worked when I woke up this morning. I drank some coffee and tried to rally my sore body to meet some friends for a Mt. Guyot circumnavigation ride. General sleepiness won over and I climbed back in the sack until about noon.
Later this afternoon I geared up for a long hike with Max and set out for a bushwack hike to the ninja cairn trail that leads from Frisco to the huge amphitheatre below Peak 1.
Once I got there I was surprised that the weather had totally cleared. And Peak 1 was so close.
So I climbed the south ridge of Peak 1 and summited that mountain for the 9th time. Really great hike considering I never set out for anything that ambitious.
2 weeks from today for the start of the Colorado Trail Race. I won't allow my Firecracker 50 experience to become worrisome. Rather, I look back happily on my stubbornness that allowed me to finish.
Stubbornness will be my greatest asset in the CTR.;
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