Leesburg Bakers Dozen. Rapidly deteriorating conditions made the race a total shit show. But overall it was pretty lit. good times with good friends and one three-legged doggo.
Headed down to VA on Friday with the L-Ville Squad: Larry E, Gui & Dave W, Laura and Rosie (the tripod pit bull). We picked up Gui's race teammate Bobby Lea somewhere along the way at a Sheetz in Pennsyltucky. Edwin from Van Dessel was kind enough to loan us the Van Dessel Bus for the weekend.
We crammed 9 bikes and a shit load of gear in comfortably.
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Picking up Bobby in PA.
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Me, Bobby, Larry, Laura, Gui
The venue for this race is killer. We claimed some prime real-estate right on the course. If you're on a team, you can transition anywhere on the course. Being able to do so at your spot was really convenient.
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Weather was beautiful when we got there, trails looked dry and fast but suddenly rained buckets for like 15 minutes. Had a few beers, straight chilled and waited it out.
After the storm cleared we geared up to pre ride the course but got kicked off almost immediately due to standing water. Needing to spin our legs before Saturday's long day, we headed out on the road to a tow path on the other side of the Potomac.
There's no bridge over the river so we had to take this Ferry.
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Spun for an hour or so on this towpath that made us feel at home in Lambertville.
It was muddy AF from that 15 minutes of rain.
Ate a shit ton of food, threw back a buncha' beers n' chilled late that evening. Was a beautiful night.
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Got nailed with more heavy rain and place was pretty swampy in the morning. Everyone new the course was going to be fucked only to get worse as the day went on. But race was still a go.
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I raced 2 man team with my buddy Dave. Our plan was to do two 3 hour sets each, give or take. There was a time not long ago when I trained for these things but I really didn't put the work in for this one. I was confident in handling the distance & time but I sure as hell wasnt going to break any speed records today.
Our friends Gui and Bobby on the other hand were in it to win it. And win it they did. By a lot. Both of those guys are pro track racers (I think Bobby was in the Olympics 3 times?) So of course they were doing these perfectly executed Madison style hand sling relay transitions that blew everyones minds. Wish I took video of that. So weird seeing that in an endurance MTB race.
My teammate Dave was feeling good, trucking and ended up doing about 4 hours for his first set with a fractured rib to boot. I was getting antsy as hell and couldn't wait to get out there.
By the time I go out, it was just pouring relentlessly and had been doing so since 9. The course was completely trashed. Brought back memories of 24 Hours of Allamuchy 2009...or 08 (I forgot) but even worse than that. The back side of the course was nearly unrideable. My bike was picking up so much mud that the wheels wouldn't turn, drivetrain seized and chain came off 50 fuckin times. ended up having to mostly walk the last 2 or 3 miles of the course, stopping every 10 feet to scrape 50 pounds of mud from my bike. It was pretty stupid. Oddly, I had a good attitude about it and didn't let it get to me like it did so many of the other folks around. Saw a lot of people straight up quit and B-Line back through the woods off the course.
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Back at the start finish, I was informed that they were stopping the race at 4. My lap ended up taking an obscene amount of time from all the standing and walking. I think like 2 hours? Decided it would be dumb to go out again. I was cold, wet and maybe borderline hypothermic so I opted for the Bus where we had a propane heater running.
We all collectively decided not to spend the night and skip the party etc. No reason to hang around being cold and wet all night. Packed up all our shit in the rain and split. Peace VA!
Sunday: It seemed like I spent the entire day just cleaning my gear. Followed by some much needed yard work. Burnt two 6 foot-tall piles of sticks and pinecones and shit picked up from the yard (I have a big ass yard). Then Megan, Myself and the dog got drunk by the fire.
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