Ah, the Iron Furnace. Let's talk about the week leading up to it. I kinda, sorta came in with great fitness but poor preparation. It started when a friend called me last thursday and said the student bridge team from NJIT was in need of a big favor. They had a week to go before the competition and the bridge was only tacked together. This means 300 plus small diameter(like 1/2" and under) 4130 TIG welds and their fitup was crap. Long story short, 14 hours between last saturday, sunday and thursday with me hunching over my welding table in all the heat tig welding left my back feeling sore/tired. It wasn't out of place but I new it would make the race a lot tougher. Couple that with not sleeping great and a lot of over tired/race butterflies/nerves I was kind of a wreck.
So, onto the race. I know I have the fitness so I made notes, ate well, prepped all my bottles supplies very well and had a good gear. I took off and kind of sat back with Jaime C a bit and we chatted. Once we hit the woods I hammered a bit without burning too many matches. Alex Ciesla and Brian White took off from the start and honestly I never saw them again. I definitely would have seen Alex but in a few you'll see where my trouble started. I led Jaime,
@Riggedfmx and myself up until a bit past halfway. I however slipped on the first wooden bridge and felt my back pop. I new it wasn't good but it didn't hurt so I kept truckin. Tony would follow me by every single rider I passed. Jaime sat in behind him. On one of the jeep trails Jaime went by me up the hill but I countered and reeled him back in. Then he did it again and the same thing. I got Tony to follow and kinda backed off hoping Tony would burn some matches and where Jaime down. Well at the end of lap one we were all in the feed zone together. I still felt ok but around a third of the way into the second lap I was sitting and something in my back popped. That was it, I was in survival mode. I had plenty of fitness left but most of my climbing was seated or standing but supporting my whole body with my arms as my back locked up. This was ok in some places but others like the tech I burned some matches. I tried getting off to run in a few sections but couldn't stand up straight so I managed the rest of the race sitting and hunched over and that was about the most comfortable. I finished in 3:07, 6 min behind second and 15 behind first. 5th place ss.
Big congrats to
@Rigidnsingle (the cogfather) on 4th overall on the ss. Congrats to
@Riggedfmx on 3rd and thanks to Team HB Hilltop for the support and
@JDurk for the beers. I'm typing this as I sit here icing my back, praying my chiro will make a special sunday appt for me. Also, thanks to
@onetracker and the Black Bear crew for an awesome race that really seemed to draw some of our top XC racers to and "endurance" event like
@UtahJoe ,
@jShort ,
@pooriggy ,
@scotth etc. Until next time.