Standing to my left was Ed Dinger who totally destroyed the field last year whenever he raced. Fortunately, he only raced 3 times. That was last year, this year Ed is hitting all the races and will most likely end up taking the championship.
To my right stood Coley King. Both Coley and Ed are racing veterans. Last year Coley had a baby so he didn’t race expert class until the second half of the season. That kept him out of contention for the state championship. Coley and Ed have raced against each other in prior years, pre-single speed.
Ed and I got into a little conversation about last year’s race here at Castaic. This was the Cal State Series final that I won by a huge margin. It was a kind of “perfect storm” race for me with a fitness peak, good rest, and an easy work schedule. He asked if I was the 45 year old guy who won. Neither Ed nor Coley are much younger then me, they’re just super strong.
The only other person I knew relatively well was Dave Roth. Dave is a Big Bear racing legend and another fairly old guy. Most of his recent racing success has been in endurance events. Along side him were 2 others from his team; all dressed in stunning blue Helens/Subaru team kits. I thought they looked cool. That pretty much rounded out the competition.
The start was fast and I quickly weaved my way through the traffic for a holeshot attempt. I only did that to show off for my teammates cheering on the sidelines. As soon as we left the starting area I backed off and let the field pass by. Roth flew by with a friendly, “hey buddy?” He’s a cool guy … always calls me buddy. He probably calls everyone buddy whose name he can’t remember.
Even before we hit the steep part of the hill my heart rate (HR) was already at 176 BPM. I thought “this can’t be good”. Then shortly after, as I rounded the first steep switchback, my heart went into turbo mode at 188 BPM. Wow! I didn’t think that was possible anymore. I thought for a brief moment that maybe I should slow down, but instead I decided to ignore my HR and just make an attempt to catch Coley and Ed. Then, maybe, we would all recover together. I thought I was so smart, who needs that pesky HRM anyway.
In racing like this we often talk about burning your matches. When you’re trained up you can get away with brief sprints where you push way beyond your lactate threshold. Each time you do that, you burn a match. If you know how many matches are in your book, you simply try not to burn them all before the end of the race.
I managed to catch and pass Ed on the first hill. Together we stayed just behind Coley until Ed made a move to pass both of us. By the time we topped the first hill our little threesome had completely dropped the others in class. I attempted to recover a bit as the trail flattens out along the lake. I could only bring my HR down to 172 so I backed down a little more as Coley and Ed put some distance on me.
The second hill came up way too quick without sufficient recovery. I decided to screw the recovery and HR in order to regain ground on Coley. So I lit another match and caught up to Coley. I thought “hey, look at that my HR is back up to 188”. I was pretty sure this would be a problem but I was so caught up in the racing I choose to ignore it.
Just before the start/finish area is a little sand trap. Here is where I passed up Ed and took the lead. Again I noticed my HR was hovering around 180 but I felt strong and decided to ignore the monitor and keep Ed behind me for the rest of the race.
I was greeted to cheering teammates as I passed through the start/finish area. That really gave me a burst of energy. The handoffs went great and I didn’t miss a beat. Which was good since Ed was only seconds behind me. Around the next corner was the race feed station with cups of water. I signaled them to pour it over me. At this point I felt well fueled, cooled down, strong and, heck, I still had the lead.
I continued my fervent match burning as I kept Ed in check behind me. At the crest of the last hill we were making our way around other riders when I heard “fssst fssst fssst”. I thought, “what bummer, that guy’s getting a flat”. I guess I was in denial since it took me several minutes to concede that it was my tire loosing air. The final downhill is fast and quite bumpy. My tire was pretty squishy and it would have been wise to stop and fix it before wrecking a $350 wheel. But at this point Ed was getting away and I just couldn’t bring myself to stop. Also, I run a sealant system that should self seal the puncture, so I continued my descent with my tail wagging behind me.
Pulling up to our team at the start/finish I shot a blast of air into the tire and it seemed to be sealed. I was in such a frantic hurry I ended up, foolishly, fumbling around and dropping tools taking up way too much time. Coley caught up here so I started my third lap behind the two.
Ed was a couple of minutes ahead as I began a hard charge up the first hill. Suddenly, without any warning, my muscles cramped up. Damn, I burnt my last match and was through. That’s it, time to turn around and get my first DNF. I stood there in pain for a couple of minutes and decided to attempt walking.
The walking just cramped up other muscles. So I got on the bike and rode until those muscles cramped. I decided to do what ever it took to continue forward motion, which involved switching between riding and walking. Several times I had to stop completely because I had no usable muscles to carry me forward. I did this for the entire first climb. Just before the last steep pitch is a little flat spot where I could spin a bit. This helped a little.
As I pushed up that last pitch, there was that noise again “fssst fssst fssst”. I stopped, casually shot in a little air, hopped on and thought I was recovered as I descended toward the lake.
Starting up the second climb I began a feeble attempt to race up the hill. What the hell was I thinking? The heat must have been getting to me. I nearly fell of the bike as my muscles protested with grotesque uncontrollable convulsions. A certain part of my consciousness was actually quite amused at the sight. For several minutes I made attempts to walk only to have my legs sort of braid together.
Somehow I eventually managed to get up that hill. During the next descent my right leg decided to continue with its convulsions. On the threshold of the last climb is a fork where I could bail out of the race and coast down to the finish ending my misery. Believe me, it was tempting. I really couldn’t see how I could possibly make it up the last hill.
Part of what drove me on was egocentric pride. The whole team was waiting at the finish line. I just couldn’t bring myself to come stumbling in as a quitter. Every team member finished the race today. It was David’s first race and it seemed like somehow if I, his dad, quit, it would rob a little of the moment from him. The other driving force was more about our team’s spirit. I thought of Wendy, who on just the pre-ride alone painfully pushed her bike up these hills. Every team member suffered today, and not one of them quit. A DNF was out of the question. Yeah, at this point I would have literally crawled up the hill if I had to. Pathetic I tell you.
Finally cresting the top of the last climb something just occurred to me. I hadn’t seen anyone else in my class. That just didn’t seem possible but I was certain I hadn’t seen any single gears go by. I had a genuinely fun final descent. To top it off Ed Ewert had a brew handoff waiting for me just before the finish. True to the single speed style, I crossed the finish with a cold one in hand.
I am so grateful to my teammates whose energy and spirit drove me on to the finish. Even in their absence in the middle of the course they gave me the “push” I needed to finish. The next single speed rolled in 7 minutes behind me. I indeed ended up in 3rd place.