12 Hours of Bradbury - 3 Man Open
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:00 pm
As endurance athletes, its always exciting to put a big event/objective on the calendar. Put a few beers in me and I’ll pretty much agree to anything outside of riding across America. And as you know, my favorite part of cycling is the team aspect. Mountain biking isn’t really a team sport, unless the race itself is measured on the overall team result. A few months ago the perfect storm occurred; 1) I had retired from road racing; 2) I drank a bunch of beer; 3) Chris P (CP) and Chris B (CB) said we should do a 12 hour MTB race. Wait that’s it? 12 hours? Between 3 people? Press the EASY button.
So there it was, we agreed to enter the 12 hours of Bradbury in Maine. As it approached I started thinking about how “easy” it would actually be. 4 hours each? Not even in a row? Still sounded fine until CP said “it’s like doing 5 CX races in one day”. Wait that sounds awful. 3 weeks before CP hadn’t signed us up yet and I was wondering if someone would back out. I can’t say I would have been “crushed” because the closer it got the more I was getting psyched out. I did a few 40-50 minute all out efforts in training and they really really hurt, how could I possibly do 5 of them in one day??? I should quick drinking.
Anyway, CP came through and we were committed. CB came up with our team name “No Complaints” which may have been directed at me. I ramped up the training to moderate levels, but never came close to road racing levels. Hey its mountain biking, I should grow a beard. CB started planning like an engineer. We literally packed the MRC trailer chock full and we’re on our way. 4 bikes, lots of extra wheels, 3 coolers, a stove, a tent, 2 bike stands, 2 tool boxes, 5 chairs (lots of redundancy, just in case), 800 granola bars, Lucky Charms (the cereal) and a huge bowl of enchilada mix (thanks Katie!).
I was 97% sure the trailer would detatch on the highway, it was making crazy noises and CB was pulling u-turns like we were driving a Prius. We got there and went straight to Bradbury Mountain. Which reminds me of a convo I had with CP; Me - “I wonder if there is lots of climbing?” CP “Well it is a mountain”. But about a week before we went I found the strava segment and there was almost no climbing. “Is this possible?!?!?!?” Then I read that Bradbury wasn’t really even a REAL MOUTAIN!! A dream come true!!!! We get there and do 1 lap of the course, fairly quickly but not race-paced. The course was awesome. Twisty, mostly smooth, some rock walls, and hardly any CLIMBING!!!! But then we upload our 46 minute time on Strava and saw the KOM was 37 minutes. WHAT??? 9 minutes faster? Uh oh.
We head back to town and check into our Holiday Inn Express. 2 beds and a pull out. Of course I lose the coin flip and get the couch. Bad start. CB is a snorer. We hit the free breakfast at the opening bell, 6:30 (this is a first for me). I see a sign that says “Sleep-a-palooza” which means breakfast is open until 12pm. I’m on the wrong side of Sleep-a-palooza. Race starts at 8am and CP is doing the first lap. There’s pressure on the first guy to get the whole shot, so I was fine not being the guy. Plus CP is the fastest anyway. CB is going 2nd and predicts I’ll be faster than him early but he’ll catch up later in the day. Solid prediction.
So I’m happy to not start the race, but it turns out that meant CB and I had to unpack the trailer while CP warmed up. This may have been worse that racing. The coolers weighed 800 pounds each, and we’re skinny and weak. I may have gone overboard on the drinks. Anyway we go over to watch the start, low and behold the 3-man Open Category is first off. It also happens to be the biggest category (shocker) and there is some legit competition for the title.
CP gets a good start, they do a lap around the camp ground before hitting the single track. He’s in 2nd hitting the woods. The 3-man juniors were in this field as well, so it was a bit confusing as to who he was trailing. CB heads over for the first exchange around 35 minutes later, and I come and watch. CP comes through in a solid 40 minute time but is now in 3rd (so I think). CB is off and I head back to get ready. I’m back to the line 35 minutes later (a little optimistic) and wait for a while. Fred’s are coming through so its tough to figure out what’s going on. I see some of our competition lining up. A few of them come through before CB and I’m getting worried, then he comes through in around 41 and exchange. I’m off chasing a Bikeman guy thinking we’re in 3rd. He was about 15 seconds ahead and I can hear another fast guy a bit behind me. I’m reeling in Bikeman pretty quick and I’m getting ready to pass when I clip a tree and go off course “You IDIOT!” (first of many times thinking this or even saying this outloud). Bikeman is gone and now I have a guy on my ass. I’m flustered and he passes me. I stay on his wheel and we’re flying but I’m really tired and we’re only 10 minutes in. SHIT! We drag back Bikeman and we both pass him about 1/2 way through. There is a uphill fireroad coming up and I’m hoping I can hang on to this guy. We get there and he eases up and I’m dumbfounded. I could draft him and then chase for the rest of the lap somewhat recovered. OR I guess I could pass him and try to hold him off. Team sports make you do some uncomfortable things. I attack him hard and get a gap. After the uphill is a fun downhill singletrack leading to the last 10 minutes which are the most technical of the course. I smash the downhill and basically ride as hard as possible and never hear from him again. I tag CP and I think we’re in 2nd or 3rd at this point. Getting back to the site and CB tells me we’re in 1st!!! By only seconds though. My lap was just under 41, 5 seconds fast than CB (sorry had to mention).
I won’t bore you with every lap, but CP got even faster and we had 2 minutes at the next exchange. But CB was paired up against a really fast old guy who was going sub-40 and every handoff to me I had to battle my nemesis. I crashed on a bridge (You IDIOT!) my second lap but still beat my guy by 15 secs and we were down by 4 secs. 3rd lap was clean but I had to chase my guy and dragged him back but a bobble at the end gave them a 6 second advantage. I was just edging CB every lap by seconds, he had some mechanical issues that he later fixed. To his credit, his prediction came true and as I lost about a minute a lap he kept his losses at a minimum, and his old-fast-guy nemeisis had a bad lap. CP kept crushing souls and we went from 6 seconds down to 4 minutes up. I was pretty happy with my 4th lap even though I lost another 40 seconds, but my guy lost 2 minutes to me and we were now up 6 minutes.
On to the last set of laps. CP put the smackdown on his guy who basically quit after and now we're up big. CB had a solid lap but still lost a couple of minutes to old-fast-guy (yes older than us) but we had a comfortable lead. I was now officially broken but felt OK early and rode conservatively, until all of a sudden I was on the ground. NOOO!! No harm done but with 20 minutes to go I started seizing up. Full body cramp as I came in with my worst lap but it didn’t matter we had 9 minutes and CP on the last official lap with lights on now. Even in the dark CP put in a fast 43 minutes considering it was his 6th lap. He’s not a professional bike racer, but he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.
I’d like to say we celebrated in fashion, but I was having a full physiological breakdown. Cramps, sad belly, headache. Whatever, it was worth it. This was my first victory in a real bike race (with help of course), so I’ll take it! Thanks to the 2 Chris’s for being badasses and making it easier to live up to our name. #Nocomplaints
So there it was, we agreed to enter the 12 hours of Bradbury in Maine. As it approached I started thinking about how “easy” it would actually be. 4 hours each? Not even in a row? Still sounded fine until CP said “it’s like doing 5 CX races in one day”. Wait that sounds awful. 3 weeks before CP hadn’t signed us up yet and I was wondering if someone would back out. I can’t say I would have been “crushed” because the closer it got the more I was getting psyched out. I did a few 40-50 minute all out efforts in training and they really really hurt, how could I possibly do 5 of them in one day??? I should quick drinking.
Anyway, CP came through and we were committed. CB came up with our team name “No Complaints” which may have been directed at me. I ramped up the training to moderate levels, but never came close to road racing levels. Hey its mountain biking, I should grow a beard. CB started planning like an engineer. We literally packed the MRC trailer chock full and we’re on our way. 4 bikes, lots of extra wheels, 3 coolers, a stove, a tent, 2 bike stands, 2 tool boxes, 5 chairs (lots of redundancy, just in case), 800 granola bars, Lucky Charms (the cereal) and a huge bowl of enchilada mix (thanks Katie!).
I was 97% sure the trailer would detatch on the highway, it was making crazy noises and CB was pulling u-turns like we were driving a Prius. We got there and went straight to Bradbury Mountain. Which reminds me of a convo I had with CP; Me - “I wonder if there is lots of climbing?” CP “Well it is a mountain”. But about a week before we went I found the strava segment and there was almost no climbing. “Is this possible?!?!?!?” Then I read that Bradbury wasn’t really even a REAL MOUTAIN!! A dream come true!!!! We get there and do 1 lap of the course, fairly quickly but not race-paced. The course was awesome. Twisty, mostly smooth, some rock walls, and hardly any CLIMBING!!!! But then we upload our 46 minute time on Strava and saw the KOM was 37 minutes. WHAT??? 9 minutes faster? Uh oh.
We head back to town and check into our Holiday Inn Express. 2 beds and a pull out. Of course I lose the coin flip and get the couch. Bad start. CB is a snorer. We hit the free breakfast at the opening bell, 6:30 (this is a first for me). I see a sign that says “Sleep-a-palooza” which means breakfast is open until 12pm. I’m on the wrong side of Sleep-a-palooza. Race starts at 8am and CP is doing the first lap. There’s pressure on the first guy to get the whole shot, so I was fine not being the guy. Plus CP is the fastest anyway. CB is going 2nd and predicts I’ll be faster than him early but he’ll catch up later in the day. Solid prediction.
So I’m happy to not start the race, but it turns out that meant CB and I had to unpack the trailer while CP warmed up. This may have been worse that racing. The coolers weighed 800 pounds each, and we’re skinny and weak. I may have gone overboard on the drinks. Anyway we go over to watch the start, low and behold the 3-man Open Category is first off. It also happens to be the biggest category (shocker) and there is some legit competition for the title.
CP gets a good start, they do a lap around the camp ground before hitting the single track. He’s in 2nd hitting the woods. The 3-man juniors were in this field as well, so it was a bit confusing as to who he was trailing. CB heads over for the first exchange around 35 minutes later, and I come and watch. CP comes through in a solid 40 minute time but is now in 3rd (so I think). CB is off and I head back to get ready. I’m back to the line 35 minutes later (a little optimistic) and wait for a while. Fred’s are coming through so its tough to figure out what’s going on. I see some of our competition lining up. A few of them come through before CB and I’m getting worried, then he comes through in around 41 and exchange. I’m off chasing a Bikeman guy thinking we’re in 3rd. He was about 15 seconds ahead and I can hear another fast guy a bit behind me. I’m reeling in Bikeman pretty quick and I’m getting ready to pass when I clip a tree and go off course “You IDIOT!” (first of many times thinking this or even saying this outloud). Bikeman is gone and now I have a guy on my ass. I’m flustered and he passes me. I stay on his wheel and we’re flying but I’m really tired and we’re only 10 minutes in. SHIT! We drag back Bikeman and we both pass him about 1/2 way through. There is a uphill fireroad coming up and I’m hoping I can hang on to this guy. We get there and he eases up and I’m dumbfounded. I could draft him and then chase for the rest of the lap somewhat recovered. OR I guess I could pass him and try to hold him off. Team sports make you do some uncomfortable things. I attack him hard and get a gap. After the uphill is a fun downhill singletrack leading to the last 10 minutes which are the most technical of the course. I smash the downhill and basically ride as hard as possible and never hear from him again. I tag CP and I think we’re in 2nd or 3rd at this point. Getting back to the site and CB tells me we’re in 1st!!! By only seconds though. My lap was just under 41, 5 seconds fast than CB (sorry had to mention).
I won’t bore you with every lap, but CP got even faster and we had 2 minutes at the next exchange. But CB was paired up against a really fast old guy who was going sub-40 and every handoff to me I had to battle my nemesis. I crashed on a bridge (You IDIOT!) my second lap but still beat my guy by 15 secs and we were down by 4 secs. 3rd lap was clean but I had to chase my guy and dragged him back but a bobble at the end gave them a 6 second advantage. I was just edging CB every lap by seconds, he had some mechanical issues that he later fixed. To his credit, his prediction came true and as I lost about a minute a lap he kept his losses at a minimum, and his old-fast-guy nemeisis had a bad lap. CP kept crushing souls and we went from 6 seconds down to 4 minutes up. I was pretty happy with my 4th lap even though I lost another 40 seconds, but my guy lost 2 minutes to me and we were now up 6 minutes.
On to the last set of laps. CP put the smackdown on his guy who basically quit after and now we're up big. CB had a solid lap but still lost a couple of minutes to old-fast-guy (yes older than us) but we had a comfortable lead. I was now officially broken but felt OK early and rode conservatively, until all of a sudden I was on the ground. NOOO!! No harm done but with 20 minutes to go I started seizing up. Full body cramp as I came in with my worst lap but it didn’t matter we had 9 minutes and CP on the last official lap with lights on now. Even in the dark CP put in a fast 43 minutes considering it was his 6th lap. He’s not a professional bike racer, but he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.
I’d like to say we celebrated in fashion, but I was having a full physiological breakdown. Cramps, sad belly, headache. Whatever, it was worth it. This was my first victory in a real bike race (with help of course), so I’ll take it! Thanks to the 2 Chris’s for being badasses and making it easier to live up to our name. #Nocomplaints
