12 hour solo @ 9-Mile
Rider: Bill Connell
Class: 12 Hour Solo Man
Fastest lap: 1:21:28
Laps completed: 6
Total Elevation Gain: 3480 ft
Total Distance Travelled: 85.2 miles
the start line
This was my first mountain bike race in about 10 years (I’d done the 24 hours of Afton twice on teams in the late ’90s). As it turns out, our neighbor in the pit area was doing the 24-hour duo team with a friend as his first race ever, of any kind. If you’re going to tilt at windmills, might as well pick a big target.
This is going to be a long one… those interested can click
I went with my friend Ted, who does this sort of thing more regularly than i do, but is no more competitive about it than i am, so we ride pretty well together. We arrived Friday night about 9pm, got registered, set up a camp site and grabbed a spot in the solo support area. We had a couple of beers and looked at the stars then hit the sack. Mistake #1: don’t drink diuretics the night before a 12-hour race in 85°+ temperatures.
ready to roll
On race morning we got up and i made myself some bad coffee and oatmeal. After getting our food and tools to our support tent, we learned about the timing system (RFID cards, just like the security keys where i work) and queued up for the start. It’s a LeMans-style start, so everyone piled up bikes near the start line and when the gun went off we had to run a 1/4 mile loop back to the bikes then take off. It’s a good way to spread out a mass start of close to 500 riders.
The race route was about 1/2 singletrack and 1/2 ski trails. The ski trails were plenty wide enough for 2-3 bikes to pass abreast and generally had the (minor) climbs. The singletrack varied from fairly fluid hardpack to very twisty sections to rock gardens. The trees were dense enough that i banged into them a couple of times on tight sections and i generally walked the rock sections in the second half of the race.
a sample of tame singletrack
Lap 1 : 1:21:28
Massive traffic, but fun too, because there are lots of people to chat with. I was a little nervous in the morning, but once on the trail, it was just a matter of staying in line and trying not to crash. There were bottlenecks going from the wide trails to singletrack, reminding everyone of a line at the supermarket. The singletrack trail was a continuous snake of riders as the pack slowly strung out. I talked with a guy behind me for a ways, a singlespeed racer from Manitoba, but never saw him, and after about 20 minutes he crashed so we got separated. The singletrack is very twisty here, rocky and rooty, and really tricky in spots.
Lap 2 : 1:21:54
I was feeling great, so i didn’t even pause but swiped right through for lap 2. I started fine, but about 1/2-way through started to get some cramping in my hamstrings when i paused on one of the rock gardens. This was a bad sign, and i started drinking more water, but i was obviously already in hydration debt. By the end of the lap i had a headache and recurring cramps in both legs, and i took probably 45 minutes off the bike trying to stretch and rehydrate.
Lap 3 : 2:44:49
Lap 3 was bad. Lots of cramps, muscles cramping that i didn’t even know i had. I went through about 2 liters of water on this lap alone and ate a bar, on top of the lunch i’d eaten before starting. My only real mechanical issue, a flat rear tire, came about 1/3 into the lap. I met up with Ted part-way through and realized that i was playing the Hare against Ted’s Tortise, and was suffering for it. Going hard then having to rest for close to an hour isn’t much of a winning strategy, so i switched to Tortise mode. My slowest lap. I did make a spectacular recovery early in the lap when my right hand and foot came off of the bike. Somehow i managed to get the bike straight again and ride on without stopping, though my right hand knuckles got a good rapping from the handlebars.
Ted relubing for another run
Lap 4 : 2:38:23
The recovery lap. I heading out about 3:30, remained the mountain turtle and patiently got very good at letting faster riders pass by on singletrack. I drank another 2 liters of water and gatorade and by the end of the lap felt pretty good. It was also about 6:15 now, finishing the lap, and i had to take a few minutes to put the lights (thanks, Mark!) on the bike before heading out again. At this point i knew i’d finish one more, but wasn’t trusting that the cramps were gone yet.
Lap 5 : 2:14:06
Back on top of form. The cramps were really gone, as long as i rode my own race and didn’t push too hard. I felt a lot better too, it seems that my gut had caught up to being in endurance mode and was getting some food out to the rest of the system. I finished the lap feeling better than i had since the beginning of lap 2, and ready for more. Despite the setting sun, i didn’t need to use the lights at all for this lap, and i left them off to conserve battery time for one more.
tan line of dirt
Lap 6 : 2:10:40
The dark one. I finished lap 5 at 8:30 pm which, given my general lap times, meant i most likely wouldn’t return in time to start a 7th lap before the 10pm cutoff. That was fine; i was looking forward to running one lap in the dark, but 2 more laps at that point would have been tough (and probably dark too, i don’t know that the battery would have made it). After the rollercoaster of a day this was a sort of personal victory lap and though it was pretty slow, i was able to ride it pretty clean with only a couple of minor falls from fatigue.
The catalog of hurts: my lower back was the first to go, but pretty easy to manage by riding no-handed when the terrain allowed. Just a 1/2 minute of so no-handed riding would let my back relax enough for the next trail section. On one lap, passing the camping area near the start line a kid watched me ride no-handed and said to his dad, “that’s not safe!”. Muscle-wise, after the cramps went away i mostly now only have sore hamstrings and triceps, otherwise ok. My butt is a little sore, nothing bad. My feet were really sore during the race but fine now. My hands took a beating though, and the outer pads of my palms are fairly swollen up, first time i’ve had that happen.
puffy hand
And yes, i’m planning to race again next year. (a few more pix here)
Kudos! :)