Likin’ Bikin’ News

It’s finished – done – gone – finn’ito – wheww…

We arrived at the venue early Saturday morning, after a comfy night at the Wilcox house, and set-up the L’B’ home base.

This consisted of a tent for sleepin’, the car for power and heat, and the good ol’ Hoss tent for relaxin’, eating, decorating, accommodating trick-or-treaters,  and wrenchin’ on the bike (of which, by-the-way, the diSSent needed NONE – I’m convinced, it’s immortal)

3 hrs ’til race time, I attempted to inhale 6 pancakes. I managed 2/3 of them and felt “ready” for my planned 5 lap start…. which I actually did complete.

The start was “Wheel-Off-Le Mans” style. Go set your bike down with the front wheel removed. Foot-race it outta the gate to the bike, get that wheel on, and go! Costumes were encouraged, and about half of the racers Halloweened-up. Of course, Bri and I were pirates for the duration of the first lap. Yo-ho-yo-ho!

Now, 5 laps in and with the sun setting, it was time for the second set of nutrition-bombs… Cold pizza and this stuff?… a meal to which I give full credit for the stomach pain of laps 6, 7, and 8.

Thankfully, these were also the early evening laps, during which plenty of friends, visitors, trickortreaters, and general party’ers were there to greet, encourage, and just spread the spirit-liftin’-love!

After lap 9, it was time for more food, more layers, and more importantly, MORE rest. By this time, the temps were getting down to about 37degs. So I hopped in the car and ran the heater for a little while. Then, reluctantly crawled out, and shivered over to the timing tent from where laps 10 and 11 somehow developed.

After those, it was about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.. I think? And I was just gonna take a short break while NiteRider-Tom refreshed the charge on my lights. So those batteries went to him, and I went right back to that heated car.

I was in there for about 5mins, when the passenger door opened. Yes! I was happy to see my ever-amazing wife joining me. She must have heard the car start and left the snugness of her sleeping bag to come hang out… in the front seat of our car…in the middle of the night…with her husband who’d gotten her into this cold sleepless mess.

Well, we both nodded off for about 3 hrs. I woke up in a complete daze. It was still dark, and I had no idea what or where I was supposed to be. I jumped out of the car (extra freezing out there now), over to NiteRider, picked-up the batteries and just started pedaling.

It took about 2miles before I figured out what was going on. I stopped. Straightened the clothes I’d been sleeping in, fastened the all the straps and those little plastic buckles that had been dangling since battery pick-up, generally regrouped and rode on while watching the sunrise.

I knew I wanted to do 15 laps of this thing,  and that I was 4 laps from it. A mere 36 miles from my goal. (“mere”, ha!)

The rest is history.

After all was done, and in 25hrs, my trusty Misfit and I managed 15 laps (135 miles) of some lovely, pleasant, warm, pain-free, SS riding time. Ahhh… like a day at the spa.

Maybe not QUITE like that.

I do have to say, to all you’s out there solo racing these 24hr events, you’re sick. <– (period/full stop)

That said, whatta way to test yourself! I’d never been in the predicament of riding to the point of complete leg failure, and determining whether to rest for an hour (presumably to ride faster thereafter), or to keep slogging along at bare-balance speed for one more time around. It became a 25hr chronic mind-game of, “what should I be doing right now?” to gain what seemed to be the most important thing on the planet: MORE LAPS.

(Thanks SO much you Wilcox’, you all are the most thoughtful “race crew” a soslow SS rider could have!)

Photos!

Lompoc, CA <– Watch for more MTB happenin’s outta this little Mecca.

For now, we’ll just report another great weekend of hangin’ out with the Wilcox clan.

And by “hangin’ out” I mean: bikin’, XC racing, pump-trackin’, surfin’, more bikin’, dual slalomin’, and more surfin’… yeah, in 2 days. Our Lompoc visits tend to be somewhat action-packed…   NO down-time.

Standard weekend there goes like this:

Bri and I load up the L’B’ shuttle machine, roll into Poctown late Friday night, and catch up with Ma and Pa Wilcox(and sometimes Doc-Knock) until 2’ish?

Saturday AM, Marshall is outside watering down the pumptrack. I’ve blogged about the Wilcox p-track before, but it’s as staple in the back yard there as a swing set or swimming pool anywhere else. We get out there as much as possible. It’s fun AND an amazingly tough workout. The idea being, acceleration without pedaling. Here’s a little example:

After forcing down some calories… (while there, we’re too busy to have proper daytime “meals”, just stay fueled and keep going) we either hit the track for some good bikin’ times, or, as was the case this past weekend, head over to Chamberlin Ranch for some down-home, grass-roots, local racing. “StumpGrinder” Mike puts on a really low key, fun for the whole family race series out there. Check it out at RideSB.com and come git yer race on! (Or click that “RideSB” logo over there to the left)

The DH course is fast and flowy with some good opportunities to put a little sunshine between your tires and the ground.

The DS course is the steepest I’ve ridden (which, for a single speed slalomer, is perfect because there’s really not much pedaling, let-alone shifting, required)

The XC… Is tougher than I expected. This past one, I arrived about 10 mins before the start, went ahead and entered the Exp SS category, ran back to the car to get ready, back to the startingline where I found myself to be the ONLY one in that class…. So, off I went, to race myself. It was actually great! 4 laps of a beautiful course. Lots of climbing (which, being a loop, translates to lots of descending too!) and lots of singletrack.

Yeah, 32 miles on the diSSent was tough… but that good kind of tough… the kind that leaves your legs like rubber-bands and gives you 10hrs of motionless sleep the night after. Anyway, yeah, I grabbed 1st place (and last place… but hay, I’m an optimist!)

Oh, and did I mention there is yet another pump-track at Chamberlin? Built by the Pumptrack Master himself. Actually, this weekend, we rode 3 p-tracks in the greater Lompoc area. It’s an epidemic up there! And, these thinngs are getting some serious press… here’s “the other pumptrack master” gettin’ some ESPN luv).

It’s not just Bri, me, and Le Cirque up there either. Even more of Team L’B' is usually in the house. The Hoffman’s are yet another bikin’-likin’ family. Brenda, Ed and the kids all ride, race, and enjoy this little activity we call “bicycle”!

Now, we do bike ALOT… But it’s always nice to change-it-up and go enjoy other outdoor activities.  So, after a hot day in the dirt, it’s become routine to head back to the house, drop off the bikes, load-up the boards, and go recover from racing at the beach. (And the cold Cali central coast water feels really good on achie XC legs too.)

Note: Marshall and Jana, are surf hall-of-fame’rs. And I (Dan) am just getting the feel for it again…

Sunday is DS/DH day back at Chamberlin, or if non-race weekend, you can bet we’re having some 2-wheeled fun somewhere else up there.

Finally, Sunday evening, those Wilcox’ follow Bri & me part way home where we all hang out and surf some more at a beach near Santa Barbara. (See above shot of Jana on glass)

Bri and I get back home to the OC by about 11:00 Sunday night and can’t believe how fast it all goes by, how much we’ve done, and how done we are. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………