ToKV DNF

Well the title pretty much states my Tour of Kensington Valley. I Did Not Finish.

Waking up around 4:30am to race is interesting. I didn't really want to get up, nor did I want to forget anything (i.e. water, bananas, bike.) Lukcily I remembered everything, including picking up Nick from his house to help volenteer at the race.

When I arrived at the park at 6:00am it was overcast and windy. A lot of the SLC guys where there already because they helped set up and brought other volenteers. Once I sent the 6 people I brought to help to the registration table and picked up my number, I started unloading. Luckily for me, the Cat 3 support car was right next to me, so I got my wheels in early and didn't have to think about it.

I got dressed and warmed up. I rode around with Colton for a but, which was nice seeing as he lives in Colorado and I dont talk to him much. While warming up, I discovered my freind Nick was at the parking lot entrance as a course marshall on the hill. This helped the team because it gave us someone to give bottles to. Now we had my Dad, Nick and random SLC riders on the side of the road to hand out bottles to us.

After we got the bottle situation figured out, we had our pre-race meeting. We decided to keep Darrell, Chris and Eric protected and keep Tony fresh as well. I was Chris's wingman. I told him to stay on my wheel and I would keep him out of harms way. I also told him to always stay in the peloton and let me know if he needed bottles or food.

By the time we started the sun was shining and the clouds were parting. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The race started slow. Everyone knew what was comming in the next several hours, and none of us were in a rush to be in pain. The first lap was just a nice tempo. Then people started making their moves. The first real successful move came from a Wolverine rider. He got a nice gap and was approaching the feild ahead of us. This was the point at which Darrell told us to chase it down. By now, we had lost John to the brutality of the hills. So Darrell, Eric, Chris, Tony and I all lined up at the front and hammered untill we caught him as Ace instructed.

That chase hurt me a lot. I knew I was not going to finish with the feild. But I continued as I had been. Taking on bottles in the feed zone, keeping Chris stocked with fluid, making sure I was protecting him from the wind when I wasn't recovering, and eating pleanty.

When we started lap 6 (of 9, with 3 nice hills per lap) I was fluid-less. I had given my bottle to Chris and ditched the empty ones. On the way up the first hill, I took a bottle from Nick hoping it was water...it was clear...but it was Heed. Then Alex had a bottle. I took it hoping it was water...it was Accelerade. Then Scott had a bottle. I took it hoping it was water...YES! I got the water I had been needing. Now I had 3 full bottles, two in the cages and one on my back. This would prove to be usefull in the comming miles.

We went up the second hill and I was hurting. Then on the flats after the decent the pace was high and I was having a hard time staying near the front. I told Darrell that I was not going to make it up the next hill with the peloton, he said he wouldn't either because he was cramping. So I made my decision. I went to the front of the peloton, and on my way back i exchanged bottles with Chris, Eric and DMO. I wanted them to be able to do the rest of the race and not worry about getting a bottle.

As I passed my final bottle to DMO, Darrell flatted. DMO and I both sat up to pace him back, but we thought he was getting into the SUV, so DMO took off and I tried to catch up, but as I got out of the saddle my quads siezed up and cramped. I went to strech them, but then my hamstrings cramped. I rode another lap by myself, picking up a bottle from my Dad and eventually getting passed by Ace.

I ended up at the finish line via a ride from Scott. I watched the feild finish. It was not a great day for SLC. Tony got dropped on lap 8. Darrell John and I all bandoned and Eric Chris and DMO ran into traffic trouble on one of the hills. Chris ended up 12th I believe. Best placed Cat 3 SLC rider. I hope Chris was pleased with my help, and I hope the team is happy the way we rode. No it didn't go as we would have liked, but there is always the next race.

Post-race talking to the team, I was just toast. My legs and brain were shot. This race was just hard. I have never seen so many abandons and such scattered feilds before. The extra distance deffinitly hurt everyone. I just wanted to say THANK YOU JOE AND SCOTT!!! I know a lot of other people helped out too. Joe I know did a LOT of organizing, and Scott did a great job with Volenteer organizing at the last minute. I would also like to thank my Mom, Dad, brother John, friends Nick, Ashley and Cat. All six of them woke up to come to a race to sit around and watch us suffer. Thats support right there.

Sidenote: I guess a few people were hooting and holaring at Cat as they rode by. I guess a lot of people thought she looked good. I know I do.

Endnote: This was a great race. I wish I would have done better, but I am happy with the work I did. Next up...Frankenmuth and Gaslight.

Disclaimer: No Photos. Sorry.