12 hours of Lodi Farm 2008 (Race Report)

So this was the biggest weekend of the year so far..



Friday and I took advantage of daughter #2's lacrosse practice to take a final re-Lodi spin around Patapsco, just to make sure pedals and cleats were in good communication. An hour having fun HC side (including Small Intestine twice - in the light for the first time!) and everything is A.O.K. With this confidence booster Friday night was a more relaxed affair than previous years (this was my third year at Lodi Farms, second in solo SSer class), I decided that I was going to just take it easy and chill - so a couple of beers Friday and a bit later to bed than probably justifiable.



George arrived at the Bollux-mansion at 3:30 pm on Friday and by just after 4pm we were rolling south on 95 towards Fredericksburg. George had his Nomad as his "go-to" bike and his IF single speed 29er as a back up for both of us. For me it was the 29erMonocog obviously. We were at the site by just after 6pm and took full advantage of our relatively early arrival to (i) get a good camping spot and (ii) grab some of the wonderful free beer from the keg at the registration tent - this is how life should be. Once registered I put up the tent and inflate the blow up mattresses. Georg was a bit sceptical about this set up - a bit "flasher" than we have done in years past but I figured if one of us had a disaster (mechanical or physical) at 3 or 4 am we would be more than happy to have a tent and sleeping bag to crawl into.



After checking all the gear - setting up a feed station in the back of the van we watched the live band (and had another couple of beers) for about half an hour. Then at 9 pm in a flash of sensible thinking (not a common occurrence for solo riders) we decided a couple of hours kip before the off would be a good idea. We settled into the tent and drifted off to sleep with the bass guitar and drums from Annapolis's finest "the Cheaters" reverberating around the tent. Actually found sleeping, or at least achieving a semi-conscious fugue-state, surprisingly easy and woke up shortly before the alarm was due to ring (at 11pm) with several nagging issues that had been spinning round my head resolved - funny how the brain sorts stuff out while you sleep. Main decision was "Yes wearing the dress and bunny ears was a good idea". I have been thinking of repeating last years dress wearing escapade for a couple of weeks - but in the cold light of a pre-race gathering, when everyone else looks so much better equipped and fitter I was a bit worried that I'd just look like a Jerk! Well my "sleeptime" revelation was that I didn't really care what I looked like and my kids find it kind of amusing that their Dad wears a dress when he races (Philip Larkin wrote a poem about what I'm doing to my kids I suspect - check it out, it's called "This be the verse").

George "togged up" and race ready

Second epiphany was concerning racing strategy and I'll get to that a little later.



At 11;45pm the pre-race meeting convened - George decided he would also partake of a bit of cross-dressing tom-foolery (I must say his prom dress put my little cotton summer dress in the shade!), so we stood there together, only to be joined by another guy with the same idea - fabulous! A rousing chorus of "I'm a Lumberjack" Monty Python stylee was in order but thankfully for everyone in attendance didn't happen. The race meeting dragged on till very close to start time and as George and I had neither our bike shoes, helmets (or indeed our bikes) with us we missed the last five minutes going back to the tent and finishing our preparations.

DogzBollux modelling the "2008 Walmart Transvestite Truckers Clothing Collection"

The course itself was similar to last years with a couple of changed sections. Personally I break the course down into sections that allow me to track where I am. The initial portion is hilly and leads to a meadow that you scoot out onto a number of times between dropping back into the woods for more technical sections - lots of rooty climbs and off camber sections with a few logs thrown in. One grassy climb is one of the toughest on the course. Once you leave the meadow behind you descend on a section of single track that takes you alongside the railway line and over the campsite access road (onto the section that was used for the parade lap). The campsite is skirted for a while then the trail dips and traverses a raised boardwalk over a boggy section (looked like a new boardwalk this year). After the boardwalk is the famed "twisty bridge" that slopes up and to the right. Over the bridge and a sharp right takes you to a new section that was fresh cut single track, flat but soft and with a couple of bridges to navigate. The route then rejoins the old course for a decent rooty climb that lead to a section that mixes climbs with rooty decents (several of which lead to short narrow bridges across stream beds - a bit nerve-wracking the first lap). After one screaming decent the course cuts right up a hill onto an off camber section that bumps you on a bridge leading to the only section of the course I walked every lap. It's a tough rooty climb that is just (in my mind) not worth the risk/effort to climb - this was my walk and rest section every lap. After this climb the rest of the course was 100% ridable a twisty, bumpy soft section that was interesting but hard work then a fun rooty downhill section leading to a completely flat very twisty wooded section, no real obstacles, few logs and a couple of bizarre "moguls". Then there were three tough but very do-able climbs followed by a very short steep downhill and the rest of the lap was a fun piece of cake. Some nice ups and downs along the river, off camber section leading to the last bridge and then the section through the derelict buildings including the "up and over the oil tank" and a bumpy ridge thing - no effort but fun riding - then repeat!!!



Every ones 12 hour solo race experience is completely different and so I can only take you though how the next 12 (and a bit hours) unfolded for me.



Lap One

Starts with a "parade lap" through the woods adjacent to the campsite over the raised boardwalk and then back to the start/finish. Very slow progress, not bothered! Just shooting the breeze with some other riders and trying to relax (long way to go yet). Then it's out onto the course proper, within minutes we see the first riders with their bikes upside down fixing tires/chains - that's harsh luck. First lap is a matter of scoping the course, working out what is new/difficult/ridable or better just to walk. Rode with George for a while then he nipped ahead and I let him go - first lap just a matter of controlling the nerves, avoiding disaster and settling in for the nest 12 or so hours. The course was fun but not as difficult as I remember previously - although much of it was a repeat of last year (I suspect the wet conditions last year made benign sections more treacherous) there are no really tough sections and I would say it is 95-98 % ridable. The one pleasant surprise is the last steep downhill, which I fell badly on twice last year and ended up walking every lap, was a doddle this year. I think this was new last year and age has mellowed her somewhat. So I finished lap one felling pretty bloody great! Course was very manageable and I was happy with my set up. The disc brakes on the Monocog were a major upgrade since last Lodi and I had Todd's light this year (Light and Motion -LED lamp, I used the dim setting to prolong battery life - still brighter than my Nite Hawk). With the Nite Hawk bar light as back up I thought I was prepared for anything - oh yeah like you can ever be ready for everything in a 12 hour solo race. End of lap one and time to put my "pre-race sleep-game plan" into action. Last year I had been 3rd in the solo SSer category until the last two laps! Then the guy behind me snuck in a double lap effort and overtook me whilst I was sat at the car taking a between lap rest/refuel! So I finished fourth! Nearest I've ever been to a podium finish on the bike - BUGGER. So this year I decided I would ride double laps throughout! I regularly ride 2+hours with the guys so resting every lap seemed an unnecessary luxury and skipping the rest would save me 10 min every two laps (as long as I could hold mind and body together). So Lap One finished and straight out for lap two



Lap Two

The lap of nightmares! Just when I thought I had every angle covered the Mtb-Gods just decided to play with my head!! First on the first hilly section I notice a rattle on my bars - first though is that my headset is loose. I stop and check, nope it's firm. But the rattling continues, then I notice my bar light mount has loosened and spun round and is rattling around. O.K. no major aggro I plan to stop end of this lap so I'll tighten it then, I toy with the idea of removing my light and sticking it in my pocket but (i) with the dress on access to pockets is difficult and (ii)I fear I will take a tumble and land on the light damaging either it or me irrevocably. So the light stays on the spinning mount. Five minutes later I fall on a rooty section and notice my bloody bar light has gone!! I retrace my route for about 200 yards but no joy. So now not only have I lost my light I use weekly for night rides but of more immediate concern, if Todd's light goes down I am stuffed, with no back up. But it's only lap two so I put these thought behind me and just bloody well ride. Settling into a nice rhythm when, just after the last steep down hill I go over an innocuous bump, I hear a loud crack and my saddle slumps backwards! Closer inspection confirms that i have broken my seat post! Fortunately my saddle was kept in place by the saddle bag that I have attached between the saddle rails and the seat post - if the saddle had dropped off the bike and I'd come down hard on the broken seatpost life would have looked very bad! Obviously no fix is possible on the trail so I velcro my saddle bag with saddle still attached to my (now light deficient) handle bar and hold the seat post in my hand as I complete the lap standing. End of lap two and after finding the guy at the "bike shop" tent is walking his bloody dog and won't be back for a while I give up on replacing the Monocog's seat post (26.8 - not the most obvious size either). Head back to the van for my planned break and as luck would have it George is in residence. I confirm I can use his IF SSer and we change the pedals from Georges Time Attack to my spd. George helps, loosing about ten minutes of his race time (cheers George) - the Mtb gods will be kind to him later, so it must be karma or something.



Lap Three

Longer inter-lap break than expected, but at least lap three is happening. On paper the Monocog and the IF sound very similar (except for the price tag) - both 29ers, steel frames and very similar gear (32x20 on the Monocog, 31x21 on the IF). The bikes even have the same tires!! Only major difference is the IF has H-bars. But the bikes are chalk and cheese to ride! Completely different feel, the IF feels so much lighter and responsive (guess this is what your money gets you), I struggle horribly for pretty much the whole of lap three - I'm sure it's comedy to watch. For the first section I simply cannot keep the back wheel on the ground and I spin on every root I find and the front end is popping up at every opportunity. This could be a very long night.



Lap Four

No break so straight out for Lap Four, by now I have mastered the IF (the Monocog will probably never feel the same again) and the laps are beginning to settle into a routine. The first couple of sections with the majority of the hills are hard work but the second half of the course allows you to rest and get ready for the next lap. On the flat soft section at 3 miles I ride with a lady for awhile until she falls emitting a very loud shriek. Having confirmed she was O.K. I ride off into the night only to her another half dozen or so shrieks within a matter of minutes (guess she was not having a great time). Rest of the lap goes fairly smoothly, but then the seeds of doubt start creeping insidiously into my mind, is my light dimming? Is it about to burn out? I've been riding now for over four hours and Todd said he thought he could get four hours burn time! What to do? The original plan was to just run it down then switch to the bar light - easy! But with that plan nixed potential problems exist. I have no choice but to finish lap four but the I could either risk Todd's light or switch to my emergency lights on my other helmet. These lights are in reality just no up to the job so at the end of lap four I decide to "throw the dice" and chance Todd's light. At the end of lap four the guy at the desk says "you've been out a long time now are you going to take a rest?" Yep I confirm, give him my tag and head back to the van. Re-lube the private bits, change gloves to short fingered one (getting too hot) and change my sweat catching bandanna. Then a drink of water, refill the camelback with Gatorade some Pringles and a Fig Newton and I'm all set. Ten minutes and I'm back at the desk asking for my tag - the guy looks at me incredulously and says "I thought you were going to stop for a while?". "Just did" I reply, grab my tag and go. Guess he found it hard to take a guy dressed in a pink dress and bunny ears seriously - go figure!



Lap Five

This is the best lap of the race - the lap when the sun comes up and you can stop worrying about lights. Odd this year because I noticed the sky getting light above the trees before the birds started singing. Happy times! It's amazing how different the course is when you get your peripheral vision back and you can see beyond 50 feet in front of you. The light creeps back but by the time I hit the last flat section day is hear and life is good. Finishing lap Five about 6:30am meant that planning the rest of the race started to factor into my riding. Pre-race targets were - 6 laps to avoid embarrassment, above 8 would be great and 10 if all the planets aligned. With 5 laps done and over 5 hours left 6 laps was in the bag and 8 was looking comfortable (assuming no further technicals and no bodily malfunction).



Lap Six

After the best lap of the race comes the worst! It's light, your knackered and you've still got 5 hours to ride for - mentally it's a killer! The hills are steeper than they were last lap and it started to be a bit of a mental battle for me. Around this time people had noticed my unusual racing kit and a few shouts of "Hey it's the Bunnyman" were heard. This kept me amused for most of the next lap or so as I sang the few words from "the Killing Moon" and "Bring on the Dancing Horses" that I could muster in my befuddled state - wondering if (i) anyone would actually recognize the songs and (ii) even if they did would they put my somewhat tortuous joke together - the stuff you do to get you though a 12 hour solo ride.

Somehow the words

"First I'm gonna make it,
then I'm gonna break it till it falls apart,
hating all the faking and,
shaking while I'm breaking your brittle heart"

seemed strangely appropriate for my physical and mental state. Magic stuff

If anyone is wondering what the F**k I'm talking about search "Echo and the Bunnymen" on YouTube and your ears will love you forever - I'm listening to them as I type - Lovely).

Lap Seven
Tempted though I was no break between a lap 6 and 7 I plowed on. Fatigue was set in good and proper and I was becoming increasingly clumsy. I think lap 7 was the only lap I had a decent fall during. I just completely screwed a rooty section on the first mile of the lap, my pedals and cleats had started not talking again (like an old married couple) and I face planted pretty damn good. Fortunately the ground was pretty soft and with the exception of my dignity nothing was too badly hurt. Lap 7 was also when my fagile mental state allowed minor body pain to be an issue - my right hamstring started to give warnings and my back started to howl like a dog! Fortunately the H-bars on Georges IF were perfect to stretch out on smooth sections and releave the back strain. Every steep hill I was expecting the quads to wave a little white flag and give up, but it just didn't happen - in fact this was the first lap I took some of the steeper climbs - just too tired to get off and walk.

Riding is so much easier when it's light!

Lap Eight
O.K. so life is now getting seriously fuzzy, the fantom people among the trees have started to appear - happens every year so I'm not too spooked. Think it is the peripheral vision going again, a couple of times I see people running toward the trail ahead of me, look to see and there is nobody there. Pass a guy on a cheapo mountain bike, wearing jeans and no helmet (not a clue waht that was about). A little later I catch and pass a couple of guys in "Single Speed Outlaw" jerseys. The second one I recognize as Ricky D - now Ricky is a super strong rider so I figure if I'm passing him I must be doing O.K. and this morale boost sees me though the rest of the lap. When I finish lap eight it's time for a break, new gloves and bandana and a wipe down with a towel. At the car I meet George, just heading out for his lap eight - he is psyched to the max cos eight is the most he has ever done at Lodi and with 2 h left he is a certainty for nine this year barring disaster. I decide that I'd better start takinmg this racing lark a bit more seriously and with the sunrise the temperature has risen by now - so unfortunately the dress that I wore the whole 12 hours last year ad eight this year is sacrificed in an attempt to keep my body core temperature in the "viable-zone".

Lap Nine
All I can think is that this may well be my last lap! With that though I seem to gather some extra strength. Hills are less steep and I'm feeling pretty damn good. Half way through I bump into the SSO guys again (they must have forgone the between lap rest - as they were in a race to the death between themselves) I chat with them both but as before they eventually drop behind as i am feeling strong. As I chat with Ricky he mentions that he has done perhaps 9 or10 laps - Bugger that's one more than me and if they are racing each other that means I can be at best third - respectable! So for the reat of the lap I am trying out different scenarios, either the two SSO's are on their lap 10 - in which case I can't catch them and if there is anyone else ahead of me I'm off the podium orthe SSo's are on lap 9 (with me) in which case is I stop after lap 9 and they make the cut off (as was likely) and go out for lap 10 then I drop two places. I decide that I will keep things steady (knowing I will make the 12 cut off with time to spare) then check the standings and if I am out of a podium finish it's time to hang up the bike shoes and get a beer. When I finish lap nine I ask the timekeepers and the initail news is devastating - three guys in front of me! Oh well beer time! Then they say "check for yourself" and I scan the read out - only to people in front od me! I confirm this is correct with he timekeepers (who confirm that I am in fact in third). This is perhaps even more devastating as it means I need to keep riding!

Lap 10
I am perhaps a quarter of a mile into lap 10 when the realization that if the two SSO's are the guys in front on me I'm possibly doing a lap more than I need hits me. I forgot to check the status of the guys behind me! Bugger. Oh well at least I will be able to say I rode the whole 12 hours. THis lap I know all I have to do is not be overtaken by another solo SSer and I will ahve managed my first ever placing on a bike - it may not be a big thsing for you guys, but for me it would be something special! The first big hill I just give up on and walk, but after that I feel stronger as the lap progresses. I ahve afew scares when guys on SS blast past me but I figure that if they are going that fast now they are either part of a team or have rested a lot. In any case there wasn't a hope in hell of me staying with them so it didn't really matter (I'd done all I could and I would have to be satisfied with that). I counted the "landmarks" of the course - distinctive rooty climbs, logs and fun downhill sections and bid them farewell for 2008, knowing that I would not be seeing them again until next year. Down the last steep decent and I knew the lap was essentialy over and neither SSO had gone past me. Through the derelict buidings and before I knew it onto the campground! Woo Hoo! "Yo Bunnyman" someone shouted and I actually dared to lift both hands from my bars in a faux roadbikers salute.

At the table I ask tentatively what the standings are and it was confirmed - DogzBollux 3rd in the SS solo class!! For a moment I felt almost like a real biker! Then I noticed the SSO's were already in camp - turns out they were riding fixed gear bikes!! Whole different level of crazy! I thought it was odd that I could ride with them (let aone ride past them) all is revealed!

George finished at around 1:30pm as the last rider to complete the course - resplendent in his prom dress that he had donned for his final lap - a man with real class! He was chuffed to bits that he had bagged 9 laps, on more than previous years - seems the 10 minutes he lost helping me get the IF ready to roll hadn't come back to bite him. The Mtb-gods were kind all round.

12 Hours of Lodi Farm, more fun and pain than you can normally cram into a Saturday night/Sunday morning. Organizers deserve medals (if not sainthoods) and all the riders are stars - no egos anywhere and the politest race I've ever encountered. How often in a competitive setting does someone come up behind you and ask "excuse me, do you mind if I pass on your left?" of actually get off the course when they hear you approaching. Restores you faith in humankind.

Cheers

DogzBollux