2014 6 Hours of Warrior Creek

So, at least we had a plan.  My plan.  A plan that was based on what I thought I knew and thought was best.

I asked Eric to take the first lap.  It's always an angry dash for a bit on some rolling paved roads in the park... around a camp area... up a hill... down.  A very tight race with hundreds of riders trying to get to the 13.5 mile singletrack loop first.  I had no concerns whatsoever about our ability to get six laps (three apiece) in before the end of the day.

Well, that plan started unraveling on the first lap.  The camp area the race normally pits out of was closed.  As a result, the course on the first lap was tweaked a bit to still have it make logical sense.  Quite a bit of trail was added to the start loop.  Comparing last year's results with this years results... that lap was ten minutes longer, maybe more.

Eric rode the first lap without wasting too much energy, well except for avoiding multiple accidents ahead of him... all but one.  He did get tossed into a tree when a rider lost it in front of him.  Sounded like the kinda lap I woulda lost my shit on.

My turn.

photo cred: Lunch Box

I basically went out to destroy myself.  There were plenty of carrots ahead and I munched them in bunches.  Ring-a-ding-ding.  My allergies that had been flaring up all week kept my mouth feeling dry and made it so nose breathing really wasn't happening.  All in all, I didn't feel too bad.  After my lap, we pulled up from 11th to 8th in the mens 80+.  A 1:02:29... it felt like a fast lap until I saw that the fastest in our division went 57:37.  Sheeeeeeeeee-it.

Eric went back out, and I talked to his wife Shelley.  As I said before, she's been to enough of these things.  She understands lap counts, times, cut-offs... the way that a brain-addled, oxygen-challenged racer can't.  It was hard to estimate Eric's predicted lap time based on the first extended lap, but we were able to figure out that if I didn't cross the line on my second lap before 4:35 showed up on the clock, Eric wouldn't even have time for a miracle lap.  I wrote the time on my arm so I could remember.

Eric came in, I went out.

photo cred: Lunch Box

I didn't go as hard as the first lap, but I still put a hurting on myself.  Just under two minutes slower, but I came in at 4:38 and change... meaning Eric only had 1:01 and some seconds left to get in his third and send me back out.  I changed my clothes and did anything but drink beer (as it's totally and federally illegal in the park).

Eric came back in about eight and a half minutes shy of us getting in six laps.  Had I went out first... we probably woulda got in six, but finished fourth or fifth instead of sixth.  No podium either way, so being that six is my lucky number?

That's fine.

I have to commend Eric on keeping his second and third lap within ten seconds of each other.  That's one of the reasons I asked him to be my partner.  Soooooo consistent.  Something I have a problem with myself.

Over-analyzing the lap times yesterday, it was interesting to note that many of the faster guys who used to go solo are now going duo.  The fields are packed and stacked in those divisions like never before.  Maybe it's time to start trying to poach the solo field again... as long as Bob Moss stays home.  He raced in the single speed class and managed to best every solo rider out there.  Hats off to you, my thick legged friend.

Six Hours of Warrior Creek.  Always fun.  Always a reunion.  Always a time to shake out the cobwebs and try to figure out how this racing thing works.  I can never be truly disappointed around so many friends while riding great trails on a sunny day.