Race Report: 12 Hours of Lodi Farms 2006
Race Report: 12 Hours of Lodi Farms 2006
by Joel Gwadz
The soreness from the race at Lodi Farms is gone, but the poison ivy still remails. Before the itching leaves me along with the memories I will try to get out a few words…
As per usual, I was not well prepared for this event. The weekend prior after the race at Greenbriar I had the opportunity to snag fellow DCMTB fast guy Kent Baake. But for some reason I held out. As I wanted to try and find another Clydesdale on a Single Speed. By Monday night Kent was drafted by another team, while I was till dreaming about this Clydesdale on a Single Speed. Somehow I managed to maintain this dream until just hours before race time as I arrived at Lodi Farms to meet up with my friend and rival, fellow Clydesdale, Chris Redlack.
After a short social loop around the campground with Chris I resigned myself to racing Duo. I had tried to psych myself up for this in the days leading up to the event. While packing earlier that day I was conviced enough that Duo was my destiny that I packed away enough gear for 6 laps; 6 fresh shorts, 6 City Bikes shirts, an assortment of socks…. gloves, shoes, glasses and helmet would have to be reused. At the registration table we were asked to present our names…. being more literal than creative I called us what we are… RIVALS AND FRIENDS. We walked back to the camp and got ready to race.
Without any arguement it was decided that Chris would go out first. Although I may be a faster runner, we were anticipating sub-hour lap times. Thus giving us one last departing lap just before noon. Last fall at the Panarama Paranormal I had gone out first which gave me the last lap…. here Chris was taking on the task.
Midnight came and I was having my doubts about the race. Anxiety was setting in hard. The excuses were stacking up in front of me. Like a fool I was listening to the voices in my head. Since my shoulder injury in the fall I had only been on dirt five or six times, of the few times on dirt only one of those times was on the single speed, none of those times were at night with lights. So here I was racing a rigid single speed at night without much preparation which was robbing me of any resemblance of confidence. The first lap displayed my fears. My comfort was low. It was tough for me to let off the brakes. It was tough for me to let the bike roll. It was tight in the trees. It was a battle of the spirit. A battle that I was not doing so well contending with.
Chris finished lap one in the usual Redlack fashion…. fast…. Chris would continue the rest of the race in the classic Redlack fashion… consistent. Things would go differently for me. Although I was having a great deal of fun on the bike I was not feeling that spry. The course was awesome with all of its twists and turns. But… not matter how much fun I may have had… my weakness and my fears were dominating my tone for the moment. Lots of speed was lots as I decelerated beyond my needs for various sections. The fear of a worst case scenario was too often a topic on my mind. After lap one I started to cave into my demons.
After the pass of the wrist band baton at lap one I walked the bike back to the car. I was not feeling so hot. My body was worked. The rigid fork on the Karate Monkey Single was beating the living shit out of me. My upper body was hurtin for certain. There was a numbness in my recently injured shoulder that did not give me confidence. I tried to go through the motions of preparation for my next lap. Once at the camp itself I started to wretch. I slammed some gatorade, ate some cold pizza, took a bite of a meatball, ingested a gel pack, then as I went towards the back of the Element for a little rest. Before I could open the back of the car the wretching brought up some of what I had just eaten. I slipped out of wet riding gear into some dry then climbed into the back of the element under a sleeping bag on top of a dog bed. With the moon glowing through the sky light I licked my wounds. In my head I tried to add up my excuses. There was the shoulder…. the wretching… the vomiting… the soreness… Ah heck, it did not matter what I said…. if I wanted to quit Chris would let me quit… it would not matter what I said. Chris would just keep on riding. A few more minutes passed and it started to come closer to the end of Chris’ second lap. So I climbed out of the car… took some midol (actually Ibuprophen)…. tried to replace some of the fuel my body rejected and took the advice that I so often give to others…. “you will feel fine once you are on the bike”
At the Start/Finish the stereo was blasting Quadrophenia. I listened to the music as I glanced at my bike. Wiht a glance at my watch I headed off to meet Chris. The sub hour laps do not give much time for rest, recover, repair, or refueling. The wretching continued. I chose to try and ignore the voices in my head and get on my bike and deal with the intermident wretching. Sure enough Chris arrived right on time. I was given the glory of the start of The Who’s 5:15 as I started in on lap two. Singing and pedaling I rolled down the path into the singletrack.
Lap two would move along much more like laps two through six than lap one. The first lap introduced the course. While the following laps were all a matter of refining the course. Although I had raced this event several times in years past I was over joyed to see that they added all sorts of new terrain and changed the course up a bit. Clearing technical sections and passing other riders fueled my soul. Being passed by faster riders had me pumped as well. It was humbling to see the speed and fluidity of some of the other racers. My spirit had returned. Each lap went on with its own little pain and mediocre misery… but the joy outweighed the pain. I turned consistent laps… not as fast as Chris… but fast enough to meet our goals. My fith lap had the hardship of a broken chain…. this was going to be my glory lap… the sun was out and I was energized… but the gods taunted me. Early in the lap out in the orchard my cranks spun freely. I braked and glanced down…. my chain rested on the ground coiled like a dead snake. On the repair I had the frustration of learning that there are power links for standard SRAM chains and there must be a larger power link for the SRAM single speed chain… there was just enough room to scoot the wheel forward and connect the chain with the trusty old chain tool. It was tight but ridable. I rode the rest of that lap with greater speed and fluidity than any of the laps before…. yet that would of course be my slowest lap… so much time lost on a simple repair. The gods may have broken my chain but they did not break my spiritl
Throughout the race neither Chris nor I had spent much time following the results of the racers in the DUO class. A quick glance and some miscalculations had me thinking we were further up that we had thought. I thought second or third…. but it was really third or fourth. There were two pages listing the DUO class… I was just looking at one. No matter how we cut it… the 13 lap was vital to the standings for the day. I managed to finish my 6th lap just 6 minutes before noon…. allowing Chris to go out for his seventh and final lap.
There was pain, sleep deprivation, all sorts of strange soreness. Walking was no great pleasure. Driving no better. In the end Chris and I ended up placing 4th in DUO. Not bad for a couple of Clydesdales on Single Speeds. The race was nothing shy of fantastic. The crew of Team Bike Works throws a great event. A good time was shared by many. It was great to race with my friends. The time between the laps and on the course was time well spent. These multi-lap race events bring something to the mountain bike race culture that most races do not. So much of life with its responsibilities forces us to drive out to the races, take our bikes of the cars, line up at the start, race, load up the car, and drive home. But the camping and the pause between laps offers a chance for some bonding and kinship. Even if it is just a few second hello… the experience is shared. The race was not easy for me, as racing never is. But, I am totally psyched that I was there and I am totally psyched with my efforts. Lodi is on the radar for next year. But first i need to look at the next race for this season…
- Posted in : 2006 Race Reports
- Author : Joel Gwadz
Comments»
hmmmm…..
guess I will try the comments section
not sure if anyone has commented on any of the previous posts
great race to all who were at Lodi
City BIkes especially
it was a good weekend for city bikes
Fantastic writeup Joel. I wouldn’t have guessed you would feel that angst. You seem so confident in person, assured. I’m glad I’ve had a chance to make your acquaintance; I hope I get a chance to talk with you more in the future.