12 Hours of Temecula Race Report

12 Hours of Temecula Mountain Bike race

5th place Solo Pro Men
10 laps, 11hrs
100 miles (well, 99.7)
15,400' of elevation gain

Last night I finished the 12 hours of Temecula, my first race 0f 2008. Many of the best Southern California mountain bikers, including Tinker Juarez, Pua Sawicki, Mary Collier and many others showed up at this popular series. With such a packed field and tough course this race was an ideal baseline test for my 2008 season.

The course had a demanding 1,500' of steep climbing per lap. Approximately half fire roads and half singletrack, It's only redeeming feature was a fast surface. It had rained all week long, and I fully expected to ride 12 hours in the cold rain and mud. The recent rain made the hard-packed dirt and sand surface tacky but much faster than the loose sand and mud I had expected.

Pre-Ride

Two weeks ago I drove out to pre-ride the ~9.9 mile course. I ran into a curiously fast woman, Mary Collier, also pre-riding the course and who seemed to know the trails well. I followed Mary around for 2 laps after doing a couple of my own. Also during the preride I ran into Robyn Benincasa, Loren Shaffer and Dale Blankenship who drove out from Cardiff.

Fuel

My primary fuel was the new GenR8 drink (one scoop early in the race, 2 scoops later in the colder temperatures), Clif Blocks, PowerGels (with extra sodium and caffeine), Pringles, nuun electrolyte replacement tabs, and Red Bull. I took 5mg of BCAAs 30 minutes prior to the start, out of habit.

Fueling Lessons

My fueling must have worked, as my quads felt as good as new towards the end of the race, with over 12,000' and 90 miles under my belt. This was unexpected. I felt like a monster towards the end of the race, which I attribute directly to the highly concentrated GenR8/Clif Blocks and Red Bull combo. That's my new "jet fuel".

Learning Curve

I lost heaps of time on every descent. I took the descents much more conservatively than I could have. On every lap however I gained more confidence (and experience!), and by the 8th lap, just before sunset, I was finally beginning to take advantage of the free speed and momentum the steep twisting rollers had offered. Unfortunately I will have to wait until the June race to take advantage of this new Mojo!

• There was a group of Navy SEALs racing. It is their strategy to find BUD/S candidates at adventure races, ultramarathons, Ironman triathlons, etc. Makes sense. They kicked ass.
  
• Muscles in my legs felt better after 80-100 miles than during the first 3 hrs! GenR8.
• Pondered the relationships of sugar to the Inflammation Cascade in these events.
• Negative self-talk in the first half of the race...I'll make a conscious effort to avoid that in the future. Possibly related to blood sugar/fueling.
• Need to work on skills and up-regulate my fear and skill limits/thresholds. Around lap 7, Team Sho-Air/Sonance teammate Caroline Goulard took my stuff and put it under their easy-up, and crewed for me the rest of the way. That was very kind!
• Sho-Air/Sonance teammate Super Mario, thanks for the course beta and words of advice.
• Mary, thanks for pacing me! Mary's report: http://sirenmary.blogspot.com/2008/01/first-12-hour-of-year.html

Sunday:

Woke up feeling awesome.
Paddled the surfski out of Newport Aquatic Center in Newport Beach with Cyril, Christian and the whole gang. Pizza and Stella Artois followed!