Another year of racing Lodi goes in the books. This year proved to be one of the best years yet. About 4 years ago I had sworn off racing Lodi if it was going to rain. That was mostly due to the fact that it started raining at 11:30 PM and didn’t stop until 12:30 PM the next day…and this was no pansy rain. We’re talking full on crazy flood the creek type of rain or tadpoles swimming in your tent kind of rain. So when the rain started to fall as I left the house to drive down I was a little pissed.
Met Steve and Butch at the Wawa just off the 95 exit for Fredericksburg, VA. We gathered some last minute emergency supplies (mostly ice for the beer cooler) and headed on out to the race grounds. I think we arrived by 3:30 PM, so plenty of daylight left to do a pre-ride if one wanted. We just wanted to get our stuff setup before the rain caught up with us. We managed to get Steve’s truck and my Outback situated nicely with the popup tent joining the two.
Photo by Butch
With everything setup and the decision not to pre-ride being made by Mother Nature, there was nothing left to do, but boil up some water for our tasty Mountain House meals in a bag. Steve brought out the big guns with Spaghetti and sauce, Butch ventured into expired eggs and bacon, and I whipped out my Beef Stew. Steve’s meal in a bag was delicious, as was mine, but Butch’s meal looked like one of the port-o-johns after the race…nasty! Evidently it didn’t taste much better. After a fulfilling meal it was time to pull out the cooler and chill out. We got our lineup straight. It would be Butch, Steve, then me. Figure both of them are faster than me, so if we actually ended up going head to head with somebody, they’d be more likely to get the extra lap and be able to do it faster.
At about 10:30 PM, Butch starts to whine, he thinks he has a fever and just can’t get warm. We call him out and a little after 11:00 PM he starts to get ready for his first lap. Talk about a transformation, just put Butch in some woolies and he’s a new psyched up racing man.
At midnight the race starts with a parade lap (in lieu of doing a le mans mass running start). Pretty soon they were off and Butch went on to pull an hour lap. Steve got his stuff together and was there on time to make a flawless transition. The word came from Butch that it was slick as snot with a nice layer of peanut butter, but it was definitely rideable. Steve went on to pull an hour and five minute lap. So I head out for my first lap of the race at 2:05 AM with my one handlebar mounted light. (As much night riding as I do, you’d think I’d shell out for a nice HID, but to be honest, those things defeat the purpose of riding at night. Granted this was a race, but damn, a good HID lights up a trail like a highway…way too much light. I like not being able to see more than 5-10 feet in front of the bike.)
Photo by Butch
Butch was right, the course was slick, but totally rideable. If you like the occasional two wheel drift, this was the time to ride. I’m sure it was much more slick for my two team mates though. You could tell it was already getting down to the hardpack for some fast paced riding. The first lap was pretty uneventful. Without doing a pre-ride I was really just trying to learn the course (a third of the trails were brand spanking new). I managed to pull my lap in an hour and eight minutes. I was shooting for under 1:15, so I was happy with myself.
Butch grabbed the baton and pulled another hour lap! Then Steve was back out and managed to shave a couple of minutes off for an hour and three minute lap. Then it was my turn again, looked like I had the good fortune of being the sunrise lap rider. I felt really good on my second lap. There were two riders just ahead of me as I left the gate and another one pulled out right behind me. We made a nice game out of passing and pulling each other. Over the lap the group of four broke down to two then back up to six or seven. I managed to pass a bunch of people and I think I only got passed by a couple others. By the end of this lap I knew this was going to be a fun race. People were out there racing hard, but everyone seemed to be in a good mood. People were talking to each other on the bikes, asking to pass, picking a side and actually announcing it…it was civil and it showed. This was good natured competitiveness at it’s peak. I rolled in with an hour and six minute lap. Like Steve, I shaved two minutes off my first lap and finished at 6:22 AM.
Butch went back out and pulled a sub hour lap at only 58 minutes! Steve then battled it out for a 55 minute lap! My third lap went really well. I was passing more people than I was being passed by…always a good thing, ha. I was using a guy up ahead of me as inspiration. He had a red blinky on his back and that became my target. We would start going uphill and he would start pulling away, so I’d start to lay it down and give it everything I had on the flats and downhills. I managed to pass the red light rider and acquired a new target…big Blue. This was an obvious Clydesdale, a big boy, but he was rocking the course. Super smooth until SMACK! The dull thud of his shoulder straight into one tree that made a tight spot. A second later he and his bike were down hard. I stopped to make sure he was ok. He was definitely dazed, but was able to get up and walk around. He said he was alright and that he could probably make it in on his bike. After making sure he was able to ride his bike I sprinted off to let the race organizers know they might need to have the ambulance guys look at his shoulder. It gave me my inspiration to ride hard for the rest of the lap. Unfortunately I was also starting to enter the cramp zone. Not actual cramping, but knowing that if you push a little harder on the uphills, you know you’ll be spending a couple of minutes on the ground working out your leg muscles. I made it back to the start with a lap time of 1:07, not bad considering stopping and being close to cramping. I remember getting back from this lap and telling Steve he needed to get back in before noon, because damn it, I wanted to get my fourth lap in if it killed me.
Butch went back out and managed to pull a 54 minute lap, the fastest on our team!
Photo by Gary
Then Steve goes out and pulls yet another 55 minute lap!
Photo by Gary
Talk about being a boat anchor…if these guys had a third man that was a little more equal to them, they definitely would have been in contention for a podium spot. But hey, we do what we can do and racing with these guys makes me faster than I would be on my own. Knowing these guys are out there giving it their all really makes you want to man up. I realized I would need some more food, boiled up some water and ate my second meal in a bag, eggs and bacon…not expired, ha. Damn it was good! Fluffy eggs with chunks of smoked bacon…mmm… Grabbed all my gear and waited up at the start line for Steve to roll in. Like clockwork, Steve pulls his second 55 minute lap and I roll out for what should be our last lap of the day. I’m just not capable of pulling a sub 50 minute lap, which is what would be needed in order to get somebody else out before noon. Since we weren’t really going for a podium, that last lap fell in the natural order to me.
Photo by Butch
The lap was nice and easy. I pushed it to stay with people, just hard enough to really work it, yet keep from cramping. I followed what would be the eventual winner of Solo Singlespeed. He was on his 11th lap! Seriously, I’m worried about cramping in my 4th lap and he has almost tripled me…talk about humbling experiences. Then I got a little uphill encouragement from FatMarc. Every little bit helps! I was definitely walking more of the hills now, but I still felt good. I promised Steve and Butch a little singlespeed spirit, so with that thought in mind I pulled over before finishing up my lap. They were near the end at one of the tech sections, an oil barrel with doors on either side, fun stuff. They were looking for spirit, so I gave it to them…
Photo by Butch
Finish up my lap in 1:08 with the clock at 12:19 PM. So my last lap was equal to my time for first lap, pretty fitting. All in all, it was a great race. The Big MEATS came together and really rode well. We didn’t podium, but we all had fun and we all know we rode the best we could. There was nothing left to do, but enjoy an ice cold beer.
Photo by Butch
I’m proud of our team and big props to Butch and Steve for kicking some ass out on the trails. Hopefully we’ll get another chance to do it again soon. If you still need more, check out the 3 man singlespeed results here. Check out all of Butch’s pics here and all of Gary’s excellent photos here.
The Big MEATS!
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