24 Hours of Enchanted Forest
What a great race, and a great time.
The 2nd week of June I had this realization. That there was no becoming the bad ass single speeder I used to be, there is only being. So I decided to do 24 hours of the Enchanted Forest.
I have been studying muscle memory for 3 to 5 years, on myself, and on certain clients, whom I know their backgrounds in endurance.
Muscle Memory is real, and I am here to prove it without a doubt.
My longest ride occurred on 5.9.2015, with a total time of 4:15 and a riding time of 3:42. Prior to that I had done one on March 30th, that was a little shorter than my longest ride.
That was it, of course, my training is consistent. Of course, I have a long history of ultra-endurance races. The last time I rode 6 hours was 2.7.2015. I only covered 55 miles. Yes, it was single speed, yes, it was a 32 x 18. But that was it.
Between 5.22 and 6.10, I got in no more than 5 rides. With 3 weeks of basically no rides. Yes, for the 3 weeks prior to coming to Albuquerque, you heard it right, I basically had 0 riding, no rides in. Why? One week I was sick, the next I was in San Diego, and the 3rd week, I was moving across country.
So what did I do? I will tell you and link the rides. I did block training.
My block officially started
6.12.2015 2.5 Hours on Frankenbike which is a 26’er with a 33 x 18
6.13.2015 1.5 Hours on Gears This ride was supposed to be at least an hour longer, mother nature sometimes has it’s own mind, so I missed La Luz and half of the trail.
6.14.2015 2 Hours as a Tour Guide: This day was going to be an OFF day, with friend coming in, and missed hour yesterday, it was a no brainer to ride today!
6.15.2015 3 Hours as a Tour Guide
6.16.2015 was an OFF Day
6.17.2015 I rode 1.5 Hours on what would be my race bike and later that day I swam for 30 Minutes.
I then, had 2 days off,
and 6.20.2015 was Race Day
I was so well rested, I have a saying I use at Zoefitness, “The Caged Animal Effect”. I was so well rested going into the race I had the shakes after having coffee. I mean, seriously, how often does that happen?!? Hardly at all in real life!
The goal was to ride daylight hours, and ride between 100-120 miles total. I wanted to ride 100 miles on 32 x 18.
So the 1st day I rode for 10 hours and covered 98 miles (yes, I am calling it a hundy, for 32 x 18 purposes) Moving time was 9:59:34. Total Time was 10:03:11. So I took less than 4 minutes in transition for the entire 10 hours.
About 30 Minutes into my 3rd lap the heat was getting to me, I was sick, I couldn’t push, I had no power. I was thinking heat exhaustion was setting in. I added 15 minutes to my lap time. During the 4th lap, I realized it really was heat exhaustion. And I was debating if riding was such a great idea. I was feeling very nauseous, when I was speaking to people words were coming out jumbled, and I was definitely confused. I had no power, and I was just doing what I could. With 30 minutes left in the 4th lap, I began to feel better because the temperatures were dropping nicely. I survived. I knew my 5th lap was going to be faster. It was, about 4 minutes. My 6th lap, which was after dinner, I had to ride a little slower. Usually after dinner, I don’t, I think, dinner combined with the heat, well, in order to get the blood going to digestion, I just had to do what a girl had to do, and do another 1.5 hour lap. By lap 7, I was just plain tired. And it was dark, and I didn’t have lights. The last 2 to 3 miles, I had to have someone “bring me in” that had lights on.
On my 7th lap, I was tired, I made a couple of mistakes, clipping my pedal on rocks, or roots, or whatever ‘ghost’ was there. Both could have been catastrophic. I knew it was time to give myself a rest, and because of my mistakes, I was not going to do another lap until morning.
So I checked in for an unknown amount of time (committed until morning, but, hey, who knows, if I can’t rest, I may go back out. No more 32 x 18, so I rode my boyfriend Scott down to the truck, threw on my 2XU compression tights, ate some food, and had some social time. I kept my compression tights on for about 2 hours post ride.
I woke up at 6, and was back on the trail by 7 for another 3 hours with 1.5 hour lap times, for 2 laps. Or 28 miles. This was on Frankenbike, 26’er with 33 x 21.
So a little about my riding statistics. My laps over all were very consistent. Even with heat exhaustion, digestion, fatigue and no lights.
| 01:12:48.543 | 01:20:13.182 | 01:26:44.217 | 01:30:33.221 | 01:26:43.374 | 01:33:03.369 | 01:33:48.853 | 11:27:35.686 | 01:30:27.92 |
So here was my nutrition “plan”
Friday Night: 6 ounces of ground beef with 2 slices of pepper jack, and somewhere between 2 and 4 cups of raw veggies.
Saturday Morning: 2 cups of drip coffee, 4 eggs and 4 cups of fruit: berries, melon, banana
11 am race start, I need to eat lunch! 4-6 ounces of sauteed boneless, skinless chicken thigh (includes red chile, anti inflammatory) and .5 Super C Strawberry Odwalla.
I sustained the 1st 5 laps on 2 x 8 ounces of magic potion, 1 Lara Bar, and a banana. Plus, 4 shots of espresso with 5 tsp of sugar.
After Lap 5 I ate 3-4 ounces of chicken, and just over a cup of watermelon.
Lap 6 I had 4 ounces of coke, and between lap 5 and 7 consumed another 4 ounces of magic potion.
After lap 7 I ate a serving of carrots, red bell peppers, and a cup of greens, plus a bag of potato chips. I also, enjoyed an ounce of Silver Patron with my helper Grady, light man extraordinaire.
Sunday Morning I ate 3 hard boiled eggs. Left the 4th one with Grady permission to nag me to eat it next lap. A cup of melon, a cup of berries (half raspberry, half blackberry) I left transition with a banana in my pocket, a bar in my pants, a magic potion in my special pocket, and a triple espresso with 5 tsp of sugar. This is what I know for sure, I drank the espresso, and like half of the magic potion.
Came through grabbed my egg, but couldn’t handle the yolk so just ate the whites, and finished my magic potion.
That was it, the race was over. If we were following Terra Firma rules, I would have done another lap. Being that it wouldn’t count, I wasn’t up for just a glory lap.
So race stats:
Can’t access TP Right now. I will have to add that later.
Placement:
2nd Place Solo Single Speed Female
In other categories:
3rd Overall Female Solo
6th Place Solo Single Speed Male
13th Place Solo Men Open
Yes, I do see how I placed among everyone else, in the grand picture it’s important to me. 1st Place SS woman, would have been placed 2nd OA Female. I did not include her in my other comparisons.