Big Bear 2x12

The BIG BEAR 2X12 race in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia was a relay type event that I competed in with my friend Heidi Shilling. We were each to do 3 laps of around 12 miles on some of the toughest terrain in the area. We had both fared well at our last event and had high hopes of winning this one (along with the mega jackpot first place prize) or at least claiming second place in the coed category.

Arriving at the venue the night before I set up my tent and we built a fire and discussed our plans for the race the next morning. Sleeping under the stars was a nice change of pace. The weather was perfect for camping, 70's and a nice breeze.

The next morning I woke up nearly an hour late due to a technical malfunction of my alarm clock, and we scrambled to get into town for breakfast and back to the venue to prepare for the race. I managed to overeat not even thinking about the fact that I would be racing in less than 2 hours.

Arriving back at camp I walked and fed the pack of Rottweilers I travel with, prepared my bike, and finished just in time for the pre race meeting. Immediately following the meeting we lined up for the start up a long gravel road. I had no time to warm up.

The race started and I was immediately in distress. I managed to cling to the leaders as we entered the trail but without a proper warm up I was feeling major discomfort. Miles of mucus was draining from my nose, perhaps from camping the night before, i am not sure. My plan was to treat it as a time trial and go as hard as possible each lap.

Having never ridden this trail before I was shocked to see how technical it was. Using every ounce of energy I was barely staying with the front group but was happy with my position. The course was littered with boulders, rocks, roots, long climbs, and a surprise around every corner. The dirt was tacky with a few mud holes here and there. My suspenion was overwhelmed and bottomed out often on the ultra rough trail, and I found myself hitting my pedals on the rocks a lot.

Nearing the end of the first lap I caught a pedal in a rather high speed section and hit the ground hard. Our nearest competitors gained nearly a minute on me as I remounted and tried to get my groove back on the way to the finish where I handed our baton off to Heidi for lap 2 of 6.

Temps were rising, Heidi had a good lap and we were sitting in second place when I went out for my second of three laps. I had decided to slowly work up to a time trial pace this lap and I was feeling pretty good. Temps were rising now and the heat was becoming and issue but I still felt as if I was riding well as I made my way through the rough, hilly course.


Arriving at some long climbs I knew the finish was near and ramped up the power, trying to get there in short order. Entering a high speed rock garden (one of dozens) I took a chance and lost...hard. I hit the ground again, very hard this time. I was ok just a bit shaken. But once back on the bicycle I noticed I had bent one of my pedals. This made it very hard to pedal and though it was only a few miles to the finish I lost major time for our team as I limped in to finish my second lap way behind our competition.

Heidi again had a smooth and consistent lap and the thunderstorms rolled in and muddied it up while she was out there. It also cooled things off considerably for my 3rd and final lap. We were down but not out. My third lap was tough, I had repaired my pedal but was being overly cautious after crashing hard my first two laps. The trail was now very muddy and slow just staying upright was goal number one....which I failed at. Crashing hard again on the technical and now slimy boulders about half way through. I basically gave up the race at this point and just tried to save my ass to race another day.

Heidi set out on her final lap but the deal was done at this point, I had a bad day and my riding put us in 4th overall out of 8 teams. Not even near where we wanted to be. I had great fun hangin with Heidi and all my Pennsylvania and West Virginia friends, and the course was great too but my mind was just not in it. I left feeling like I let us down and was a bit bummed for a while....a big change after coming off such an epic win the week before.

Now I am happy to be on a long break from racing. Getting in some long training miles and getting some much needed time away from racing. I am hoping to feel refreshed when I return in mid July....in the meantime it's gonna be work, work, dog shows, work, summer parties and some work.