This past Sunday I had some good buddies from Kansas City come into town to visit, and do the
Sick Six mountain bike race at Clearbay Trail in Norman, OK.
Now I'm no stranger to endurance events, but this was to be my first 6 hour race on dirt, riding my single speed mountain bike. The rains we had been getting the past week had led many of us to believe that the event would be cancelled. Alas, we received a call at 1 pm on Saturday confirming that the Sick Six was still on. I was syked, tired from the week of busyness, but syked nonetheless.
Cameron, Travis and
Jesse rolled into OKC about 11:30 on Saturday night and crashed out in the living room. My sleep had been scarce over the past week due to busy photo schedule and some friends from Switzerland and Brazil, who were in for the Boathouse Triathlon on Saturday (photos to come on that later). But I was still ready to ride and felt plenty recovered from the marathon a couple weeks back.
Sunday morning we roll into the trailhead. Red Bull banner. Loud music. Registration. Prepare. Lemans start. The rains had left the trail muddy and sloppy for the first hour or so. Fortunately the course began to dry out as the warm weather settled in on us.
My first lap (approx 6.6 miles) I took it easy trying to adjust to the wet trail and keep my reserves for the remainder of the race. My buddy Jesse and I had both decided on riding our single speeds with rigid forks, mostly because that is all we have. So Jesse and I stay on pace pretty closely in the first lap and I finish a minute or two behind him, and start out on the second lap. A couple miles or so into the second lap I pass Jesse and wonder if he is feeling ok. He had slowed considerably.
Thunderbird is a singletrack trail with a good amount of climbs, technical sections and fast track roller coasters. Most of the technical sections were cut out of the loop we rode for the race. But the climbs beat me up.
Four laps in and I'm hurting a bit. I still feel Jesse's breath down the back of my neck so I keep pushing. The climbs are killing me. I have to walk a 15 foot section of "huffy hill". Jesse's humping my back wheel, not really, but it feels like it. Peanut butter sandwich, banana, gel, gatorade. I feel better. A little.
I finish lap 7 and stop quickly, but I have no food left. I'm offered a Powerbar and scarf it along with some water. Bad idea. Hadn't had a Powerbar in years. My tummy don't likey. Knots in the stomach. I push on. 5 minutes into the 8th lap I really feel Jesse on my crack. I let him pass. He's gone.
Jesse had played his cards right. He kept me in sight the entire race. Saw me faulter, and went for my jugular. He saw I was hurting. Saw the climbs were beating me up. Passed me on a climb. And I never saw him again.
The race ended at the end of Jesse and my 9th laps, and I was a full two minutes behind him. He toughed out a gutsy race and kicked it in, very nicely done. Second in the single speed category. Fourth for me.
No matter. It was a great experience, and I'm ready for the next step into the ring, a 12 hour ride like our boy
Lucas just handled. Still gonna be on my single speed though.
Randy relaxing after his technical break on lap three.
Cameron and Travis killed the team division by more than 30 minutes, which isn't a surprise in the least. They were burning the track.
Randy Banning had some technical difficulties with his bike on lap 3 and had to throw in the towel.
Thanks to Nicki for helping us out and taking all the good photos!!!!!!!
