"I am not feeling very well..."

One of the events I continually look forward to every year is Judgment Day (JD).  A day in May/June were in we attempt to ride anywhere from 10 to 13 trails, and 80 to 100 miles all within the DORBA (North Texas) Trail system.  While officially, it is “not a race” for those of us up front, it always is.

So this, year, Porkshop agrees to drive for me, which is awesome. (As an aside, if you ever have the chace to road trip with Porkchop or Tituschic, do not miss the chance.  The whole event/race gets that much better).  The Soulcraft is still being built, so I was on the Pivot 429 dual suspension, modified into a singlespeed.  I had done the past 3 JD’s on a singlespeed, so I saw no reason to change.

As the day goes, everything was rocking along, with really no signs of trouble.  That is until I hit the 6th trail  (about 7 hrs and 50 miles into the event).  It was just past 1:00PM, around 100 deg F, and I was 4 miles into a 10 mile trail.  I had eaten, hydrated, and done all the right things, but I began to feel a little fatigued.  I made the turn around and felt much better.  Even got a burst of energy.  I guess the food had finally done its job.  Then about 2 miles from the end, the biscuit wheels fell off the gravy train in a hughe way.  I had no power in my legs.  None.  Even standing on the pedals, nothing.  I was still sweating, but my HR was not going up at all.  All I began thinking about was making it to the bench at the trailhead.

My next coherent thought was answering a question Porkchop was asking me at the end of the trail.  To this day, I still do not remember the last 10 minutes of the trail.  It is a blackhole in my memory.  According to Chop, I rode up to the bench, and collapsed in the dirt.  Good thing is that he was there to take a picutre of it.

The picture at the top is evidently taken after I had laid down both in the dirt and the picnic table in an attempt to rally the legs.  I admit, not my best photo.  After sitting down, eating, drinking, etc, I felt good enough to get in the car and head to the next trail.

I got on the bike and headed out.  I made it about half a mile and realized futher progress would result in serious harm.  After doing numerous endurnace races, pulling out of one is something that is a very, very difficult decision, especially after you have done some that are two and three times the distance.  But, this was not going to be my day, and I had to pull the plug.  In 19 years of racing this was only the 5th time I had a DNF.  Still stings a little, even though it was the right choice.

Thanks to Chop for the support both during the day, and when I made the decision to opt out.  Many of you have heard me talk about the Wizards that come to visit you during an endurance event.  This time they were clearly ready for me, and brough reinforcements.

Maybe next time, I will be ready for them.