12 Hours of Dauset

Team BigFoot competed yesterday at the 12 Hours of Dauset race and we had a great time. My teammates were Kim, Hillarie, and Beth, the women I've been mountain biking with most Sundays for the past few months and we were the only team of all women entered. It's too bad that Gone Riding, the event sponsor, doesn't have a category for a four-woman team as we had first place firmly locked up, since we were the only team like this. We also had last place of all the teams firmly locked, too. We are super slow, but we don't care because we had a super good time and finally, on my second and last lap, as I was heading down Bootlegger I saw two of our mascots thirty or forty feet over in the woods cheering me on. I was afraid that since there were so many people riding bikes through the Dauset woods that we'd not see any as Big Foots are very shy, but I am so glad that two of them felt brave enough to come cheer me on.

The picture above was taken by Hillarie while waiting for Kim to come through the transition area and give me the "baton*" so I could head out. See all those boys to the right? They are super fast and every last one of them, even if he started out 25 minutes after I did, passed me.

Our training methods consist of riding down a stretch or trail, or maybe the whole trail if it's not too long, then stopping and chatting a bit and then deciding where we're going next. Or, we get to the top of a steep climb and stop to catch our breaths while our hearts slide back down into our chest cavities after that huge exertion. Racing is a whole nother thing for you see, we were expected to keep pedaling. Yes, no stopping to chat or regroup or stuff our hearts and lungs back where they belong, so on my first lap I did just that, except I did stop to check on another woman who'd hit the ground hard after misjudging the width of her handle bars and the shortcut between two trees. She was pretty shaky because she hit hard, but after no more than two minutes, and with blood pouring down her knee, she jumped back on her single speed Niner (!!SINGLESPEED!! God had Shimano invent gears for a reason and I use all of mine) and sped off ahead of me and I never saw her again until a few hours later back at the ride camp. She had a huge bandage on her knee and was going out for another lap. I bow down in her general direction.

My second lap was a night lap, although it was still light when I started and really, I made it to the half way point before needing to turn on my lights. I had the ancient helmet light with its heavy battery pack that John pulled out of the closet and dusted off and then a wee handle bar light that I borrowed from Kim. Thank goodness she loaned me that light because although I tested the helmet light by turning it on before starting and then turning it off, after about 2 minutes of illumination out in the dark woods, it quit working. The handle bar lamp would jiggle and shoot skyward after crossing every root and rock and then I would point it back towards the trail and take a quick reading of what was coming next and then roll over that rock or root or both while the light thrust itself skyward to communicate with passing space ships. Oh, and this second lap? I stopped twice at the top of large climbs to catch my breath and didn't worry about the time I was taking because we had last so solidly locked up.

http://www.outdooreventphotos.com/Events/Cycling/12-hours-of-Dauset-Gone-Riding/18605523_qHhqDn#1484596042_SSJHGQP

Cut and paste the URL above to go to the official photographer's site and the pic of me descending the hill before the Brownlee Loop.

Gone Riding plays a lot of music loudly throughout the entire 12 hours and sure, I was out in the woods for 3 of them, but the rest of the time back in camp I could hear it all. I normally don't like music at horse shows and bike races, but for some reason yesterday it didn't bother me. I never heard a repeat song and the artists ranged from the Stones and Dire Straights, ELO, Madonna, Roger Miller and Johnny Cash. Kim, Hillarie and I were waiting for Beth to finish up her night lap and God's Own Drunk started playing. Kids, I had Buffet's Living and Dying in 3/4 Time on vinyl and if you've not heard it, well, you're missing out on a great album. And I've not had the album since about 1990 when all my vinyl was left behind in a move. And yet, even though it's been 21 years since I've heard God's Own Drunk, the words just all came right back to me. One of the kids (kid being in his 20's) didn't know the song and asked if who was singing it and I told him the artist and the song. So, I can remember the words to songs I learned 30 years ago, but I can't remember important stuff at work or my user ID for macon.com.



Lazy day today. I was so tired when I got home that I had a hard time falling asleep, but when I did, I didn't get up until after 8:00 a.m. Took Sparky to visit India around 11:30 and worked with her a bit on the ground, just having her cross her right hind over her left and vice versa, then groomed her and scratched all the itchy spots, which she loves. Asia got a good grooming too, and Keratex on her hooves, and then a visit to Elaine's to see RalphtheWonderPony, who has settled in nicely there.

Now I've got laundry in the dryer and I'm about to watch a movie. The windows are all wide open as it's pleasant outside and the sun has finally come out after a cloudy morning and afternoon. Going back to work tomorrow is going to be most unpleasant, but I do have a massage lined up afterwards, so thank goodness I was smart enough to schedule that.