Three weeks ago I ventured out to the unknown trails of Camp Wahsega in Dahlonega, GA to participate in the 2007 Fools Gold 50 mile race. I anticipated racing the 100 mile for several weeks before registeration and at the last minute I decided I needed a few more miles under my belt before racing the 100. Hindsight now tells me this was one of the smartest decisions I've made all year.
I arrived in Dahlonega on Friday night and stayed at the nearby Econo-Lodge. I had made reservations with the Econo-Lodge due to my need for a good nights sleep in order to function well on race day. I was invited to stay with fellow teammate and race promoter Namrita and Eddie. However, I decided that they had enough to worry about without worrying about my comfort. Thanks for the offer guys, it was much appreciated. After checking in I made the short trip to Camp Wahsega to register and check out the facilities. This was a great venue for a race. The cabins were air-conditioned and well arranged. They were within 100-200 yards from the starting line, kegs and kitchen with plenty of parking. Next year I'll ot for the weekend package, if there's room. This was a great race and I expect it to grow quickly. I quickly registered and filled my sag bags for reststops 1, 3 and 4. There were 5 reststops, with reststop 2 and 3 being the same and reststop 5 being the start-finish line. From here it was a short drive to a local restaurant for dinner and then to the hotel to make last minute preparations for the race. I brought my new Vassago Jabberwocky SS that I had built up the night before and the pink 1X9 Bandersnatch. Deciding it wasn't a great idea to race a newly built bike, I preped the Bandersnatch and went to bed.
Saturday morining it was back to the same local restaurant for a huge breakfast and then off to the races. I arrived at 6:35am (just in time to see the 100 milers take off) and quickly got ready for the 7am start of the 50. We started the first 7-8 climb up the service road climb at 7am. My strategy was to go out hard and stay with the stronger riders for this part of the race, knowing that this climb would break the pack apart quickly, and it did. We quickly caught up with some of the slower paced 100 mile riders and it began to get harder and harder to decipher between who was doing the 50 and who was doing the 100. As we topped the longest climb of the race and arrived at the first reststop I was with the top 6 or 7 50 mile riders. Believing I would run out of water before stop 2 I stopped and filled bottles. Most of the other riders rode on without stopping. Am I the only one who drinks a bottle of water every hour?
After filling up I got back on the Bandersnatch and started the long loose descent to the next reststop. Had I known it was mostly downhill to this stop I would have skipped #1 also. However, as I rode through reststop 2 I realized that many of the front riders had stopped here and some were still filling up as I rode through. From this point of the race until the finish there was an unbelievable amount of great flowing singletrack. In fact, this was some of the funnest singletrack I've ever ridden. Each section of single track was connected by brief fire or service road and each section was a little different than the previous. If you haven't had a chance to ride in this area, you should take the time to do it or come out and do this race in 2008. You can thank me later.....
I completed the loop and arrived back at reststop 2/3 an hour or so later. At this point in the race my legs were starting to fatigue and I was starting to realize that doing the 50 instead of the 100 was a great idea. This was also the point where I weighed the positive and negative points of stopping and eating or continuing on. Stopping for too long could lose me several spots now and not staying and eating long enough could lose me more spots in the end. I have a high metabolism and I sweat a lot. This plays against me on long, hot rides and today it was hot (mid 90's) and humid. I decided to stop and eat some "real food" before moving on. Several riders past me while I was sitting in the shade and refueling. This broke me down mentally and emotionally. I ate a little faster, filled my bottles and moved on.
Every endurance race like this will break you down mentally and physically at some point. Today that point was between reststop 3 and 4. I became fatigued, queezy, and slow. Knowing that these are all signs of dehydration and remembering what happened in the ORAMM when I became dehydrated a few weeks earlier I began to eat and drink as much as possible. This slowed me down and for the first time several riders past me while I was riding during this section of the race. My ambition to finish in the top 10 began to deminish as I started to think top 20 wouldn't be so bad. I pressed on...
I finally arrived at reststop 4 and filled my empty water bottles and ate lots of fruit before moving on to the finish. The closer I got to the finish the better I felt. I always wonder what can be done to bottle some of this energy a little earlier in the race (like between stops 3 and 4). Anyway, I continued to ride. This was some of the best singletrack of the race and the excitement of riding new great singletrack kept me going. 6 hours and 1 minute after starting the race I crossed the finish line. I checked my computer and realized I had spent 31 minutes at the reststops with a ride time of 5 hours and 30 minutes. Someone needs to teach me to eat and drink more on the bike. Anyone have any ideas? I had no idea what place I had finished in and at this point I didn't care. I just wanted a shower and some food.
After showering and eating some of the best post-ride food I've ever had with fellow teammate Brian Archer and few other friends I packed up and ventured home. It wasn't until several nights later that I learned that I finished 10th out of 45 in Men's Open and 12th out of 65 Overall.
This was a great venue, a great race, and even better singletrack. I will be back next year. Thanks Eddie and Namrita for a top quality event and thanks to Vassago Cycles, WTB, White Brothers, Cane Creek and Bike29 for developing a bike that finished another long race without any mechanicals. Congratulations to the top 3 100 milersSam Koerber, Harvey Minton and Peter Joski. Congratulations to the top 3 50 milers Shane Schreihart, Eric Watson and Eric Smith. See you next year!!!!!
