My Mothers Day Present-12 Hours of Mesa Verde

My mother's day present this year was to do 12 Hours of Mesa Verde in Cortez Colorado. It is kind of ironic that on mother's day my present is to NOT be a mom for a weekend. It was great to come home to my sweet kids and Jed. They are great, I missed them but I think the kids had a GREAT time with their dad. This is my second year racing at Mesa Verde. Last year I had my Specialized Era. I noticed a SIGNIFICANT difference this time riding my Superfly. The 29inch wheels just makes all the difference in the world for me. It is fun to do a course a year later on a different bike because you have something to really gauge your improvements. The course scared me so much last year. I walked about every technical section and felt so out of my league. I remember I even cried out there last year because I felt so freaked out. This year was different. On the preride everything was as smooth as could be. I knew we were going to have a good race. I didn't walk at ALL! So I am super stoked about that. And I shaved off about 20 minutes per lap from last year.
Lap one was the lemans start, I didn't really sprint, which I feel bad about now! I just kinda jogged. Then I got in the big old jam up right after the bridge, and from there on it was just frustration. I would get behind a huge train of people. People were just walking everywhere and there was no where to pass. I got behind Roxanne Hall who was doing a solo. I was excited to see her and wanted to talk to her but basically just sounded like an idiot and said, "hey you are Roxanne Hall right?" I stayed with her for a while and then finally got by, she was super nice. Then some guy at around mile 10 asked if I had a 29 inch tube, so I told him to rip it off the back of my bike, which probably was dumb of me. I wasn't prepared for that, no one has ever asked me that before. So LUCKILY I didn't need it for the last 7 miles. Then someone else asked me if I had a multi tool. I did but not with pliers, so I went on. In hindsight, I wonder what I should have done as this cost me some time, since people passed me up in the meantime. Not sure what to say if that happens in the future. I want to help people, but not lose time! Lessons learned on lap one is SPRINT next time so you get out of that pack or crazy crowdedness. DUH heather.
Lap two was at noon, it was really hot. I busted outta there WAAAY too fast, I felt good but I think i pushed too hard, because the last half of the lap I felt spent. I think the heat was really getting to me as well, I am just not used to it. My Garmin said 1:32 but I am not sure what the official time was. When I got back in I am sure I had a bit of heat stroke. I really felt sick to my stomach. I was so out of it and went and sat in the car with the door open and just laid there. I got even more hot in the car of course, so it really took me about 3 hours to even start feeling semi normal.
Lap 3 I got dressed for lap three but this time decided to do no GU, no camelbak, and I just brought cytosport in one water bottle. That's it. I wondered if I could even go again. I felt really really crappy. I went out super slow, waving people to pass me. So many people passed me, I felt like I was pedaling through thick mud. It was horrible, but I just kept talking positive thoughts. I took some drinks and the sun started to go down and things started to cool off a bit, so I looked around and decided to enjoy myself. I kept counting down the miles. At about mile 10, I started to feel this surge of energy from who knows where, and I took off, passing back most of the people that had passed me. That felt good. I was really sad that I didn't/couldn't go faster that last lap. That heat really affected me. I felt kinda wimpy. It was one of those things where I felt like my body should be able to go faster, but I just couldn't do it. The end was great though, my goal was to stay solid and safe through the techy parts and I had no problems there. The sun going down rejuvenated me and I finished the lap strong. We held our fifth place out of 15 teams. So things were good. I was really happy to read later in MTB race news that the top competition was the women's Legends which included "bronze medalist at the 1996 Olympics Susan Demattei, Sara Ballantyne, and arguably the most successful and dominant mountain bike racer of all time Juliana Furtado. They, of course, won the women's category in decisive fashion completing 8 laps." -MTB race news. Pretty sweet to be competing against those amazing women. Now to train harder, as this kinda race ALWAYS motivates me to get on my bike more.