Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Chad Wiswald's Sunny King/Cheaha Report
Big Chad 4th Place Cat 5 in the Sunny King Crit
Woke up Saturday and it was raining really bad so I was thinking of passing since the last time I rode in the rain I fell.We got to the place and it looked really disorganized so that made me want to pass so I was going to at least get my shirt so I signed in and there was no shirt and when I walked out the rain had stopped but the streets still wet.So I warmed up for a few minutes and took to the races and they postponed it for thirty minutes so I got to do a proper warm up and 5 minutes to the race I lined up off we went.I started top 4 and one kid took off and one guy droped back so I was behind a guy making him work and we did a few laps at 185 to 192 heart rate and I heard on he intercom the kid in the front was 21 years old so after about 5 laps I thught he was going to hold it so I jumped up and sprinted to catch him and told him we got to work together and we hit fists and off we went. The best part was when I broke from the pack and passed you could hear and there goes Chad Wiswall from Montgomery he even said my name right. Each Time we went around you could hear how many seconds we were ahead by him talking.The 21 year old weighed around 130 so he would take the climb and I would take the downhill but on the last 4 laps they caught us and we got in the top 3 and then I let a guy pass thinking I would save some energy but it didn't work I could not sprint to the finish. But 4 th will do for now. Where did my power go????????????? I lost it
Cheaha 7000 feet of elevation> Richard and I left a little late from the hotel and I had to get in the back to change wheels and Richard was driving 95 in a 55 I thought I was going to die before we got there Richard had too much coffee. We got there with 5 min to spare.We started out 27 in a tail wind and I had a 120 heart rate it was great so I was drafting and trying to stay wih a group with same speed so I could cheat the whole ride but Richard got boxed in. So I went back and me and him rode the two of us so no drafting. The hills were long!!!!!!!!!! long! long!long!Itseemed like a 30 minute climb or longer going 5 miles an hour then you got to go 50 down a winding road and I passed a motor cycle like he was standing still. If you went down that would be some road rash.Once we started climbing 175 to 184 depending how long the climb was.And Richard heart rate was 145 to 160 what a machine. And as we hit 67 mile marker he got faster and I just had to watch his back the rest of the ride.I think I lost about 5 pounds of leg muscle on the top of the mountain. It was fun in a crazy kinda way very challenging especially when you would see people walking up the hill making these awful sounds as you passed them. One guy had a shirt that said what have you got me into you suck. I was behind him on this hill reading it and I made the comment i like your shirt but as I passed him he said hey You suck that was pretty funny as we were going 5 to 7 miles an hour. Overall the first 67 was ok the last 13 miles sucked and it as a flat road anda head wind. Tip of the month DON'T RIDE CHEAHA unless your CRAZY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was my first 100 miles what was I thinking I must have got too much lactic acid in my brain doing that crit Saturday.
Chad
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Brooks Gant Dirty Spokes Solo 6 Hour Race Report
Brooks Gant Goes Solo...Well, this past weekend marked the beginning of a new direction in my mountain bike racing, solo endurance racing. Ed Hamilton, from Team ICS-Chain Reaction, and I left out of Montgomery a little after lunch Friday afternoon headed to Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA, about 45 minutes east of Atlanta. This was where the second race of the Dirty Spokes 6/12 Hour Race Series was being held. I had spent all week getting ready for this both physically and mentally, but not really knowing what I was getting myself into. I did know one thing... it was going to hurt.
After fighting Atlanta traffic and swearing we would never, ever live there, EVER (don't get me started) we arrived at the State Park and headed straight to the race venue to put up my canopy. Ed had called a few of his buddies from the SORBA board who were already setup and they were nice enough to save us a prime piece of real estate to set up our pit for the race. Nicki from Columbus and Charles from Marietta were also showing up for the race and the 4 of us had the perfect spot to come through on each lap.
Friday night, Ed and I hung out at the campsite trying to come to grips with what we had to do in the morning. I don't think either one of us slept all that well. I had brought my pop-up camper thinking it would help, especially since there was a strong chance of thunderstorms. But my mind was racing most of the night. Ed learned that the LOW FAN setting in my camper can essentially turn the place into a meat freezer. He was a light shade of blue when he woke up the next morning. :)
Race day morning: luckily the race didn't start till 10 AM so we had plenty of time to grab a couple of bagels and PB, some fruit and relax a little before heading over to the race. Once we got there, it was on! I love race day mornings! People are running around everywhere, trying to find there stuff, getting registered. It is like organized chaos, or maybe just chaos. Dirty Spokes runs a tight race and everything ran perfectly smooth the whole day. Registration was a breeze and Tim who organized the event was extremely helpful and courteous to all the racers.
At 10 AM, Tim gave the soundoff and almost 400 riders did a mass start. The race started with a parade lap of about 1/2 mile that spread out the pack some. Maybe just a little. There was a train of bikers as far as I could see behind me for the first lap. I had no intention of getting in the mix from the beginning so I sat at the back with Ed and we entered the woods to work on setting a comfortable pace that would keep us from blowing up too quickly. The first lap I stayed on Ed's wheel and worked on keeping my heart rate down and finding a ryhthme. Each lap was about 12.5 miles long. This trail is one of my favorites cause the climbs are short and the singletrack is like heaven! Fast and flowing. After the first lap, I come in behind Ed, swap out my bottle, take a couple of endurolytes, and in less than a minute Ed and I are off again on our second lap.
The second lap went about the same. Ed was pushing the pace a little faster and i knew by the 3rd lap I was going to have to let him go and race my own race. I remember looking down at my computer at around 24 miles thinking everything was going super smooth and feeling great. That would soon change.
I came into the pit about 15 seconds after Ed on the second lap. Charles was there getting ready for his third lap. They wanted me to come on out with them on the 3rd lap but I told them to go ahead cause I needed to have a little "nature break." That pit took a little longer than the last one but I was all fueled up and ready for another 12.5 miles. I could tell about 30 miles in that my riding was getting a little sketchy. My upper body was getting tired and looking back, I didn't eat enough to counteract the number of calories I was burning. Toward the end of the 3rd lap, I felt the first signs of cramps and I knew I was in trouble. I had to hop off the bike a couple of times and when I did, I got extremely light headed and feeling sick. I had pushed myself to hard too quick and was now in a bad place, way too early in the race. To help with the cramping, I put it in granny gear and spun the rest of the hills knowing I had to get some food in me on the next pit stop.
Once at the pit, I was done. My computer only said around 38 miles and I was on the verge of quitting. My legs were killing me, my stomach was uneasy, I was light headed. All in all, I felt like crap. I guess I was a little confused cause I couldn't figure out how much time I had left in the race. My watch was on CST, but we were in EST zone. Luckily Nicki came through and we figured we had 2.5 hours left in the race, including the extra hour you get at the end. After hearing that, I knew I could get in another lap no matter how bad I felt. I also thought of Charles' jersey he was wearing that day. He had written names of men and women that were given to him from friends and family of people overseas fighting in the war as well as missionaries serving all over the world. He had worn it in the Cohutta 100 a couple of weeks ago and he said every time he wanted to quit, he just looked down on his chest and those names kept him going. Well, those names kept me going as well.
After an extended pit stop involving peanut and butter and bagels, endurolytes and Sports Legs, I was ready to push through my final lap. Overall it went a lot better than the previous lap. I toned my speed some trying to conserve energy and actually enjoyed the trail a little more concentrating on my lines. Once I pulled into the pits, the first I wanted to see was the milage... it read 49.99 miles! By the time I rolled it my truck it turned over 50 miles. Sweet. :) My goal was 5 laps, I ended up with 4 with 20th place out of 38 racers. I'll take it.
Endurance racing is a whole new animal. I have a lot to learn but I learned a lot during this race about nutrition. Ed told me on the way over that the 3 most important things about endurance racing are pacing yourself, nutrition and how strong you are mentally. This wa s great day of racing and I love pushing myself to see how far I can go. And this type of racing lets you do just that.
After my race, I went back to the campsite, got cleaned up, ate everything in sight, and headed back to the race to watch the 12 hour solo racers. What an amazing thing to watch! Talk about pushing yourself to the limit. Congratulations Ed on 9 laps, 110.00 miles exactly and a 6th place finish!
Next up in the Dirty Spokes Racing Series is Conyers, GA in October. I rode there one time and said I would never go back. To say it is brutal is an understatement and almost laughable. The thought of doing a 6 hour solo race there... I am just happy it is 5 months away. :) I think I will go ride now and not think about it.
After fighting Atlanta traffic and swearing we would never, ever live there, EVER (don't get me started) we arrived at the State Park and headed straight to the race venue to put up my canopy. Ed had called a few of his buddies from the SORBA board who were already setup and they were nice enough to save us a prime piece of real estate to set up our pit for the race. Nicki from Columbus and Charles from Marietta were also showing up for the race and the 4 of us had the perfect spot to come through on each lap.
Friday night, Ed and I hung out at the campsite trying to come to grips with what we had to do in the morning. I don't think either one of us slept all that well. I had brought my pop-up camper thinking it would help, especially since there was a strong chance of thunderstorms. But my mind was racing most of the night. Ed learned that the LOW FAN setting in my camper can essentially turn the place into a meat freezer. He was a light shade of blue when he woke up the next morning. :)
Race day morning: luckily the race didn't start till 10 AM so we had plenty of time to grab a couple of bagels and PB, some fruit and relax a little before heading over to the race. Once we got there, it was on! I love race day mornings! People are running around everywhere, trying to find there stuff, getting registered. It is like organized chaos, or maybe just chaos. Dirty Spokes runs a tight race and everything ran perfectly smooth the whole day. Registration was a breeze and Tim who organized the event was extremely helpful and courteous to all the racers.
At 10 AM, Tim gave the soundoff and almost 400 riders did a mass start. The race started with a parade lap of about 1/2 mile that spread out the pack some. Maybe just a little. There was a train of bikers as far as I could see behind me for the first lap. I had no intention of getting in the mix from the beginning so I sat at the back with Ed and we entered the woods to work on setting a comfortable pace that would keep us from blowing up too quickly. The first lap I stayed on Ed's wheel and worked on keeping my heart rate down and finding a ryhthme. Each lap was about 12.5 miles long. This trail is one of my favorites cause the climbs are short and the singletrack is like heaven! Fast and flowing. After the first lap, I come in behind Ed, swap out my bottle, take a couple of endurolytes, and in less than a minute Ed and I are off again on our second lap.
The second lap went about the same. Ed was pushing the pace a little faster and i knew by the 3rd lap I was going to have to let him go and race my own race. I remember looking down at my computer at around 24 miles thinking everything was going super smooth and feeling great. That would soon change.I came into the pit about 15 seconds after Ed on the second lap. Charles was there getting ready for his third lap. They wanted me to come on out with them on the 3rd lap but I told them to go ahead cause I needed to have a little "nature break." That pit took a little longer than the last one but I was all fueled up and ready for another 12.5 miles. I could tell about 30 miles in that my riding was getting a little sketchy. My upper body was getting tired and looking back, I didn't eat enough to counteract the number of calories I was burning. Toward the end of the 3rd lap, I felt the first signs of cramps and I knew I was in trouble. I had to hop off the bike a couple of times and when I did, I got extremely light headed and feeling sick. I had pushed myself to hard too quick and was now in a bad place, way too early in the race. To help with the cramping, I put it in granny gear and spun the rest of the hills knowing I had to get some food in me on the next pit stop.
Once at the pit, I was done. My computer only said around 38 miles and I was on the verge of quitting. My legs were killing me, my stomach was uneasy, I was light headed. All in all, I felt like crap. I guess I was a little confused cause I couldn't figure out how much time I had left in the race. My watch was on CST, but we were in EST zone. Luckily Nicki came through and we figured we had 2.5 hours left in the race, including the extra hour you get at the end. After hearing that, I knew I could get in another lap no matter how bad I felt. I also thought of Charles' jersey he was wearing that day. He had written names of men and women that were given to him from friends and family of people overseas fighting in the war as well as missionaries serving all over the world. He had worn it in the Cohutta 100 a couple of weeks ago and he said every time he wanted to quit, he just looked down on his chest and those names kept him going. Well, those names kept me going as well.
After an extended pit stop involving peanut and butter and bagels, endurolytes and Sports Legs, I was ready to push through my final lap. Overall it went a lot better than the previous lap. I toned my speed some trying to conserve energy and actually enjoyed the trail a little more concentrating on my lines. Once I pulled into the pits, the first I wanted to see was the milage... it read 49.99 miles! By the time I rolled it my truck it turned over 50 miles. Sweet. :) My goal was 5 laps, I ended up with 4 with 20th place out of 38 racers. I'll take it.
Endurance racing is a whole new animal. I have a lot to learn but I learned a lot during this race about nutrition. Ed told me on the way over that the 3 most important things about endurance racing are pacing yourself, nutrition and how strong you are mentally. This wa s great day of racing and I love pushing myself to see how far I can go. And this type of racing lets you do just that.
After my race, I went back to the campsite, got cleaned up, ate everything in sight, and headed back to the race to watch the 12 hour solo racers. What an amazing thing to watch! Talk about pushing yourself to the limit. Congratulations Ed on 9 laps, 110.00 miles exactly and a 6th place finish!
Next up in the Dirty Spokes Racing Series is Conyers, GA in October. I rode there one time and said I would never go back. To say it is brutal is an understatement and almost laughable. The thought of doing a 6 hour solo race there... I am just happy it is 5 months away. :) I think I will go ride now and not think about it.
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