Mississippi MTB Racer: Black Bear Rampage

what began as a thread on msmtb.org soon turned into a bonified training race for me. i had no intention on doing this race but because of having to cancel a few races in late October i decided that this would be fun to do plus be a good way to get me back going for the last 2 xc races of the year. all though i know the trail system well this race would prove to a first on a few fronts...

1. 44mile continuous course vs. the normal 10mile xc loop

2. SS race...since my geared bike is out of commission right now

3. racn on a hard tail...

4. road trippin with Betz...

5. sighted a black bear and her cub.

Let me just say this...it was one of the toughest races i have ever done...44 miles, 4300ft of climbing, 95% singletrack, self supported, one freaking gear(34x17)...really...almost every climb i had to stand and crank...the lower back and quads were fried by mile 30 and i was in complete survival mode after that...i tried to eat and drink as much as possible but the cramps were inevitable...the standing up, the churning of the gear(no spinning) and probably lack of proper preparation all lead to what were contributors to what were some horrible quad cramps.

The race started up a long, steep paved road and i tried to stay with the front guys. i pushed too hard and saw me leaving my comfort zone early on. I entered the woods 2nd and flew through the first section of trails. I was joined by 3 other ss racers before we reached the first sag stop. we crossed the bridge and started climbing again. i dropped off one fella's pace and the others settled in behind me. we stayed like that...with the 2nd place guy(team motor mile) about:20 in front and then us 3 chasers...eventually one of them(team tomato)came around me on one of the climbs and took up the chase. that left me and who i will call niner, cause that's the type bike he was on, to ride together and see if we can pull them back. Niner and i would yoyo with each other the rest of the race...he would drop me on climbs and i would pull him back on the rollers and flats...things stayed like this until the last major climb...that's when things got interesting...as we rolled on to the last bit of pavement that brought us to the bottom of boyd's gap, I saw the 2nd(MM) and 3rd(tomato) guys just starting the climb in the woods...we were less than a min back with about 8 miles to go...the last climb was steep and tuff! all 4 of us were walking at this point...my legs were cramping so bad that towards the top of the steepest climb i had to stop...littlerly...i had to stop, pour some of my water on them, stretch, and just stand still just to let them chill out for a sec...needless to say i had to let niner go by. i lost sight of all of them and was hurting...bad...but tried to keep moving. i found that if i kept my legs really bent i could walk/jog with out them locking up stiff, so off i went...probably lost :30 to niner...but i knew that the last few miles were fast rolling trails so i just drilled it as hard as my legs would go...after a few miles i caught back up to niner...as always he didn't hesitate to let me by...so i went...and again as hard as i could...it wasn't until the last intersection, where the trail ended and there was about .25 mile road climb left did i see the tomato...aka 3rd place...i couldn't stand so i just pinned it as hard as i could go...HR hit 185bpm and i motored by him to steal 3rd place by one second.