There was a Boggs III Aftermath thread last year. Let's keep the tradition going. Tell your stories and share your photos here.
I know suffering makes great story telling. Unfortunately, everything worked out well for me as planned, and even better. So, I don't have a gripping story to tell and I'll keep it short. This was my first endurance race. I went in with a goal of riding as much as I can and an expectation of completing six laps. Met the goal and beat the expectation. Throughout the 8 hours and 32 minutes, the only time I had both my feet off the bike was at a quick pee stop on lap three. I had never done so much riding in one shot in my entire life. I think I can retire now.
The hubby's knee pain made him drop out of the race after five laps. So, I guess we had our share of pain in this household.
The weather was perfect, the trails were tacky, the crowd was exuberant, and the organizers are down to earth (solar power, no trash, good cause, etc.). I call this a perfect race.
__________________ my blog site: Inch by inch, I will get there!
oh yeah thanks great time there where two unicycles i think two tandems and Bobby McMullen who is a blind rider one person from auburn bike works did a solo record of 11 laps 9 miles you do the math. such a fun time by all some pros were there mark weir most of the marin team was there to great time
The first three laps were fun and then the suffering began. I think it's more fun to do this on a team next year. It's a very nice course, with just enough rocky and twisty single track to keep it interesting, but plenty of fire roads climbs to pass (or be passed by) riders as well. Plenty of riders lapped me, some even twice, but I was happy with my 8 laps in 8:41, one more than last year, but still only 12th out of 16 50+ masters. Those guys are fit and fast. They did give us an extra half an hour to finish the race. Last year you had to start your last lap before 7:45 race time and finish before 8:30. This year you could start your last lap any time before the 8 hours were up and finish before 9 hours of racing. My first 7 laps were actually a few minutes slower than last year, probably because I forgot my stopwatch and wasn't timing my breaks. It's easy to sit in that chair a little longer each lap if you don't have a watch to see the seconds ticking away.
Great seeing so many familiar faces and thanks for the encouragements; the chicken and pasta dinner was great guys! J.L.
__________________
Also known as Menso's dad.
Last edited by JL de Jong : 03-29-2009 at 08:47 PM.
Went really well. I was on a 3 man team first man out. This is where it gets interesting. 500 feet from the start my friend tried to pass me and ended up knocking me over. I finished my lap but I kept thinking I had broken my thumb in the crash. It hurt like hell. I finally finish my lap and the paramedics look at me and tell me not to continue racing while they put my thumb in a splint. Of coarse, I didn't listen. I completed 4 laps and all except for the first lap, were under 1 hour. Bogg's allways was a fun race.
Oh, and my thumb isn't broken, it just got bent bent backwards
This was my first endurance solo and the second endurance race I've done. The other one was 12 hours of Humbolt with a teammate last year.
My goal was to do seven laps; a number that I picked by looking at the results from last year. Interestingly, that worked out to over 60 miles which is *way* more than I've ever mountain biked a day and a volume that I've only done on a road bike a few days ever. Not exactly prepared for a race this long.
First lap was pretty neutral--just warming up and finding my legs. Second lap--Back actually complaining a little and I started thinking "this is gonna be hard." Third lap--Back loosened up and I started thinking "maybe this won't be that bad after all." Fourth lap and beyond--back and legs getting progressively more sore and tired, mentally cursing the seemingly endless hills becoming more and more frequent, questioning why the heck I was out there, etc.
Anyway, I did get in my seven laps in about 8:22. Very happy with that since it was my first time out.
At the finish, could barely walk. Dropped my cars keys and stood there looking at them for a moment trying to muster the energy to pick them up. Luckily, my brother's girlfriend saw my conundrum and picked them up for me (and gave me aleve, bottled water, etc...I think my brother's got a keeper).
Today, lower back very sore and butt and thighs somewhat sore. Very tired...will sleep like a rock again tonight. But, despite it all, thrilled to have achieved what I set out to do.
First endurance race ever. Rode solo. Showed up Friday night on my Craigslist hardtail that JustJeff and I made some pretty major changes to just before loading it onto the bike rack. Hopped out of the car and rode a practice lap. Back was in excruciating pain. Lots of swearing ensued. I was not planning on riding the next morning if my back did not feel any better.
Woke up, back felt good. I slept like a rock. Overnight temps weren't a problem and I wore myself out on that practice lap, so I woke up refreshed. Got out of the tent, rolled the bars back a little to make for a more upright riding position. This ended up being a really good idea as my planned 1-2 laps turned into an 8h 39m, 8 lap, ~72 mile, ~8800ft. endurance race.
Some highlights:
Lap 1. Decided that working on your bike after emerging from deep sleep was not a good idea. I left both rear controls (shifter and brake lever) completely loose. That made for a fun lap.
Lap 2. Got mad when some 12yo kid passed me. Determined not to let him get away from me, I got sloppy in my line selection and pinch flatted. Got a couple hundred "got everything?" flybys. Fixed the flat, rode on.
Lap 3. Charging the long singletrack straightaway just before the trail kicked up and right in the big ring, leaned the bike and the tires disappeared from underneath me. Slid a good 20 feet at ~30mph. No damage. Sweet!
Laps 4-8 were a blur. Thanks to mtnbecky, rensho and others I was able to keep hydrated and fed. Got passed by Weir (nice guy) and a few more 12yos (didn't care). At some point met up with a guy named Will who set a great pace and led me through several laps. Without a constant pace, I tend to pedal too hard and blow up -- so this was welcomed.
Lap 8: Tried not to let Tom down by catching JL who got a ~1:30m head start into the last lap. Caught up to him on the last singletrack climb. Relieved there was no heckling. Totally bummed I didn't register beginner as I was just 11 seconds off a third place podium in beginner. Came in 12th sport class. Doh!
What a blast. Had a great time. Will be there next year. Thanks everyone.
That was a hell of a ride. First solo endurance race for me and had a blast.
Hit my goal of 7 laps in around 8:29 and 7:30min moving time, placed 20th out of 31 in Sport Solo class. First two laps where definitely fun.
It is clear to me now that a good support team can make a big difference in this kind of events. I had no clear strategy from the start, feeding, resting etc, since I had no idea of how would I feel after 5hrs of pedaling. Now I know.
Luckily food worked ok, no mechanicals and just a couple of scary moments on the trail. I did get my first elbow from a pro rider, passing me on the narrow rock garden climb, he was definitely on a rush chased by 3 more superfast guys. Other than that everybody was super nice when passing.
Saw Bobby McMullen on lap 4 and that gave me goose bumps for the rest of the lap, and great motivation. I think he completed two full laps: I could clearly hear his guide yelling directions to him. Amazing stuff.
I gave serious thoughts about quitting on lap 5: it was the pain and the idea of 2 more laps that made me nauseous. Lap 6 and 7 where unexpectedly painless: it's amazing how our body adapts and keeps going. I was more pain when I stopped at the end of each lap.
Felt pretty flat today but with great sense of accomplishment.
Great to see so many mtbr folks out there. Trails conditions where top notch.
MichiganMat pls post pics of your bike carnage. Dude that's a scary crash, glad you're ok.
Hopefully we'll see many pics posted: I know somebody took a pic of me on the finish line around 5PM: I'd really like to see my face at that point.
I'm just thrilled that the big boys and girls let me play with them.
I managed only five laps this year. I'm not going to list the excuses. Great event, great course, and great weather. Great job Bikemonkey! And it was great seeing friends I met because of mtbr.
Viva Boggs, what a gem. I really hope it remains undiscovered by the masses.
__________________
Tequila is a pallid flame that passes through walls and soars over tile roofs to allay despair. A. Mutis
Ive been training up to now mainly with this race in mind, and I think it paid off. I met my goal, but was hurting on lap 6 (cramps) and lap 8 (foot pains). I may have left a little on the course, and I opted for beer rather than continuing the punishmet, but I am pleased and have a goal for next year now. Only bummer is that I had a shot at the podium if I went back out for another lap.
I did 8 laps in either 7:43 or 7:51. First 5 laps were under an hour. I think I was 6th out of __(?) in the solo sport
Lap 1 - Uh oh, I'm going out too hard, passing people when I should have been pacing myself better. I might burn my matches too early.
Laps 2-5 - Perfect, kept the heart rate ~155-165 most of the time. Was cruising to some great tunes, railing the singletrack. These laps were all around the 56 to 58 minute mark including 1 minute breaks between each lap for food. Foot started to hurt too (newer shoes), so I swapped shoes after the 5th lap, and lubed the chain (started to creak).
Lap 6 - Cramps! on the second fire road climb, they came out of no-where. Took a short stretch break, and climbed the rest of the fire road and singletrack in the 22-30 to spin out the cramps.
Lap 7 - Felt really, really good. I think my lap time was somewhere right around an hour. I had the very, very brief thought of going for 9 laps. I had 2:15 minutes left if I wanted to go for 2 more laps. Switchbaxr had finished his race, and was just opening up a beer as I pulled in, I grabbed his beer and chugged about 1/3 of it before heading out. It actually made the first couple miles of lap 8 feel great!
Lap 8 - Was riding along fine, but my left foot started to hurt again on the first fire road climb. I was moezing along fine, mostly in the small ring during the climbs. I felt good, with little bits of pain everywhere, but the left foot hurting more and feeling numb. I almost crashed 3 times on stupid/simple stuff, like that last rock step up, that I had been flying up the previous 7 laps, on the 8th lap, I almost eat my stem. I crossed the finish line, and Carlos tells me I have 1:09 left. That means the last lap was about 1:06. Hmmm decision time. I wimped out and used the almost crashes and aching foot as an excuse to start drinking beer.
I hung out with the buddies and the rest of the Wrong Way team. Some podium spots for a couple of our 3-person teams! Awesome! The bike monkey had some great tasting pasta, which served me as an apetizer for Switchbaxr's excellent chicken piccata and pasta dinner that was freshly made right on the course, served along side an endless variety of single and double IPAs. I was in heaven!
Drank beer, I did. That night was fun haning out with the usual crew, then moving over to shiela moon party for more beer, rummed cider, smoked pork, etc... Ended up drinking too much beer, not enough water.
What a great time out! Can't wait until next year, or later this spring!
Damn, what a kick ass ride/race! So glad my buddies & teammates convinced me to sign up for this thing. Super fun singletrack & great vibes in a place I'd never ridden before = one memorable weekend.
I don't have the best track record with endurance races, so my goals for this race were pretty humble. Maybe do 6 laps, maybe do 7. I had no idea what to expect. I'm mainly a skier (as evidenced by my blog in my sig line) in the winter rather than a biker, so I was just looking at Bogg's IV as a training ride for future endurance races later in the year but it turned out better than I expected. I hadn't done a mountain bike ride longer than 2 hours since October I think and hadn't done a road ride longer than 50 miles since Thanksgiving so I was going into this with low expectations.
Was able to grunt out 9 laps in about 8:08 total time with 7:56 riding time (times based on my Garmin). I stopped briefly between laps to throw off leg and arm warmers after the first & 2nd lap respectively. And stopped again after the fourth or 5th lap (can't remember which) to take off the supportive wrap around my bruised ribs that a teammate had prepared for me in the morning until the Advil could kick in. Ride stats: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7893846
OK enough for 9th out of 27 in Singlespeed Open. Next time I will choose an easier gear (34x19 on a 29er was freakin tough in the second half of the day) and hopefully next time I will have some more adequate training under my belt. And hopefully next time will come soon with the Coolest 8 & 24 at Boggs in June! Can't wait!
Oh and Dez Wilder is an animal = 11 laps??? yowza....
all I got :
7 laps on the Nomad....Downhill was fun, but laps 3-7 the uphill hurt like nobody buisness
There was a nice huck /drop on the fire road decent if you took the farthest line right
The course was very nice I am putting this on the calendar for next year; but with a lighter bike.
My first endurance race on the mt bike and first any race for years. It was really difficult from the moment I started pedaling and pretty much every second of it hurt. Ended up getting 6 laps in and had time to finish one more, even with some walking, but opted to get in the car and head home. Still felt like I left everything I had out there and was very happy with my effort but lots of room for improvement.
My body held up ok until the end but the IT band started pinging really bad the last couple lates. I was happy with my eating, drinking though and managed not to cramp thanks to margarita cliff blocks (sodium loaded) and a ton of water.
I was really impressed with the course. Real singletrack for most of it. I was expecting more double track I think. I'll definitely be back next year, hopefully with a lighter bike and stronger legs. Blown away by how fast some everyone is. Really impressive and humbling.
Lots of pedaling, lots of eating, more than a few Tylenols. Im humbled by my fellow MTBR's guys, you are hammers one and all. Justin, you're something else man! I come out with a full buffet of food, drink, and chemicals to get me through... you show up with a bike and a camelback and polish off a whole other lap on me without trying. You're a beast dude.
Anyways, I felt strong most of the day, but was on the verge of cramping for most of it after lap 2. Tried to stay strong and fast but my lap times were consistently over 1hr. I was hoping to hammer out lap 7 in time to attack 8 but then...
Half way through lap 7, in a fast flowing rolling section, I feel the front end wobble a bit, like the headset is loose... half a second later Im in the dirt, pumped full of adrenaline, hoping I still have a face.
Check the teeth, check the face, check the body.. wrist is cut open from my watch and bleeding, Im a bit scraped, but otherwise Im in good shape. I dragged the bike to a good safe section, grabbed my water bottle and race number, and took off on foot to finish the lap. As much as it hurt to crash and burn, the thought occurred to me a few minutes later, "Hey, now I can buy that Bionicon Ive been wanting! SWEET!"
The word got out that I was injured and an EMT tried to stop me: "Hey, do you want to sit down so I can take a look at you"... "No man, I want to FINISH MY LAP!"
So I crossed the line with 7 laps, good enough for 5th place in the beginners class.
I must have a guardian angel following me because if I had broken in almost any other place on the track I could have gotten really hurt. I raced that bike at Lemurian and at Downieville last year! Imagine losing your front end on 3rd Divide at 35mph!
I must have a guardian angel following me because if I had broken in almost any other place on the track I could have gotten really hurt. I raced that bike at Lemurian and at Downieville last year! Imagine losing your front end on 3rd Divide at 35mph!
Ouch. Glad you are ok.
Frankly, does not look like a frame for Downieville But now you have a perfect excuse to get any one you want.
First off, thanks Bikemonkey for another fun year at Bogg's! This was my 3rd time at Bogg's and you guys just keep making it better each year! A very fun and well organized event. The weather could not have been more perfect this year! What a fun weekend, what I love about these events is how friendly everyone is. I never saw any sketchy passing or aggressive behavior. Everyone was cheerleading for each other and sharing the misery/fun.
I wasn't sure what to expect for myself going into it, my trining fell way way far off in the month leading up to Boggs so I decided to go and treat it as training for Cool in May. My goal was to do as many laps as felt good and then crack a beer when it wasn't fun anymore. I ended up doing 6 laps, wanted to do a 7th lap and gave it some serious thought but my screaming back and the promise of a waiting cold beer made the decision to call it at 6 an easy choice. I wanted to end the day feeling good not busted.
I did the first 4 laps back to back with about 5 minute breaks in between laps to stretch and eat. On the final climb on lap 4 my back starting really hurting, I took 15-20 minute breaks before heading out for laps 5 and 6 to try to let the Advil kick in before I set out again.
All in all good training for Cool, I hope to be competitive there. I figure if I can bust out 6 laps with very little in the way of training in the last month and with a little focus now I can be stronger for Cool. Keeping fingers crossed...
Damn, what a kick ass ride/race! So glad my buddies & teammates convinced me to sign up for this thing. Super fun singletrack & great vibes in a place I'd never ridden before = one memorable weekend.
I don't have the best track record with endurance races, so my goals for this race were pretty humble. Maybe do 6 laps, maybe do 7. I had no idea what to expect. I'm mainly a skier (as evidenced by my blog in my sig line) in the winter rather than a biker, so I was just looking at Bogg's IV as a training ride for future endurance races later in the year but it turned out better than I expected. I hadn't done a mountain bike ride longer than 2 hours since October I think and hadn't done a road ride longer than 50 miles since Thanksgiving so I was going into this with low expectations.
Was able to grunt out 9 laps in about 8:08 total time with 7:56 riding time (times based on my Garmin). I stopped briefly between laps to throw off leg and arm warmers after the first & 2nd lap respectively. And stopped again after the fourth or 5th lap (can't remember which) to take off the supportive wrap around my bruised ribs that a teammate had prepared for me in the morning until the Advil could kick in. Ride stats: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7893846
OK enough for 9th out of 27 in Singlespeed Open. Next time I will choose an easier gear (34x19 on a 29er was freakin tough in the second half of the day) and hopefully next time I will have some more adequate training under my belt. And hopefully next time will come soon with the Coolest 8 & 24 at Boggs in June! Can't wait!
Oh and Dez Wilder is an animal = 11 laps??? yowza....
Frigging solid showing Ron! Well done brother. Bummed I missed it.
Justin, you're something else man! I come out with a full buffet of food, drink, and chemicals to get me through... you show up with a bike and a camelback and polish off a whole other lap on me without trying. You're a beast dude.
I kept riding because I feared if I stopped for too long you would make me eat one of those potato/egg/olive oil/salt contraptions.
Glad you are OK and am proud of you for finishing the lap. The Edison is going to be SCHWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEET!
First I would like to say thanks. Thanks to Carlos for letting us participate the event. Thanks for the encouraging words by bikers as you whizzed by while I was walking. Thanks for not running me over.
I knew it was going to be an interesting weekend when we were picking up our numbers and were met with "are you the unicycle guys?" How did she know?
This course was very challenging. The climbs proved to be a little more than my legs were able to muster. The first lap I tried to hammer the hills. But, they just seemed to keep climbing. I try not to be seen walking, but not on this course. It was a fabulous course and very fun. I ended up with three laps it took me around 6 hours. I had the time to go for a fourth but not the legs.
It was fun to begin to get to "know" riders as they came by once or twice a lap. There was "Giraffe guy", he had a rubber Giraffe on his handlebars. There was Bob Delp who said "Hi Gary" at least twice a lap. There was "The Guy In Yellow", always with something positive to say.
The word got out that I was injured and an EMT tried to stop me: "Hey, do you want to sit down so I can take a look at you"... "No man, I want to FINISH MY LAP!"
You are the man...I glad your ok...hows the wrist?
Lap 3. Charging the long singletrack straightaway just before the trail kicked up and right in the big ring, leaned the bike and the tires disappeared from underneath me. Slid a good 20 feet at ~30mph. No damage. Sweet!
Laps 4-8 were a blur. Thanks to mtnbecky, rensho and others I was able to keep hydrated and fed. Got passed by Weir (nice guy) and a few more 12yos (didn't care).
Glad your ok also...I saw alot of carnage but nobody seemed to get too hurt. Props on the 8 laps ...Killer!!!
Wier is F-nn fast...he is a very polite passer though, with all the peeps he has to pass he sure is nice. Along with Dez...that dude set records and still find time to talk to people as he passes them. I am glad the some of the pro's keep it real when they are doing these lowkey/grassrootsevents; Lets just say I wont be buying any marin bikes and I was not aware they teamed up with Summers Eve
The Giraffe guy is the guy that did 11 laps solo, Dezmin.
I saw you guys on my 3rd lap and noticed one of you crashed on the "downhill" section of the first fireroad ... kinda funny but looks like its not as damaging as a mtn bike crash.
Who was the SS lady with the pink hair blasting heavy metal? I liked that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gPope
It was fun to begin to get to "know" riders as they came by once or twice a lap. There was "Giraffe guy", he had a rubber Giraffe on his handlebars. There was Bob Delp who said "Hi Gary" at least twice a lap. There was "The Guy In Yellow", always with something positive to say.
You are the man...I glad your ok...hows the wrist?
Thanks! Wrist is pretty good considering... there was a lot of blood all over my hand which made it look awful, but the actual cut is only like 1" long. No stitches, should be good in time for the Napa Valley Classic next Sunday. The EMT's at Boggs were great, really took care of me.
Woo-Hoo! I Podiumed in the "8 Hours of Futility" Duathalon! You know, the Bike Monkey event co-sponsored along with the Sierra Club. It was the race where you ride out @ 2 miles into the opening lap, put a stick through the side wall of the tire, rendering it useless. Then run/hike/dodge back to the pits, through a mile of singletrack into the oncoming waves of rabid starters. The scoring in this portion was @ 15 "Bummer Dude/That Sucks", and 3 "GTF Outta My Ways!!!!" [Buddha would not approve].
Having completed my opening lap duck and cover drill, shouldering my bike [which looked all the world like one of those little kids you see running down the street with his pants down, and toilet paper hanging out of his a$$] I finally strolled into the pit area. Uncle MTB saw me, and took my dead bike the rest of the way to my pit [Thanks Tim!!!] . Mountain Becky and I grabbed the back-up bike, my number, bottles, and I took off again. Not content to spot my 17 other fellow fossils a half an hour, I went right past the entrance to the first singletrack section and down the road for a few minutes, before turning around, retracing my route, and slogged along after, literally, EVERYBODY. LOL, my first lap was just shy of an hour and a half. BLAZING
I spent the rest of the day chatting with the unicycle guys [they're awesome], Ibikergal [or her clone - she was a team], Michigan Matt [before he employed the folding feature on his bike], J.L. DeJong, 7HVN, and god knows how many of the feral "Mad Cats" [this is what happens when you don't spay and neuter] that were out there this weekend, trying to chase my back into the race. It was great seeing all of you!
Every lap Becky was waiting at the pit for me with a smile and a "What" do you need?". As usual, the best support possible from an even better person. I count my blessings that she gives me a hand with this endurance racing affliction of mine. I found the "Peanut Gallery" consisting off JeffH, Ibikergal [or her clone], Rensho, and Ghostrider, waiting on the hillside above my pits, in lawn chairs, waiting for my clown act to arrive on the sixth lap. Thanks for the support guys - you made it much, much more amusing to race out there this weekend, than most of these gigs.
Before starting my seventh lap, I requested Sportlegs, an espresso drink, string cheese, new vertibrae, and a fire extinguisher for my butt from Becky. I settled for the cheese, pills and coffee. Finished that lap and an eighth just a bit before 4:30. We decided [incorrectly, I think now] that I wasn't going to have time for a 9th lap. And that was my race: 8 laps, eight out 18. In a nutshell, a good race, with fun people, and a mediocre result. I had a blast!!!
I gotta say, except for needing a few more toilets [they all looked like vaccuu-formed plastic scale models of "Mt. Crap-A-Towa East of Napa" by early Saturday evening] Bikemonkey got it absolutely right this year. Fantastic event Clay! Great atmosphere, organizing, weather, food. Certainly the Best Boggs to date. Thanks everybody! I'll be counting the days to the next one
Lots of pedaling, lots of eating, more than a few Tylenols. Im humbled by my fellow MTBR's guys, you are hammers one and all. Justin, you're something else man! I come out with a full buffet of food, drink, and chemicals to get me through... you show up with a bike and a camelback and polish off a whole other lap on me without trying. You're a beast dude.
Anyways, I felt strong most of the day, but was on the verge of cramping for most of it after lap 2. Tried to stay strong and fast but my lap times were consistently over 1hr. I was hoping to hammer out lap 7 in time to attack 8 but then...
Half way through lap 7, in a fast flowing rolling section, I feel the front end wobble a bit, like the headset is loose... half a second later Im in the dirt, pumped full of adrenaline, hoping I still have a face.
Check the teeth, check the face, check the body.. wrist is cut open from my watch and bleeding, Im a bit scraped, but otherwise Im in good shape. I dragged the bike to a good safe section, grabbed my water bottle and race number, and took off on foot to finish the lap. As much as it hurt to crash and burn, the thought occurred to me a few minutes later, "Hey, now I can buy that Bionicon Ive been wanting! SWEET!"
The word got out that I was injured and an EMT tried to stop me: "Hey, do you want to sit down so I can take a look at you"... "No man, I want to FINISH MY LAP!"
So I crossed the line with 7 laps, good enough for 5th place in the beginners class.
I must have a guardian angel following me because if I had broken in almost any other place on the track I could have gotten really hurt. I raced that bike at Lemurian and at Downieville last year! Imagine losing your front end on 3rd Divide at 35mph!
I always (secretly) thought that bike looked like a cheap chinese POS
It's outta control -- the memories of the race kept popping up in my head and distracting me. In order to get them out, I wrote them down, blog style. Way too long to post here, but if you are interested, click here for a lunch time quick read.
I'm glad to see that you guys are all okay despite the mishaps. Wow, that bike disassembly looks impressive! Mat, you face still looked handsome as always when I talked to you in the evening and I definitely could not tell that you had a face plant earlier.
__________________ my blog site: Inch by inch, I will get there!
Glad to hear it isn't broken! I'm the EMT that splinted you! :-)
Renee
First On Scene EMS
Quote:
Originally Posted by New-B
Went really well. I was on a 3 man team first man out. This is where it gets interesting. 500 feet from the start my friend tried to pass me and ended up knocking me over. I finished my lap but I kept thinking I had broken my thumb in the crash. It hurt like hell. I finally finish my lap and the paramedics look at me and tell me not to continue racing while they put my thumb in a splint. Of coarse, I didn't listen. I completed 4 laps and all except for the first lap, were under 1 hour. Bogg's allways was a fun race.
Oh, and my thumb isn't broken, it just got bent bent backwards
Last edited by deratristar : 03-30-2009 at 01:33 PM.
Reason: Added company name
Coming in to Boggs, I really had no idea what to expect. Back in 2005, I was on a 3 person team with Kyle and another guy and it was my second race ever, in addition to being the longest I'd ever ridden a bike. My laps were 50:40, 53:39, and 57:32. I've been back on the bike lately, but not regularly. This year I set a lofty goal of turning all of my laps under 50 minutes. However, I was on a two person team, with a teammate I hadn't ridden with in quite some time. Luckily for me, he was pretty quick on his fancy Patrick SS.
Our game plan was two laps each for the first go around, then one lap each for the rest of the day. I took the honors of heading out first. I went off with a bang, and quickly realized avoiding a warmup was a bad idea. I let some people get by me before the single track, but I was on my way. I felt decent, not great, but kept chugging along. Lap 2 I really opened up and let it fly. I felt like I was on fire and had nobody in my way to hold me up. The swoopy single track was amazing and I had a huge grin on my face. I came in and tagged Kevin and I began my wait. I figured he would be out there for 2 hours, based on the fact that he was on a SS, and that he had told me he wasn't in great shape. Well, I fooled around for a bit, filled my water bottle etc. I came back about 45 minutes later, and waited, and waited. Around 1:45 later, he came rolling in. I guess he was being modest and was much faster than I expected.
Lap 3: I was feeling pretty good, but the standing around for an hour and a half was a bad idea. I just didn't feel that great for about 10 minutes. But, I loosened up and dropped the hammer. I just felt like I was nailing everything, and then resting somewhat on the climbs ensuring that I didn't blow up. Up to this point, I'd been working on keeping my heart rate below 165. But I think the battery died in my heart rate monitor strap or something, and rather than fiddle with it, I just just kept up the same pace and used my watch as a clock.
Lap 4: I took off again feeling well, but on the climbs, I started to cramp. And towards the end of the lap, on the last singletrack climb, my calf completely seized up for a brief moment while trying to pass someone. I kept spinning and pushing on. But when I came in, I took some endurolytes, drank extra Clif electrolyte drink, and ate more hammergel. As I waited for Kevin, I sat on the ground with the cool dirt on my calves, which felt pretty good. Lori from Velo Girls also gave me a little pasta and some more Clif Bloks (which was probably my 4th packet of the day, I really like those things).
Lap 5: Okay, this was serious decision making time. Kevin gave me about 52 minutes to try to get back in and find out if either of us wanted to go out for another lap. The cramps were completely gone, and I felt fine, but I hit a lot of traffic with solo riders who were grinding out their last laps of the day. I had two options: be that "ON YOUR LEFT!" guy at the end of a very long day, killing myself trying to get back in time to get one more lap in, or relax, have a few good conversations, try to motivate some tired people and enjoy my last lap. I opted for the latter, more fun option. I came in about a minute or two after the deadline, only to find my teammate in street clothes drinking beer. So he was worthless for another lap regardless of if I came in under the wire or not. But that was okay with me. I sat on the hill by the start finish and chatted with everyone for a few minutes before I headed out to change and start packing my stuff up.
All in all, I had a great time. I might consider doing the 8 hour solo option in June up at Boggs, or maybe a 4 person 24 hour team. We'll see how April and May go. Congrats to Kyle, Allan, Matt Walters, and Jeni for making it up on the podium. It was cool to see Allan muscling Mark Weir out of his way for his spot on the podium ;-) Oh, and an added bonus, I won a sweet Mountain Hardwear light wedge 2 tent. Anybody in the market for a tent? I've got an REI half dome 2 HC only used for one night at Boggs Saturday night for trade or sale ;-)
Matt Leonard
16/49 in the 2 person category 9 total laps
Lap times: (1) 50:41, (2) 48:37, (5) 48:37, (7) 52:??, (9) 53:??
Thanks! Wrist is pretty good considering... there was a lot of blood all over my hand which made it look awful, but the actual cut is only like 1" long. No stitches, should be good in time for the Napa Valley Classic next Sunday. The EMT's at Boggs were great, really took care of me.
First off, thanks Bikemonkey for another fun year at Bogg's! This was my 3rd time at Bogg's and you guys just keep making it better each year! A very fun and well organized event. The weather could not have been more perfect this year! What a fun weekend, what I love about these events is how friendly everyone is. I never saw any sketchy passing or aggressive behavior. Everyone was cheerleading for each other and sharing the misery/fun.
I wasn't sure what to expect for myself going into it, my trining fell way way far off in the month leading up to Boggs so I decided to go and treat it as training for Cool in May. My goal was to do as many laps as felt good and then crack a beer when it wasn't fun anymore. I ended up doing 6 laps, wanted to do a 7th lap and gave it some serious thought but my screaming back and the promise of a waiting cold beer made the decision to call it at 6 an easy choice. I wanted to end the day feeling good not busted.
I did the first 4 laps back to back with about 5 minute breaks in between laps to stretch and eat. On the final climb on lap 4 my back starting really hurting, I took 15-20 minute breaks before heading out for laps 5 and 6 to try to let the Advil kick in before I set out again.
All in all good training for Cool, I hope to be competitive there. I figure if I can bust out 6 laps with very little in the way of training in the last month and with a little focus now I can be stronger for Cool. Keeping fingers crossed...
i lived!! I guess. I was able to finish 5 laps in my first endurance event. I had a few good laps and then one lap where I saw JESUS. I never thought i was going to finish but overall I made my goal of 5 laps with plenty of time to spare for the sixth lap but the smell of beer was to strong not to drink one down. Thank you PLIM for the opportunity to race. I really appreciate it but I was not in a very good place on one of those laps.
The event was GREAT, thank you for all that was involved. Next year, I will be better prepared.
those are the sweetest, kids, and they were on FIRE. Helps their coaches are amazingly supportive too. What is it about NorCal HS league coaches & parents? Whatever it is, we need to keep doing it! Excellent job, everyone!
I was the "other" unicyclist. I want to echo Gary's thanks to everybody for not only not running my slow a$$ over, but for being encouraging to me even when I was just walking slowly up one of the big climbs. I especially enjoyed talking to my fellow "one wheel per person" riders on the tandems, and looked forward to getting lapped over and over by JMS! What a great group of riders!
So I had it in my head that, because all the reports of Boggs spoke of the non-technical trails, this course would be easier than the Whiskeytown 9-5 course. I was wrong. The climbs were pretty brutal, and I can't imagine how you two-wheelers pound out lap after lap practically flying up those hills. I kept thinking how smart that whole freewheel aspect is as I watched you zip down the hills afterward. There's nothing practical about fixed-gear in woods, but that's not the point, I guess. I loved the smooth singletrack. In Chico, we're pretty much all about the rocks, so it was a real treat.
I started cramping in both calves and my right outside quad during my second lap, and couldn't get my electrolytes to line up despite downing Lava Salts and Gu Bloks throughout--guess I'll carry pickle juice next year! I had a quick-step fall that jammed my pinkie toe early in the lap, too, and limped up the hills but had a great time on all the flats and downhills for the rest of the lap. But I was toast by the time it was over, and gave it up. It was only 2 laps and finished minutes short of 5 hours, so not the showing I was hoping for--but I'm already thinking about next time.
I think my best memory was on the first lap, when Gary & I were going down the section of Scout trail where it widens out and goes down pretty steeply, with some good rocks and a right turn at the bottom. We'd just crested the top when about 6 bikers who were rippin' along flew past us, hootin' and having a great time. I was caught between terror that maybe we wouldn't be seen and were about to get absolutely plowed down , and giddy that we were riding next to these flyers . It was awesome.
After my solo attempt at Bogg’s III ended after only 5 laps with my lower back in complete mutiny, I knew a team effort for Boggs IV would be a better approach for me.
When Mike Gin of Team Wrong Way put out a call that an extra rider was needed for a TWW 3 man team and was willing to give me a try that made my day.
I carpooled up with my team mate Patrick Friday morning from the south bay. We made it up to Bogg’s in the early afternoon in time to find a spot to camp and get in a quick lap of the course.
Daniel my other team mate and I out voted Patrick Friday night and elected him to start for our 3 man assault on Bogg's.
At the start Patrick charged up the fire road at a good pace, only to get tangled up with a other rider at a bend in the road where things got packed up a bit. Patrick went down hard! I happened to be about 50ft away from this melee and ran over to help Patrick get going again. His thump look like it took a nasty hit, but he was ready to get back on the bike and go.
I was up for lap two when Patrick came around at 1:05 after his spill.
Lap 2, I took off up the road and was trying to make good time. I just kept passing riders and pushing hard on the climbs. I was only passed by one rider for my whole lap and felt comfortable on the course after my pre ride from the day before. My lap ended with a 50:07 time.
I was glad to see Patrick’s hand was not going to stop him from going out on lap 4 so I went back to camp to dry out and rest.
My next lap was Lap 5, when I headed up the fire road my legs took a few minutes to come up to speed after resting for 1:45 minutes. When I made it to the first single track I was back up to speed and all seemed to be going well. About this time, it felt like my water bottle was leaking. I looked down, to my dismay to see Stan’s fluid all over my leg and the rear tire going low, a rock puncture in the middle of the tire.
After a minute or two hoping the Stans fluid would seal the hole in my Small Block 8, I decided to put a tube in it, a very slow 8 minute tube install. I was back on the course and was trying to make up time. I ended this lap @ 1:00:49
Lap 7 started and all was going well, I seemed to hit more traffic on this lap but was only passed by two riders for the whole lap. I seemed to be able to carry more speed on the down hills but was a little slower on the climbs. I ended the lap with a 51.29 lap time and plenty of time for Patrick to start lap 8.
Some thoughts that stuck in my mind after the race were.
It was encourging to hear the boys from MTBR yell my name out as I passed them in the pit area.
Its amazing how a little recognition or hearing your name can motivate you.
I was delighted to see and spend some time with JMS and Becky at the pizza parlor after the race,
I was grateful for the help on top of the last fire road climb , Bike monkey had water and fuel all day and they were very helpful , On my 8th lap i ran out of water and I was one happy dude to see them still up there handing out water and fuel . Thank You BIke Monkey!!
The single track on this course just keeps getting better and better every lap.
I had a great time on the Jones SS ridged its perfect for this course.
I wanted to really shoot for 9 laps that was my goal . On my first lap I flatted and followed with another flat on the second lap. I had to use patches so that took some major time. So I knew there was no chance of getting 9 laps inn. So i just kept telling myself fun is not determined by how many laps you do or what place you finish. And it worked I had a blast!
Mr. Shoe - If I read the stats right did we do 1600 feet of climbing per lap aprox? Some one on the course told me it was 1100 feet per lap, but I may have been hallucinating.
Mr. Shoe - If I read the stats right did we do 1600 feet of climbing per lap aprox? Some one on the course told me it was 1100 feet per lap, but I may have been hallucinating.
I think it WAS closer to 1100 feet per lap, honestly. I don't trust MotionBased elevation gain stats.
I can't remember the exact number, but the elevation gain that was actually on my Garmin was closer to 10,300 for the 9 laps which is indicative of 1100 feet per lap. For some reason, when I upload this data to the MotionBased site, it spits out a higher elevation gain number. This always happens. I tend to think that MotionBased overestimates a bit.
All the other numbers on that link though (i.e. mileage, total time, moving time, speed) should be pretty accurate though.
That was my long-awaited first endurance race, done as a a 2 person team with my partner in crime. It was my 2nd race ever, preceded only by an extremely easy by comparison CCCX race. But lessons learned there didn't really apply well here, (duh). I did it all backwards. Prior to the CCCX, I had gotten it into my head that I shouldn't spend all of my energy at the beginning, so I just hung back with the main pack of gals before the singletrack, even though I felt like I could have passed some, and regretted it later. So then at Boggs, I made a mad dash on the very 1st lap (even though, I had a bit of a spill coming into a turn on the pine needles going down Bear Bones), rode as hard as I could on the 2nd lap, pedaled along in zen-mode for the 3rd lap, and finally chugged along like a total zombie on the 4th lap. My first lap was 1:03, last lap was 1:20. Lesson learned. Bruce made a much more respectable effort, with 4 sub-60 minute laps.
I have to say, there were some amazing riders out there that day who maybe I could keep up with if I quit my day job, went back in time to my teens, and did nothing but train for 7 years. Despite the huge skill-gap, everyone was super-cool on & off the trail.
After the race, I could barely stay awake for the raffle. So I just crawled into the tent, drank 2 sips of Old Rasputin, and had a good, long sleep. Camping at Boggs was really peaceful and nice (once the party animals went to bed). I'd do it all again!
BTW, banana/celery smoothies really rocked! I've had no cramps, no muscle soreness, no headache, no Advil, either on the day of the race, or after. But then again, I wasn't doing 8-9-10-11 laps. I definitely felt like I should have consumed more, though.
Thanks so much to the bikemonkey crew, the Sonoma trails people, the pasta and sauce people, the solar panel van folks, and everyone else for a really well-organized, totally fun event! Oh yeah, and special thanks to Bruce - I don't know what I'd do without him making us a whole cooler full of smoothies!
Last edited by shredchic : 03-30-2009 at 11:51 PM.
Not to get into a nerdy technical discussion but the Edge 305 shows about 1400 per lap. Yes, Motionbased does increase the elevation when you upload it but this is due, I believe, to the re-calculation of data based on the barometric readings.
The Edge 205 has no barometric readings so Motionbased does some really silly guesswork which typically hikes the values up even more.
That being said, the 305 is pretty accurate, and once you get used to a particular GPS device, its all relative anyway.
>Awesome course and equally great organization and support. I like local, grassroots
events (Boggs, Coolest, Downieville, etc).
>I rode to be competitive but really as a warm up for Coolest. My new pit strategy worked
out well.
>Love my new Maxxis Ignitors but will probably trade out the rear for a small block 8 for
Coolest as it is better suited for that course.
>Great to see the 8-10 of us in MTBR jerseys....an informal team of good people.
>Next year I move up to the 50+ age group and believe me, it won't get any easier....those
folks can flat out ride! I'm glad my kids are in college and I have a good hall pass
because I will need to step up my training!
>Lastly...an apology...I slept in the back of my fairly new SUV and had virtually no idea
the alarm would arm while the doors were unlocked. When I exited at 5:45am....the
darn truck went off like a 4th of July celebration right in the middle of the campground.
Not a good wake up call!!!!
mudworm failed to mention in her original post that she hammered out 8 laps! My wife and I really enjoyed getting to hang out with her and Erik. We were bummed Erik had to drop out due to knee problems (I've been there a few times myself).
MichiganMat: really glad you are OK after having the bike fall apart. That is scary. Way to persevere and finish that lap.
Patrick: it was great to see you still riding at the end of the race, bandages and all!
Allen: it was fun shouting 'hi' as we passed each other, but I'm bummed I didn't see you off the course.
It was great to see all the other MTBR folks out there-- it really felt like a big family. My main regret is not getting a chance to chat with everyone.
My wife was a huge help during the race. She had never been pit crew before, and mountain biking isn't her thing, but she was there every lap with water, electrolytes, fuel, pills, my lap time & standing, and words of encouragement. She enjoyed the whole thing so much that she has expressed interest in mellow MTB rides and trying a mountain tandem.
It was great to have the WTB/Santa Cruz guys in the race. One of the highlights for me was trying to chase Moeschler on a downhill. For some reason I wasn't able to keep up.
My race report:
The day started with disappointment at the registration tent. I had signed up back in November, before upgrading to Expert, and had forgotten to notify Bike Monkey of the category change. So I was racing Sport, no way around it. I felt like a dirty sandbagger.
I spent a lot of lap 1 waiting to pass people, and feeling slow, so I pushed it a bit on the second lap. Laps 3-4 were the hardest. My legs were starting to hurt, my pace was down, and I was discouraged about how much further I had to go.
After that I got into a rhythm and and felt slow but OK for the rest of the race. Lap 10 didn't feel any worse than lap 5. It was kind of disconcerting: my body felt faintly tingly, but my legs didn't hurt.
It turns out I finished 24 seconds behind 1st place in Expert. If only I had shaved my legs!
Taken from ibikergal's flickr set
edit: yeah, I can do math...
It was your wife's first time SAGing, but she did it like a champ. It was so nice to hear her sweet voice every time I paused at the pit stop, "Can I do anything for you?" I'm glad to hear the event got her psyched about mountain biking.
__________________ my blog site: Inch by inch, I will get there!
It was your wife's first time SAGing, but she did it like a champ. It was so nice to hear her sweet voice every time I paused at the pit stop, "Can I do anything for you?" I'm glad to hear the event got her psyched about mountain biking.
Hey Mudworm, I enjoyed reading your blog posts - you are inspiring. Sandbagger? Perhaps - but at least an honest one - you just completely underestimated your capabilities.
My race...
Totally bummed I didn't register beginner as I was just 11 seconds off a third place podium in beginner. Came in 12th sport class. Doh!
, and giddy that we were riding next to these flyers 
Bruce made a much more respectable effort, with 4 sub-60 minute laps. 
Linear Mode
