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TMBRA Marathon Series - Roll Call

6K views 78 replies 11 participants last post by  kinsler 
#1 ·
who else is in?
 
#32 ·
Anyone know who the jackasses were in the hotel san jose kits doing the 1/2 marathon? They came up upon our group of four somewhere in tris cross and omars howl and proceeded to yell at us for not picking up the pace and not letting them easily by so they had to leap frog past each of us yelling the entire time. karma is a ***** because we caught them on the side of the trail with flats and no c02 a little later.

They should of started the 1/2 marathon folks further back from the full marathon folks as to avoid the faster 1/2 marathon racers riding up on the full marathon folks setting a different pace.
 
#33 ·
no clue, but I remember him doing the same to me...and then asking for air later.

I also remember him being the same jack ass that was doing the same hoop and holler at the Waco XC, and pissed off A LOT of people. Almost got DQ'd by Jens because of the complaints.

I also don't understand why someone like him(and other Cat 1 racers) were sandbaggin the half.
 
#34 ·
I also don't understand why someone like him(and other Cat 1 racers) were sandbaggin the half.
I've always looked at the 1/2 marathon as a way for newer riders and such a way to introduce themselves into longer events.

a CAT 3 racer who's only used to doing and hour event or 10 mile race is gonna have a big challenge doing 40+ miles and riding off road for 4+ hours that is why they have a 1/2 marathon for folks not ready to make the leap.

I've got no issues with other category racers doing the 1/2 marathon if that's what they want to do just don't be a jerk to those having to pace themselves for a longer event.
 
#35 ·
One thing I like abotu the Mtb side of things, is that it's much less category oriented. Road is hyper category oriented. And marathon is the exact opposite. Open, and whatever else. Plus, there's no prize money on the line for 95% of racers.

That's the long version to me saying that I dont care who races half.

As for the start times - Go mention it to Tobin/Tmbra. I doubt they're reading this.
 
#39 ·
I am on an AM rig that weights in at 30 pounds with a 36X11-34, should I change my gearing for the race?
Exactly how fun it going to be climbing 54 miles on a 30lb bike no matter what gearing?

I've taken my SS bike out there with a 34x18 and it was a hella workout for one complete upper and lower loop I can't imagine a 30lb bike doing the upper lower then upper.

oh well run what ya brung
 
#40 ·
Don't listen to him 2000Z. You can do it! I did the half a couple years ago on a singlespeed. I simply didnt know any better at the time. I was 32x16. It hurt very bad.

If I remember correctly, most all the climbing is pretty clean. There are a few drops and such though.
 
#42 ·
I was lucky enough to ride the sag car in last year. After all the $'s I've given to tmbra,
I deserved a lift back to the start. My crank arm fell off with pedal still on shoe halfway through, and butt just couldnt take 5 more miles. Not sure about 2013 just yet. Live medium.
 
#45 ·
i thought fat chucks was fun - although it was not a great race for me.

about 15 miles from the end i pedal-struck a log and actually broke a crank bros eggbeater. :madman: still i was able to semi-clip in on one quadrant - hard climbing was out of the question. it made the last of the ride a little interesting but i was going slow at that point anyway.

i hope to make it out to comfort.
 
#46 ·
HAL, are you from Houston? If so, didn't you and your wife also just pick up '13 Epics in that same color?

Incredibly jealous of that new rig. It makes my carbon HT stumpy look silly.

No EE for me. Not ready for that kinda distance this time around. XC season prep has commenced!
 
#48 ·
Hal, are you by chance Mr KIA on noisy hub club? I live near him and occasionally ride with Spider Patrol. I also troll NHC website. :)

I'm still not ready for EE but will be doing the 1/2 marathon at Comfort and am also doing the 4 hour endurance at Lundsay park on Saturday.

Looking forward to both races...
 
#54 ·
I finished in 5:54.

If there had been an opportunity to quit, I would have considered it.

Excrutiation Exam:
Distance: 80 mile race spread out like this - 0.5 mile run for a Le Mans start. About 5 miles of single track. 30 miles of mostly dirt roads. 20 miles of single track. 20 miles of mostly dirt road back to the ranch at the start then another 5 miles of single track.
Weather: 41-46F and rain.
Category: 19-29.

How it played out:
I don't run. Mid pack to the bike pretty much locked me into mid pack through the first singletrack. One big thing is which grup you make it into for the road sections. Obviously my group was... Mid pack. Within the first minute I could see the total disfunction of my group. A couple guys were bridging up to the next group, so I hopped on. It wasn't meant to be, on the second or third hill I popped and dropped back to the disfunctional group.

I spent about 20 minutes trying to get a pace line going, but hard to teach mountain bikers such things. Sat in, a group of two went up the road, getting about a minute on us. Fast forward another hour and a half, we hit the next singletrack. The two up the road were caught on the first hill in the singletrack. It was me and another dude by ourselves after that. About 20 minutes into the 2 hours of singletrack, I hit a tree and went down, other dude road on. So I spent the next hour by myself, passed quite a few people, but this was getting into "survival" territory, rather than actual racing.

FINALLY, I hooked up with someone. We road along together for a while. Then got another one - someone in my age bracket - someone to race against. We hit a super muddy off-camber section and the two guys decided to walk. I slipped and slided, but kept it upright and they were GONE.

I got on the road again (dirt/gravel mostly) with no one in front of me and no one behind me. This is when I finally got cold. 20 miles left, after already racing for about 4.5 hours. There's not much to say here. I rode the next hour and a half by myself. I don't keep a computer on my bike, so I had no idea how much was left or even how long I'd been riding. I couldn't grip the bars, was soaking wet, my back was beyond pain, shivering began, legs slowed, and by the miracle of little baby Jesus I didn't bonk or flat - which would have meant certain hypothermia. I finished just 1 minute behind the person in front of me... despite not seeing ANYONE for the hour and a half from RHR to BCR.

I finished in 5:54, good for 8th place in 19-29 men.

Back at my car, I had to get someone to take my gloves, shoes, helmet, and camelback off - then had to get them to start the car. I sat in the car for 30 minutes before I could feel my fingers. People were still straggling in.
 
#56 ·
You know, at that point I was still hyped on adrenalin since I had just dropped that little group in the mud, so the hill didn't really compute for me. All the other hills did though... I was on the verge of cramping pretty much the whole time during RHR and the road back. A few times my leg locked up, but I managed to ride through it mostly.
 
#65 ·
Looked at the website and only saw a video... maybe I didn't look hard enough.

Can anyone give a brief description of the marathon course (i.e. major bottlenecks/climbs)- heading out from El Paso this week to race then going down to Big Bend to hang out/ride.

Thanks!
 
#67 ·
There are some videos on youtube of last years. Lots of sections of bottle necking, people stopping and waitng for people to clear a section. Looks like a good area to pass people :thumbsup:. I saw one climb that had a 1 foot ledge in the middle of it :D.

Anyone know of any drops? If so, how big?
 
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