12 Hours of Cranky Monkey

This race is about 15 minutes from the In-Laws, so I made a deal with the devil and registered to race.
Goals: Ride 100 miles and make the podium.

It had been 24 months and 1 week since my last and first 12 hour solo attempt at the Cowbell Challenge. As I recall there were 30 something solo riders and I finished 10th with 10 – 8.1 mile laps. It was a good race, but there was a fair share of pain, suffering, and heat to go around.

Obviously I forgot about the pain of the Cowbell and was ready to take on another lap race and here is how it went down.
My game plan was to start middle of the pack and stay consistent all day and hopefully pick off the competition. I instructed my Father In-Law that I did not want to know what place I was in until it was time to make the ultimate decision (1 more lap or not).
Lap 1: Started Lemans style and then bottle necked through a gate. It was not the best start to a race like this, but I had 12 hours to race, so I wasn’t in too much of a hurry. There was more carnage on this first lap than any race I have seen before. This trail is NO JOKE. It literally is like 10 miles of Spiderwoman. I bet there is more than 2000 feet of elevation change in one lap and it is almost all single-track. I witnessed a guy going over his handle bars at 15 mph going down a rutted section. It was nasty.
This was my first ride on this course, so I took it easy, passed when I could, and watched for the next big wreck. Finished in 1:08.
Lap 2: This lap was much more enjoyable. Probably the best lap of the day. The traffic was gone, and I climbed everything out there except this one hill that had to be 40% grade. I had the I-9s on with a Dura-race road cassette (probably not the best choice) so my gears were limited, and I did not want to waste too much energy. I remember thinking this trail is a lot of fun! Finished in 1:05.
Lap 3: Still feeling good and pacing myself, nothing much new. I did come across a guy, who must have been part of a team, that was just cussing and wining. I look down at his set up and he has platform pedals, khaki shorts, and road tires. I make a comment that he might want to try some tires with some tread on them and he cusses me. I had to laugh the whole way up the hill. That must have been his last lap, since I never saw him again.
Finished in 1:10.

Lap 4: Finished in 1:10.
Lap 5: Finished in 1:17. Really starting to feel the heat.
Lap 6: Took a break to change clothes and re-butter. Finished in 1:37
Lap 7: The wheels on the bus go round and round, and then they fall off! This lap hurt. Of the 8 major climbs on the course I walked 4 of them. Then for the first time today a solo rider passes me. I ask him what lap he is on and he says 7. I then respond that he just passed me in the race. He then asked do I know how far ahead 1st and 2nd are. Now I gather that I am in 4th and I see the podium slipping away. So I pick the pace up a little and try to keep him in my sights, but he is looking strong.
Finished the lap in 1:20.
Lap 8: As I pull into the pits on lap 7 I see the fella that passed me earlier on that lap leaving the pit, so I grab water and gel and head out after him. I keep him in my sights for the first 4 miles of the course, but this guy is riding everything, even the 40% climb that I have not made all day. At this point he crushed me mentally. I knew that I could not catch him and I was stuck in 4th and crashing hard. I labored on and finished the lap in 1:30. I get to the pit and proclaim I am finished. Now I ask Dad what are the standings. He informs me that I have been in 2nd all day until lap 7 and now I am in 3rd. I asked how far behind is 4th and he tells me 10 minutes. Well that decision is easy to make. I have to do another lap even if it kills me. I keep thinking that the pain is temporary, but the reward is forever. I grab up some water and go.
Lap 9: I am actually feeling better this lap than I was on #8. I walk every climb with determination and attack every down hill. I finished in 1:30 and never saw another solo rider. At this point I know I have 3rd wrapped up.

The whole day I had minimal cramping and the bike performed relatively well considering the conditions. It was a great experience and it will probably be at least 1 year before I do another 12 hour lap race.


Solo
Male
1 94 Zach Rogers
GP Velot

1:00:53 (1) 2:03:38 (1) 3:08:50 (1) 4:17:17 (1) 5:28:54 (1) 6:43:19 (1) 7:55:49 (1) 9:15:15 (1) 10:29:23 (1)
1:00:53 (1) 1:02:44 (1) 1:05:12 (1) 1:08:26 (1) 1:11:36 (1) 1:14:25 (1) 1:12:30 (1) 1:19:26 (2) 1:14:08 (1)

2 84 Calvin Cheung
LSV/Kell
1:03:56 (2) 2:19:15 (5) 3:40:28 (5) 4:58:12 (4) 6:17:35 (3) 7:37:12 (3) 8:50:33 (2) 10:06:22 (2) 11:22:02 (2)
1:03:56 (2) 1:15:19 (10) 1:21:12 (6) 1:17:43 (3) 1:19:23 (3) 1:19:36 (3) 1:13:21 (2) 1:15:49 (1) 1:15:39 (2)

3 91 Joseph Pelton
Harrell's
1:08:40 (5) 2:14:26 (2) 3:24:40 (2) 4:35:28 (2) 5:52:44 (2) 7:30:29 (2) 8:50:52 (3) 10:21:31 (3) 11:52:27 (3)
1:08:40 (5) 1:05:46 (2) 1:10:14 (3) 1:10:48 (2) 1:17:15 (2) 1:37:44 (8) 1:20:22 (4) 1:30:39 (6) 1:30:56 (5)

4 89 Patrick Nagler
Team Eth
1:05:25 (4) 2:18:08 (3) 3:28:17 (3) 4:51:55 (3) 6:25:18 (5) 7:44:34 (4) 9:21:32 (6) 10:43:55 (6) 12:05:38 (4)
1:05:25 (4) 1:12:43 (5) 1:10:09 (2) 1:23:37 (6) 1:33:23 (6) 1:19:15 (2) 1:36:57 (9) 1:22:23 (3) 1:21:43 (3)

5 137 Christopher Broering
Christoph
1:09:21 (6) 2:18:29 (4) 3:31:42 (4) 4:59:29 (5) 6:23:34 (4) 7:49:00 (5) 9:15:21 (5) 10:43:39 (5) 12:14:14 (5)
1:09:21 (6) 1:09:08 (3) 1:13:12 (4) 1:27:47 (7) 1:24:05 (5) 1:25:25 (5) 1:26:20 (7) 1:28:17 (5) 1:30:35 (4)

All top five solo riders did 9 laps.
1st finished in 10:29
2nd in 11:22
3rd in 11:52
4th in 12:05
5th in 12:14

That is a pretty tight spread for this type of race. It is hard to believe 4th was only 13 minutes behind me.

Goals: How does the Rolling Stones song go? “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you just might find, you just might find, you get what you need”
#1 – 100 miles (NOPE only 96.3)

#2 – Podium (Yeap 3rd Place)

Thanks you to my family for the support. My pit crew was fantastic!

Late Edit: Found out the course has 1776 feet of elevation change/lap.

That comes out to 15,984 feet of change total.