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12 Hours of Cranky Monkey |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Jason Mahokey
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Wednesday, 27 June 2007 |
12 Hours of Cranky Monkey
June 24th, 2007
Quantico, VA
 With the stress of the week behind me (that stress being breaking a frame, getting a new frame and getting that frame built up in 48 hours) I was able to take some deep breaths, and focus on "good stress" in the form of another Solo assault at the 1st (annual) 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey at the US Marine Base in Quantico, Virginia.
Saturday a.m. I kissed Wifey and B-Man, loaded up the car with some CDs, stuffed the hatch with all my solo racing needs and strapped my new Dos Niner to the Soob.
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I made it to Quantico, VA in about 5 hours. Sorta long, but my cabin/pit mate J.B. gave me some easy directions to keep my off the parking lot/death trap that is I-95, so that was cool. Headed straight to the course at the base in Quantico. J.B. and one of his teammates were just getting ready to head out for a pre ride, so I parked the car, chamoised up, got Dos Niner V.2 off the Soob and hit the trails. Pretty cool way to shake out the "car legs" after 5 hours of driving! The course was sweet! FAST single track mixed up with some nice climbs and some cool, twisty fast down hills. On the buff single track I kept wondering if my Panaracer/IRD Fire Pros where overkill, but then we would hit some sandy sections , or a climb with roots and loose rock and I knew that the tires would be just fine. I'm now up to over 30 hours of racing on them and they've rolled great in all conditions. THAT's a great tire.
After the pre-ride it was off to get settled into our cabin over at Prince William Forest Park. Rustic- yes, but it's low dollar price tag would make good enough to to flop before/after the race. Since Wifey needed to be in Pittsburgh early a.m. for some work stuff, she and B-Man had to bail on the trip and I would be on my own in the pits for The Monkey. The pits were not the most convenient for quick bottle fills and food, especially with the "no riding in the pit area" rule. Not horrible, just not the best. But just like anything with this sort of racing, you need to adapt and roll with it.
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I slept like hell Saturday night and woke up with a headache that felt like my head was in a vice. Not sure if it was from lack of sleep, lack of quality caffeine, or the piss poor pillow I brought with me that was about as comfy as a bag full of marbles. Thankfully the pain left after some Advil, PB&J and Starbucks iced coffee.
Got to the venue early and did all the normal race prep stuff. Check in, ready bottles, pinch a loaf, racer meeting, pretend to know what I'm doing, etc., etc., Side note: Damn I love my bib shorts, but there is NOTHING harder than dropping bibs to use the porta-john. I mean you have to get half naked in a steamy porta-john just to do your business!
8 a.m. brought the 400 yard (seemed like 400 miles) run to the bikes. Runs suck. PERIOD. Can we PLEASE find a better way No Ok, the run will do. I sucked and was about 50th on the bike! I shit you not.
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Once on the trail the 1st lap was filled with the normal back ups and what not. But that's expected on the first lap. 12 hours enough time to sort things out. Everyone relax! My plan was to pit every two laps. I had my cooler of nutrition bottles, and I one Naglene bottle of Heed ready to pour in my pack, but what about the 3rd bladder fill FFFFF! I left all my spare jugs of water in the car about 600 yards from the pit! Ohhhhh F!!! WHY am I such a moron (don't answer that!) All that pre race prep and I forget WATER I mean I had everything going on and forgot the one thing that we human types sort of need for survival. Water!
I pushed through 2 laps quickly and then pitted for more Heed, a new bottle of Gatorade/Carbo Pro, a Power Gel and a few E-Caps. J.B. was out on course and no one else was around to ask about getting the water so I said "screw it", and went back out.
As I was riding, I was trying to formulate my game plan for getting my water as quickly as possible. As I pulled into the check-in after the next lap my buddy Fat Marc spied me and asked me how the lap was and if I needed anything. I usually decline such offers, but this time I had no shame and basically said "dude, I left my water in the car, can you get it or hook me up" He said no prob and hooked me up with a 3 gal. container in my pit to get me through the race. Marc, you're so money and you don't even know it!!
I had not really been looking forward to this lap race after my post Mohican 100 hundie high, but I was having fun with the course. I mean the course was a freaking blast, even as I started to get tired. One down hill had you launching off a water bar and then taking that momentum into some oh-so-sweet single track.
There was also some sweet relief from the climbs in the form of a 25 to 30 mph down hill double track. FUN. AS. HELL. It was on this (and many of the other) descents that I found my Ergon grips to be aces! I found that my down hill hand position is perfect for the grip and the flex of the grip's "wing" really provided some comfort and took that smash your palms with a hammer feeling that one often gets after multiple laps of rough descents.
Stomach was feeling good for the second race in a row. Nutrition consisted of Heed in my pack, Gatorade/Carbo Pro on the bike, every other lap a Strawberry/Banana PowerGel (with a hint of caffeine), and in the pits an occasional bight of PB&J or a hand full of trail mix.
By lap 8 I took on board a bottle full of Pepsi to keep going too. If you would have asked me 2 months ago if I'd being doing a lap with a bottle full of Pepsi I'd say you were smoking crack! Now, I'm all about it when I need a quick calorie/sugar fix.
Amazingly, cramping was put off until lap 8 when both hammies and both quads seized up and forced me dead in my tracks. More gushing racer love for the dude behind me that offered me a few E-Caps on the spot. Thanks dude! Doubtful that taking 3 pills, did much more than mentally get me back pedaling, but anything helps. I think the Heed had been doing a great job at keeping the cramps at bay, but the last batch I mixed up I think I made too weak.
There was one dude cramping so bad he was literally laying in the bushes writhing around. Once he said it was just cramps, I almost had to laugh. Felt bad, but still had to laugh. Dude was in a world of pain. Acted like he just got attacked by a bear!
Bike wise Dos V.2 was just like the old one- great! Maybe a bit stiffer (in a good way) but the same bike, so no real changes. I did have MAJOR chain suck at one point which left me having to use a end of my chain tool to poke it out from the front derailleur and chain stay, so as not to have to do something stupid like break the chain. It worked and all was good. Did mar up that sweet orange paint though. DOH!
There were so many times that the 29" wheels bailed me out. Whether it was hitting a wide gaped log pile or bridge, coming off the back side of a big water bar, or rolling easily over up hill logs! On the other hand there was not ONE time I said "boy, I wish I had 26" wheels!" The cut off for last laps was 7:00, so it was kind of like doing an 11 hour race. I pulled in with a few minutes to spare. After talking to the scorer I decided not to go out for lap 10. Felt pretty good, guess I just wasn't motivated enough to try to move up one place.
I felt like I accomplished a lot and just the possibility of moving up one place was not enough to push me out. I put in 85.5 miles of single track in less than 11 hours and finished in 6th place out of 35 male geared soloists, You take what you can get, and enjoy the ride that is racing a Solo. I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't go out for that 10th lap, but sh*t, not going for lap 10 is just the tip of the iceberg that is '"Why Jason is disappointed in himself". HA!
At the same time I'm still happy with my results, considering the stressful week leading up to the race, and that, while not completely self supported, I didn't exactly have a "crew" either and truthfully I think I like it better like that. I don't mind taking the responsibility.
I've always raced my own race and let the placings fall where they may, and this race was no different. I might not be on the podium, but I'm usually close enough to smell the body stank of they guys who are. And I tell you what, it smells much better than the freshly showered scent of the DNFs! I might not have had pit support, but a bunch of folks still made the race happen for me and fun: Bikeman.com of course and an EXTRA helping of thanks to team sponsor Salsa Cycles for getting me a replacement Dos Niner in time for the race (I'm still in awe of that!), my buddy Tom for getting it put together, John B. for taking care of reserving the cabin for us, support and good conversation. And of course all the course volunteers were awesome too. At about 3 different spots that they were there to there to offer up water or sports drinks and best of all encouragement. That's always cool during a sufferfest. You all rock.
Once I got cleaned up, I helped myself to the kick ass Papa John's Pizza that was provided after the race and then J.B. and I headed back to the cabin to sit on the front porch, have a couple Sam Adams and talk bikes.
Next race might not be until the Wilderness 101 with Mr. Rick Nelson.
Not sure I can make it 'till August though. We shall see.
Thanks for reading.
Jason Mahokey
Excerpts from "The Soiled Chamois"
The Complete "The Soiled Chamois" |
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