Testing my Endurance

The latest stop on the Oregon XC Series was Test of Endurance in Blogett, Oregon. While the weather has improved since the Mudslinger utilized some of these trails, we woke up to drizzle and 50 degree temps–again.

Three years ago I came a close second while I got it all right in 2007 when I won this event by a large margin. Last year I was out of town chasing NUE events so it was great to be able to ride a marathon an hour from home.

I wasn’t highly motivated by the conditions and my body seemed to be in a negative biorythm, too. In fact, as soon as we got out of the chute, I thought I might be spending my first Father’s Day in the ICU or even on the slab. My heartrate went sky-high and stayed there for most of the 4 hour race. It was so high that I didn’t believe my Garmin for awhile.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=8520614

Anyway, I quickly fell off the pace set by Adam Craig (Giant) and Barry Wicks (Kona). While I was definitely stressed, I managed the situation well and was able to claw my way back up through the field on the second 25 mile loop.

In the end, I managed “best of the rest” in 3rd place overall. Under the circumstances and considering the alternatives, this makes me really happy!

The new trails were awesome so thanks again to Mike Ripley and the Mudslinger Events crew.

Ciao,

VP