…the Killer Gravel Road race, killer it was. Somehow I convinced myself I could handle single speed at this race. Half-way through the first set of hills I was beginning to regret that decision.

Pre-race:

We got up early, fed Henry and headed down to breakfast. I had a couple pieces of French toast and a small muffin, washed down with a glass of orange juice. I’ve learned my lesson about eating too much for breakfast before a race…

A quick stop at Wal-mart for some race nutrition (pop-tarts), baby food, a snack for Susan and some Gatorade. We found a parking spot a couple blocks from the start line, but several blocks from packet pick-up. I thought about riding my bike down there, but changed my mind and walked instead. Packet pick-up was in the basement of an Ace Hardware store and although there were tons of people, it was very well organized. After making the trek back to the car, I chatted with Susan for a little bit until I figured it was about time to get ready for the race.

I was nervous about what to wear and was happy with what I chose, shoe covers (one or two sizes too small), tights, Ore-to-Shore socks, REI bib shorts, race-cut bike jersey, Nike running jacket, winter bike gloves, and my skull cap. I had debated going long sleeve over my bibs for an insulating layer, but ended up not needing it. I wasn’t cold until we were right outside town and the wind started to pick up a bit.

After getting my gear together and tires inflated, I road my bike around a couple blocks for a warm-up. Then it was a quick stop at the porta-johns and off to the starting area. Single-speeders were in Wave 2, so at least I didn’t have to stand around for long. I did strike up a conversation with a fellow cyclist who like pretty nervous, hope he did well. I ate one pop-tart before our wave moved up, chugged some Gatorade and off I went.

Race:

I was cruising along on the city streets without much problem. I was passing by folks and was having a pretty good time. We hit the gravel and it didn’t seem so bad. I was okay up the first couple of hills, but probably pushed myself too hard. When we got to the series of hills known as The Three Sisters, I had to push up the last one. It was a lot of uphill and downhill from there on out.

Around mile ten I started to cramp in my right calf muscle (really, 10 miles?) I was trying to ride as many hills as I could, that probably hurt me more than anything… I really need to do some sort of hill training this year.

The first few sections of gravel weren’t too bad, but then we got to some spongy stuff that I imagined would be similar to riding through peanut butter. Having only one gear, I didn’t have a lot of choices; I was either pushing through or walking through. I decided to push, but it didn’t feel like I was going very fast (which I wasn’t…)

There were quite a few mud holes, some of which had serious ruts going through them. Somehow I stayed rubber side down and was able to get through the worst of it. When we reached the climb known as The Killer, both legs were cramping and I was pushing.

I figured this would be a good opportunity to have my second pop-tart. I’m sure it was a site to see, this guy pushing his bike up a monster hill chomping on a pop-tart. It was pretty funny when I was pushing up another hill and there was a tandem team also pushing. I managed to get past them and one of them commented saying, “People are even walking faster than us!” I think they were having a rough ride, although I wasn’t much better off.

We got to some pavement and I caught up with a guy riding fixed gear. We chatted a little bit before I dropped him on a hill climb and he said this was the worst race conditions he had ridden in four years. We ended up seeing quite a bit of each other until I pulled away from him a couple miles from the end (although he did have a faster time than me).

Well, I took longer than expected to finish and Susan and Henry were cold waiting for me to cross the finish line. I mustered up what little strength I had and sprinted towards the finish line. I was hoping to have a picture of me crossing, because I’m sure I had quite a face after that race.

Post Race:

I texted Susan to let her know I crossed the finish line. My race time was just under 3:15 (about an hour longer then I had anticipated). After my legs finally stopped screaming, I pushed my bike over to the street we parked on, hopped on and headed to the car. Susan had the car running and the heat blasting, which was pretty much awesome. Unfortunately they looked cold and were ready to head back to the hotel. We stopped to get some lunch at KFC and made are way to the hotel for naptime.

I’m not sure if I’ll be doing this race again, although today I’m looking back and it was actually pretty fun trying to finish something challenging (especially on one gear). My race nutrition held up pretty well, two pop-tarts and two 21 ounce bottles of Gatorade. If I do try this race again I’ll probably swap to a 42-20 gear instead of 42-18.

I did get a bunch of comments on my bike and riding single speed, which was pretty neat!