Brimstone of Firestone Walker 4/30/06

Firestone Walker is a staple on the southern California race calendar. Arriving groggy and with car legs the day before at the Los Olivos vineyard to pre-ride the course, we were greeted with a balmy mid-60’s and fog. The countryside was beautiful, without a hint of mud and it was perfect conditions for riding. Since I blew through another fork/shock a couple of days earlier, I was eager to test out my new Fox fork. I enjoyed taking a leisurely tour around the cow paths and fire roads with my hubby. Later, we filled up at the pasta feed and on fun conversation for dinner. Stephen had signed up for the marathon, 75 miles or 5 laps and needed all the nourishment he could get. He is the king of working the buffets and was able to use his charm on the buffet crew for another plate of food while everyone else who asked for seconds was turned away.

Sunday morning I was more nervous than Stephen was – not for me, but for him. We got up early to send him off a little before 8am. It was gorgeous weather. The hills were enveloped in mist and the air was cool. I was praying that countryside would be able to hold on to the coolness for my 30 mile race starting at 1pm. After setting up Stephen’s self-serve feed and water table and watching him roll off the start line, I went back to the hotel to try and relax for a few hours before I needed to return to the venue and warm-up. Unfortunately, my stomach was not cooperating. Instead of relaxing I was sprinting to the bathroom every 15 minutes…..

I made it back to the race with squirrels doing the mamba in my stomach. While replenishing Stephen’s food station, I found out my teammate Brooke, who has embarked on her first race season, had wrecked and broken her wrist. I saw her at the first aid… I mean ice pack station because they did not even have a band aid to hand out. She was with her husband and we headed back to my car where I had a first aid kit. We used some wire mesh to temporarily splint her arm. Those of you who know me well, know that I am not very good with blood or broken body parts-mine or anyone else's. I get woozy. Somehow, I managed to hold it together enough to help Brooke.

The adrenaline rush from patching up Brooke gave me superhuman focus to get myself ready for my race. Well, focused on everything but sunscreen-unknowingly I got a sunburn on my back in less than 30 minutes while sitting on the trainer for my warm-up. Ouch! The morning fog had burned off and it was now a very muggy and a suffocating mid-70’s.

Anyhow, I found my way to the start line. I thought I was at the wrong race. The air was tense and edgy. I had to take a look around to make sure the women were on mountain bikes and not road bikes. Was this race going to be fun?

The best part about the start was being called up to the start line because I was in 3rd place overall for the California State Race Series. I was able to get a plum spot on the start line. After we were sent off we wound around the grassy spectator viewing area and made our way to the first hill climb. It was not quite like a road race, but it sure felt like it because we were all wheel to wheel. There was a lot of attitude being thrown around too.

My first lap around the course I was cruising. I was pushing hard trying to see if I could find new limits. I was able to maintain my ultra focus and bomb down the curvy bumpy cow paths and back up the double track. I kept a steady speed in fourth place with second and third place in clear view. And I saw Stephen too. He yelled to me from the sidelines that he had to quit after 50 miles because his legs seized up.

At the end of my first lap, I began to crumble with stomach problems. I was cramping really badly. I tried to stand up and stretch out, spin it out, do anything to make the pain go away. I succumbed to the persistent cramps on the climb and watched two racers pass me, Christie a SoCal buddy who now eats fire for breakfast and another gal I have not yet met. I was giving it everything I had to find a comfortable position just to stay with them.

Summiting the climb I was in for a big surprise. Out of no where appeared a huge bull (cow), blocking the path. He was not there on the first lap. So where did he come from? He was snorting, mooing and digging at the dirt with his front hoof as if he was going to charge. He did not seem happy. I gingerly went way off the path through the tall grass behind him hoping that he would not see me out of the corner of his eye and run after me or worse kick me with his hind legs as I went around him. I made it! Yeeeeeehaaaaaw!

Still, I ended up losing more time. Between the cow and the stomach issues, I lost sight of how far ahead everyone was. I kept drinking water and ate my energy gels to see if that would help to settle my belly. The tough part was passing by the rotting stagnant waterholes later on in the course. I thought I was going to lose my lunch. I managed to keep everything down and pushed through the rest of the race without anyone else passing me and finished in 6th place. Although I would have rather finished as strong as I had started out in the race, the good news is that even though I was not feeling stellar, I did have a faster time by a few minutes compared to last year’s race. The real question is what to eat? Maybe the pasta feed was not such a good idea……