Bake Shop

Go figure, the bike was feeling sweet, everything was working well and the weather was perfect for a race. Only problem was for some reason I didn't show up....well I showed up but left my biking legs at home. I'd even planned to make a better start and leading up to it I was feeling good, I thought everything was in line for a good race at the Sugarbottom Scramble. The first double track gravel road climb was an ominous sign of thing to come. I held on to start but couldn't find it in my legs to continue at the pace I knew I could. Once into the singletrack I thought "I'm okay...I always get a nice second wind so I'll just maintain for a lap and then hit it". Well I managed to do that the first lap without losing any spots. I had one small pack go by early but that was okay. I passed a few on my own and kept going. Coming thru the start/finish for lap two I was tired but still figured the ol' second wind would kick in shortly, I mean it always does so why would today be any different? The second time up the gravel road climb is when things fell apart.

Towards the top of the climb I felt the very bad bad twitching in my thighs. The twitch that is telling your brain "game over, time's up, next, stop, nadda, check please". Many words popped thru my head that aren't fit for my family friendly blog. Once at the top I figured I could easy and work thru the cramps. Well, I was wrong, really really wrong. The next lap for me was just a battle against myself wanting to quit. I had to stop and dismount 3 or 4 times to squat so my leg muscles would uncramp. During this time I ran into two of my teammates battling the same problem. They both were in pain but I think we all convinced each other that none of us were going to DNF ("did not finish") today no matter how long it took us to finish. We all traded stopping and passing but eventually made the finish.

In the weird twist of the day it seems there was some kind of voodoo (my explanation) going on because cramps were the story of the race. I've never seen a cramp fest like this since I've been racing and many of the veterens said the same thing. Especially on such a mild day. I lost count but about 20 or so people complained of cramps were at least having severe can't turn the pedal anymore cramps. I also believe I suffered from a bit of terrain change. In Des Moines our main trail is 80% flat and Sugarbottom is a hilly course.

Here are some pics from the race. The last pic is my sqautting at the finish line because my legs were cramping something fierce.



I call this the "Gun Show" pic



The Rasmussen squad prepping before the race.



Jacob and me trying to figure out how we stunk things up so bad.



Coming thru the start/finish on either lap 1 or 2. I'm not wincing in pain so maybe it's lap 1.



Course marsall removing my number plate when I finished. I just wanted to fall over and curl up right there.