BT Epic 2013 RaceReport

BT Epic 2013 Report:


That race was hard.....


End report. 


But really, that race was the most torture I have ever experienced on a bicycle.  Granted, that could be because in the previous 3 months I have only rode my bike one time, but with work being busy what can you do.  Some of BOR did rather well, Scott managed to kill it in a 7:47 and Paul was right behind in just over 8 hours.  Neil had to drop out at the cutoff due to some hydration issues and Dave and I both managed to finish tied for last finisher at somewhere around a 9:30.  Race was really well put on (other than getting charged $36 bucks to park our car by Bass River Resort) and they had a lot of good giveaways and raffle prizes.  Whatever food was left by time last place finished was actually pretty good!

So now onto the actual race. We arrived at 7:00 and after typical BOR shenanigans we were ready for the 8:30 start.  We held off to the side and for the start and jumped in about mid pack to tear off up the dirt road and head for the woods.  You wouldn't think this would be a difficult part of the race, but whether it was because I have a 1x9 or that hill was just worse than I though, by the time Scott and I came to the turn in the woods to wait on the rest of BOR I was feeling the burn and we were only 3.1 miles in! 

Once we regrouped and turned into the woods, the trail was actually very nice and flowy,  nothing like Dave had described it from last year, and I was really enjoying myself.  Scott and I were having so much fun we ended puling away from Neil, Dave and Paul and stopped to wait for them after the first hill climb.  After a couple minutes to pop gel packs and fuel we were back to riding and really enjoying the trail until I had to avoid a rider tht laid the bike over on a steep little downhill that caused me to end up taking a line into a tree.  Scott was riding so well that from there I didn't see him until I came into the first CP about 4 minutes behind him.  Dave, Neil and Paul came in about 4 minutes behind me, where Paul promptly fell off his bike trying to get on the road.  From there we convinced Scott to race this on his own and that was the last time I saw him until the finish.  Shortly after Scott left the remaining BOR headed off into the woods for another sweet section of single track.  This was another nice section of single track and I accidentally left Dave.  He caught up to me after I took a header off the bike on a root drop and laid in the trail for a couple of minutes trying to clear the cobwebs. 

From then on Dave and I were riding at a pretty good pace, for us, and just really enjoying the fast downhills.  We didn't enjoy the painful uphills very much though.  We meet back up with Paul and Neil after stopping to eat then we all rode into the campground checkpoint around 11:20 ish.  I think that was somewhere around the 24 mile mark, but I cant remember exactly.  We found our drop bag and saw that Scott didn't even stop since his beer was still in the bag.  We all consumed our mid race beer and Gatorade, and then set off again.  From there I cant really remember much of the section that brought us back to the campground other than I was flirting with bonking for most of it and Neil had to pee a lot.  I do remember that after we grabbed our zip ties we talked Paul into going at it on his own since it was 2:00 worried about making the 3:00 cutoff into the last CP, 8 miles away.  Paul resisted a little and then he went off like the flash, and we never saw him again either until the finish. 

As it turns out we made the CP by 2:30 since it was all fire and paved roads to it, and then we had some decisions to make.  Neil decided his hydration issues were more important than finishing the race which was a good call on his part.  Dave and I got some information on the remaining trail and decided we had enough time to get out of the trail and onto the roads before sundown and we went for it.  The first section out of the trail was a fast long smooth section that really had me feeling good about the remaining trail.  Dave and I walked some small technical bits here and there just to avoid any tired mistakes that would cause us to crash but other than that we were making great time.  At least I thought we were. 

We knew we had roughly 11 miles of single track from the CP we had left until we hit the road for the final push into the finish.  We were about an hour and a half into the single track and I thought we had to be at least 6 miles into it, based on our pace, and I was really feeling confident on finishing this thing when we got passed by another rider we had been playing leapfrog with all day.  We chatted him up for a little bit while riding with him and asked him about the rest of the trail, to which he replied "The next 7 miles of trail are real nice and then its a good road ride to the finish." I have never felt so bad in my life then when this guy told me we weren't even half as far as I thought I was.  I was so heartbroken I started hiccupping and did not stop for another mile and a half.  I don't know if anyone reading this has ever had to ride a bike with vicious hicups, but it really makes breathing when you are already tired a terrible experience.  Because of that, the next couple miles were some of the most miserable miles I have ever ridden / walked.  I couldn't breathe, my confidence in finishing was shot and my entire body hurt and to be honest neither Dave nor I knew exactly how many miles we had left to go. 

We started riding again.  we played leapfrog with a couple of guys who didn't look in any better shape than us.  We hooked up with another rider and together the three of us rode on... and on... and on... and on, praying that around the next corner was the road.  Until finally we come up a hill and there it is, but it wasn't, the course crossed the road.  I cursed just about everything under the sun and then we kept riding until I saw a road getting closer on my left, the closer it got the happier I got until we made a sharp right on a downhill.  I cursed everything again.  After who knows how long we finally arrived in a gravel parking lot and the route turned into double track which made me a very happy person.  We had to be close, double track almost always leads to a road!  except this road looked to be about a 45 degree angle right up a hill.  We walked the first hill and then I got on and road up the next hill with everything I had, hoping that stupid road was there and finally we ran into it. 

I had about 2 or 3 minutes wait for Dave and Ray (guy we hooked up with earlier) to catch up and I spent the entire time yelling about how beautiful the road was and how much I loved everything about it, It had been a long day and I was a little delirious.  Once we got on that road I knew we were home free, until we stopped for a break and noticed the guy behind us was the sweeper taking signs down.  I don't think he would have taken signs down in front of us and he seemed like a nice guy, but from then on we were on a mission to outrun the sweeper and we were on it! At sometime around 6, the last 3 riders to finish rolled into the tent, Dave, Ray and myself, and personally I have never been so happy to finish an event.

Really though I thought it was a well organized and supported event.  I just wish I was more prepared.