The weather was beautiful, the course was in great shape, and over 600 people came out to enjoy it with us.
Friday we got out and set up, and marked the course. Coolest part was getting to meet and hang out with Brent from Twin Six, who came all the way from Minneapolis to race and hang out.
Saturday was the race, I was doing the 4 hour single speed along with 19 other crazy people. For those that don't know, Granogue is probably one of the hardest races in the MASS series. My goal was 6 laps, I was hoping to have 5 under my belt and sneak out for a 6th before the 4 hours were up.
Things didn't start out so good, my rear tire seemed to have a slight air retention problem. Less than 5 minutes in I had to stop and use a co2, which went bad as well because the first one shot out everywhere, but I did manage to get half of the second one into the tire. Now I was chasing to get back to the front group.
Turns out it wasn't enough air though, lucky for me I caught up to Andrew and he gave me some of his big air.This got me through the rest of my first lap and most of me second. Good thing Fitzy was parked at the bottom of Weymouth's and had a pump I could borrow.
I finished up lap 2 and 3 still feeling good and on track to get in 6 laps. Then half way through my 4th I started cramping a little, so I backed off a bit. I stopped at the pit area for a fresh bottle and about 54 minutes to do lap 5 so I could get in lap 6. I was really hurting now, and the cramping was getting worse. I thought I was drinking plenty of fluid, but I guess not. I tried pushing it a little and my legs just locked up. I hit the start of Weymouth's with a half hour to go, normally not a problem, on this day, big problem. For one my tire was flat again, not to mention my legs were pretty flat as well. Used Fitzy's pump again and headed for the Koppenberg, the last climb of the lap. I was hurting pretty bad, the cramps were getting worse, and I was running out of time. I tried to stand up on the pedals and that was it. My legs completely locked and I had to stop. I kind of knew at that point I wasn't going to do 6 laps, but I still got back on the bike and rode the rest of the lap. I came close, but that doesn't really count, I rolled across the line at 4:01. Good enough for 7th.
I was a little bummed about not reaching my goal, but I did ride well, so I was happy about that. All the locals seemed to have a good day, congrats to all.
Thanks to all of our volunteers and there hard work and dedication for making this event happen. I also want to say thanks to the DuPont family for letting us invade there beautiful estate, with out them there would be no race.
Later that night a few of us got together at Marc and Diane's for some much needed pizza and beer. Not to mention plenty of shit talking. Even though we just met Brent, he seemed to fit right into our little group. Who knows, maybe next year we may head out his way for a little race.
Cheers,
Buddy
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