Three Mountain Madness

I completed the 75 mile course of 3MM yesterday. I felt good the the entire ride. I stayed with the lead pack over the first 20 miles or so to the first mountain, Sauratown. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up the pace during the climbs since I didn't have the proper gear ratio and had a tri bike. I must have had 100 people pass me on the ascent, but I still climbed it as easily and quickly as I had ever done. Throughout the day I must have had a dozen riders say something similar to 'I can't believe you are doing this on that bike'. Those comments weren't great for my psyche, but I really don't know any difference - after all, it's the engine that matters, right?

Anyway, I passed about 30 of those riders back between Sauratown and Hanging Rock going solo like a bat out of hell for about 5 miles until I caught a good strong group and started sucking their back tire. They left me during the climb of Hanging Rock, but nobody else passed me going up. I was out of liquids by then and stopped for a fill-up at the top of Hanging Rock, as did that group. So I was able to re-join them at the top. I started counting the cyclist ahead of me as they came down and I was still going up and counted a total of 80 with leader about 15 minutes ahead of me and I was still feeling strong. The trek from HR to Pilot Mountain proved to be the toughest part of the ride. This section consisted of rolling hill, more like small mountains, with 3 of them resembling the mountain climbs we had just completed. I passed the next pit stop with out stopping, but about half my group peeled off leaving 6 of us to continue. Suddenly without warning, somewhere around mile 45 my hamstring cramped up and I pulled over and was left alone. I had forgotten how painfull a hamstring cramp is. I couldn't get off the bike because of the cramp and was left there still clipped in stradling the bike wondering how I could ride another 30 miles. For the next 30 minutes I would ride about a half mile then pull over with another cramp. I just coulnd't get going. From a fitness standpoint I felt fine, but my legs just kept cramping up. I counted 28 cyclists pass me. And finally the last guy gave me a jell package that he said was full of sodium. It kicked in after about 10 minutes. I spent the better part of an hour riding by myself during this stretch. Hard to believe there are 600 cyclist out there, and I'm all alone. The cramping didn't completly stop, but did subside. I got to the pit stop 2 miles from Pilot and loaded up with liquids, and ate what I could because now I had a stomach ache from the 3 packages of goo that I had eaten to help get rid of the cramps.

The climb up Pilot was tough. No my left quad cramped up about 200 yards into the climb. I didn't know it was possible to continue pedaling with a cramp, but I found out it can be done. Intense pain that never let up, but I powered through it. I knew if I stopped, I would not finish. So I completed the climb in with a quad cramp and was able to enjoy my descent. That last 10 miles or so after Pilot were uneventful, but slow. I completed the event in just under 5 hours, which was my goal. Had the cramping not hit me, it would have been a very good event for me, but still I'm happy with my performance. Now I can check that one off the list - don't need to do 3 Mountain Madness again!