2am in the morning comes early, but I'd managed to sleep pretty well. I shuffle around making coffee and heating up a couple breakfast burritos. I get dressed, reassure my support person that she doesn't need to come out in the cold to see me off, and soon I'm rolling down to the start.
I look up the road as I'm pedaling in and see many blinkies going, as it looks like many of the riders have chosen to get a little warmup in the chilly temps. It's in the low 40s, and I've chosen this morning to wear a mix of winter jacket, with a shortsleeve baselayer, and thermal/water-resistant bibshorts with matching legwarmers. The new shoes I'd bought were matched with the also new shoecovers, and inside them were a synthetic/silk blend sock with a tall wool liner sock to complete the footwear. Gloves were a pair of fullfinger summer weight gloves topped with a thermal overglove.
Upon arrival a the start, I go about making sure I have my computer all zeroed out and in the right mode (a special setup I created with no mapping capabilities, just mileage and performance stats). I always get kind of self-absorbed at the start of these things, and wish I was more personable later, so as to get to know the other racers, but also so perhaps someone might actually take my picture. Alas, I find no pics of me in any of the shared albums I've run across. Oh, well. I hit the restroom in Bikes to You, and it's time for pre-race directions and thanks to everyone helping and to those racing.
MG lays on the horn, and off we go. I had lined up in the back of the group and was determined not to blow up right off the line. A couple turns through the streets and soon we're on gravel. The riders string out, and from my spot in the back of the peloton, it appears that we stretch out for miles, as all I see is blinkies and blackness.
Soon we make our first left since the neutral rollout and there has been a huge gap opened up between the small groups of riders. It's a roll-y road, right into the wind, and while I'm not trying to draft the lone rider in front of me, I just can't get past them, as every time I pull out, the wind kills the idea. We chat a little bit, but it's mostly silence as we struggle to not loose sight of the tailights that continue to get further and further away.
Soon enough we turn out of the headwind, and I put a bit of distance between myself the the other rider, but by then I'd lost track of the riders ahead, and due to my own stupidity don't pay close enough attention to the cues and miss a turn! I don't catch the mistake until the road comes to a "T", and I spend a few minutes consulting the cues and looking at the road signs. I turn around knowing that now I'd be doing maths the whole way, trying to figure out distance to the next turn, as well as distance and speed needed to reach the checkpoint. I get back to where I made the wrong turn, do some maths, check and double check the signs and cue sheet and continue on.
I see no other riders at this point. I figure I must be dead last. I check my HRM and bump up my effort. Soon I see a bunch of riders ahead. I don't bother to look at my cues as I'm riding into them, and as I get closer and my headlight starts to shine upon them, I realize they're walking. I've noticed the road was sloppy, but have no need to dismount as of yet and as I ride up to the rearmost I ask them if this is the "B" road we were warned about. She doesn't even look back, but yells at me "Are you riding this shit?" All I can respond is "So far" I continue on, slowly making my way past 8-10 riders before the road became so filled with footprints and tyre tracks that I was afraid that I was gonna lose it and end up on my back in the mud. I jump off and since my wheels were still rolling freely, I just start running down the muddy pit, with the bike there to help me balance if I lose footing. I edge to one side and found that to be significantly less firm than the center, so move back to center, running past another several riders trying to carry or drag bikes that wouldn't turn their tyres as they were blocked up with muck.
I arrive at the end, literally peel the mud off the tyres, run a finger through the chainstay to make sure they're clear and spend much more time trying to get the cleats on my shoes into working order. Quickly, though I'm off and riding. Alone.
I see no other riders, either ahead, or in my mirror, for several miles. I do see a wonderful sunrise, though. I keep pedaling, keeping tabs on my HRM to keep my effort up, and my timer on my watch to make sure I keep hydrated. After a while I start to see another rider up ahead, then realize there is another just beyond him. Going up and down the rollers, I can't tell whether I'm making ground or not, until finally I see the closest rider on the backside of a hill just as I crest, I pass them as I gather momentum for the next hill, then due to my own negligence, drop a chain. It jams good. As I survey the situation, the other rider asks if I have everything I need, I assure them I've got it. A few brute force yanks and I get it unstuck, and I'm chasing again, but the riders ahead are now out of view again.
I consult my cue sheet and do more maths. I need to pick up the pace some more. I'm starting to nudge my average speed in the right direction. Every turn, it's more maths. Time Speed Distance. I do eventually recatch and pass the rider ahead of me again, and also the one in front of them, who was riding a single speed mtb!
I'm calculating that I'm about 4 miles out, when on a steep, curving climb, I'm forced to dismount as the gravel on the right is too loose to maintain traction and I refuse to ride far enough to the left as the risk of a vehicle coming around the wide, blind corner isn't worth it. I cuss.
Soon at the top of that hill though I can see the next turn and the maths are good. I now have a firm cushion of time to make the checkpoint. Now it's just a matter of making sure I don't miss the flagged corner we were told about and I'm good. Seeing those flags and rolling into the checkpoint with a solid 7 minutes to spare really made my morning. The smiling faces of the volunteers welcomed me as I rolled in arms stretched like I'd just won the Tour. That was awesome. I made sure to safely tuck away the set of cues they gave me for the second leg and unclipped to eat something.
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