Logan to Jackson, 206 miles, 3 states, one day.
The first time Darren did this race I went to Logan, stood in the background as Darren registered, and felt intimidated by the people surrounding me. I would never be to the point where I could do this ride. As I drove support I was in awe of so many people riding their bikes 206 miles, at one time!
The seed was planted, and for each of the next two years the fire of desire burned brighter and stronger inside my biker consciousness. I listened each year at the Robison's home in Logan, as Lee imparted his top 5 must follow "rules" for riding Lotoja the night before the race to all the racers staying in their home. I just knew that one day they would apply to me!
I decided 2011 was my year. I put in a lot of miles training for the Ironman Boise 70.3, so I figured I could just add from that base. It was fun training with Darren. It was a good year for him to ride with me instead of race with his age group. He has had crazy work year with little time to train. Sad thing is I rode A LOT, he rode a little, and I still don't stand a chance even keeping up.
We had an assembly line going packing food and drink for the big day. Darren actually had a spread sheet from last year showing how many calories and how often he ate last year. I figured I could take in 250 calories an hour and do fine - not get sick to my stomach and not bonk! On some training rides we would stop and eat lunch, even a burger and fries at times. My stomach seemed to be fine eating just about whatever, whenever. That proved not to be true, on race day I struggled a little with food - too much, then too little....the heat, nerves, sheer exhaustion?
Darren eats mainly potatoes. They go down easy. I made "atomic sandwiches" - nutella, honey and banana. Power food! Licorce has become a favorite ride food. Peanut butter crackers, peanut M&M's, and of course blocks and gu. I had bottle of rocket fuel, Dr. Pepper, ready to be brought to me at Alpine. It saved my life. I really wish I would have had a bottle of it at Afton.
We started at 7:00 directly following the Cat 1 - 4 women. They seemed a little slow and a group of relay men and others caught us about 45 min. into it. We averaged 21 mph in to Preston. 34 miles done! I felt a little ancy, wanting to go go go, but was glad to feel just warmed up at that point. One of the "rules" of Lotoja is don't go out too hard, it is a LONG day. Another rule, start eating as soon as you turn at the airport (shortly after the start) and have a bottle gone by Preston. This race is all about the food. I heard it over and over, and by the end of the day believed EVERY word of it.
Chris, Darren's brother was our support. He took this right as we started. Only 205.99 miles to go!
After Preston you start a climb. 22 or so miles sustained climbing. Very similar to climbing Rock Creek store to Diamond Field Jack in the South Hills, complete with a STEEP last 1.5. Cruel, I tell you, cruel. My plan was to climb slow. There are three major passes in the first 103 miles. I climbed slow, kept my heart rate in the 150's. It felt like crawling. I stuck to my plan, to take the climbs slow, not burn out, but not without doubting it! Darren talked to me/ coached me the whole way. We started eyeing BIG guys for the ride down the other side of Strawberry. "It's going to get fast, really fast," he would say. He knows I can keep up with the guys on the downhills, and on the flats. I hit my all time high speed going down Strawberry 45.4 mph! Such a blast! After the steep descent we had another 20 miles or so into Montpelier. Rollers mostly.
We hooked up with 6 or 7 guys, Darren got up front and picked up the pace, a few more guys jumped on and we flew into Montpelier! At this point I was thinking to myself how this was the funnest thing I had every done! I never pulled once, I just gapped and let the guys in. Once the guy in front of me started to fall off and dropped his head shaking it in disgust at himself, sorry dude, I passed him and got us back up to the group - I was NOT letting this group go!
I felt way strong. Then my stomach started hurting. My stomach never hurts! Darren looked down at my bottles and said, "You've drank that much? Slow down!" I did, my stomach felt better, but I slowed my eating too much, and by Salt River I was paying for it.
Another pass out of Montpelier, gusts of head winds, hooked up with "Music Man" again and again. A guy had his ipod hooked to small speakers so if you were withing two riders of him you could hear his tunes. I climbed Geneva to Led Zepplin. It was awesome!
Then began Salt River. If you look at an elevation chart, Salt River goes straight up. I took a gu, I climbed. It was an oven. People were overheating. At the top I could tell I was not feeling right. Shaking. WAY too hot. I dumped water on my head. Dumped another bottle on my heart. They had Gu chomps and those vanilla cream cookies in little packages from Costco at the neutral feel zone. I never eat those. They looked like heaven to me. This turned out to be a wise choice. One cookie later I was a new woman! All about the food! From that point on I was on immediate uptake as far as calories go. One cookie at a time. Gu chomp to gu chomp.
Coming down Salt River we got in with a group of three guys that pulled us at 27 - 30 mph all the way into Afton. We swerved in and out of the rumble strips. For the second time that day I was having the time of my life! Then, one by one, our three fast guys dropped off. They just pulled too fast, but it benefited us greatly!!!
Nells, a friend from Kimberly had passed us on Salt River. I saw him at the Afton feed zone and took off with him when he told me he was with an awesome team of big guys and didn't want to lose them. I knew Darren would catch up. This team was HUGE, maybe 12 of them, and big guys. Sweet, this was going to be an easy ride to Alpine. Right out of Afton, they pulled off at an old building for a bathroom stop. You've got to be kidding me! We continued on. Found another group. They felt sketchy to me. I saw a girl hit Nell's tire, some chaos ensued, but no one went down. I felt like crap. I felt unsafe. So much traffic. There was a weird guy in a red jersey that made me very nervous. Celia came up with a fast group and we jumped on. I couldn't hold on. I just felt OUT OF IT. I found one last little cookie among the licorice, crackers, fig bars and other things I was sick of eating, a blessing from heaven I tell you. And some how I made it to Alpine.
At Alpine Chris gave me my bottle of rocket fuel. Life changing I tell ya.
The last 47 miles were great. Up the canyon following the Snake was beautiful. We were cruising along at 20-22mph. We hooked up with "the girls" and "red guy." We were a good little team. We spotted "green guy" up ahead. We caught him and he pulled us quite a ways without even knowing we were there. We worked well with him, and he was fast and strong. At one point he dropped us, and then he slowed down and waited for us!! So he was fast, strong AND nice. And young.
A few miles before the last neutral feed zone I could hear "the girls" talking among themselves about if they needed to stop and hoped that we didn't. Darren asked if I needed to stop. I told him that I might need food. Immediately the girls piped up, "We have food!" When you find a good group, you really don't want to lose them. Darren handed me some blocks out of his back pocket and the girls were saying, "MMMM yummy." Then he pulled out a bag of potatoes. They groaned and made vomit noises. We were all pretty sick of any food at that point! I nursed my Dr. Pepper and forced the blocks. Then red guy pulled off at the stop. Bummer!
The last miles were so amazing. I started counting down at 30 miles left. We were cruising. Darren still wasn't tiring. I guess riding this at my pace was like a walk in the park. A very long walk in the park. Too long of a walk. He did it 2 hrs. faster than this last year! He would warn of me of a hill, "Last and biggest, then downhill!" He was a great.
Hitting Jackson was surreal. Then the Tetons showed up. Wow! I was here. 16 miles left. We had gained a team of five men. We let them pull a while. 10. Can I really do 10? I felt good, but was so sick sick sick of my bike! 4 miles left. That is like riding to the Crane's and back. Oh my gosh, that is too far......this was just a complete mental talk show in my head.... I was the host and the guest and the audience....
We passed the five guy team with 1k or so left and flew into the finish. I'm not sure I noticed much of anything peripheral that day. It seems my body stopped putting out energy to anything but essentials. Looking back I was like a horse with blinders on. My memories of the course are pieced together from my own riding experience AND those from when I drove support. But I did take in the moment of the last 50 yds and crossing the finish line. I said to Darren, "I have thought about this moment for a really long time." He didn't hear me. I can't even put that feeling into words. Crossing the finish line after the hardest physical effort of my life, with Darren. No wonder people go back and do it again!
Terry, a fellow Twin rider was right at the finish to high five me. Nells came up, "See, I told you you could do it!" His wife had a hug and "I'm so proud of you!" Then she offered me her Pepsi, at first I declined, but within minutes realized I was fading. We had along line to wait in to get our finisher medals. It was really cool being amongst the frenzy, but this time being one of the riders I have longed to be!
My excitement was overtaken by the overwhelming feeling that I was going to pass out. I put my head on my bike seat willing myself not to have to go to the medical tent. I couldn't really put my finger on what was wrong. Darren put his hand on my back and was asking if I was Ok. I let out a quick and sharp, "Don't touch me!" I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up or what. I wanted to stand up and feel good, but I just couldn't make it happen! I hate not being in control! Chris had brought us each of us a chocolate milk we had purchased in Logan the night before for the finish line. By the time I had half of that down I was a new person! Woo HOO! My blood sugar must have waned, there was just nothing left. At the car I downed a second chocolate milk and really felt OK.
Honestly, immediately following the race, my true feelings were that I would never, ever, do that again. But as time passed I started thinking about how I could do it better, about what I had learned....someday I have to do that again! But Saturday night, you could have had my bike for free!
So, I have to say in all honesty how good Darren is. Like, really, really strong. He pulled, protected me from wind, and on and on. I couldn't have done it without him. He could have done it in under 10 hrs. easy. Without a problem. I'm so glad he helped me accomplish this goal!
I wanted to do it in under 12 hrs. We made 11:44. I am thrilled.
This is our fun group from Kimberly. Vern had a terrible day with a broken chain, and Nells rode strong, as usual.
What's better than Lotoja day? The day after. :)
