Beautiful Weather, and Hard Trees!

Actually woke up early on my own today. I checked out of the hotel at 07:00, and was on the road to Conyers with Caribou Coffee in hand by 07:20.

Arrived at the Conyers, GA International Horse Park at 08:10. As I arrived and saw the sun beaming off the timing tents and other racers campsites I got goose bumps. I had arrived at the course after a long trip, and I was just so amped to be there! The mountain bike race course here is the same one used in the 1996 Olympic Games. It is a world class XC race course consisting of a couple hundred ft of climbing in the 8.5 mile loop. It was a little bit of everything, including high speed single track, and the infamous “slick rock” climbs (which is very rough and broken in most spots). For some reason I really love this place – the setup, the race course, everything.

The day was as perfect as could be. I would say one of the top 10 day weather days I have ever experienced. Beautiful blue sky with no clouds, a very light cool breeze, and a race start temp of around 72 with a high of 79 for the day. I really can’t describe how vivid the colors

I was able to calm down pretty quickly, and began the business of unpacking, setting up, and organizing the items I would need for racing for the next 24 hours. This is in actually one of the most important tasks. It is important to make the race go as smoothly as possible. So laying out the change of clothes, setting up meals, medicines, etc. pre-race is of primary importance. Since I had no one there to help support me during this race, this process is more important.

Finished up around 09:45 and BG was spot on. Just spent the next 45 minutes hanging out, and making call and sending text messages to friends and well wishers. Got everything (bikes, food, clothes, medicines, contacts, notes, etc) squared away and prep’d by the race meeting at 10:30.

A little after 11:00 I talked to K and J one last time, and then changed into my race clothes.

Road around a little bit to get the legs warmed up a bit. I felt GREAT. I mean, everything was perfect. The way the bike felt, my BG, my preparation, everything. I was thinking that I was in a perfect spot to make this my best 24 hour event ever. This could be the race that I would always look back at mark as the perfect endurance race. I was on top of the world. Cannons where fired at 12:00 and we where off and running for the Le Mans style start.

After the run, I was on the bike and headed out. I was surprised at how quickly I finished that first lap, and how great it felt everywhere. The tough parts were still very difficult, but I managed them well and felt fantastic!

After clocking off the first lap, and then scanning my id card over the reader to clock in on the second lap I stopped at the car (right on the race course) to check the BG and fuel up. Took a couple of minutes, but I was quickly on my way.

Laps 2 and 3 went a lot like the first. Pretty quick (for me anyway) and just perfect. Took in the same amount of food, hydration and nutrition on the end of each lap. Having a blast, and feeling GREAT!!!

I had a catastrophic lap 4 however. I was almost through the very fast first half of the course, and was on another sub 1 hour pace when I entered a quick right hand turn. There was some roots or rocks right before the turn, I was a little too relaxed, and I let the bike stutter off my selected line to the right just a bit. I dropped my outer leg and leaned in to carve the corner. I must have been a farther over to the right than I though and THUNK. The right side of my helmet slammed the tree trunk that was at the apex of the corner. I can’t exactly remember a lot for 15-30 minutes afterward, but I know I didn’t go down (there was no dirt or scrapes on me at all).

I road for about the next 5-15 minutes (again can’t say for sure), until I reached where the trail goes back out temporarily into the infield. I was feeling a little dizzy, the vision in the right side of my right eye was very blurry, and I was completely nauseas. Figured I would just stop for a minute and try to get my stuff together. When I stepped off the bike I was way off balance and fell down on the grass. There were quite a few people there, and they asked if I was ok. Someone saw my helmet and yelled to get the EMTs.

EMTs were on scene in about 4 minutes. I was still kind of loopy and when they stood me up I almost fell over and was apparently very incoherent and unstable. (Thanks to the MedStics sticker on what was left of my helmet they saw I was diabetic. It was about 15:40 and they did test my BG level at a 137). They decided that I really needed to be checkout. So they put a neck brace on me, put my on a back board, and taped my head down. They also completely immobilized me on the gurney.

They recommended to me that we go to the trauma center in Atlanta so they could better diagnose my injury. Since Atlanta is about 40 miles away, I convinced them to take me to the local ER. After hooking me up to an EKG machine, doing further diagnosis work, and speaking with the local ER attending they agreed.

I was in the ER 10 minutes later. After getting checked out by their staff and determining I had no other injuries, they took the restraints off. Around 17:45 I set my basal rate back to normal levels since I was no longer riding. My vision and nausea were better at this point. The attending said I would need to stay under observation until he was satisfied that I was fine, or he would like to do a CT. After some debate I agreed to that procedure.

CT was clear, everything else was ok and I was feeling somewhat better (a little foggy and a huge headache), and I was released from the hospital at 18:45 or so with a mid grade concussion.

Since I had no one there for support, I needed to “acquire” a ride back to the race course. I had on my cycling shoes, some lycra riding shorts, and a jersey with a number on it. I also had the two bags of M&Ms in my pocket as well as 1 Gu. Taxi drivers were not convinced I could pay (very long conversation with this guy – but I had no ID, credit card, cash, cell phone, nothing) so no ride back. I went back in and asked for the direction to Hwy 138 – the one that I take to the horse park. They said I was about 3-4 miles away, and gave me directions. It was near 7:00pm so I had about an hour or so of light yet so off I went. Although I had no idea what my BG level was, I lowered my basal rate back to 70% of normal as I left the hospital parking lot.

I ran/jogged/walked and hitch hiked my way back the turns out 4 miles back to the race course. Needless to say I was quite the spectacle on the State Hwy in my get up. About ¾ mile away a cyclist did stop and pick me up - Thanks Julianne! She dropped me off back at the race at around 19:30ish.

I go immediately and find Laird (the race director) and tell him I’m back and that I have been released. We chat for a bit, and I basically plead with him to let me finish the lap that I was on as I haven’t yet logged off the lap. I told him I would take it easy, and it was something I NEEDED TO DO. I needed to complete lap 4. I don’t like to leave things unfinished. We agreed that this would be the last riding I would do because of the state of my injuries.

It was nice to get some applause from the other racers and spectators as they announced my intentions to finish my lap. But, my head still hurt and I was feeling a little foggy so I am not sure if I even acknowledged it. I mounted my spare helmet, put my lights on (just in case) and rolled out to pick up where I left off. My head hurt on each bump I hit, but it was still nice to be able to finish up.

After I finished I talked to Laird for a while about the course, being diabetic, and other races that we have done. I also got a chance to chat with some other racers who came up to see how I was. If nothing else getting injured helped me to meet some nice people.

I got to the car, and got changed and packed as quickly as I could. I stopped by the EMT station to provide them with my insurance information. I did the same back at the hospital on the way out of town towards Interstate 20.

I passed through Atlanta a little after 22:00, and arrived safely at home in North Carolina around 03:45 Sunday morning.

All in all it was an event filled with mixed emotions. On one other hand, I was intensely bummed. Due to some "pilot error" I wasted all of the hours of preparation, training, traveling, being away from the family while riding my butt off, and some cash.

On the other I was stoked that I felt so good on the bike, and that my BG levels where totally in check. I honestly felt I could ride that same lap pace for a long while. Of course I don’t know for sure what would have happened if I was able to continue, but it really felt that good. I had a good race plan, and I was able to implement it with success for at least a little while.

I will need some time to get over the heart break, frustration, and plain sadness of having to DNF, but I will be looking for my next opportunity to face the challenge of a Granny Gear 24 hour event.