Jimmie, Wendy and Todd got suited up and went for a pre-ride of some of the course. I decided to walk from Big M to our hotel that sits along M55 about 4 miles from Big M. During my walk I received a phone call from work about a phone problem and while I talked management through the problem a deer ran across Udell Hills rd right in front of me.
The alarm went off early and Jimmie got up to eat his breakfast. He figured on eating more than usual so he could go into the race not feeling hungry. I had some coffee and oatmeal showered and got ready to leave around 5:45 am. We arrived and moved all the rest of the stuff we needed to under the tent. Jimmie hung out in the van for a while to rest his eyes while I talked to Wendy and Todd as they prepared to race. It's funny how much we racers have to go to the bathroom before races. The lines just kept getting longer for the port-a-john's as the start of the race got closer. Eventually Jimmie, Todd , Wendy and Andy Erickson (Beat The Train) headed to the start line which is a ways down Udell Hills Rd. This gives opportunity for a neutral roll out.
I hung out around the last bend before the racers get ported onto the sandy trail awaiting the arrival of the racers. We didn't hear anything and the only indication the racers were on their way was the Subaru pace that came through the parking lot first. Soon after that a large group of racers showed up, the fast ones in the front of course, and then everyone got funneled into some sandy widened single track. So what we saw was a pretty good amount of racers clipping along at race pace and then we heard lots of breaking. Some people were at a crawl as they entered this spot. Didn't look like a race.
I decided around 7:15 it was time for my exercise. I headed out to Udell Hills rd and walked to M55 and back. It was much quieter than Fridays walk. In fact is was kind of eerie. I kept thinking I was going to see a bear or deer or something else run across in front of me. All I heard were birds and the buzzing of mosquitoes around my head. There was a sh!t ton of mosquitoes at Big M. I made sure to be back before 9:00 so I could be there when Jimmie come through on his first lap.
Jimmie came through right around the 2:30 mark. He looked fresh and ready for his next lap. He stopped handed me his camelback, I handed him the full one and he grabbed some fig newtons in a sandwich baggy and he was off. I filled up his camelback and got another baggy of fig newtons ready for his next round through. Wendy and Todd showed up about 30 minutes later. I helped fill their camelbacks and try to help out in whatever way I could. They hung out for about 10 minutes eating 1/2 a sandwich and some fruit. Andy Erickson showed up about 15 minutes after Wendy and Todd and he took some time too. He ate some 1/2 sandwiches and filled his camelback and more sandwiches for the race. He lost both of his bottles during the first lap.
I chilled out for a bit and listened to the people in the BK Training Systems tent talk. They had racers like Christian Tanguy to support so it was interesting to see how these super fast guys support teams handled everything. It was also interesting to watch their racers go through. Tanguy has it down. He goes through and they just hold out his filled camelback and he hooks it with his left arm while dropping the used one and he's off. It was a mixed bunch but all in all their racers had good attitudes as they came through. I think that's important when you race these 100 milers.
About 2:30 hours later Jimmie came through completing his 2nd lap and it was just like the 1st one except I handed him bottles this time. He still looked good - just really dirty. Wendy and Todd came through together and did pretty much the same thing. They ate some food, drank some water, peed and took off. Andy E arrived and decided he needed to sit down for a few minutes. I warned him that typically when people sit down at this race that's it. He assured me that he wasn't done. He just needed to rest his legs for a few. He did get back up and get some food and water before he headed out to complete his last lap.
I really wanted to take a nap at some point in time but before I knew it the time was a little after 7 hours and based on Jimmie's 2 lap times he was on par for a 7:30 finish time. I meandered over to the finish line and waited. Jimmie came through at 7:35 improving his time from 2011 by 30 minutes. He was ecstatic. He took off to ride around and I checked his status. He ended up in 6th barely getting beat out for a podium finish by several seconds. Wendy got 1st in the womens SS division.
I talked to Chad Aiello and Bruce Anderson from the Racing Greyhounds for a few minutes. Chad did two laps but had the misfortune of breaking a shifter and wasn't able to finish the race. Bruce broke his chain on lap 2 and walked a bit before someone gave him a link to fix his chain. He decided to not continue with the race. I walked over to the tent and Jimmie was sitting on a chair with his feet up chilling out. He really wanted to head back to the hotel and shower so we did. We made it back just as Wendy and Todd were completing their race. They finished together and both had times a tad under 9 hours - not bad for their 1st 100 mile mtb race.
6th Jimmie Colflesh Mens SS finish time 7:35:20
23rd Todd Blumerick Mens SS finish time 8:50:51
1st Wendy Zamzow-Blumerick Womens SS finish time 8:50:51
46th Andrew Erickson Mens Open finish time 10:44:57
This picture sums up how dirty some of the racers were. Joe's beard looks a little stiff...
