Six Hours at Woodstock in 60 Words*

*not including the title, the endnotes, the picture captions, or this disclaimer.

Photo Credit: First Place Photo

This race was a semi-last-minute decision¹. The course was ~10 miles and a perfect mix of everything: flow, rocks, water, climbing, mud, fun². But it was tough! There were horse people that held up ~100 racers for 10 minutes³. I raced six laps⁴. I got 3^rd place⁵! The food was outstanding⁶.  After, we drank beers, relaxed, talked, then went home⁷.

Add caption

1. At the end of Ramsey's the weekend before, Kevin said, "You should come do Six Hours at Woodstock next weekend."

"In New York?" I replied. 

"No, down by Baltimore. At Patapsco Valley State Park."

"Ehhh, maybe." I had Ramsey's 6.5 mile laps on my mind. Could I take six hours of that?

I went home and checked out the info. The laps were longer, and I liked what I saw. I entered a couple days later.

Photo Credit: First Place Photo

2. The course was incredibly fun. It began with a mass start paved road descent, followed by a climb that launched you onto the actual course which began with some really nice flowing singletrack. Talking to some people before the race, I was a little worried the trails would be slick because of heavy rains earlier that week. While there was some mud, it was only in spots, and nothing unmanageable. For the most part the dirt was tacky and fast.

There were rocky sections, but they weren't too tough, nor did they go on for too long. And, of course, there were climbs, but nothing crazy. When they were long, they weren't steep, and when they were steep, they were generally short (some, like those three little beasts towards the end of the loop, were super short, but steep and mean, getting meaner as the race progressed). Some of the climbs had rocky obstacles, and it was here I felt like my Wiss training helped. These steps had nothing on Wiss. The singletrack descents were extremely satisfying because it didn't feel like you had to work too hard to earn them. On some courses, you climb and climb, and never get much payoff, but this seemed to be the opposite. The fast downhill section to the river about midway through the course deserves a special mention based on the sheer joy it produced.

On both the outgoing and incoming legs of the course there were longish flat sections along the river that made me feel like I was still really strong late in the race. I would be flying along, thinking "This is awesome! I still have so much energy!" then I would come out of the river section and hit a climb and I, in turn, would be hit with reality: I had been racing for three, four, five hours, and my legs were a little tired after all....

3. During the third lap, about 1-1.5 miles in, on some tight singletrack, I was behind two other guys when we came upon a group of nine horses, just trotting along. Soon the three of us were joined by another, then another, until finally there were 100+ racers, off their bikes, walking, stretching back along the trail as far as I could see. The guy behind me raced for Joe's Bike Shop (the shop that puts the race on) and he said that they reached out to every equestrian group in the area to let them know there was going to be a race today. According to someone I talked to, there are 150 miles of trails in Patapsco. Let's say there are only 100. That meant that this group of horse people (say that like you have something disgusting in your mouth) had 90 other miles of trails to choose from, but chose part of the 10 mile course that was being raced on that day. And worse yet, they refused to move. There were many times they could have scooted off into the shallow underbrush, but didn't.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, there was a junction. They took another trail, and the race could finally go on. Now we had the push of 100+ racers behind us. Picture a cartoon hose that has been pinched, and the hose swells up gigantic behind it until the dastard who has been doing the pinching lets go, and all the pressure that has built suddenly BURSTS! That's what it felt like, except with legs all tightened up from racing for two hours and then not racing for 10 minutes. The lead guy in our group took off and was quickly out of sight. After a little bit I passed the guy in front of me, and a few minutes later I was alone.

I look a little tired here. My number plate looked very tired the entire race. (photo credit: First Place Photo)

4. Throughout the six laps, I did a pretty good job pacing myself. All of my laps were within about three minutes of each other, aside from the aforementioned Horse Lap. I am finding these endurance races where the distance is time to be really enjoyable; I just settle in and ride the course, learning the trail a little better with each lap, listening to my body for signals regarding my effort: Should I push it here and pass that rider? Maybe I should take it a little easy? I paced this one smarter than French Creek and Ramsey's, but I would like to get to the point where my later laps are faster than previous ones.

I think it was about lap five when I might have started talking to myself out loud a bit: little encouraging phrases or words of warning. It was also during this lap that I started to feel some cramping, mostly on my inner thighs. I was a quarter of the way into the sixth lap when those cramps came back harder. I rode up behind a rider, and decided to put in the effort to pass on a climb, and about 10 yards after I felt the muscles start knotting. Same spot, my inner thighs. Fortunately, I was able to change position and work them out by stretching the muscles as I rode. Their ghosts came around to show their faces a couple times throughout the last lap, but I was able to fend them off. Again, I felt like I ate (main food for the race: Clif gels and Daddy Ray's Fig Bars (which are better than Fig Newtons. Not an opinion, a fact)) and drank (water, honey mixed with water, Gatorade, and whatever they had in the coolers at the Joe's Bike Shop tent) enough in total, but I know I did not eat enough for the first two laps, so maybe that caught up with me.

Thrilled. (Photo Credit: First Place Photo)

5. Hey, yo! I got third place! At one point in lap four or five I passed a singlespeeder named Bernie who I met before the race, and as I did he asked if I was winning. "Me? Nah, I don't expect I'm even close." (Spoiler alert: I was not close to first, not even a little). The thing was, with all the Duo and Family categories, it was sometimes hard to know who was in your category and who wasn't. Also, given the results in the MASS endurance races so far this year, I didn't expect to be near the podium. I still raced hard, and looking back I probably could have not lingered behind some riders for quite so long, or I could have gone a harder here and there, but I feel like I gave it a solid effort.

The first place guy (who raced a singlespeed in the Men's Open category, by the way...) was a little less than 40 minutes ahead of me. That's a lot. That is not a bridgeable gap. I'm not going to say it never will be, but it won't be this year. The second place guy, on the other hand, was only a little more than four minutes ahead of me. Because of his really fast first and second laps, he was able to get ahead of the horse debacle, while I was stuck for almost 10 minutes. And his last lap was 20 minutes slower than his first lap. I think that if it wasn't for those horse people (again, with disgust), I would have taken second place, which is frustrating, but also super encouraging, since I wasn't even expecting third. I'm really happy with the finish. See:

Nice. Real nice.

6. Joe's Bike Shop of Baltimore did an outstanding job with every aspect of this race. Everything was nicely organized, the course was excellent and well marked, the volunteers were very helpful, the atmosphere was great, and the post-race food was delicious. There were pulled pork sandwiches, mac and cheese, potato salad, and wings, with a variety of BBQ sauces to choose from. Now, after an endurance race or ride, any food is going to be hit the spot (once your stomach settles and is ready to eat again, anyway), and I feel like that is what a lot of events bank on: you're going to be very hungry, and very hungry people are not going to be very picky. And the food reflects that. But the food here was actually, really good food. My one regret? As I was walking back to my truck to leave, a volunteer asked if I wanted to take any of the food with me, since most people were gone and they had a lot left over. Stuffed, I said thanks, but no. About an hour and a half into the three hour drive home, I got hungry again. REALLY HUNGRY. I was cursing my past self for not taking the leftover BBQ, and for forcing my future self to stop at Wendy's....

7. These race days all seem to end the same way. This time, I found myself with re-occurring character Kevin, Brian, Brooke, and most importantly, Daisy (who was way more behaved with BBQ at mouth-level than my dog would be), eating, drinking beers, relaxing in the grass, and reminiscing about the race. And about those damn horse people. I'll never forget those damn horse people.

 (P.S. Kevin got 1st in Men's Singlespeed, and Brian and Brooke got 1st in the Coed Duo category. Congrats!)