Deadgoat Giver8er 8 hour enduro race

We already had 2 inches of snow in the backyard on Saturday morning and the forecast looked pretty bad for Sunday too. Looked like it will be cold and rainy for the entire race. In preparation for the mud I decided to put on my CX tires,and Bogi was prepping for the first ever race on her rigid single speed.

By Saturday midnight both bikes were mud ready. On the food side though we were a bit in trouble as we run out of clif shots and my kids ate most of my bananas…

Giver8r 2010 Single speed solo podium

Race day morning was chilly,but there was no rain. More people showed up than any of us expected.

Giver8r 2010 2 person Women's team podium

I raced single speed solo,Bogi raced team with Leanne.

The start was pretty bad for me. Fallen back to about 20^th not able to find enough traction with my skinny CX tires. The course was muddy,but not nearly muddy enough for these tires. On my second lap I could already notice that the course was quickly drying,so I decided to swap the Racing Ralph 35s to a set of Racing Ralph 2.4s. I probably had less than 20psi in my big fat tubeless setup .  As a result from lap 3 I could ride pretty much everything on the course and started passing pretty quickly. By lap 4 I caught Devin,who took off like a rocket from the start and had probably 5 minutes on me after few laps. I could feel that I was more and more relaxed on the trail each lap,riding everything and enjoying the flow in most single-track sections.  The giver8r course is super demanding and super rewarding.  There isn’t enough easy sections for the rider to rest,which makes it a very tough marathon course. But once you get the flow of the single-track and able to slay it,it rewards you with energizing satisfaction.

I must have pulled a muscle above my right knee as it was getting more painful after every climb. I tried to slow down a bit,walked the harder climbs and used my left leg to do most of the pedalling.  But 5 hours of riding started to show in my focus too and I started becoming clumsy and lost my flow. For a lap or two I was riding all over the trail – the course started to defeat me.

About 3 hours to go Bogi saved me with some caffeinated GU gels. With some bananas,accelerate and the gels I felt I was strong enough again and could focus well. Went out for a last lap at 45 minutes to go and come in well below 40 minutes. Some races you just barely make it to the finish line. Not this one…for one last time I defeated the course.

Giver8r 2010 4 man team winners Scott,Jeremy,Justin and Ted

Took 1^st in solo single speed with 13 laps in 7:50(ish). Was also good enough for 2^nd overall behind Travis Hauck the solo winner.

This was Bogi’s first ride on a single speed.  She did 5 continuous laps,and enjoyed every bit of it despite running a 32×18 gear,which was way too hard for this course. She and Leanne took 2nd place in the 2 person women team category. Quoting Bogi:“It was awesome,now I will race single speed on every race where is a single speed category!”  It took me about 5 years to convert her to single speeding. Job done.

Another great success of the day is Team Singletouch’s 1^st place in the 4 man team division. I signed up my colleagues on Friday night really doubting whether this would be the right event for riders who never raced mtb’s before.  Despite rain,cold,snow and mud Jeremy,Justin,Scott and Ted showed up Sunday morning and were ready to hammer. They did awesome averaging 45 minute laps,and finished 1^st in their category!

Thanks for Deadgoat Racing for the great event,Mother Nature for the decent race day weather,Bow Cycle for the great draw prizes, Crazy Larry for the jokes and support and everyone else for cheering for us. Hope to be here again next year.

The super base race-training in May is done. 2 XC races,3 marathons,about 380km of mtb racing,2 wins.

Now it is time to do some high intensity work. Hello Edworthy and COP hills,I am coming.

Keep riding.

Video and blog by Ken Hurd and Sheldon Smart