Crossing The Line

Reforestation Ramble WORS mountain bike race up in Suamico (north of Green Bay) this past weekend. The closest thing to a WORS race I have previous experience with, as I attempted to race this course last year on my cyclocross bike. That ended badly with a DNF as a result of a stupid crash resulting in a damaged bike. So coming in this year, with an actual mt. bike, and some actual mt. bike competence, I was looking forward to some retribution.
I came up a day early with the Marchewka boys to get a good pre-ride in on the marked out course, and to just get a refresher as to what I was in for. The pre-ride went very well. I felt awesome. I was fast in the flowing single track, and blasting up the hills. I was very confident for the next day. I wanted to, and I honestly thought I could have a hell of a race.
RACE DAY: Morning of was good, didn't have to wake up too terribly early since we were already up there in a hotel, had a nice breakfast, and again, felt really good on the bike during the warm-up. Race description was two laps on a 12 mile course consisting of a lot of open, extremely fast double-track, with the rest, fast- flowing single-track in the woods. Hills were minimal, but the occasional, steep one or grinder thrown in there would make you feel the burn. Pretty muddy in some sections with all the rain that had fallen in the previous week, but overall not too bad otherwise. Weather was hot. Low to mid 80's.

10,9,8,7,6..................GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Great start, I was picking off people left and right. From the start, it stays wide open for a while before we'd finally get to single track where passing would be problematic. So I wanted to move up and make up as much ground as I could right away. Which I did. Actually found myself with a group of four other riders who opened a gap, and I was content to sit in with, and ride quickly with. I'd yo-yo off the back of them occasionally, but was always able to bridge back up, and keep the pace high. I didn't feel as great anymore as I did the previous day, but I chalked it up to being the fact that it was race-pace, and I just needed to suck it up, and keep hammering, and maybe my legs will come around more as I get further in. Well that's what I was hoping for at least.
Lapping through, after what looked (and felt) like a pretty solid first lap, I took on another water bottle and was ready for the next 12 miles. During that feed section, the little group we had, subsequently broke apart, with people grabbing bottles, and others not and pushing ahead. I imagined since we were all riding so similarly, I wouldn't panic, and we'd most likely come back together sooner than later. And then I felt the faint twinge in my left hamstring. Cramp. Just a twinge though, so I started sucking on my bottle a little more regularly. Unfortunately, it only got worse. Next came the right hamstring, then both quads joined in. At this point it was intermittent, so I kept plugging away, but at only probably 3 miles in, my second lap wasn't looking like it was going to be all that fun. I stayed seated and just spun as hard as I could, to try and maintain some as-semblance of speed, and as to not upset my already very angry legs, but then my calves would join the party, and start knotting up too. And though now, I was technically a damaged rider out there, I did everything I could to suppress the pain, and just stay in attack mode. Getting to the steepest hill on the course, I didn't know how my legs would react, but I knew I had to get up that hill. So I attack it, jump out of the saddle and hammer. Both of my legs. Instantly. Lock. From my hips, down to my toes. They went absolutely stiff. I just lost complete control of the lower half of my body. With both legs locked the way they were, I kinda tipped over off my bike, and duck walked up the rest of the hill, every muscle straining, trying to rip themselves from the bone. Be it shock, or straight up adrenaline, I don't remember the pain, so much as I remember the fact that I was genuinely frightened by the fact that "I can't bend my fucking legs!"
And somehow, [I really don't know how, but in fact I do remember having the retarded thought, "Well they won't bend as I'm walking, maybe they will back on the bike? Get back on the damn bike!!" Of course combined with the "GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!" That's going through my head during a race anyway...] I remounted, and I kept on going. And oddly, after that full shutdown I'd just experienced, the cramps mildly subsided for a while. OR, they were actually still there, and just not as bad as that hill experience. Either way, I was back on, riding again, and back to attack mode.
Pre-riding implanted into my head exactly when and wear I'd come out of the last section of single-track and onto the open, long, flat, perfectly straight, all out, leave nothing left in your body, time-trial sprint to finish. And here I was. Just as a fellow Sport age-grouper went by me. Nothing left in my body? Ok. I spun out gears until I had none left. Both of my legs were completely cramped. My quads felt like they were coming through my shorts, my calves were petrified. But I pushed harder. With tears of pain streaming from my eyes, gritting my teeth, I sprinted as hard as I could towards the line.
Toppling over in pain onto my bike after stopping, barely able to walk, barely able to move, I promptly began hyperventilating. In a haze, I knew I felt bad, but pretty much thought, 'post race, you're supposed to feel like this...' But thankfully. For as bad as I felt, I must have looked even worse as I quickly caught the attention fellow riders. Anthony Dombrowski, Bob Zimmerman, Rob Willmas, and guys I don't even know, right after them themselves just got done suffering, helped me. Cold water over the head, down the back, all over. Slowed my breathing down. Took me into the air conditioning and sat with me. My appreciation for these guys is hard to express. THANKS GUYS, SERIOUSLY.

So. Dehydration was obviously a factor in this race. As far as I knew my preparation was sound, but it obviously wasn't enough. Lesson learned there.
But furthermore, other than the finish line, I crossed another line in that race. Cycling is all about thresholds and how far you can push your body. My body hit it's limit in that race, and I tried to go beyond it. Not the greatest idea in the long run. Seemed like the right thing to do at the time, the manly thing to do even. But I pretty much hobbled myself and am going to need at least a week for my legs to recover from that said act of manliness.
But what I will do is. Work harder to get that line further out there, so I don't have to cross it. And that seems like a good plan.
Cycling, ain't it great? :)