2012 – Looking Back At Looking Forward/C-Dubs Version Of War & Peace

Hello disciples, patrons, zealots, devotees and addicts of the NECS. I have had an amazing run (or should I say ride) for the past decade but the time has come, or more realistically forced on me, to call an end to any serious racing. Father time was more then generous to me as I rolled into the fuck you fifties but has extracted it’s payment over the past 2 years to such an extent that I have decided to gracefully slide into racing retirement. Fear not, the antics of the NECS will still be fodder for this site of superior attitude and superior state of mind, but for now it is time to take a stroll down mammary, err, memory lane, enjoy. 

Rewind the to summer of 2003 and at the suggestion of a good friend (one has to question that when you consider his proposal) I embarked on a devastatingly hard training program for the Wilderness 101. As naive as a virgin on prom night I foolishly thought a 10 mile ride up and down the Hudson River (nice and flat) was going to prepare me for 101 miles and 11,000' of climbing. Well 12:43:19 later, when it was all over, the pain and suffering was greater then this girl could imagine

and my MTB racing cherry had been popped.

Swore never to come back to the W101 after this shot

For whatever twisted reason my first visit to the dark reaches of the pain cave had me instantly hooked and like a crack addict I wanted more and I wanted right away and I needed the fix to be bigger, harder and even deeper into the dark regions of my frontal lobe. So what does one do - the obvious - a 24 hour solo where I put in 18+ hours for a 5th in age group.

Not as enthused with the lap format of 24 hours racing I spent the next 3 years cutting my times in the 101 and adding the end of summer thrashing at the Shenandoah 100 and it's 15,000' of climbing.

Yes the big climb is 20 miles long!

It was during this 4th season that I had an epiphany, if a one day race could bring so much pain and pleasure then a stage race would have to surely bring multitudes. And how does one go about getting into stage racing, again the obvious answer is with the race deemed the hardest mountain bike race in the world, La Ruta de los Conquistadores.
Now to fully comprehend the suffering use your imagination, 3 days, 28,000+ feet of climbing, multiple micro climates ranging from 90% humidity rain forests to muddy jungle logging roads with poisonous frogs, river crossings with crocodiles, hills so steep they were hard to walk up and miles of riding on the tracks of an active railway, and just to make it harder I opted to go 1x9 (not realizing where this would take me just a few months).

One of many hike-a-bikes on day 1

Yes, the mud is this bad in the jungle

This section made a one year appearance and took out 1/2 the field

12 miles of riding and hiking on an active rail line

Did I suffer, yes, the first day (55 miles/15,500') saw over 55% of the field eliminated by the time limit and yours truly knocking on death's door at the end of the stage, making the 12 hour cutoff my just over 30 minutes.

Yes it really hurt this much

And during the course of this sufferfest (and praise Allah that I finished so I wouldn't have to go back and take care of unfinished business) I saw a rider wearing the Cape Epic jersey and at that moment realized the Epic was to be my destiny. But first I had to recover from the damage of La Ruta that left me barely able to walk (and would change the course of my life).
Through the Cape Epic blog I found my riding partner from Cape Town, SA - Shaun Weber -

2 Days Down, 6 To Go

and we were granted a wild card entry into the 2007 event as the first singlespeed team (and fully rigid) to attempt this 8 day, 600 mile and 51,000 feet of climbing event. Adding some spice to the event, that year the course was to cross the Klein Karoo, the desert region of South Africa where temps were regularly over 40 Celsius (100-115 Fahrenheit). Independent Fabrication got word of this and shortly after I was on the team as their singlespeed ambassador at the event.
At registration word spread of what we were attempting and most riders chuckled and wrote us off as a side show folly with no chance of making the finish. Finishing the first stage in the top half of the field of 1200+ riders got every one's attention and soon the field was rooting for us, providing pacelines on the long transition sections of road and the SA press having a field day with regular interviews of our exploits making the regional television stations. I will never forget crossing that finish line and the taste of all the dust will remain on my palette like a glass of Petrus would to an oenophile.

Start of stage 1

Bombing off the Kamanassie

Prince Alfred's Pass - 14km climb

The first singlespeeds to ever finish the Cape Epic

By March my racing year was complete but that didn't stop me from another go at the Wilderness 101 and the Dark Horse 40 after which I called it a year and a great one at that.

2008 brought the dawn of a new era, my 50th birthday, 29er's, Master class racing and Team Seagal. 50 treated me really well with a 3rd at the Cohutta 100, 3rd at the Mohican 100 (and my not so ill fated meeting with Nico and Gino of Team Seagal who would play a role in shaping my future endeavors), 2nd at the W101 and 4th at the Shenandoah 100 for a forth overall in the NUE Series Masters. Having survived the financial meltdown the icing on the cake was a trip south of the border for the inaugural Baja Epic, 4 days of racing the desert of Baja and dodging Baja 1000 race vehicles on the course and drug cartels shooting whomever they wanted.

Baja Epic motivation

Cresting Tequila Hill

Mucho post race margaritas later

With a year like this the battle with the demons in my head looked to be coming to a close and the ventures into the depths of the pain cave looked to be behind me. That is until 2009 rolled around.

The plans were for a regular race schedule, 50 miler here a couple of dirty centuries there (of course the W101) and finishing the year off with a 4 man singlespeed team at the 24 Hours of Moab and an end of the year drunkfest made legitimate by calling it Beer Cross. It was after the Stoopid 50 that not all was well but I had no idea on just how serious things would become. At the end of the year a casual toss of a over aged piece of fruit dropped me to my knees with pain I had never known. Visits to various specialist revealed the horrible truth, my right hip was shot and I would eventually have to follow in the steps of Floyd Landis and have it either replaced or resurfaced.

Not to be deterred 2010 came with a lighter race schedule designed to preserve the hip to keep my streak at the W101 intact and a bit of fun as the MRC headed to Amsterdam for the Giro. For the first time I was going to race on the road doing the Tour of the Battenkill, America's version of Paris-Roubaix. The W101 went off without a hitch and with the pain at  tolerable levels I pushed surgery out another year and finished off the season with a class win in the 6 Hours of Cathedral Pines.

Remember that not so ill fated meeting I mentioned with Nico and Gino of Team Seagal, well I ventured to the Midwest for one of the infamous Team Seagal non races, MFXC, and partied/suffered my way through 40 miles of fantastic singletrack and new found riding friends. By this time the pain in my hip had become so bad that sleep was down to a couple of broken up hours a night and I was living on hydrocodone and any pain medicine my dear mother-in-law would give me. I managed to hold on and complete my 9th straight W101 and less then two weeks later I was on the operating table getting a hip resurfacing. Essentially my racing days were over, I was facing 6 months of recovery to get back into race shape and the fire that drove me all those past years just wasn't there. What I didn't know, and would only learn a year later was I had Lyme's disease.

All winter and spring I fought to find the motivation to train for my 10th straight W101 not knowing why I just didn't have it in me. A month prior to the race my condition was diagnosed and antibiotic treatment began. The drugs just didn't seem to be doing it and by the time the W101 came around I was having days were I could barely lift my arm the pain was so bad. Well Top Chef decided to join me for the race and we decided to make it an adventure/party race with no consideration for time, only the goal of finishing, which we did, crossing the finish line in a very altered state of mind from the consumption of too much Chinese food on the course. Soon after this my condition worsened to the point where I was living on oxycodone just to survive. All the years of endurance racing had strengthened my resolve and ability to withstand a lot of pain but this bacteria opened the door to the most inner sanctum of my pain cave and introduced me to a level of pain that had the potential to win. Of course this didn't stop me from one last hurrah and I ventured back to the Midwest for a go at Burnin' At The Bluff and a three day party with Team Seagal.

From there you all know the story, I am currently a junkie with a $50 a day habit, racing home from work each night for my antibiotic fix.

Look familiar Mr. Livewrong?

Now throughout all of these years there have been the friendships forged and the times spent that are so numerous that they, over time, meld into the everyday flow of life. To these I give my thanks to the Mayor, Raveinator, Top Chef, Braveheart and the rest of the Dark Horse riders.

So goes the story of the past decade of racing and leaves open the question - what really is in store for the future? Right now I a just attempting to keep in some kind of riding shape, unable to train due to all of the medications, have no races on the calendar (the first time in 10 years) and based on all that has happened to my health I am leaning toward the road to avoid the tics. Next up is the Tour of the California Alps Death Ride, a 130 mile road ride over 5 mountain passes in the Sierras. Then it is off to the D2R2 for a similar amount of riding over the most scenic dirt roads of Western Massachusetts and to close out the year a trip to Sedona/Flagstaff/Prescott for some fun riding and a visit with the "Doctor". Hope you enjoyed my novel and see you out on the roads and trails.

C-Dubs