We woke at 4:00 am from a restless sleep in the upstairs office of a friend's house in Portland. The car was packed and we were on the road by 5:00 am. We arrived at the race start/finish location about 5:45 and began to prepare. The
pre-race meeting was at 6:00 am and the 6:30 start time snuck up on us quite quickly. Before I knew it, Glenn the race director was counting down from 10 to start me off.The course was marked by stylized pine trees about 2 feet tall spray painted on the road. They were a bit difficult to see at first, but eventually I got the hang of it. My crew (in the car) and I (on my bike) proceeded to follow the "day loop," which was about 144 miles long. I finished the day loop, pictured above, with only a handful of stops (nature calls), at about 3:45 pm. I took a brief break to eat some food and set out for the first of 15 times around the night loop. Approximately 10 miles long, the night loop, pictured below, was filled with short steep climbs and even shorter downhills (with stop signs at the bottom! argh!) These climbs were challenging and emotionally draining as the night and the miles poured on. I stopped for a rest around 2:00 am. The time I can't confirm on my own, and napped a bit in the folding chairs. If you've never napped in two folding chairs at 2:00 am, I recommend you keep it that way. I wasn't feeling very well at that point, but ate some soup which upped my energy, and body temperature, and set off again. At about 3:00 am after weaving about on the roads, I decided a little more sleep was a good idea, and laid down in a sleeping bag for about an hour. I did not want to get up, but once I did, I felt better and laid down three more loops before the race completed at 6:30 am. All said, it was 284.7 miles in 24 hours! A long day, but worth it.
Well Done!
ReplyDelete