Dear Light & Motion,

World Solo Championships in Whistler, B.C.

09.06.05 - whistler write up (long version)
9.10.05
9AM
I did something I don't have much time to do this morning so I slept in. Hotel had free breakfast so I cooked up some waffles, had some hard boiled eggs and downed some OJ and coffee. Oh, and had a warmed up cinnamon muffin thingy. Mmm. Yummy.

While I was doing this, pit crew #1 (dan/dad) was busy at work transferring bikes, food, clothing, etc. Slight issue was the rain. It was in the high 50's, but the forecast was for rain until tomorrow. Seeing as I just raced in this a few weeks back, I looked out the window and laughed. At least it wasn't as bad as Snowshoe.

10AM
Start getting ready. Hotel was super close, close enough to walk to from the pits if needed. The hotel cost quite a bit more than the hotel setup for the race, but the close proximity the venue is prime. Charging lights, extra clothes, etc - not an issue because we are so close. I don't need issues this day.

10:45AM
Start heading over to the venue. Rain is still coming down. I am getting into race mode and I have somehow managed not to yell at anybody in the past few days. Amazing.

Rob L is there without a tent (what the heck?) and sends his wife out to pick up a tarp thereby "ghetto-izing" the pit area. Hats off to Rob a few weeks back at Snowshoe - he managed third place, but he ended up pulling out by the days end this weekend. Guess he wasn't feeling well, but I don't know what happened.

Get ready and do the pre-race run up and down the pits getting ready for the run start. Sloane, Hendershot and Chris E all join in. Lot's o' fun.

11:45'ish
Pre-race call out. They call out all riders individually and we line up. Top 10'ish get the front row for the race start because we are special.

Noon
Race starts and I am probably top ten by the time we jump on our bikes. Rain is still coming down as it will for the next 24 hours. Generally it was really not that heavy of a rain, but it was the type of rain that you didn't immediately get wet, but after 2 hours you were completely soaked.

First lap I know I am flying - by the time we get to the first single track, I am in fourth position and was leading my group of riders into the first rooty/rocky switch backed section of trail. I am glad I made an effort to be in the position. As I look down upon the riders on the generally climbing turns, I am seeing some of the riders having a hard time with the rocks. Just like when a car in front of you stops on a single lane road, you have to stop and wait. Same roll applies here. I pedal on.
Second lap was odd in that I was basically riding by myself. I wasn't catching anybody but riders were not catching up to me. This was good. Chris E is known for going out hard, something I have tried to incorporate into my race plans so I kept my heart rate just below lactic acid threshold and kept turning the pedals over.

Third lap was when I was really starting to realize what was going on. I wasn't getting splits as I knew I was doing OK and I didn't want to start worrying about time this early in the game. I was in the zone, flying through the corners, locking out the Reba fork and making every little last effort to keep the pedals turning over as fast as I could.

Then it happened. I saw something blue. There - I saw it again. Hey, that's a rider. Hmm. That looks like Cameron's jersey. Hmmm… is that? No.. maybe… I think that is Nat. Holy cow, that is Nat.

We rode together for a bit, talked a few words about 29er's and the race conditions. We would ride together for the two laps.

Towards the end of lap four, in the section right before the last climb, I drop Nat in the single track. I put further time into him on the climb. I make a fast change of bikes and go out again. (We would end up pretty much switching bikes every lap as the conditions deteriorated during the day).

5'ish
Still going strong. At the top of the last climb, Nat had a helper whom called down to the pits via walkie talkie with food requests/bike change type info. He was also there to see how I was looking on the bike for signs of fatigue. When I got right next to him he asked me, "what did you do with Nat?" I smiled and rode on.

8'ish
Night time in Whistler is usually a beautiful thing. This night, it was a beautiful night with lots of pain being inflicted and felt.

Chris was about 20 minutes ahead, Nat was close behind me. This was going to be the first of two clothing changes. Fully stripped down wiped as much mud off me as humanly possible and put my arm warmers on as dan was putting on my socks and shoes. I am such a princess.

We go to put my helmet on and realize dan mounted the light bracket in a way that I could not adjust the helmet straps. As dan fixes this, Nat passes me. Dan tells me that Nat has passed me.

I pedal on and within two laps, I catch Nat again. Really didn't talk to him at all this time as I was all business.

It was sometime during the night that the Trek boys finally realized what was going on. I was closing in on Chris and was at one point within twenty minutes of him. Some of the
Trek guys were actually standing around my pit watching my bike changes to see how things were going. I guess at one point they were pretty blown away by a twenty second pit after midnight when conditions were getting super bad.

4AM
About two miles from the start/finish and on about lap 167 (joking!) the rain is coming down heavy. The air is so cold I can see my breath. With only one layer of clothing on, I did not like the situation. I pick up the pace trying to raise my core temperature and get me to the pit area. I am not supposed to make a clothing change until after day break, but I am freezing at this point and I need to change into warmer clothing.

I get in, put on some winter knickers, winter jersey, a base layer and my rain jacket. The jacket is basically non-breathable plastic which is usually not that good in warm weather because you sweat so much in it, but when it is under 50 degrees, this jacket is ideal.

For the first part of the next two laps, I try to avoid any of the huge puddles of mud/water that are on the trail as I was trying to stay as dry as I could.

6AM
Splits had me at about a half hour back on Chris and about the same gap between Nat and myself. I decided at this point that any more changes of clothing would be silly and could jeopardize my position, so I continued on.

11:16am
Went out for my next to last lap. Tried to be careful as I wanted to get back in safely. I rode hard where I could, didn't take any chances and must of looked over my shoulder 100 times to make sure Nat wasn't chasing me down. When I was on the last climb, I took one last look behind my shoulder to make sure he wasn't there.

When all was over, I finished about 25 minutes behind Chris - not bad considering I think he lapped me at least twice last year, and the first time he lapped me was before 6pm on the first day.

I have scheduled to go out to the Conyers 24 hour next month and because they moved it up, I may go out and do that Iron Cross race out in Pennsylvania. Guess it is the longest cross race in the states - should be fun.

And I am coming out to the Vegas show too. I'll be getting in Tuesday evening and then heading out Thursday night.

Better go, have some things to catch up on today - and hopefully I get my bikes today as Delta left them in Atlanta on my layover.

Thanks for the help!
Ernesto Marenchin