Its Gettin' Hot in Here

It seems when you go to a 12 hour mountain bike race you are supposed to be prepared. For the 12 hour Burning at the Bluff, I had my trusty pogo stick (with unreliable front tire it seems), a torch of a light (plugged in once never used) and a cooler full of grub. My compatriots AOK and 54X12 were both on par for sub 1:10 laps which I thought was realistic for myself. My first lap was just that. With dozen or so mistakes and taking it easy on the climbs I managed a 1:09. Not bad, and our mechanicals were kept to a minimum at this point, but as by guy AKO kept saying, "its 12 hours and the guy with the least amount of mistakes will probably win the race. My second lap put us out of contention. What a knockout. My front tire went loose on a down hill, and it was instantly like going ice skating for the first time. When you flat, have the equipment to fix the poblem, and still can not make it happen you know you are in trouble. I tried to ride it for about a mile. Not a god idea. Then my thought was to run it but, when it took me over 10 minutes to go a mile the second reaction was hope someone came along soon. Rider after rider stopped to helped me out and I either couldn't get my tire seated or whatever.......at some point I realized I would just have to struggle back. What a long lap. After that experience I was ready to pack it in. After some proding I manage to get suited up for our last lap. When your racing it is never good to try new things. Well, I have never raced offroad at night so I was in for a new experience for sure. By the time I was finishing up the final lap I was done, and thinking I would never do another 12 hour race. A day later I can't wait for next year.