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The 12 Hours of Razorback in Reddick, Florida, for me, consisted of 13 laps (the same # as Tinker Juarez), 134 miles, and over 12 hrs of racing. Let me start by saying that I never saw Tinker except during the run and after the finish. I went through 10 bottles of cytomax, 5 gallons of water, half a tube of Myoflex, 9 Advil tablets, 3 packets of Hammer Gel, 2 pasta bars ( my special homemade concoction), 3 Cliff bars, 1 banana, 12 oz of Dr. Pepper, 2 homemade nut-filled crispy bar, 2 batteries for my Niterider light, and 1 flat tire.

As we were packing I suggested that we leave the camp stove at home since we were limited on space, and a friend of ours had already offered to use his as community property at the race. We headed out for our six hour drive. I did my pre-ride and as six o'clock approached I was starving. My wife asked me when Adam would be here with the stove.......ummm about 11:00 tonight! Okay, I hadn't done the math. So, I set off with my pot of water, pasta, and utensils, looking for anyone familiar in the dark to cook our noodles. Jay from the BOD group was more than happy to help. He kept us company as we filled our stomachs and then headed to bed early. My boys were toasty in their little two man tent while Kari and I spoke to each other with smoke emitting from our mouths from the cold in our tent. (large enough to change in and store gear, but hard to warm up) The high that day was 71 and the low was 34 .

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The race started at about 10:30am and I had a decent position. But, most importantly, I found my bike. This trail consists of 10 miles of sweet single track with very little elevation change. Since it is built on an old rock quarry, their idea of climbing is a tight, off-camber turn into a 14 foot wall with a brutal drop-off on the back side. Which at night, with only the single beam of a head light, really keeps you on your toes.

At some point I met a guy from Virginia, two teenagers from Gainesville, a guy from New Smyrna Beach, FL, and two from North Carolina....all on the trail. The two teenagers passed me at about six laps in and man did that make me feel old. However, I passed them that night, standing on the side of the trail.....they just watched this old man roll on; persistence pays off. It did make me wonder where I would be now, if I were doing this at that age. I also had the opportunity to watch my stove buddy pop his finger back into the natural position, after a nasty fall. Boy, that image stays with ya'.

My pit crew consisted of my wife, Kari, my two sons, and good friends, as their racing allowed. I was on a borrowed bike that was a bit too small with a back-up single speed, that I was not looking forward to using. My new shoes gave me a *&@! blister and I ended up wearing two different shoes by the third lap. Yes, we did do that in the '80's. After the second lap, my back was killing me. I begged Kari for a Myoflex rub-down and she notified me, as she rubbed my lower back, that she did this to all the racers as they passed through. Hhmmm, really too tired to react to that one! At one stop I called out to Kari to get a tire out of the tool box, change it out and use 1 1/2 scoops of Stans and set to 35 psi. Of course she gave me a blank stare. At that race my wife learned how to change a tubeless tire by herself.

I topped it all off with a freezing cold shower outdoors. Since I am new to the Bikeman team I did not have my jersey yet, but I hoped that a picture with Tinker would do for now.

I finished 5th out of 143 solo racers that day. I reached the goals I had set for myself and I am still able to walk. What more could I ask for?!

To view results go to:
http://www.goneriding.com/2005/12hoursofrazorback/results/05-12HR-SOLO-RESULTS.htm