12 Hours of John Muir, part 1

Perfect weather, fluffy clouds overhead, all in all a great day at Kettle. Thanks to Kenny and the Cyclopath crew for putting on a great race!

My friend Scott got stuck in city traffic getting to my house so we got a late start on the road. We got there at 2:15 or so for a 3:00 race, but it all worked out. Neither of us got warmups. I did forget to put my Garmin on my wrist in the hurry to get ready, so I had a heart monitor strap on with no watch! The Forerunner would have really helped, but at least I had my regular watch on. We both missed the prerace meeting. I have done so many of these that I hoped I'd be ok.

When we got to registration Sheri said that for me, it would be $100. Good thing for me she was just kidding. I bought some raffle tix, too. Some sweet prizes on the picnic table.

The running starts are not my favorite thing. I had to give up running years ago, so I do a pretty lame fast walk to the bikes. This put me last, or close to last, onto the trail and into the woods. I hadn't been to Kettle since the Fall Color Fest last year, that would be like 7 months? Since I race pretty much every weekend, I seldom get to go ride there. I know the blue trail the best, although the 3 and 6 hour did do the orange last year at the 2006 12 hour race. So we went right at the junctions where the marshalls were standing, when my last ride there was left. Before long, after the next very sharp left into the woods, nothing seemed familiar! I had no idea where I was, I was pretty confused! There were still people around, so I kept plugging along. Later on in the lap, when we were more spread out, I was convinced that I had made a wrong turn somewhere, because it didn't look anything like what I remembered the orange trail to be. As faster riders passed me, I kept asking if I was on the right trail for the 3 and 6 hour.... I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'd see something that was familiar but then it would get weird again! I have to say it was fun, though! I loved the old trails - I prefer roller coaster old school fall-line trails - but they did a great job on these new ones! (built, I imagine, to the current standard of environmentally correct trailbuilding) Bench cut trails (Colorado race courses, and 12 Hours of Winter in Kewaunee come to mind) often make me squirm, but these were rideable even for me.

Do you like your bench cut trails to drop away on the right or the left or you don't care? I used to have a strong preference. Currently I think I would rather ride on trails that drop away to the left, where the uphill is on your right. I think it's cuz I am better with putting the right foot down and/or falling to the right. I also tell people to pass to the left. I am much more comfortable with that, probably, again, cuz I like to bail to the right. Anyone else besides me care about this stuff? Maybe you guys never get passed!

That's all for now, gotta get to bed! Hopefully more later.