Stanky Creek and the Forgetful Mind

I‘m not sure what it is with me and water, but I‘ve had issues with it for a while now. I ran out of water at the Mississippi/Louisiana Road Championships this year and popped like a soap bubble on the next to last lap. Last year, I forgot to bring my bottles for the Red, White & Blue Metric and the Fall Colors Century in Memphis, having to cut the century short and buy drinks at a convenience store for the metric. I also ran out of water at the 2007 Clear Creek Challenge where I folded like a bad hand at a poker game. You would think a cyclist couldn’t forget something like water. It’s like forgetting to put gas in your car, but here I am. I know some people forget their cycling shoes and helmets from time to time, but forgetting water is a worrisome habit.

I knew it was going to be a long day when I realized my Camel-Bak was at home shortly after arriving in Bartlett for the Stanky Creek mountain bike race. Fortunately, I had enough common sense to pack some Propel Fit Water and an empty Kenda water bottle I bought in Vermont. Adapt and overcome became my mantra for the day.

My group went off the line like the Oklahoma land rush. I knew this race was going to be fast, but I didn’t expect everyone to drop the hammer right out of the box. Since I was worried about running out of water, I decided to adopt the “Tortes & Hare” strategy. I would race at a comfortably fast pace and try to avoid maxing my heart rate. I would also take a sip of water when the trail allowed for one hand steering.

My race was rather unremarkable, going into the single track in the lower half of the group. The tight and twisty nature of the first few miles gave me some problems, which is something I expected. The group started to string out after a few minutes, and I was somewhere in the middle with one other rider. I decided to let this guy set pace for a lap and keep him in my sights. About half way into the first lap, I noticed he started to look fatigued. He would open a small gap on me when the trail got tight, but I would always close it on the straight-aways and anytime a small hill came into play. He let me pass, but I wasn’t sure if he suckered me into setting pace or if he was running out of gas. I decided to attack and opened a good gap that he couldn’t close. Once he was out of sight, I settled in and went back into my “Tortes & Hare” mode. With roughly one mile to the finish, I began to hear the distant sound of gears clicking and cracking twigs echoing through the woods. Not wanting to take a chance, I turned up the heat and cranked it to the line.

I finished my day with 6th place.