6 Hours at Stony Creek

The single track out near Stony Creek is so much fun! I seriously can’t believe that I never hopped on a mountain bike growing up and that I never even knew the trail at Stony existed! Growing up, my family had gone out to Stony frequently during the summer to go swimming and to ride our bikes around the paved trails in the park. We had never ventured to the gravel two-track or to the dirt single-track, and a part of me wonders how I would have done this weekend knowing what I was jumping in to. Either way: I had a blast, I did my best, and I didn't get too beat up!

Grand Rapids Bicycle Company graciously let Danielle and I snag the van away for the day so that we could have a vehicle to not only transport our bikes, but a tent, some chairs, some tools, and a few coolers to the 6/12 Hours at Stony Creek. These items honestly saved the day! It was really great to have a little space near the beginning of each loop to grab an extra water bottle or to grab some nutrition. My parents were also super appreciative to have a place to sit and to cheer us on as we came zooming through for each lap.

I don't know what I am doing here, but Danielle looks good!

Before the start I rode around for a little while on the grass mentally checking through the list of things that I had brought for the race. The race promoter said it would take about an hour for each lap, so I would need one water bottle and one gel per lap. So I brought a Hydrapak filled with Carborocket’s regular drink mix and 6 water bottles filled with their endurance 333 half evil mix. In a few of the bottles I poured an additional electrolyte powder mix, which makes them kind of salty, but helps with the leg cramps. I figured with all of the hydration and with some extra nutrition items thrown in for good measure, that I should be just peachy.

My mom and I

It was pretty sunny, humid, and warm the day of the race and I wound up going through the entire Hydrapak bladder, two water bottles, and two gels… all within the first two laps! I came around before lap 3 and tossed the Hydrapak to my dad, said something really fast about drink mix (without telling him where it was), grabbed two fresh bottles, and I was off. Each lap took you through a variation of woods, gravel climbs, some bridges, and a lot of wet spots that got sloppier with each pass through. At one point I nearly ran over the biggest snapping turtle I have ever seen, so I stopped to warn a few of the riders behind me. There were a lot of people dog walking, mountain biking, and hanging out back on the trails, and I felt like a bad ass each time I pedaled past. There was a man I passed taking a water break on his clean bike on top of a hill wearing a white t-shirt and no helmet… and I huffed and puffed up the hill covered in mud on a gritty bike, smiled and said hello, and then careened downhill on my way, laughing. The fact that I was able to do this on a Saturday, sporting a GRBC/Metal kit, on a really neat mountain bike made me grin ear to ear and made me feel like a winner, no matter how many laps I was going to ride and no matter what place I was going to come in. Despite the heat, the mud, the climbs… I was stoked!

I came back around for lap 4 and was still feeling awesome. I was drinking a lot more water than I initially thought I would need, and was happy to have finished the lap so that I could grab the Hydrapak from my parents. At this point, my grandma had arrived, and she wanted to grab a picture of me riding before I left again for the next lap. It was really cute but I really wanted to get out for another lap as quickly as possible. I rode off with a mouthful of sports beans and started riding up the first climb of the loop. Finally done chewing, I expected a cool, refreshing gulp of kiwi lime Carborocket and instead got a mouthful of warm well water from the taps in the bathroom at Stony Creek. Blech! The water tasted like iron and threw me off so much that I puked a little in my mouth… gross! The single track started its descent and was a little curvy with some roots and I refused to reach towards my bottle to wash the taste out of my mouth. It was more warm water or nothing at all. Yum!

Trying to put on the Hydrapak, shove sports beans in my mouth, and laughing as my Grandma took a bazillion unflattering photos

I love doing lap races because I start looking forward to different spots on the trail and trying to figure out how to choose the best line through them. There was an area with about four different bridges that I got gutsier with in each passing. Bridges typically scare the bejeezus out of me, so it was neat to get some practice in! There was a pretty steep loose climb in the latter half of the course that I fell on in my first lap and cheered every time I made it up again after that. Sometimes it’s just the little victories that keep you going, you know?

The downside of racing an endurance race is that after a few hours you’re going to have to go to the bathroom. There was an “uh-oh” moment in that fourth lap when I had to go pee. I didn’t know where I stood in comparison to the other female riders, and I was uncertain of how to gracefully urinate in the woods being a lady and wearing bib shorts. I fought the urge off for as long as I could until I got to an incline. There was NO way I could ride up that hill with a full bladder. I saw a footpath off to the left and took advantage of it, going as quickly as humanly possible. I zipped my jersey up frantically and left the bib straps flying in the wind, just in case nature would call another time..Which it did in my fifth lap, but I held it together until lap six-- I knew I needed to be in by 7:30 if I wanted to do another lap and wanted to take full advantage of my time to put in as many laps as possible!

I was finally passed by Danielle (who tugged on my bib straps) in the homestretch of my final lap and was proud of myself for making it so far before she had lapped me. Looking at results, I’m also incredibly proud of my teammate because she got second place in the entire race! What a beast! I placed third out of the solo women and was so happy to have been able to race with such a fun group of endurance racers. I rode about 60 miles of single track and my body felt surprisingly well afterwards! I’m looking forward to the next long ride on my bike, and I think my parents are looking forward to being my pit crew sometime again soon, too!

Myself (3rd), Danielle (1st), Sarah Temby (2nd), Barbara House (4th)

I didn’t get home until after 1am and was really happy to shower and to hop in to bed. I was so tired from the long day and had such a hard time falling asleep because of all the caffeine I had consumed all day, and because every time I closed my eyes I saw the trail at Stony Creek and felt as though I were still on the bike. I needed to take the van back to the shop Sunday morning before going on a Mother’s Day group ride for CycloFemme, so I set my alarm for 7:30am and had it back at the shop by 8am. 

Showing off our cool CycloFemme temporary tattoos

So, Sunday morning I stopped at the gas station a block away from the shop and groggily walked in to pre-pay. I didn’t know how much gas the van would need and the cashier offered for me to pump and to come pay afterwards… I guess I was a lot more disoriented than I thought because after filling up I hopped back in the van and drove off! I didn’t realize I had done this until GRBC’s owner, Tom, asked me how the race had gone on Monday morning with a huge smirk on his face… luckily amused that I had driven off without paying.. I’m so embarrassed about it!! He just kept laughing and saying that my reward for doing so well at the race was that he stopped me from going to jail… whoops! I’ll be more careful next time I take the van, I promise!! I can't believe I did that! I feel like such a jerk! Doh!

Happy to not be in jail!