DNF: Dumb Numb Fingers

"I got room for one more!" I heard a man shout. "Me! I'll go, please sir!" I frantically began searching for my bike. He must have realized what I was looking for and said "I can take you but not your bike." Survival instincts kicked in and the next thing I knew I was clamoring into a truck and being whisked away. While my bike laid forsaken at mile 13.7 of the Whiskey 50.
 

This is how I thought most of the day would go

That morning had started like any other race morning, oatmeal, coffee, debating what to wear and a weather report. When Sully saw the report he said, "well at least it will be an epic ride." A spoof on the company who runs the race, Epic Rides. The weather called for temperatures in the low 40s, with high winds and precipitation. Guess I'm wearing knickers. The precipitation called for .02 inches of rain. Okay, it'll just be the high wind that we'll have to deal with. We gathered all our gear and as we stepped outside realized we'd be getting more than .02 inches, as it was already raining and the ground seemed pretty saturated. Great, but still the rain isn't awful, or a deal breaker. As Barb says, "It's a pleasure to ride in the rain." Mainly because in South Dakota we didn't have to deal with it a whole lot. It wasn't suppose to get terribly cold, sure the descents might be a little cold, but I had a base layer, jersey, arm warmers and a jacket so I thought I could hang. 

Right before the gun went off a guy came by handing out Nitrile Gloves, which I immediately pounced on to go over my gloves. The rain had picked up but once we started moving it wasn't

Sully taking off

terrible. Okay, I can do this. It was about 4 miles on the road, which Sully passed me on. At first I thought it was some jerk trying to squeeze by me but when I heard his distinctive voice checking in on me, all my tension to run this uy off the road went away. I told him I was fine and he kept going. I was fine, but was starting to get a little cold, the rain hadn't let up and we were beginning the climb up onto double track. Followed soon by single track. The single track had a lot of stop and go traffic, which meant slowing my pace and even sometimes getting off the bike to wait. My hands kept getting colder, I remembered once to drink something but that was about the only time I could muster it. I kept trudging along, higher into the climb and further from any chance of warmth. I saw a lot of people just stop and start hiking down the hill, but knew I would be in no condition to make it back on my own so kept going. My hands were getting the worst of it now, I was trying to muster all the courage I had to remain positive. This will be over soon, your hands will get better, keep moving your fingers, keep moving. I saw a group of people cheering on the side as I came by. "How...how far until the next aid station?" My voice cracked. "Six miles, do you need something?" I somberly said, "No." 

At this point I couldn't feel my fingers any more as the rain had quickly changed to sleet and then hail and then finally snow. With every foot of climbing it seemed to get colder. I was mostly protected by the trees and shrubbery but at the top of the climb the ridge open up and the wind reared its ugly head sending snow everywhere and sending shivers

Taken from the Daily Courier in Prescott, AZ

down my spine. I wanted to turn around so bad, but heeded the advice of my Godfather, "how will this look on the accident report?" something he always reminds me. I figured not too good. "Girl racing Whiskey 50 gets so cold wanders off into the forest. Found 7 hours later. Loses 4 toes and a finger to frostbite." I know a random number of digits but it happened to a girl I went to college with. It was mainly the fact that I wouldn't be able to wear flip flops with 4 toes missing that kept me going. 

I couldn't shift, or had stopped trying but was stuck in a relatively easy gear so it wasn't the worst thing. Braking was a bit more questionable as I could but had to constantly check that my fingers were engaging with the levers. My fingers would slide off and I wouldn't realize it at all until I started rapidly accelerating downhill (not great). 

After the exposure on the ridge what should have been a fairly quickly descent turned into agonizing pain. My whole body was shaking, trying mercifully to get any heat. I soon saw a make-shift tent in the distance which gave me an ounce of hope, just make it there. I did but it didn't seem to warrant an actual stop, trudging by I heard someone say, "aid station is about 2 miles down, they are halting the race there." Halting the race? How does that work? Has Sully been waiting for me there?  Two miles, that's all I had to make it. 

More descending followed by more not braking. I had one foot out all the time now to drag just in case. I got off my bike to walk a section as it didn't seem like the best idea to go down a bunch of rocks with limited braking ability. It flowed into a turn which had enough area that I put my bike down to try and get any heat back to my hands. Three guys must have realized what shape I was in and parked their bikes and huddled around me to give me warmth. "Move your shoulders, get the blood flowing back to your hands. They continued making small talk but I was more focused on getting blood back to my fingers that I'm not sure what else they said. I started making my way down the hill

Like Hot Tea, a shower and dry clothes :D

behind them. They were soon far in front of me. I couldn't get there fast enough but I was too cold to care. Around a bend and down I could see a group of people huddling together. It felt like Christmas morning- Oh, I'm so close!! I made it to the bottom where I could see people were huddling around a fire pit. I dropped my bike and tears starting welling in my eyes as I was so relieved to be there. People parted as I walked up allowing me to get close to the fire. I started to try and take off my gloves and by that I mean hold them out in front of me and look at them while contemplating how to move my fingers. A man standing next to me must have realized my struggle and pulled both pairs off for me so I could get the warmth directly to them. "It's going to hurt." He was right, as the blood started flowing back the agony of pain was cumbersome. After a few minutes I started to wander out, searching for anyone who could give me information on the race, if it was halted, or they were re-routing us. That's when the man yelled he had room in his truck. 

It was my first DNF, around mile 7 I knew it would be. It was hard for my ego to swallow initially, as I once ran a marathon with no training to avoid a DNF. I knew how stupid it would be for me to continue and at the pace I had been going was nowhere on track to finish close to where I wanted to. I had been out there for 2+ hours taking in no food or water, once my hands were frozen it was game over. I was able to get back to the start and put dry clothes on which helped but it was about 4 hours before my hands felt relatively normal again*. Sully finished the race on his singlespeed because he's pretty incredible.
 

I didn't beat Sully like I had hoped but I'll be back with a vengeance!

It certainly wasn't the finish or race that I was expecting. But it's hard to be upset at the way it ended because it wasn't with a traumatic brain injury so I can cheer to that. 

I'll drink to no TBI

 *In case you were worried I was able to find my bike with relatively easiness. I'm sure the race company wasn't expecting that weather to happen as well but they did a great job of getting people off the course and taking care of them.

 

Meet The Parents

 I have trust issues, and it's not from finding fake snakes in my bed when I was a child. After I took a tumble off my Rocky I took it in to have it looked at. The stem and headset were loose which may or may not have contributed to me eating dirt the other day. I trust all them mechanics who work on it and one mentioned the bearings could have settled which caused the headset to go loose. It's been touch and go and I'm much more cautious on it now. With the Whiskey 50 this Saturday it's not the best predicament to be in. 
 

I know, the best.

Oh heyyyy!

I took a break from that bike this past weekend when I went up to my parents in South Dakota and brought my road bike. The first day I was there I headed up north to meet some friends but figured I would work some riding into it. I stopped by a shop to see where decent riding was as I wasn't familiar with that area on bike. They told me about a hill climb that starts right away and seemed to have gone on for miles. They weren't kidding when they said it started right away. Unfortunately it didn't last as long as I thought, 14 minutes, but I did stop by Dinosaur Park, made a couple of laps up and down and called it good. 

 

The next day I headed out on one of my go to rides. Unfortunately it's calving season for the

He's just a little guy!!

buffalo which means my mom is extra nervous. "If you see a baby on one side and the herd on the other, turn around don't try to mess with them." Okay, okay and gave her an estimate of when I would be back, but tacked on an extra half-hour for good measure. I lust for this route when I'm in Boulder with having to navigate traffic and never really feeling that far away (which is probably why I'm drawn to mountain biking more). Every time I ride up there though I can't help but yearn for trails outside of my parent's back door (maybe not that close). Especially when I'm wrestling with the internal dilemnia of riding vs. walking over all the cattle guards. Walking across possesses its own risks, my shoe falling off the ever so thin rail and jamming my leg down (a fear since I was a child), however riding can be impossible as well, if you don't carry enough speed through, the spaces are just far enough apart that I usually ride off feeling like a shaken baby. The ride finished with ample amount of climbing and me clamoring into the back of my sister's jeep as she came and got me when I finally lost the battle with the wind and didn't feel like getting gusted around like a Raggedy Ann Doll. 

 

And I got to see my favorite dog!

I probably should have been on my mountain bike, but figured if I was up there I would end up mostly on a road or gravel so it would have been a frivolous and frustrating undertaking. It was good to get some miles in while I was there because Sully and I are doing the Whiskey 50 this Saturday(!!!) in Prescott, AZ. I'm mildly worried because it seems to have snuck up on me and I don't feel that I'm in super great riding shape yet and I might embarrass myself by forgetting to ride a bike. But I survived meeting his parents so I can probably survive 50 miles on a mountain bike....

Third Time's The Charm

The first ride on my Rocky wasn't as spectacular as I had imagined, no fireworks. I might have missed them because I was going so fast. I rode in from my house to the shop with only boat shoes on the smallest amount of pedals, and on a men's saddle which really makes the 1.8 miles all that more impressive. 

So Fast!

Sully wanted to do a night ride and since my day off (when I was planning on riding) was two days away, it would be a good chance to ride it and then tweak anything that might need tweaking before I headed out on a longer one. Unfortunately some things at work kept me past the departure time and I didn't feel like playing catch up in the blusterous wind that had awoken. I was able to switch the saddle to a women's specific one which made the ride home so much more enjoyable. 

I knew where I wanted to ride before I consciously knew I did. I decided to ride up Sunshine Canyon to Poorman down to 4mile and then back up to Betasso, do a few laps and then home. It would touch on everything, pavement, gravel, climbing, descending, and singletrack. It's definitely my go to ride

Isn't he a peach!?!

and I seem to end up there more than I should. The ride was pretty uneventful. After raising my seat a few centimeters a block from the house I didn't get off the bike again. The geometry is certainly different from my Superfly and I'm still working through it.

The second ride was about as eventful as the first, I went up a mountain and came down. The third, that's where the bonding really began. I had to get a hitch installed on my car (the things that happen when you finally get a boyfriend who rides bikes....) and figured I would loop a few trails together in

Not the smooth morning cup of coffee trail....

the area. I went up the Argos trail on the Apex system, my aim was a mythical neighborhood that would take me over to another trail system. The trail was much looser and choppier than I remembered (but there was a head injury in between rides so you can't expect much) and not much of my cup of tea. Probably better for the full suspension, but I needed more time on my hardtail as the Whiskey 50 Race is two weeks away (eek!). I knew the other trail would be better so after a few directions at trail forks and my trusty iPhone map to get me through the neighbor I found the trail. Well more of a campsite and I just hoped for the best. I did link up to it and started the descent. I ran into my boss halfway down and about mile or two from where I was going to turn around, he told me to come ride back up with him. It's certainly nice that everyone above me is still riding and immersed in all things bikes. I turned back up behind him and climbed a portion with him. Some techy sections I got, others not so much where I would hop off the bike and run behind him, since he was still talking. 

We split a couple miles up and I continued climbing, he turned back down. I got back through the neighborhood area and then back on the initial trail. Descending felt awkward and irregular, like something wasn't right, but couldn't quiet figure it out and had to get down the hill anyways.

#bruiseeasily

What happened next was the most chaotic crash of my life and it started with the thought...huh, maybe I should have walked this one. The rock that I had headed down had just enough of a kick that I launched forward off my bike. I'm finding that I like the crashes I remember more than the one I
don't (don't worry mom, there is only one I don't remember). There is something surreal and mosaic about being suspending in the air with all your senses heightened, ready, for what is coming next. With that I landed with a thud, and slid down a bit, I had a moment to lie there and assess the damage, but only a moment until my bike came chasing after me and landed with a thwack on

Good thing my roomie is an acupuncturist!

top of me. Insult to injury at it's finest. At first I thought that I had gotten the wind knocked out of me, because I was having a hard time breathing but then realized the bike had shifted my camelbak and since I ride with my hose running across my upper chest was now being chocked out by my bike with my camelbak hose. I don't even know how these things are even possible! I got up dusted myself off and with more trepidation than before began my descent, again.