I signed up for the 8 hour as an ironman and tried to get signed up for the 24 but all spots were taken save for a few team spots but I couldn't find more than one other guy who wanted to enter, oh well.
The SXCS 8 hour race was in Westernport, MD which is actually somewhat near Granville's place. The race started at 6pm Friday and ran until 2 am. We got there about 2 on Friday to get set up. This was the first trip out for the new to me toyhauler and F Juan fiddy.
I got signed up and just hung out with the woman and dogs for a while. We were parked pretty far from everybody else as we didn't want the dogs getting all worked up. Turns out we weren't supposed to park there even though there weren't any signs saying not to. Oh well.
So I get geared up and head up to the starting area about 5 mins prior to the race. When I get up there they are making some announcements about parking and pit lane. Umm, pit lane? I hadn't heard or read anything about a pit lane this year. Last year was basically a free for all with the actual race course winding through the pits/camping area. Nothing had been said when I signed up and I didn't see any signage about it on site. Ended up arguing with these folks about it and eventually when I said I was parked way out in BFE (which is when they broke out the you shouldn't be parked there either thing) they just let it go. The point was for safety while refueling which I get that, but the lack of info isn't my fault.
So the race finally gets going. It is a le mans start and fortunately it was slightly downhill this year. I kind of half assed jogged to the bike because it sucks to actually run in full gear lol.
Now they had said most of this track was freshly cut just for the weekends events. And that was accurate. No lines had been formed yet and it was for the most part very slick and technical. Lots of smooth ish, flat embedded rocks just made it hard to keep a good pace. And it only got more slick as the race went on with the moisture coming up.
They had a few fast/hard options with slower work arounds that were clearly labeled which was nice. One was a short but steep hill with zero run up and the other was a pretty substantial tree crossing. I did the tree crossing on the first lap but it was so slick after that I just took the easy route the rest of the race. I never tried the hill climb as there was always someone stuck on it each lap.
I started the race with my bike light mounted up already. I was guessing on 3-4 laps (7.5 miles btw) before it got to the point of needing it. Was a bit wrong there and glad I had the light to use early on. It was a beautiful bright sunny day but about half the trail was in the shade of the mountain and it was daaaark in those areas. I ended up turning my bike light on mid way lap 2. I had changed led bars because I had this beastly Baja Designs bar I pulled off my Excursion when I sold it so figured why not? The smaller RI bar is what I had been using previously but it has a blueish tint that I don't care for.
Well, the BD light is phenomenal. I could have gone without helmet lights and just this bar. Until I discovered a small issue. I was going along and got kicked sideways in the stupid rocks and stalled out. Hit the button and click. Try it again, click and now the light is flickering. Apparently this light pulls more juice than Ms Beta can supply at the low rpm. I was able to kick start and get going again but I had to turn the light bar off for the battery to recover.
That was near the end of my 3rd lap. I pitted after I finished it and got my helmet lights mounted up then headed back out. The rest of the night was spent cussing out slick ass rocks and cycling the light bar off/on whenever it would start to flicker again. I was aiming for at least 10 laps. On my 8th lap my primary helmet light cut off. Finished out that lap with my cheapo China back up light which after having 2 small sun's lighting my way was like a match. But it was better than sitting in the woods in the dark. Turns out I drained my main helmet light's battery also and didn't have a spare for it. It was about 1 am when I finished the 8th lap. I threw the battery on its charger for 30 mins and went back out for a 9th lap. I got about halfway through before the helmet light died again. I crossed the line a few minutes after 2am but they were still waiving the white flag. Nope, I'm done. Pulled off and called it a night. The overall leader came through about 10 minutes later.
The overall winning team did 20 laps, the overall Ironman did 19
Random pics
