Well this was definitely a case of I had no idea what I was getting into. On a bike ride in March some friends were talking at the event and invited me along since I am not "racing" as much this year and trying new types of events. Of course I said yes and they did say it was tough with lots of climbing. I did check out the web site and decided to purchase a climbing wheel set for this and other tough climbing events.
The folks I was going with have all done the 40 and 65 miler but were attempting the 100 miler this year. I figured I was fit enough to skip the 40 and jump right into the 65 so that's what I signed up for. The actual name for the distance is the masochistic metric. Until winter broke into spring here in Erie, Pa I trained on hills via Zwift and got outside on decent days. Then climbed as much as I could once it got nice out.
On Friday I took a half day and set out on my way to the Maryland, PA and West Virginia line where the event is held. The drive wasnt bad, about 3.5 hours away. I got to my hotel and checked, this is where I caught up to one of my friends. We went to packet pick up before we unpacked, just to get that out of the way. To my surprise this was a Hammer sponsored event! After packet pick up we caught up with a couple more of our friends and went to dinner, then back to hotel to get gear unpacked and get ready for morning. I slept ok, but definitely thought about what I had in front of me the next day, 65 miles with 8400 feet of climbing.
In the morning we woke up gathered in the lobby until all 4 of us were accounted for and off we went to the start line, roughly a 20 min. drive. The start was pretty low key compared to what I was used to, we all gathered then some quick instructions and then a horn went off. No one was in a hurry groups of folks just started riding off down the road. I learned quickly just why no one was in a huge hurry, the 1st climb was only about 1.2 miles away. Overlook pass was about .7 of a mile long at 11% grade and rough since legs were not yet warmed up, they were after that.
The next few miles were good, some decent climbs and rollers but then we climbed up White Rock rd. which was about a mile climb and a 10% grade but a fun decent! Again some smaller climbs and rollers till we got to Sam Friend climb, this was 1.4 mile climb at 9% grade. By this point is when I realized I had not trained nearly enough for this event! After more small climbs and rollers the climb that really pushed my limits was next. Bowman Hill was 1.7 miles long and a 10% grade, super hard but an amazing decent. The last major climb for the 65 mile distance was Negro Mountain Rd, 2.9 miles long but average grade was 3%.
Over the 65 miles we had 2 aid stations one at mile 21 and one at mile 44. Both stocked well with Hammer gels and Heed.
