2013 BT Epic... by Kevin Minton

BT Epic 2013 Report:

That race was hard.....


End
report.


But really, that race was the most torture I have
ever experienced on a bicycle.  Granted, that could be because in the
previous 3 months I have only rode my bike one time, but with work being busy
what can you do.  Some of BOR did rather well, Captain Ahab managed to kill it
in a 7:47 and Paul was right behind in just over 8 hours.  Neil had to
drop out at the cutoff due to some hydration issues and Dave and I both managed
to finish tied for last finisher at somewhere around a 9:30.  Race was
really well put on (other than getting charged $36 bucks to park our car by Bass
River Resort) and they had a lot of good giveaways and raffle prizes.
Whatever food was left by time last place finished was actually pretty good!

So now onto the actual race. We arrived at 7:00 and after
typical BOR shenanigans we were ready for the 8:30 start.  We held off to
the side and for the start and jumped in about mid pack to tear off up the dirt
road and head for the woods.  You wouldn't think this would be a difficult
part of the race, but whether it was because I have a 1x9 or that hill was just
worse than I though, by the time Captain Ahab and I came to the turn in the woods to
wait on the rest of BOR I was feeling the burn and we were only 3.1 miles
in!

Once we regrouped and turned into the woods, the trail was
actually very nice and flowy,  nothing like Dave had described it from last
year, and I was really enjoying myself.  Captain Ahab and I were having so much
fun we ended puling away from Neil, Dave and Paul and stopped to wait for them
after the first hill climb.  After a couple minutes to pop gel packs and
fuel we were back to riding and really enjoying the trail until I had to
avoid a rider tht laid the bike over on a steep little downhill that caused me
to end up taking a line into a tree.  Captain Ahab was riding so well that
from there I didn't see him until I came into the first CP about 4 minutes
behind him.  Dave, Neil and Paul came in about 4 minutes behind me, where
Paul promptly fell off his bike trying to get on the road.  From there we
convinced Captain Ahab to race this on his own and that was the last time I saw him
until the finish.  Shortly after Captain Ahab left the remaining BOR headed off
into the woods for another sweet section of single track.  This was another
nice section of single track and I accidentally left Dave.  He caught
up to me after I took a header off the bike on a root drop and laid in the trail
for a couple of minutes trying to clear the cobwebs.

From then on
Dave and I were riding at a pretty good pace, for us, and just really enjoying
the fast downhills.  We didn't enjoy the painful uphills very much
though.  We meet back up with Paul and Neil after stopping to eat then we
all rode into the campground checkpoint around 11:20 ish.  I think that was
somewhere around the 24 mile mark, but I cant remember exactly.  We found
our drop bag and saw that Captain Ahab didn't even stop since his beer was still in the
bag.  We all consumed our mid race beer and Gatorade, and then set off
again.  From there I cant really remember much of the section that brought
us back to the campground other than I was flirting with bonking for most of it
and Neil had to pee a lot.  I do remember that after we grabbed our zip
ties we talked Paul into going at it on his own since it was
2:00 worried about making the 3:00 cutoff into the last CP, 8 miles
away.  Paul resisted a little and then he went off like the flash, and we
never saw him again either until the finish.

As it turns out we
made the CP by 2:30 since it was all fire and paved roads to it, and then we had
some decisions to make.  Neil decided his hydration issues were more
important than finishing the race which was a good call on his part.  Dave
and I got some information on the remaining trail and decided we had enough time
to get out of the trail and onto the roads before sundown and we went for
it.  The first section out of the trail was a fast long smooth section that
really had me feeling good about the remaining trail.  Dave and I walked
some small technical bits here and there just to avoid any tired mistakes that
would cause us to crash but other than that we were making great time.  At
least I thought we were.

We knew we had roughly 11 miles of
single track from the CP we had left until we hit the road for the final
push into the finish.  We were about an hour and a half into the single
track and I thought we had to be at least 6 miles into it, based on our pace,
and I was really feeling confident on finishing this thing when we got
passed by another rider we had been playing leapfrog with all day.  We
chatted him up for a little bit while riding with him and asked him about the
rest of the trail, to which he replied "The next 7 miles of trail are real nice
and then its a good road ride to the finish." I have never felt so bad in
my life then when this guy told me we weren't even half as far as I thought I
was.  I was so heartbroken I started hiccupping and did not stop for
another mile and a half.  I don't know if anyone reading this has ever had
to ride a bike with vicious hicups, but it really makes breathing when you are
already tired a terrible experience.  Because of that, the next couple
miles were some of the most miserable miles I have ever ridden / walked.  I
couldn't breathe, my confidence in finishing was shot and my entire body hurt
and to be honest neither Dave nor I knew exactly how many miles we had left to
go.

We started riding again.  we played leapfrog with a
couple of guys who didn't look in any better shape than us.  We hooked up
with another rider and together the three of us rode on... and on... and on...
and on, praying that around the next corner was the road.  Until finally we
come up a hill and there it is, but it wasn't, the course crossed the
road.  I cursed just about everything under the sun and then we kept riding
until I saw a road getting closer on my left, the closer it got the happier I
got until we made a sharp right on a downhill.  I cursed everything
again.  After who knows how long we finally arrived in a gravel parking lot
and the route turned into double track which made me a very happy person.
We had to be close, double track almost always leads to a road!  except
this road looked to be about a 45 degree angle right up a hill.  We walked
the first hill and then I got on and road up the next hill with everything I
had, hoping that stupid road was there and finally we ran into it.


I had about 2 or 3 minutes wait for Dave and Ray (guy we hooked up with
earlier) to catch up and I spent the entire time yelling about how beautiful the
road was and how much I loved everything about it, It had been a long day and I
was a little delirious.  Once we got on that road I knew we were home free,
until we stopped for a break and noticed the guy behind us was the sweeper
taking signs down.  I don't think he would have taken signs down in front
of us and he seemed like a nice guy, but from then on we were on a mission to
outrun the sweeper and we were on it! At sometime around 6, the last 3 riders to
finish rolled into the tent, Dave, Ray and myself, and personally I have never
been so happy to finish an event.

Really though I thought it was a
well organized and supported event.  I just wish I was more prepared.