Teaberry Reflections

Well after a nights thoughts I figured I'd post up some revelations.

This race was freaking hard! INSANELY rocky and just astounding at what can be put into a race. With that said... I had a few things working against me. I realized that about 5 miles into the race that my newly rebuilt fork wasn't working. It was totally locked out and rigid. This really annoyed me since I had issues at the Fools Gold in Georgia with it and also in VA at the Shenandoah Mountain 100. It was supposed to be totally rebuilt so I'd have no issues with it. I tried to ignore it once I figured that out but mentally that killed me.

On top of that I passed up a bunch of aid stations and chose to only stop at aid #3. I was totally on fumes getting into aid #3. About 5 miles before that I had to start rationing water and that's not good. I ran out with about 2 miles left and just had to suck it up. Once I got my bottles filled I chugged one which left only one bottle for the next 8 miles and I started running out and rationing the last bottle. In hindsight I should have topped them off at aid two for the 30 seconds it would have taken, but no I'm a stubborn idiot and didn't want to lose those precious seconds.

So right there that would have made my race much better, but mentally it just wore me down and I struggled with the will to keep going. I was down and really not in a good spot mentally. If I had pushed through the little rut that I got in I probably would have shaved a good 10 minutes or better off of my ride. I know - it's the good old "what if?" game. If anything it gave me a new found respect for the other courses that are out there and the madness that is not put in there.

I can feel how much I had to work the bike as my shoulders are pretty spent today. Just in the one section alone there had to be 20 downed trees(and not small ones) in a 1/4 mile section that was just strenuous. I may be down for checking out some of the other races at michaux, at least knowing that I finished the hardest one.

The funny thing too is that I didn't really feel that shredded as far as my legs were concerned. I could go if I had the will to but that was the struggle. It was just DIFFICULT. If you have the urge to try a truly demanding soul searching event, you need to give Teaberry a shot.