In the first truly hot weekend since moving to Cali (out of two weekends), a glutton for punishment, I thought that it’d be a good idea to enter the 12 Hours of Socal above Lake Vail in Temecula. The warnings were there, , drove right past my turn and into LA, where the average highway speed hovered around 20 mph. By the time I could get a new route (must buy a map before next roadtrip), I was most of the way through LA, adding 2.5 hours of slow highway driving to my 3 hour trip(doh)..
With temperatures exceeding 90F, and less than 200 feet of shaded on a 10.6 mile course, it’s safe to say that I wilted, less than most but more than the two leaders. most of the first 4 miles of the course were within sight of Vail Lake, so I spent most of my limited mental energy trying to convince myself that a quick dip would be worth the extra climbing to return to the trail/road, but no.. I still pretended to be racing. By the end of the day (8:20 or so) I had completed 10 laps, for a total of 106 miles with 13,500 feet of climbing (not to mention the extra 2 miles and couple hundred vertical feet from a wrong turn during Lap 2), which was enough for third place in the Solo SS category (and prolly top 5 or 6 in overall solo). At 7 pm, I checked the results and saw that I wasn’t going to catch the two leaders, and no one was going to catch me, so I could’ve stopped, but the trail continued call to me, and the sunset loop was spectacular (and the temperatures were dropping, coincidence?).
The dam climb was damned, only 1 hike-a-bike (ha ha ha), more sand than pictured, Vic’s trail was removed from the route, but that didn’t stop me from riding it once (doh doh), washboards suck on a rigid bike, but they were much worse descending to the sand flats section, aid station 1 didn’t exist, aid station 2 was essential and excellent.
The race organizer puts on an excellent event. The course was challenging (even without the heat), with very steep climbs, some steep descents, and lots of sand. The aid station at the summit of the Dam Climb, was manned all day by the most cheerful of volunteers and the coldest liquid water imaginable. It was a welcome shock to the system to down 2 dixie cups every lap, and almost painful to dump a third one down my back. Then sporadically, the promoter was encountered anywhere on the course on his quad. Inspecting the course, looking after the welfare of racers, and giving words of encouragement throughout. I’ll be back in November to compete again, this time the SoCal boys will be cold and I’ll be relishing the change.
Pix found in my gallery
Good job dude. I am wilting in the measily 85 we had here last week. I am pretty sure a 12 hour would kill me at this point.
Keep on trucking.
85? I’d probably need armwarmers for that..
Thomas Guide = best map for LA.
Congrats again amigo.
I’ll prolly give November a try as well – that or wait for Big John’s Brevet in early Dec.