Race Report: Pauls Dirty Enduro 100K

Hello all....a race report for the enduro race Pauls Dirty 100. It is a great race I have done a few times which raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association. It is held at Ganaraska Forest near Peterborough and is a single 100km loop through the forest. Now lets get to the race.

The race was to begin at 8:00am for the 100K racers (there were also 15km, 40km, & 60km events) so that meant an early wake up for me at 4:30am. After packing all my stuff, picking up my friend Dave and driving there it was 7:00am. It was freezing cold in the morning but I knew we would warm up once we got riding, but I still had on arm warmers, knickers, and a vest. 8am rolled around and after forgetting to put on my transponder and holding up the race start we were off.

The first 15km were a little challenging with a lot of climbing (a theme for the race). I was hoping things would smooth out so the speed would pick up. My wish came through and after I shed my vest I was flying in some of the sweetest singletrack ever. The kind were you never have to touch the brakes, but are in the big ring with swooping corners. It was truly amazing. I started thinking to myself...."Steve, you are really moving, your conditioning must be better than you thought after taking the month of September off, before beginning the training season all over again in October". Little did I know.

After picking off a bunch of riders in that singletrack I hit the first checkpoint, but just blew through as I still had lots of fluids. That is when the course became much more difficult. Not particularly technical, but the climbing was unreal. I'm a decent climber but it was starting to wear on me. I was definately looking forwad to the next checkpoint which brought us back to the parking lot and I could replenish my e-load, CarbBoom gels, and get some solid food. It seemed to take forever to get there and I kept thinking that this felt like the longest 60km (we did a 60K loop and a 40K loop) in awhile. When I finally caught site of the main camp I was happy and stopped at Checkpoint #2. I asked one of the volunteers to confirm our distance so far (no computer on my bike) assuming she would say 60K. Nope, we had only done 40K. Guess how long that took! This will give you an idea of how much climbing there was. It took me 4 hours to do 40K. That 10KM/H. I was not a happy camper. All I could think was this thing was going to take me over 10 hours to complete if the course continued on its trend. I thought about packing it in a that point, but I was determined to finish.

After stocking up on supplies I headed back out to do the 60K loop. With my trusty MP3 player continuing to crank out the tunes I tried not to be too bored. So far I had been riding on my own and it wasn't much fun. This was the low point of the race for me. I kept thinking about how long it would take me to finish which was depressing. Plus the climbing was wearing on me and I was desperate to have some company. I started walking a lot of climbs due to lack of motivation as was generally down in the dumps. Then they came. While walking up one of the climbs 2 riders past me....a guy and girl who I thought were a couple but turned out not to be....he was just trying to pick her up I think :-). They seemed to be doing a good pace so I started riding with them. It was wonderful. For the next 3 hours or so we rode together. One dicey moment came on a downhill where I was behind the girl. We were in a section where they were bunch of large sinkholes, some covered with bridges, some not. I always would give her room on the downhills and it was a good thing this time. It looked as though we were going to rollover a bridge but it only covered half of the sink hole. She wasn't prepared for this and literally her bike dropped straight in the hole and she did a superman landing on the far side of the hole. Luckily she was okay. And luckily I left enough room to hit the brakes otherwise I would have landed right on top of her!

Soon after this they asked me to lead the group for awhile. I had my second wind and unintentionally pulled away. Our paths did cross one more time at one of the checkpoints but I didn't really see them until after the race. I was on my own again but felt good and tried to push the pace. I had left my hydrapak at the car after 40K as my back was really sore, so I had to stop at each checkpoint to fill my bottles. My whole body was starting to ache (except for my legs), particularly at my shoulders and my triceps. As everyone knows what goes up must come down and my arms and shoulders were taking a beating from it.

After the last checkpoing I was only about 15km from the finish. I was excited but then the course punched me in the gut again. More climbing. Not too many short steep climbs, but long climbs. I think the last one was about 20 mins of non stop climbing. I was determined to ride it all, knowing I was so close to the finish. I managed to do it and soon after the finish was in sight for which I was thankful.

I finished the race in 8 hours and 19 minutes, so the 2nd 60K loop took less 4.5 hours which was a little better than the first 40K. Having some other riders definitely helped. I grabbed a bit of food, won a prize (framed picture of an NHL goalie) and then got on my way. Overall the race was a good one with perfect weath and the course was in prime condition. Everyone who knows Ganaraska knows there is a lot of climbing....I hadn't been there for a couple of years and it was a shock to my system. I made it through though. I don't have any idea where I placed (not on the podum...I know that) and was too tired to check.

I think this will be my last race of the season. As mentioned, I've taken most of September off the bike with the exception of a few fun rides with friends. I've needed to give my body a chance to recover from some of the injuries sustained earlier in the season. I'll begin my training program all over again in October, with my goal being to be in the best shape ever for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo (Arizona) in February.

Many thanks goes out to my sponsors for the 2005 season. Turner Bikes (www.turnerbikes.com), www.Gearsracing.com, Rudy Project (www.rudyprojectusa.com) Glasses and Helmets, CarbBoom gels (www.carbboom.com), Kenda Tires (www.kenda.com), and CatEye (www.cateye.com) lights. Your assistance is greatly appreciated and I have had lots of opportunitys to talk up your products. I look forward to working with all of you again next year!

Steve