Vermont 50 aka 11 hours on a Mountain Bike

[MTG35]

This past Sunday I competed in the Vermont 50 which is a 50 mile mountain bike race and ultra run. You can ride it on a mountain bike or run it. This was this single most grueling thing I have ever done in my life!

This is my first year mountian biking and the most miles I had ridden in a single ride was 11. I thought that I would be okay since I road bike regularly for 25 to 30 miles 2x a week. So I was averaging 50 to 70 miles a week on a bike between the mountain biking and road biking.

I started off feeling great. I felt strong and in shape and my other friends were dragging behind. I was leading them most of the first 15 miles. Then because I was feeling so good and strong I had not been drinking enough and I started to get major leg cramps. I struggled through the next 15 miles until I got my hydration under control and the cramps stopped. But the toll that all that stuggling took on my body and overall energy level could not be reversed.

I was told that the real halfway mark of the ride is at mile 35 because that is where the truly hard riding starts. And that was soooo true. The last 15 miles are the most technically challenging of the whole ride and on top of that you are completely spent by the time you get there.

So at around mile 41 or 42 I start to ride up a steep hill and it feels like the ACL in my right knee is shot. I can now only pedal with one leg. As it turns out all the hamstring cramps must have tightened the muscles so much that it started pulling on my knee joint in a very painful way.

So I walked/limped most of the last 10 miles on norrow trails mostly up hill pushing a 27 pound mountain bike in ankle deep mud. At one point the mud was so thick that the back tire of my bike became jammed and would no longer spin. It was dragging in the mud and I kept needing to dig the mud out with my hands to get the tire to spin freely.

When I started out I thought I could finish it in 6 hours or so, then after the cramps I thought I be happy if I finished in 9 hours but...I finished just under the deadline (12 hours) in something like 11 hours. In contrast the winner finished in 4 hours and 19 minutes. At the time I said I would never ever do this stupid *&@(#&* race again. But the next morning when I woke up and I was packing up I had already decided I would be back next year. Now I know what to expect and how I need to train. I just cant have the 11 hours be my perminant record of the Vermont 50. Next year I'd like to come in somewhere between 6 and 7 hours.

Only 360 training days left!!!

[LiftGirl]

Even finishing it seems to me to be an accomplishment! Congratulations on that!

[MTG35]

Thanks.

I'm still waiting for them to post the official results to see just how many did not finish. Every year it seems to be a decent number. See that will help me feel a little better about my poor time.

The race motto is "Challenge yourself" and this couse gives you every opportunity to do just that.

[minime]

congratulations on finishing, that sounds like quite a challenge!

[MTG35]

So the results were finally posted last night.

Offically I finished in 11 hours 24 minutes. 8 other riders finished after me and 55 riders did not finish at all.

So I wasn't dead last dispite all my issues.

Can't wait for next year now that I know what to expect and how to train for it.

[sooner_ed]

I echo the congratulations for finishing.

But I also advise to train properly for such events. If the most you had ever ridden in one ride was 11 miles, then going straight to 50 miles probably wasn't the best idea, but I applaud you for finishing.

I don't say any of that to diminish your accomplishment or bring you down, but I thiink you now understand that these types of events take a lot of training. It's never worth risking injury for not training properly.

You're not the first on this forum to jump into an endurance event like that. But at least now, you know what it's like and know how to train for it.

Sound like you're hooked now!! Good luck with your training.

Ed

[MTG35]

I did a lot of training, just not in the woods. I was doing 30 mile road rides 2 to 3 times a week for most of the summer. I can do 30 miles on the road in a hour and a half.

The 11 miles was the most I had done in the woods on a mountain bike. My road biking actually helped quite a bit as through mile 20 I was on pace to finish in about 6 hours. But alas I felt too good and didn't hydrate as I should have. Then the cramps hit etc.

I need to improve my technical skills in the woods and train with longer off road rides as it can be different to ride long distances off raod verses on the road.