12 (SCORCHING) HOURS OF
TEMECULA
After a months rest from my 3 weekends of back to back
racing (8 Hrs of Idyllwild-3rd place, 24 Hours of
Laguna Seca-1st, and 12 Hrs of Mesa Verde-4th
, for those of you who were unable to open the
document last time! I apologize!), it was time to “saddle
up” once again, this time, for the 12 Hrs of Temecula down
in Southern California. I headed out early Friday morning
on my drive from a very fair weathered Northern Nevada, to a
very scorching Southern California. The difference in
temperature was undeniable.
Saturday morning came way to quickly, and I
headed out early to make the drive down to Temecula from my
grandmother’s house, where I would meet up with Darren from
Ay-Up lighting (my newly acquired lighting sponsor!), who
would be my pit person for the day. I arrived to find him
already set up in the pit area, EZ up included, all I had to
do was unload my stuff and get ready (flying by the seam of
my pants of course!). The 9am start arrived, and the heat
had already made itself more than present. Most of us were
sweating just waiting on the start line! It was going to be
a long day, but after a month of no racing, I was ready.
The starting “siren” went off, and I was feeling pretty
good. I held a pretty good position going into the parade
loop, and was able to maintain it going into the first
climb, passing one of the other solo female riders, life was
good so far. Part way through the lap, I got passed by the
rider that I had previously passed, but I thought “no big
deal, it is a long race ahead”. By the time lap 2 rolled
around, it had gotten really HOT, and the heat began to take
its toll on me (we finally hit the 80-90 degree range at
home just this week), so much that I managed to take a
pretty good little digger towards the middle of the lap.
Following the crash, I managed to regain my composure (after
making sure the bike was okay first!), and finish the lap.
I returned to my pit area, where Darren was awaiting with a
fresh hydration pack, and water bottle. I downed some food,
and even though the heat was causing me to be a “little
outta sorts”, I set out for lap 3. Things were a bit rough,
but I trekked on (figuring I was just now entering into my 3
hour warm up point). Next thing I know, a bee flies into my
helmet, and ZAP, I was stung! All I am thinking at this
point is “what else can possibly happen”? I finished the
lap, yet again. This time I was pretty much forced to stay
in for a while due to the heat, I just couldn’t see
straight……things would probably not end well.
Once things cooled off, I was back in the
game. I went back out for the remainder of the race, and my
lap times were back to normal, they were extremely
consistent (which is pretty true to form for me). Where was
this feeling earlier in the race??????? I finished up at
about 8:15pm, and was a little bummed to not have any night
riding (cuz I was really excited to get some more use out of
my new Ay-Up lights!). Regardless, I was glad it was over.
In spite of everything, I still finished up in 3rd
place, one lap off of 2nd. I have to extend a
HUGE THANK YOU to Darren from Ay-Up Lights for being my pit
person for the day, he was awesome throughout everything
(keeping my bottles filled, and having a nice cool, wet
towel available each time I came in), he even introduced me
to my fellow Ay-Up racers, the Williams brothers (who are
all under 16 years old)---can I just say, watch out
everyone, these boys kick some serious butt, and they are
friendly and polite as well. As always, Jason Ranoa (and
friends) put on a great event, and it seems to be growing.
Thanks Jason for being out there on the course rooting us
all on! Next up on the race agenda is possibly the Cascade
Cream Puff 100, and if not that, the Park City Perfect 10.
As always, I would like to thank all of my
awesome sponsors for all of their continued support: Kenda
Tires, Pivot Cycles, Ay-Up Lighting Systems, FSA, Magura, DT
Swiss, Hammer Nutrition, Zeal Optics, Dakine, Wholistic
Fitness, Beljum Budder, and Sheila Moon.
