12 Hours of Millstone 2013 - Report, Singlespeed, and Pickles
A 12 hour mountain bike race on a single speed is an interesting beast. As anyone who has spent time mountain biking in the Northeast with only one gear can imagine, this kind of race is a test of endurance, strength, mental stamina, and logistics. Sock and Buskin, our 2-man singlespeed team made up of Adrian Husemoller and myself, won the 2-man singlespeed team and came in 2nd in the total field - against all other teams with gears. We rode 15 laps in 11 hours and 26 minutes, 5 minutes behind the overall leaders.
The course
On Friday afternoon we drove up to the awesome Millstone trails in Barre, VT from Northampton, MA arriving with time to setup camp and do a quick pre-ride of the course. We easily made the decision to switch off every lap, not every other as we were considering. The course was about 7 miles of hilly technical twisty mostly single track. This course required a lot of mental focus and had a bunch of gnarly technical sections that required total focus to pick lines through. One climb wasn't SS friendly, and through the day a couple more climbs became runners as well. Well at least they did for me, not Adrian however.
Nutrition strategy, or lack there of
Keeping the body fueled and replenished is a key component of endurance racing. This was our first race of this burliness, so we did not have a clear system for this, unlike the experienced solo riders who were amazing to watch as they slowly and meticulously arranged their snacks and ate while basking in their 3min of down time between laps. Our approach resembled more of a free-pile at a tag sale - throw all the food in the middle and grab what you want when you're hungry. Oh, and keep the beach umbrella shade over the cooler by digging and repositioning every few hours.
This is not the best way to do this. Just bending down and clawing through Gu to find the jar of nut butter takes energy, which should be conserved during off-laps. The freestyle 'free-pile' approach did however give my body an opportunity to gravitate toward food that it really wanted. This was predominantly whole foods - nut butters, not cliff bars. More coconut milk, less Cytomax. Bananas, less engineered chocolate nugget things. And pickles. I drank one bottle of electrolyte sport drink immediately after finishing a lap, usually one during rest, and 1/2 a bottle on course. I discovered it is very easy to want to over drink and over eat- avoiding gorging is key to maintaining.
Lots of Real Pickles
My favorite thing I consumed was pickles and the jar of pickle juice. Real Pickles pickle juice, to be exact. It was like mana from the heavens. An hour after chugging this salty goodness, I was tasting pickles as the salt sweated from my helmet. During D2R2 last year, I had my first guzzle of pickle juice as an aid station ran out of energy drink. It was good, but it was a generic pickle brand. Real Pickles has it going on. Their kraut is a staple in my diet and now their dill pickles will in every future race cooler.
Pacing - hammer when riding, cool down, eat, stretch, warm up, and hammer again
I've done a couple of 50mile races, but this was totally different. To have 45min of recovery between laps, meant that there was very little pacing - it was hammer when riding, cool down, eat, rest, warm up, and hammer again. On a single speed, the pacing was accomplished by lowering my gear part way through the race. Shifting (no pun intended) riding style also accomplished some sustainable pacing. For instance, for the last several laps I constantly reminded myself to brake and descend not solely for speed, but for momentum. Other than that, I pretty much went as hard as I could all the time.
I like to believe that single speeding encourages a natural instinct to micro-pace. Full speed up climbs are balanced by the intermittent recovery of a slow pedal stroke that provides a bit of rest. Gravity is a single speeder's biggest friend - when you don't have the option to shift harder to go faster, you tune in a little more closely to the pull of gravity. After the 12-Hours of Millstone, I sense these connections to the bike and my own riding style have developed significantly. I can't wait to get back on the trail again to see if this 'zen' overwhelms the lingering muscle soreness.
Race and results
All of our laps were between 43 minutes and 48 minutes. We averaged 45:11 and did 15 laps in 11:26:40 - 5 minutes behind the overall leaders- two guys from the Mtb.Mind team who were great to ride with and against. It was a bit disappointing to do so well overall, but only get recognized on the SS podium. I guess that's what we get for being different.
The people and place
Everyone was awesome at this race- on trail and off, everyone was kind and excited. It was fun to be on a course and see people going at so many different paces. The encouragement and energy at the main tent was great and folks were laid back. Camping and night stars were spectacular. So many great athletes with kids having a blast.
This report would not be complete without huge props to Eric, Adrian's dad, who drove us there, provided us with support, and regular reminders that we were gaining in the overall field..which kept us going hard.
Next year we'll be back to the 12 Hours of Millstone. Hopefully with some pickle sponsors. Maybe in a geared category.
(most photos from Jeb Wallace-Brodeur)