Swanson Marathon Race Report

Swanson was in PERFECT condition for racing. The course was well marked and tacky from the rain this week.

I warmed up a bit before the race start. The start of the 3 hour group was much more SANE compared to the Sport and Single Speed races I've done in the past. Seems like everyone realized that a sprint at the start of a 3 hour race is just stupid. I settled into the pack at around 5th or 6th.

Click the "Read More" link to read the rest of my race report.


This was only the 2nd time I've ridden dirt since the last Psycowpath race last year (Once last week at TP and then this race). So the first lap or two was spent trying to remember how to ride dirt and corner. I was braking a LOT more than I should on all the turns. I wasted a LOT of energy on those first few laps by braking so much.

The one area of the Swanson course that I stink at is the root climb near the start of the lap. In 8 laps, I never cleared it. FAIL! I only saw one person make it up that climb all day, but I did hear a rumor that there is a very narrow line up that climb that avoids most of the roots. I'll have to look for that the next time I'm out there.

On lap 2 my feet and arches started cramping. Not good. I had to pedal with one leg each time that happened. But I stopped to take some e-caps at the end of lap 2 (thanks for the e-caps Tim). Without those, my race would have ended by lap 3. But by the end of lap 3 the e-caps were helping and the cramps went away by the middle of the 4th lap. That was a close call.

At the end of lap 5 I was in 4th. As we went by the staging area, the sport open group was just about to start as the 2nd, 3rd place guys and myself squeezed by. I grabbed a fresh water bottle just in time to stay ahead of the sport pack that was coming up FAST. I knew that once I got caught up in that pack I would have to contend with slowing for people to pass, or worse, get taken out by some of the over eager sport guys doing their first race and first lap of the season (I heard at least 3 crashes right behind me). On the root climb, the 3rd place marathon guy pulled over at the bottom of the root climb to let the sport guys pass. I took that opportunity to pass him and try to stay in front of the major portion of the sport pack. I rode a faster than average lap to limit the number of sport guys that passed me, and this worked in my favor to get me a good gap on the 4th place guy, and got me past the 2nd place guy as well.

After 2 more laps I was toast. I crossed the line with 7 laps at 2:55 allowing me to start another lap, but I was not sure I could complete another lap. So I stopped and looked to see if any more marathon guys were going to finish before the 3:00 cutoff. We all had pink numbers, so it was easy to spot other marathon racers from a distance. Unfortunately, the next 2 marathon guys (3rd, and 4th) were right behind me, so I was forced to finish another lap ahead of them to keep my 2nd place finish.

My legs are in pretty good shape from riding all winter, but my upper body was not up for 8 laps, and I paid a heavy price. By the end of lap 7 I could barely grip my handlebars due to the pain in my forearms (especially the right one). Going through bumpy sections and over logs was excruciating. I couldn't drink any water on the last lap because I couldn't squeeze the bottle anymore. Going up climbs was terrible, because I had to force my hands to grip the bars even though it was extremely painful.

I was able to keep my small lead on 3rd and 4th. As I finished lap 8 and pulled over, both of my quads took the opportunity to cramp up solid. Tim asked me how I was doing, and I told him that I was feeling about as good as the time I had kidney stones. Considering that I ended up in the emergency room with kidney stones, this was not a glowing endorsement of my physical condition.

Luckily the cramps subsided in about an hour and settled back down to typical post race soreness levels rather quickly. I'm still sore today, but nothing major.

Next week I'll be doing the same thing again (I know...it's crazy). Hopefully with slightly less pain.