Race Report: 2013 12 Hours of Millstone, July 27, 2013: By Eric Roy

By:  Eric Roy

The 12 Hours of Millstone is an endurance mountain bike race put on by Casco Bay Sports, the same crew that promotes The 12 Hours of Bradbury.  The race was a late addition to my calendar this year, but a friend of mine spoke highly of it, so I said “what the heck?” and threw my hat in the ring.  This winter, I had set a goal of racing one or two 12 hour events as a solo rider… mostly so I can see what kind of races I enjoy most, would be able to train accordingly during the offseason.   Because this is my third year biking and only my 3^rd race on a single speed, my performance expectations were minimal.  Therefore, my only goal was to still be riding at 8pm (which is when the last lap had to be started).

It was sometime around the Tuesday of race week that I began prepping/packing, and I realized that I had no idea how to race a 12 hour solo even, so I solicited Google, as well as my more experienced teammates for advice.  All in all, the  common thread was  consistent with the advice that I received  from Riverside Racing/Cannondale rider Matt O'Keefe when I unknowingly/mistakenly sat down with a table full of elite class racers at breakfast before  my first bike race.

 “Don’t be an idiot and blow up in the first hour… no endurance race has ever been won in the first hour... but lots have been lost”

Piece of cake… Right?

After packing the car, I was as ready as I was going to be. 

Despite some last minute things popping up at work, I was able to duck out on Friday to make the 5 hour drive across 3 states to Webstervile, VT.  Ironically, a few of my Qualey Granite/Rose Bike Teammates had done the same trip on bikes the weekend before...  

Millstone Hill is a fantastic venue for a lap format endurance race.  The race course starts and finishes along the long edge of a field, which allows plenty of room for riders to set up their support tent and campsite along the race course.   After setting up camp and chatting for a bit with my neighbors, I set out to ride the course.  

My approach for the preride was to simulate the manner in which I would ride the race.  I had planned on hiking the longest/steepest climbs in order to conserve energy (advice from teammate Rich Long), and to find parts of the trail that lend itself to eating/drinking (advice from Geoff Bergmark).  Here’s the problem… it turns out that the event organizer set the race course on trails that are AWESOME to ride…particularly hard/fast... The best way that I could describe the trails is that the singletrack surface was similar to Bradbury, in that it is rooty&rocky enough that you had to pay attention, but the topography of the land was completely different.  Unlike the race course at Bradbury, Millstone had a couple of doubletrack climbs, several punchy rocky/rooty uphills/downhills, and some short, tight switchback climbs and descents that were similar to the climb up the Camden Snow Bowl.  Basically...these trails are trails that you would have a great day on with buddies and have a beer in the parking lot.  A side effect of the awesome terrain that I had to consider for a 12 hour event is that there were limited opportunities to eat/drink while on the bike.  Therefore I had to tweak my strategy a bit… I would now kill 2 birds with one stone and eat/drink WHILE hiking the two toughest climbs.  That way… I’d be able to have fun on the single track descents AND still have enough energy to ride all day. 

Piece of cake… Right?

Fast forward to the start line on Saturday morning, where I was able to catch up with some other guys that I've met through the few races that I've done.   After a quick pre race meeting, the solo and 2 person categories were released.  The start was pretty typical, where the fast (and sometimes not so fast) guys jockey for position going into the woods.  Dew from the cool, humid evening made the roots and rocks a bit greasy, but was not enough to make things sketchy.  Being new to the sport, I tend to be a pretty cautious at the beginning of a race, because I’m not familiar with the riding styles of the other racers, however it quickly became apparent that the cluster that I was riding with was very capable and (more importantly) predictable in the woods.  Because of this, the first lap felt a lot like a fast group ride and was an absolute blast.  However, as I was pulling in to the lap point that I realized three things:   

1.  The guys I was riding with were all part of  2 person  teams (I realized this as they tagged their teammates at the lap tent) 

2.  I had not gotten off my bike to hike ANY of the hills, which meant that  

3.  I had not eaten or drank ANYTHING … 

… So much for discipline/planning

Out of fear for a complete meltdown, I forced myself to reel it in a bit as I pecked away at the next few laps at a more moderate pace, and was largely able to stick to “the original plan.”  The more tempered pace had me feeling pretty comfortable, and I was sitting nicely in 3^rd place for my category.  Sometime in the early afternoon (5 laps in), the temperature began to rise… and I was starting to pay for the sins of my first lap.  I decided to make lap 6 a recovery lap, with a focus on catching up on food/drink… but I wanted to do this all while keeping the bike moving forward.  Turns out… it was too little, too late, and I had to head to the pit area after lap 6 in order to avoid a complete meltdown.  During this time, I took a moment to clean/lube the chain, but the purpose of the break was to get out of the sun and put edible things in my mouth.   In doing so, I watched two people from my division leapfrog me (brutal)…. but I reminded myself that the alternative would have been much worse.  After the 20 minute break, I felt like a new man… and started pedaling again.

As the day continued, I was able to keep plugging away, but I made a point to stop for 3-5 minutes at the end of each lap to sit down and get a little extra food/drink in me.  Apparently this is what a lot of the more experienced racers do for a course like this (including my campsite neighbor who ended up taking 3^rd in the solo division).  This was the right strategy… because I was riding hard but sustainably… and before I knew it, 7:30 pm came around and I had just finished my 9^th lap.  Because event rules state that no lap can begin after 8, this would be my last lap.  It was also the first time this year that I had ridden with a light… something that I tend to associate with fall/winter riding.  This gave the now familiar trails a completely different feel (which made time fly), and before I knew it I was approaching the final gravel road section about ¼ mile from the finish line when I heard, “Coming up behind you”… and another racer clipped my bars… sending me (and only me) to the ground at about 15 mph.  After a quick body part inventory (everything was still there) and a quick bike check (no damage), I got back on the bike and pedaled the remaining 0.2 miles to the teeter totter at the finish line, where I the finishers were greeted by enthusiastic  cowbells, music, and happy smiling people who were fueled by cold beer.

Boom…. My first 12 hour solo event was in the books. 

In summary…looking back…

Positives aspects of my performance:

• Although it was disappointing to miss the podium (largely due to me ignoring the advice of more experienced racers), I met my only real goal for the race… to still be pedaling when the sun went down
• I had hoped to get 8 or 9 laps (which was the average for all solo riders in previous years)… and I was able to complete 10 laps, which was above the average for the entire Men’s solo field
• I was able to comfortably pedal a bike on Sunday, and felt good on the Monday Shop Ride

Things that might improve my chances of future success:

• “Don’t be an idiot and blow up in the first hour… no endurance race has ever been won in the first hour... but lots have been lost”
• Drop 20 lbs

General lessons learned:

• Pedaling slow is really hard to do on awesome trails
• You get weird looks when doing jumps during an endurance event
• Despite being on a 12 foot wide gravel road virtually in sight of the finish line… there will always be some dink who feels the need to take a completely unnecessary risk, wreck another rider, and not stop to make sure they are OK.  Watch out for these people… they will stop at nothing to shave a fraction of a second off a 12 hour race and perhaps marginally improve their chances of winning a bottle of chain lube.

General thoughts on event:

• Because I've been to the 12 hours of Bradbury, it should have been no surprise that the Casco Bay Sports crew put together a fantastic event.... Nice Job Guys! 
• Trails at Millstone are awesome and are absolutely worth going to for pleasure riding.  
• Having support in the pits is awesome for these types of events!