Our Race Accommodations
We decided to make a vacation around the race. So on Thursday we packed the van and headed for Lillehammer. We stayed in a cabin that felt like a miniature version of our house grass roof and all. It was at a resort with a nice amusement park adjacent that Janet took the kids to while I was racing. She plans to write a post about their day out.
Heading to the Race
On Saturday morning I met up with a colleague from work who was also signed up to compete. From our cabin to the race start turned out to be a two hour drive. It was really neat pulling into Rena and seeing all the people.
The Start Line
In Rena I collected my start number, ate some food, weighed my bag, made some last minute clothing changes and proceeded to the start line. My start time was 12:20 and I was in group 65 of 66. Each group had about 300 people and started in 5 minute intervals. What that meant is that by the time I started the town felt almost like a ghost town. Leading up to the race I was bummed that I was starting so late, in the end I really liked it because it meant I didn't have too many people to pass me. The fast guys in the last group had pretty much all passed me in the first half hour of riding.
The Race
Weather is a funny thing, it had to be Saturday. Friday was beautiful, Sunday was beautiful, but Saturday was raining. The result was a course with just enough mud to slow things down and add and element of awesome.
The race started with a 17 km climb that really quickly established how things were going to go during the race. I set an even pace that I was able to maintain over the entire course. I was hoping to go out a little easier so I could pick up the pace during the middle of the race, but since I am not a rail thin cyclist the difference between a slow pace and a faster one are about the same (painful) so I went as fast as I could maintain.
The day was long and tiring. From the start until kilometer 70 the race was almost always moving up. The downhills were always so brief I never had a chance to enjoy them. Throughout the day I was passing people, which was motivating and equally motivating was not too many people passed me. Had I started earlier it would have been a different story.
Once I reached kilometer 70 the course turned down and everything was a blast to the end. The coolest part of the race was making a left turn onto the hill that paralleled the ski jump. The hill was as steep as the ski jump. The wide, steep, bumpy trail was littered with tentative riders trying to make it down in one piece. I just dove in and rode down as fast as I could. I passed 20 riders along the way.
In the end I crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 44 minutes, a respectable showing.
Yes it was a hard day on the bike, arguably one of my hardest, but it was the most rewarding day as well. I am looking forward to next year. I am already starting to put my training plan together and hoping I can knock an hour off this years ride.
