My 12 hours at Santos

Into the bottleneck, photo courtesy of Ga Kush.

I woke up that Saturday morning mad as hell. Cursing fate, feeling cheated again, sick and tired of my circumstances as of late. I had the worst neck muscle pain I ever had in my life. Even the day before it wasnt as bad as I was feeling at that moment.
Regardless, I took some alleve under strict protest and began my preparations for the day. In grand fashion, no matter how hard I worked, inevitably my tradition of tardiness persevered. And sure enough, I get to Santos at 930, not registered for a 10am race.
It proved to be my first miracle of the day as I got registered and made the start line with plenty of time to chit chat with friends and eyeball the participants on the line.
Not long after, they had us line up and sent us on our way. I made a discovery on this day, that I have somehow become proficient at the run. I was hauling ass, when all my food for the first three laps popped out my pockets. I heard Luis, telling me I dropped my food, about a half a second after I noticed myself. I quickly backtracked and waited patiently as everyone passed me to grab my food. I picked it up quick, and still had enough speed going uphill, to pass half the people on my way to the bike. Got on the bike and I wasn't even winded, the adrenaline was pumping.
Unfortunately, so was the full on traditional 12 hour bottleneck. I anticipated it and stayed patient. I knew people were flying off the front, but I also knew I was going to be here all day.
I could sit here and type up a blow by blow account of each lap. And talk about how at one point I made the decision to slow down cause I was riding way above my 12 hour pace. I could also detail, every little mental game I came up with to keep my focus and interest for the full day of the 12 hours, how I had affectionally nicked named a section of the trail the "soul trail" cause of the shoe sole I saw on every lap. Or all the times I made jokes to myself of which I commented out loud, every time I went INTO the BACKDOOR (the redtrail that began with the jump rock and was followed by the slalom) that signified the end of the lap was less then a mile away.
I could tell you how after the first four consecutive laps, I decided I would pit stop every lap after that cause I was concerned about the severe arm fatigue I was experiencing. And talk about the moments I spent with my quitting cap on, which I then took off and rode on regardless. Or the times I thought to myself, am I having a heart attack or why do my lungs hurt (turns out it was just gas).
But I think the most important thing to take away from my experience is that an endurance race is just about that very thing, Enduring. Lasting and continuing even if the going gets tough. It was my first time and there was no way in hell I was quitting.
I realize my conditioning was way off. But I rode to the best of my current skill level. Did at least 50 dabless miles out there, lap after lap of cleaning the entire trail. I had not one crash, but I didn't end the day without mishap. On Lap 8 I flatted and my tiredness coupled with the darkness and no CO2 made for a slow flat repair.
I had made goals for myself. I wanted to do 10 laps, I finished with 9. I think the flat played into that.
I knew Ron(aka one lap) was racing and I wanted to see if I could ride longer then him. We tied in distance, but Ron beat me on time.
I wanted to beat my buddy Dave Snow(aka flyhi296) but several months after the Big O ride, he is still20 miles and 60 minutes faster(maybe next time).
I knew it was Pacer's first 12 hour, we had something in common, so I wanted to see if I could do more laps then him, and I did, but it took him half the time to do 80% of the distance I did.
I wanted to do more laps then one of our sport teams that was racing. They did 12 beat me hands down.
I wanted to be the overall Bikeworks team rider with the longest distance and I was with 9 laps, Osias(congrats) did 8 in six hours (LOL).
I wanted a top ten finish in my class, and I did, I got Fifth!
I wanted to smile, have a good time, and just promote positive energy to everyone else on the ride and that mission was accomplished as well.
The whole experience was motivating and inspirational for me. I rode 80 something miles, the longest I have ever ridden off road and I totally dugg it.

Enjoy the pics, there will be more coming but the ones that I am sharing first Came from Trebor, from the MTB Florida Forum, Thanks TRE!Finally, Huge thanks to all the Naked Indian supporters out there. I have never, in all my racing ever, had so many people cheer me on, either by saying Karlos, or Naked Indian, it was nice to hear the encouragement and experience the greetings.
Also Enourmous thanks to my lead Nutritionist and Pit Boss in the race, my lovely wife Paloma. Everything worked great and I was fueled and feeling good all day.
And I cant say enough about my team mates and my sponsor Bikeworks. Big Thanks to Brian, Manager from Metro west location, who fixed my rear derailleur half way thru the race making an enourmous impact on my performance, and for always being a friend indeed.

I cant wait till the next one,

Enjoy,

Laters,

LOS