safety stop

Sometimes, you get a jolt of reality 4 hours into a long race.  I just scrapped the meanderingly long race report I was writing for the Big Bear Ultra - a 50 miler that I won last year (women's open field had a mere 2 of us) and got second by about 15 minutes to regional powerhouse Betsy this year (!).  My time was 34 minutes faster than 2010.  It was cooler but substantially wetter.  I had a bit of mechanical trouble with a shoe and a rotor.  It was a good day on the bike.  A day where I was mentally tougher and more motivated than I've been lately.

Love racing Big Bear - somehow, like 4 hours goes by before I start to have negative thoughts about being on the bike.  At about that time on Saturday, when I was entering the bonk that would persist until I re-gu'd myself, I reached a trail intersection where two of my compatriots were stopped and off their bikes.  I asked if they had everything they needed, thinking they were fixing a flat.  But, as I rolled away, I realized this was a more organic stop... later, I'd learn it's called a "safety stop" in West Virginia.  Reality check - we do this racing schtuff for fun!  And it was.  Love racing Big Bear.