“The pain that is created from avoiding hard work is much more than any pain created from the actual work itself because if you don’t begin to work on those ideas that God has blessed you with, they will become stagnant inside of you and eventually begin to eat away at you. You might seem ok on the outside, but inside you will be ill from not getting those ideas out of your heart and into the world. Stalling leads to sickness, but taking steps, even baby steps, always leads to success.” – Russell Simmons
The Tijuana Challenge was a very different race than the others. First, it was the shortest. But it was a different format. They laid out a 34-mile loop of tough rocky hills, including some very challenging hill climbs and “rock gardens”. On Saturday morning at 6:30 am you race two laps – 68 miles. Then on Sunday morning, you repeat it. They’d add your times together to determine the winners.
There were only four riders in the Ironman class. The season was already taking its toll after just two races. Racers would get hurt and not return to the series. Others did not finish a race and decided to abort their season plans if they had them.
Through a lottery, I was to start first in my class on day one and last on day two. I got the green flag and raced into the dust of the bikes who started before me. It was clear I had a big problem right from the beginning. I had not pre-run the course and the other three in my class had. Two of them lived locally so it was easy for them. Pre-running was only open the weekend before, and I just couldn’t make another trip from Connecticut. Others told me that I couldn’t get lost in such a short race because it would be well worn in. I didn’t even use a GPS.
The problem is I didn’t know what way the course went and had to pause at turns to figure it out. When there was a rise ahead I had no idea what was on the other side of it and whether it went left or right. Francisco and Jose passed me and I conceded as I knew they were faster than me and knew the track. I kept the third rider behind me.
At mile 33, one mile before seeing the starting line again and beginning the second lap, I spied a very steep hill climb with single-track wheel marks up it. It was sort of an alternate line that could shave a couple seconds off by straightening out the course where there was a switchback going up a hill. The Pro riders look for any possible way to save time. I figured if they could do it so could I. I went for it.
It was about 150 feet up and it got steeper and steeper at the top. I had ten feet to go and my bike just stopped. At first, I thought it was the steepness. My bike was pointing up at a 45-degree angle. I didn’t think I could get going again, but I had to try. I downshifted into first gear, revved the engine and let the clutch out. The bike would not move. Something was wrong.
I looked down and I see barbed wire wrapped around my rear wheel. To make matters worse, it was going off into the distance on the right, still attached to some fencepost somewhere. Oh no! In a short race like this bikes were bunched up. I heard one coming already. I did not carry my wire cutters in my side pouch because this was such a short race – what could happen? This!
Two locals came down to help me. They held the bike up and I got off. Then I see the wire is cutting through my rear brake line! A bike went by, then another. I grabbed the rear wheel and spun it backward a tenth of a turn at a time. Each time I did the bike lurched backward down the steep hill and the wire pressed through the skin of the brake line even tighter. More bikes went by.
I thought about how I had to finish this race. I was in third place in the points for the season and all I had to do was finish to be in second. There wasn’t a lot of time to be held up or fix the bike, and riding without a rear brake would be difficult. The descents on this course were so steep, that bikes and ATV’s were cartwheeling down the hills. Using only a front brake would have me doing the same.
Finally, after spinning the wheel five revolutions backwards the wire came loose. Now I had to turn the bike around on this steep hill which was ugly but I got back down to the bottom and went up the conventional route. So much for saving a few seconds. I lost six minutes – an eternity in a 68-mile race. I tried to make it up on lap two but I ran out of runway. No matter. I finished the day. Now we go to the hotel for breakfast and rest up for day two of this Tijuana Challenge race.