TBF Granite Bay 50 Mile Race Report By Rafael Rius

About two weeks before the race, I thought entering would encourage me to start riding more, so that was the plan. 4 days before the race, my buddy and I agree to go up the night before so we could hang out with some friends in Sac, then he would hand me bottles at the race.

Well, the plan was to chill at the friends place. Pasta dinner with a glass of wine hit the spot, but somehow lead to us going out to a nearby lounge/club. I convinced myself that I wasn't in shape to be competitive, so I might as well enjoy the whole weekend. Two more beers lead to a couple of Vodka tonics, then to a greasy food run and next thing we knew, it was approaching 3AM. Not a good way to spend the night before a long race.

Anyways, the next morning at 7AM, friend is passed-out and hung over, so I leave
him and head to the race by myself after getting about half of my breakfast
down. The race starts off, and its four 12.5 mile laps around the Granite Bay
trails of Folsom Lake. Pretty tame trails, with not much climbing. Maybe
700-900' per lap (guesstimate). The course was really fun (think a CCCX race,
with a couple of small rocky sections thrown in). And knowing I wasn't in top
shape, I stupidly tried to hang with the rather large lead group. After about 8
miles at my limit, I come to my senses and fall back further. I spent laps 2
and 3 pretty much grooving along, with occasional riders passing me. I didn't
pass anyone until I started the 4th lap, where I passed about 5 or 6 people.
Cramps did kick in on the last lap and cost me probably 5 minutes or so. That
was a bummer as I crossed the line in 4:01:10. So that math equals about 12.5
mph average. Fast and fun course. Friend shows up about 15 minutes after I
cross the finish line.

Finished 9th / 19 in the 30-39 open category. The podiums were all expert
racers, so I was fine with it. Good BBQ and quality beer made the race fun.

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