With two Nationals, the 100-mile Road one in Vegas 3 weeks ago, just after a business trip to Austin, then the 50K Road Championships in New York a week later, flying back home for a few days, then a 3-day round trip to Paris last weekend, it has been quite a busy March already, not to say crazy busy! But I was really excited to run that Inside Trail Racing race which I included in our North California/Nevada Mountain, Ultra, Trail Grand Prix this year. It was going to be my first 35K and I was so looking forward to transitioning back to hilly trails after focusing on road training and racing for 3 months.
It was only on Thursday afternoon that I realized the race was in Auburn; I was originally thinking it was in Granite Bay, further South and closer to home. We were only 3 from the Club: Gaspar had family plans to stay up there Saturday evening; Bjorn was driving on Friday night and staying in Auburn. I hesitated joining him but, with an 8:30 am start, I decided to drive in the morning so I could spend one more evening with Agnès as I've been away quite a lot this month already.
I got to bed just after 9 pm last night, woke up before my alarm clock before 4 am, and hit the road at 4:40. With a 10-minute break to eat some breakfast at 5:30 --3 hours before the start-- ETA was 7:15, some good margin to find a parking spot near the start.
I wasn't alone on the road, there might have been some early birds on their way to the magnificent snow around Lake Tahoe, and the usual semis. I was passing a big one on the 2-lane section after the Benicia-Martinez bridge on 680 when it drifted over the middle line, forcing me to veer away on the left, and...
I heard a loud boom then my dashboard turned to the most entertaining Christmas display, I've never seen so many warning lights popping up at once, scary! I love my Elantra and all its security features but all this at once was a bit overwhelming. By a little miracle, I was able to complete my passing and there was an exit just ahead which I took to escape the truck closing on me. Among the lights were several alerts that I had lost pressure in my tires, yikes!
Sure enough, on the exit ramp, I could feel at least one flat tire, dang! I found a safe spot, put my headlamp on and my spare tire was in place less than 15 minutes later. 6 am and 91 miles to the start, that was still doable. Then I read the manual...
Well, that was a first for me, first flat tire, maybe it was about time. I had some notions that spare tires aren't meant to drive long distances, not to mention above 50 mph, but I was hoping I could finish my trip. And race. The language of the manual made me reconsider though. First, in all fairness, I had to check the pressure in that tiny tire. I drove another 12 miles toward Sacramento to find a gas station on the other side of the highway in Fairfield, before the junction with Hwy 80. I had to use 2 sets of 8 quarters to get the pressure up to 40 psi per my gauge, as opposed to the recommended 60 psi. But the tire was as hard as concrete so I assumed the gauge wasn't precise enough. With these additional 15 minutes spent at the station, and more thoughts, I decided I'd rather get back home, rather than take big risks to drive too many miles on that tire, then spend hours getting the tire fixed somewhere. After 60K miles, my tires were due for a refresh anyway, time to go shopping...
I'm not sure if the truck saw something big on the road which would make it change lane to avoid it, or if it pushed something my way, I think it's more likely I hit a big hole on the side of the road when I had to go over the left line. With the slow driving on the way back, I could notice so many holes, not the smoothness of French or German highways...
Now, what a huge disappointment, running wise! Sure, I'm alive and the car is safe at home by now, that's the most important (oh my, what a pain to drive 55-60 mph on the highway, that feels so slow...). But the weather was perfect, our local teammate, Martin, had told me the trail conditions were great, and the course was going to provide a superb hill training. More importantly the three of us had to finish to get team points.
I can't even remember if I had a DNS (Did Not Start) before. UltraSignup doesn't show any on my list of results. That may be the first one indeed. After 351 races in my log including 171 ultra finishes, not too bad. I could and should have considered the Friday night in Auburn, but we can't redo the past.
Ironically I was back home by the time the race started in Auburn and went on to run 50 hilly kilometers in the hills, with enough pictures and videos of dozens of creeks to make a separate post. At least I got some good trail and hill training for the second/Spring part of the season. These glutes need so much work to get back to pre-injury form...
As for the race, the results aren't published yet. From Strava I see Gaspar took 7th overall and 1st Masters, in 2:53:54: we have a new leader on the team, I can now step back! ;-) Bjorn's time was 3:55:14. Again, so disappointed I couldn't be one of the three musketeers this time. A big bummer for the 2023 season for our Club. But, sometimes, the hardest is to get to the start...
PS: driving slower also gives you a great gas mileage (44.4 mpg), there is that!
Sounds like the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) hasn't been designed to handle the concept of a flat and spare tire, weird.
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