The Coolest 8 II, Boggs Mountain, CA race reports

I've done plenty of 12 hour races and several 6 hour races, but I've never done a 8 hour race.  It seems like a petty issue, but all of those races are different physiologically and mentally.  Much to my displeasure, the temperature was above 100 on my drive to Boggs on Friday night before the race.  I have way too much muscle mass to cool off to feel that heat is any advantage for me.  My real advantage was my support crew.  I had recently joined the Xtreme Outfitters Race Team (so recently that I didn't even have a jersey), and there were 4 racers[including myself] from the team.  We created a pit area and an atmosphere that was conducive to a full day in the saddle.  My ace in the hole was my family.  Being able to hear 'go Papa go' every lap is the best motivation imaginable. 

The first lap was filled with too many people going way too fast for an 8 hour race, but of course I got caught up in the testosterone induced flurry an actually flew past a sharp right hander' and went down a fire road 100 meters past the turn before I realized how stupid I was.  So after retracing my error, I lost all the positioning that I worked to get in the first 6 miles.  But, being a veteran endurance racer, I calmed myself down and at that point settled down into my own pace.  It left me in 'no mans land' for several laps, but I knew if I rode my own race that it would pay off.  So for the next 5 hours I went at my own pace, drank all I could, packed my jersey pockets in chunks of ice, and nibbled food as my gut allowed.

Then I had a decision to make....7 laps or 8?  I knew I needed to do 8 laps to walk with hardware, but man it was hot!  I also knew that I would have to do 3 sub 1 hour laps back to back to back.  Laps #3,4,5 were all 1:05, so I had to seriously re-focus.  Lap 6 went well and I was on pace.  The temperature started to drop and I was actually feeling better.  Lap 7 was a gut check, but when I started to have doubts, I saw my good friend Chad who had been racing all day also.  We talked for a few minutes, then Bill from the race team came cooking by.  I told him my dilemma, and he said, "when do you need to get back to the pit to make lap #8".  I replied sheepishly, "13 minutes".  His retort was classic.  He said, "ok then hold on and I'll get you there".  Bill took off like a man possessed.  I has able to hold his wheel for about 10 minutes then he was gone.  I thought 'man that wasn't too cool', but then when I got back to the pit I realized what he had done.  He rallied the pit crew.  I had open gels, cliff bars, and ice cold drinks handed to me.  After shouts of encouragement and a good push off, I was off.  All I could hear over and over was my 6 year old saying, "go get 'em Papa".  That was all I needed.  I threw down my second fastest lap time of the day and landed on the podium in 3rd place.

Endurance racing is a sport that many people will never have the pleasure to experience.  And very few people realize that it's a team sport.  A special thanks to my fellow racers, pit crew, and family.

 Jon Pritchett on the podium with his 3rd place hardware!