Steve Schmidt's story about his Trona 308
The Trona 308 goes from Santa Clarita to Trona via Rosamond, California City, and Johannesburg, then back (time check points in each of those cities in both directions.) It is the same roads as the first two stages of the Furnace Creek 508. There is a bit over 20,000 feet of climbing. There is a 30-hour time limit for solo racers and 27 hours for relay teams (2 or 4 person.) My target was 24 hours in good conditions. We did NOT have that…
This was my first endurance race as a solo racer. I did 4-person Furnace Creek 508 in Oct 2012 and 2-person Trona 353 (shortened FC 508 due to the govt shutdown) in Oct 2013. And my longest ride to this point was a double century last fall (my only double to this day.) So, a bit of trepidation, but I trusted the training plan, the work I had put in, and the guidance of my Coach, Mike Wilson.
The entire time my crew (Ellen Ward and Doug Wiederholt) was awesome…ensuring I was fed, hydrated, taking salt, cool/warm as conditions warranted, and safe. As you may know winds can be quite high in that area (there are windmills after all.) And there were brutal head/cross-winds on the return from Trona (the turnaround point.) I made it to Trona in 10.5 hours, but knew the strong winds and fatigue would make the 24 hour goal a difficult one at best. It was so bad at times I even unclipped one foot during some gusty side winds…scary. And on the 10-miles climb along Oak Creek Rd (gets you back to Tehachapi-Willow Springs Rd for a long descent to Rosamond) the gusts were so bad I stopped when I needed a drink(!) And temps were high during the day, reaching over 100F. Hell, it was 80F at 8am at the top of San Francisquito Cyn. So, in a nutshell it was tough!
On the return I made it to the Rosamond Blvd crossing at 3:38am (the final time check, #7, before the finish.) We stayed a few minutes to rest up, grab a bite, and take off some clothing having just done a fast, cold descent. So I had about 2hr 45 min to meet my 24 hr goal. It had taken me 2hr 54 minutes to get there from Santa Clarita on the first leg of the race, so maybe…
Well, Coach Wilson prepared me better than I thought possible. My legs never gave out. Never even felt like I might cramp. Sure power went down (a lot), but I was confident they would not let me down so I was still doing some standing on the last climb after Rosamond (3mi and 1k ft) and the one near the top of San Francisquito Canyon (1.4mi and 400 ft) and was powering over the rollers on San Francisquito Canyon on the final run back into Santa Clarita. I was in the aerobars and pushing hard down the canyon descent. Once out of the canyon (3.7 miles to the finish and 14 minutes to go) Doug was masterful getting to the traffic lights ahead of me to trip them to green. For the 3.7 miles from the traffic light at the end of SF Cyn to the finish line hotel I averaged 21.1 mph with no stops for me. We finished in 23hr 55min. Goal achieved!
Then there was my night-time get-off when the shoulder on California City Blvd suddenly turned from pavement to sand just west of the 14. A little scuff on the left knee and elbow and a small raspberry on the left hip was the result….and a bruised ego. Oh, well.
Many more short stories to tell!
I came in first of four in my class (male, solo, 50+.) Not a “deep” field, as it were, but I’ll take it!