How To Finish The Black Fly Challenge Mountain Bike Race

There's the stomach cramps from drinking some high test energy drink that you have never drank before a race...ever...  Then there's the inner dialog, the debate about whether to maintain a race pace, or to "ride your own race" usually ending up in a schizophrenic squabble so loud that one has to start singing a song quietly to ones-self (hopefully not something by Journey or Loverboy...or some avant garde experimental group that creates music that could be a sound track for insanity).  Only then, do the spots kick in, and the cloudy vision... evidence of hypoxia, meaning that you have been WAY above your threshold heart rate for too long...either that or one of your lungs has stopped functioning.  No worries!!! You are competing in the 2010 Black Fly Challenge along with 345 other people, which is exactly 255 more ladies, gentlemen, unicyclists, father and son duos and determined individuals than rode the 40 mile race in 1996 when it was started.  You could listen to the countless others who have raced the Black Fly before, regarding what to expect in terms of terrain.  But as you might find out sooner or later, the course conditions change due to rain, heat, other cyclists and hypoxia induced hallucinations...  You are going to come prepared for everything?  Ha!  Nature's topography and fauna (namely the Black Fly's) will punctuate your ride, or perhaps puncturate your tire.  For those who have ever competed in a marathon of any sort, you will know that it is brains, not necessarily brawn that will bring you through; especially if in the midst of a miscalculated dietary lapse or an equipment faux-pas that leaves you walking up each of the little hills in the roller coastery landscape.  Aye carumba!  There is too much to leave out regarding the comradery one might experience during the Black Fly...  Quite possibly, after dodging the lugie produced from a riders nose just in front of you, you might find solace in the fact that yes, he is suffering just as much as you are.  In fact, everyone is suffering just as much as you are!  The question is... how much are you willing to suffer?  Perhaps you can fixate on the hot shower that awaits you on your finish, maybe the hamburgers being grilled at your final destination (that being a High School, generously offered up to give you shelter after your grueling 2 to 4 and a half hour ride), or is it the countless others that have assembled to compete in the beautiful panorama set in the Adirondack Mountains?  You'll have to decide that.  And in order to do that, you'll have to sign up to do the Black Fly Challenge next year!  Come support the townships of Inlet and Indian Lakes during the best season to be a tourist riding as fast as they can... black fly season!  One caveat.  The black fly season was not as bad this year because of the heat.  And if you're a speedy mountain biker, or a hearty hiker, you'll have nary a black fly setting up to bite your tender neck.  Do the race and camp out the rest of the weekend at one of the fine dining establishments or hotels in Inlet!  No one will tell on you!