Breck Epic Stage 4 - Aquaduct

Another great day to try and not die

I woke up this morning feeling like I had been KO'd in an MMA match and now had all the full blown symptoms of an upper respiratory infection:  sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, and coughing. My breakfast was caffeine and Aleve.  I decided to take my phone with me today because at the speed I was gonna go, I would have plenty of time to take pictures.

The first 3 climbs were not as long, but to me, felt like they went on forever.  The breathing became labored whenever I tried to push.  And I got a friggin' side stitch, something I have never had riding a bike!  Dave was so patient, but I knew he had several gears left and was just in cruising mode.

Despite feeling like shit, I did enjoy the short climb on the Colorado Trail.  For whatever reason, I just feel bliss when on the CT.  And with the spectacular views, it helped me to focus on the beauty instead of the misery.  The descent on the CT was very narrow trail and super exposed, meaning that if you went off the trail, you were gonna fall for a very very long time.  The thrill to hit this at speed was crazy good.  The switchbacks were tight and steep; you needed to have nose wheelie skills to clean them.

Colorado Trail

The fun stopped with a hard right and straight the fuck up the Vomit Hill trail.  And so began a long HAB ... 800 feet in 1.4 miles.  I probably pushed 1 mile of it.  

Vomit Hill

There was a reward with a 2 mile descent down into the Soda Creek valley, which was absolutely stunning.

Soda Creek Valley descent

The little climb up the Soda Ridge Trail was a bugger, but then it flattened out on the Keystone Aquaduct Trail and I motored better.  I almost tried riding that first little bridge across the aquaduct, a large pipe that ran parallel within the trail.  But the cost for falling was gonna be a broken body and/or bike, so I hopped off and walked across.  The remaining bridges had less dire consequences so I rode those.

Dave stopped at the next aid station to grab some more fuel.  I had plenty, as today I was just not feeling the urge to eat or drink much.  I told him I would slow pedal, well, because, that was all I could do anyway 😂.

Keystone Gulch Road climb

The longest climb of the day was 2300 feet in a little over 7 miles.  I mistakenly thought that it would be a dirt road climb.  It started out that way at a nice 5-7% grade.  After the third mile, I saw where we were turning onto a lesser developed rode at a much steeper grade, the West Ridge Trail. Oh, God, no! I think I had a little pity party as I slogged my way up the multiple switchbacks.

The 4 mile descent down the Colorado Trail was the most fun I had all day.  We had ridden up this during Stage 2;  I liked it much better this way 😊.  A very rooty descent, so super glad it was dry.  I just let my bike do all the work and hung on all smiles!

Rock Island Gulch was the last climb, double track.  I wondered every time I had to get off and push a little if the state of Colorado just didn't know how to make switchbacks.  Apparently they need to talk to the trail builders.

I suffered pretty miserably on the Mineral Hill Trail climb, as I was absolutely running on fumes.  Fortunately we finished with a descent down the Back Door and the B&B Trails.

We finished with a time of 6:02, another 5th on the day and a solid 5th in the GC.

Breck Epic Stage 3 - Guyot

Another glorious weather day

I woke up with cobwebs in my brain, which was a little unusual this early in the race.  History usually has me feeling this way later in a stage race.  Oh well, nothing that a huge cup of Christopher Bean Coffee wouldn't fix.

The initial 6 mile climb was a mix of pavement and double track.  I was on the struggle bus early on:  any effort above a heart rate of 135, my vision would narrow and I would feel faint.  Very weird and frustrating.  Once we made it to the French Flume Trail, I was back in my happy place, as this was mostly flat to downhill.  I remembered this trail from the Firecracker 50 many years ago, and I liked this direction much better.

The steep AF climb up French Gulf Road to French Pass had me on the struggle bus, with 1600 feet of gain in 3 miles.  Couldn't breathe, couldn't see (tunnel vision and stars), no power, but I tried to focus on the beauty of the area as opposed to my suffering.

So much eye candy!

And then, on top, real candy!

I passed on the Skittles.  I mean, who can even chew at 12,000 feet! I was rewarded with my efforts with a fantastic descent:  from rock chunk to smooth flow, I enjoyed every single second.  Blaze just ate 'er up!  And without needing to breathe, I felt normal again.

  

The climb up to Georgia Pass was another kick to the va jay jay, but once again with stunning views.  I felt as if I could reach up and touch the clouds. The descent off the pass felt like I was in Pisgah. 6 miles of rowdy roots to Pilot-like rocky chunk.  Yee-hah!  Ride 'em cowboy!

One more "little" climb where I seemed to feel a little better, but probably because this was at lower elevation.  Then we got to slay some more single track:  Great Flume, Side Door, and Minnie Mine.  Once on Minnie Mine, I thought the finish was near, as I could hear the announcer.  But ... nooooo!  We got to play on the Turks Trail, which took us a very roundabout and climby way to the finish line.  Oof!  That hurt a little.

Dave and I finished with a time of 5:55, once again 5th on the day and still holding 5th in the GC.  

Breck Epic Stage 2 - Colorado Trail

 

Perfect weather day: sunshine and 50-60 degrees

I woke up feeling charged and ready to give'r!  A brief stint of pavement before we started the brutal 4 mile climb up Gold Run Gulch and Draw Road.  Both were relatively smooth'ish double track but with an average grade of 15% and at times exceeding 22%  I was so glad I was on Blaze, as I was able to granny up the climbs.  But ... there is always someone who thinks they have the quads of Thor.  And this guy kept trading passes with me.  I would pedal past him, only to have him hard charge it for 20-30 meters, passing me, and then blowing up right in front of me.  This repeated itself 3 times, with me having to choose evasive maneuvers to keep from getting completely shut down and having to walk myself. And on these steeps, it is hard to get back to pedaling again.  I had to channel my daughter's "it will work itself out, Mom, so just be chill and don't fret."  But the impatient Carey wanted to throw a large stick into his derailleur.

We were rewarded with a superb downhill on The Bookcase and ZL Trails.  Smooth, flowy, and fast ... all sh!ts and giggles! This was followed by 4 miles on the Galena Ditch Trail, single track along a spine of dirt and rock, hard to pass, as it is tight and falls off on both sides.  But there has always got to be that person who just HAS to get by, despite the fact that there is still somewhat of a train of riders in front of me. I let her, but only when it opened up for a safe pass.  Dave was just ahead of me and was almost used for traction by her when she passed him.

The North Fork descent was blazingly fast and furious.  I was leading and Blaze was having a very good day, railing the turns and eating up the bumps.  Right at the bottom, however, was a hard blind turn to the left, followed by a garden of very pointy rocks.  I found the right line, but Dave did not.  I heard a small explosion behind me and knew instantly that he flatted.  Shit!

We pulled off the trail; it was a puncture to the tread.  After inserting 3 plugs, we knew we were going to have to tube the damn thing.  We had a time tubing it.  At first Dave could not get the friggin' nut off the valve.  Fortunately I had the Wolftooth pack pliers or we would have been screwed.  Then the plugs did NOT want to come out.  It doesn't help when your fingers are covered in slippery sealant.  Dave inserted his Tubolito in and then reset the tire.  But the damn valve on the Tubolito was too short to use a CO2 as it kept pushing the valve back into the rim.  So, 456 mini air pumps later, we had pumped it up (as well as our forearms and shoulders) to a solid pressure, but a section of the tire did not want to reseat up onto the bead.  F it, just ride it like it is.

25 minutes later, we were moving again.  The good news was that almost everyone who passed us asked us if we needed help.  Dave was pretty soured over this, but I told him not to worry, let's just enjoy the ride. I could care less where we placed in the pecking order; I came out here for the experience, not to step up on a box.

The climb up the Colorado Trail was not as steep as the first climb of the day, but very rooty.  That first mile was an SOB as I waited for my legs to open back up. I was happy to have dry dirt under my wheels for this one.  We did pass several Colorado Trail Racers on this section.  I cheered for them as I passed by them as they were pushing their 50+ pound bikes skyward.  Any FOMO about doing this race quickly left me on this climb.

Once the legs were back at it, I felt the best I had all day.  The remaining miles were a little tamer, with smaller climbs and descents and the trails (Hay, Blair Witch, ZL in reverse) were super fun.  One nasty steep climb back on Gold Run Gulch and Prospector  Gulch Road, which was nothing more than chunky rock, where I may have had a Yosemite Sam moment.  The icing on the cake was the final bit of single track to the finish on the Sidedoor Trail.

Our finish time was 6:01, 6th on the day, and still 5th in the GC.  Aside from that little flat fiasco, it was a great day on some beautiful trail in one of the most scenic places in the USA!

Breck Epic Stage 1 - Pennsylvania Creek

I arrived in Breckenridge on a Friday afternoon (race started Sunday).  Melissa was also racing and had decided to drive out with me.  For the past 8 days, we had an adventure that started out with us riding at Devil's Den State Park, where I got well over 100 chigger bites, followed up by me losing my wallet at a gas station on Day 2 of our bike-cation.  Don't judge those standing in the Western Union line at Wal-Mart, as it could be YOU one day 😂😂😂.

Trail 401 - Crested Butte

Trail 401 - Crested Butte

The next 6 days we spent in Salida and Crested Butte, stimulating our bone marrow.  My total ride time for the week prior to Breck Epic was 18 hours; probably not the best idea right before a 6 day stage race, but could ... not ... help ... myself.  On Day 7 of our bike-cation, Melissa initially thought she had altitude sickness, but by the next day, it became pretty apparent that she had a full blown upper respiratory infection.  I then spent the next 2 days distancing myself from the nasal spew-fest, but near impossible when sharing a hostel room and vehicle.

Upon arriving in Breckenridge, I dropped off Melissa at Naomi's AirBNB, where she would be rooming with her during the race.  Sorry Naomi, for dropping off my Wuhan friend to you 😷.  I then made my way over to where Dave and I would be staying at Beaver Run, the host resort.  At this point, I was an nervous as hell about contracting Melissa's illness, but hoping that if I got past the 3rd stage of Breck Epic, I would be in the clear.

We spent Saturday getting our bikes and nutrition ready and in the evening headed over to the venue for packet pick up and the racer's meeting.  Mike, the race director, gave us an overview of Stage 1.  He was also super stoked that 60 pro women had signed up, by far one of the largest women's field ever, in the mountain biking discipline.  To muster up that number, he had comped every one of them, who had a pro license and whose application was accepted.

That night, rain had passed through, and as we were getting ready at 6 am on Saturday, it was raining hard and blowing side ways.  I felt like I was getting ready for a Pisgah Productions race.  Putting all the rain gear on, Dave and I pedaled the 1/2 mile to the start at the Ice Rink.  Upon arriving, we found out that the race had been delayed from 8:30 to 9:00.  Since there was no warm, dry area to wait, we pedaled back to our room.  A half hour later we then drove back to the start, only to find out that the it had been delayed again to 9:30.  At least we had somewhere warm and dry to wait. By now the rain had let up, but there was still a chill in the air.

Only after we were in the start corral, with a few minutes before the gun went off, did we also discover that the distance had been shortened from 35 miles to 16 miles.  So here I was stuck with a full 50 ounce bladder and a bottle on the bike.  And I was NOT going to dump any of that expensive Skratch super hi-carb fuel on the ground.

The race started on pavement.  It was blistering fast!  I thought we would have longer before hitting the single track, but the hole shot came at 1 mile.  Now think of 300+ racers funneling into tight single track.  It was a clusterfuck!  Dave and I waited at least a minute until we started moving again.  It was muddy and slick, but this is BRECK EPIC!  I was dialed and loving every slippery moment. 

The course was a mix of single track and double track.  The double track either went straight the F up ... or straight F'ing down, and was littered with jagged baby heads.  Dave wasn't quite feeling it the first few miles, so I let him lead.  We did end up having to HAB some ... the 2800 feet of elevation gain was mostly in the first 10 miles!

On a double track descent, Dave got ahead of me as he rode a secondary line around a couple of slower racers.  Me, I was not willing to risk a flat, so I patiently waited for a safer opportunity to pass.  The last single track descent was on Baker's Tank Trail and was oodles of greasy fun!  I felt at home in this element.  We finished up the descent on Baldy Road.

Our time of 2:09 was good enough for 5th and just 3 minutes out from 4th.  The top 3 teams were way ahead of us, and also way younger.  I was happy with how we did.  While Dave pedaled back to retrieve his truck, I pedaled on over to the bike wash at Beaver Run and gave Taz a thorough cleaning. Since the climbing out here is, on average 8%, with grades easily getting up to 15-18% and beyond, I decided to ride Blaze (Top Fuel with a 28T chain ring) the remainder of the stages.  Taz has a 30T chain ring.

Now I was off to the recovery race: shower, eat, stretch, leg squeezing with Elevation Legs, prep for tomorrow, eat again, sleep.

Tuscozoar Reign of Pain

GGG, OG, RRR

Kenny and Corianne Kocarek had been trying to get me to come up to their neck of the woods to participate in their 6 hour mountain bike race for several years.  For me, that was an 8 hour drive and I wasn't ready to commit to that, just to ride a small, and probably boring, system in Ohio. I mean, at best you have the Mohican State Park, where the Mohican 100 takes place.  Beside that, why would I want to make Ohio a mountain bike destination, when there are super cool systems closer to me. But then this past year, I began to see the trail work they had been putting in, religiously and tirelessly on FaceBook.  What I saw interested me:  rocks, creek crossings, and sweet ribbons of dirt. And when Dave Jolin mentioned doing it as a duo, and he could bring his RV to the venue, I decided to give the KSD (Knobby Side Down) crew a chance.

Comfort Camping

I arrived at Dave's house on a Wednesday and we then made the 1 1/2 hour drive over to the campground on Thursday.  We got in an afternoon ride on the old course, as this year's course was not yet marked.  It got a little slick finishing the lap up as the forecasted rain settled over the hills.  It was a nice respite from the sweltering heat and humidity.

Mother Nature dumped on us Thursday night, and I expected our pre-ride to be a sloppy mess. It was quite the opposite.  Without much rain in the week prior, the trails soaked up the water and there was only one puddle on the whole course. 

We rode the 7 mile lap and it was stupid fun.  It started out with about a 1/4 mile of riding through a field before hitting the single track, which then treated us with a fassst bermy descent followed by a couple rock gardens before dropping down to a creek and then straight up a freshly cut section that was still a little soft.  You really needed to be on your dropper and shifting game to flow through this technical section ... loved it! 

So perfectly built, no brakes necessary .. well, almost.

12-15% grade for 50 yards

This was then followed by some gradual climbing, all the while punching over rock sections here and there.  Then some more blazing fast trail that flowed amazingly well through some pitchy semi-rooty climbs.  And then into my favorite section, Eagle Hill.  This was the most technical portion of the course, about 1/2-3/4 mile of maneuvering through multiple rock gardens.

After that, it was more climbing up to the highest point of the course, where there was a lollipop section involving some two-way traffic along a double track.  The next section was a series of punchy climbs and steep descents  over elephant sized mounds of earth. The final mile was the Overlook Trail, which was a beautiful ribbon of sweet and fast single track.  It popped you out on a 1/4 mile double track climb back up to the finish.  

Finishing up the pre-ride, which included some openers spread throughout the course, I knew that if the forecasted evening rain held off, it was going to be a blazingly fast, yet interesting course, as there was so much variety.

Saturday morning, I awoke to a cool morning. We got lucky and the rain had moved north of us during the night.  Dave and I decided to race alternate laps, with him starting.  The start involved a 2 mile prologue to thin out the pack, coming back through the start/finish before heading out for the first course lap.  

With about 40 teams and 120 soloists, the field was a stout 140 racers at the start.  I expected Dave to have around a 50-55 minute first lap.

Dave's first lap, with the prologue, was 51:58.  I had warmed up by doing circles out in the field, so saw him approach, and made my way to the transition.  I knew at least 2 coed duo teams were ahead of us.  I set my sights on going ballistic on this lap and trying to catch them.  The legs had come to play today ... full on sparkle! I rode this lap like I was on a SS.  Standing and hammering every climb, TT'ing the flats, and focusing on using as little brake as possible on the descents.  I felt like Hammy the squirrel in Over The Hedge.  I may have went a little too fast through the rock gardens, seeing some pinball action, that had me right on the edge of losing control. I did manage to pass one coed woman, and upon finishing my lap in 40:29, saw another coed woman, who appeared to have finished her lap not too too long ago. Figured I gained at least a few minutes.

While Dave was out for his second, I took the time to eat, drink, and cool off by pouring cold water on my noggin.  Figuring Dave would be coming in after 40'ish minutes, I mosied on up to the transition area and pedaled around, waiting. Dave came in with a 39:46 lap, his fastest of the day. I was ready to turn out another hot lap, but the legs on that first climb said otherwise.  Ooof!  That hurt.  I had to take it a little easier and let my legs come back to me.  They finally did, but by then, the lap was almost over.  Still, my effort allowed me to catch a coed woman with about 2 miles remaining.  I finished my second lap in 41:24, giving Dave some breathing room.  At this point, I figured we in the top 3.  With internet connection being sketch in this area, the results were not quite online at this point.

I did my usual cool down while Dave was out there.  He was knocking out some stinking fast times, against men who were much younger; some young enough to be his son. I was super proud of him, as he has been training hard this year.  Jeff Rupnow, his coach, had him dialed for this race. Towards the end of his lap, the live results came online.  I opted to wait until I finished my third lap to check them out. Dave finished his second lap in 40:21.  But the woman on the team just ahead of us had gone out about 5 minutes prior to Dave's arrival.

Knowing I had almost caught her after my second lap, I now had this juicy carrot, more like a steak, to hunt down.  The legs came alive much quicker on this lap.  It still hurt, but I did get some respite, as this lap was a lot busier than my last, and I had to be patient in passing.  Despite being a little slower, I managed to catch the woman mid way through the lap.  She was off her bike, having spun out on a technical climb. I gave her words of encouragement as I employed my "pass, gap, and bury" technique.  I told her she was stronger than she thought and to dig deep and catch me.  I know how demoralizing it can be to be caught, and although I am super competitive, I also want to empower ALL women on bikes.

During the "bury" portion, I felt the pre-twinge in my medial quads.  Not wanting it to develop into a twinge, or full on cramp, after about 2 minutes of hammering, I slowed and settled.  Better, and good to know I was racing at my fullest.  I must have passed 15 racers on this lap.  Probably a good thing, as it saved me a match or two for my final lap.  I rolled into the tent with a 42:09 lap. I immediately went to cool off and take some ELMNT, knowing that I might have to bury myself on the last lap.

Once done with self care, including popping a 200mg caffeine pill, I strolled over to the timing area and uploaded the QR code for the live results.  Well done, Kenny!  Scoring has come a long way since the day of stop watch and notebook paper 😆.  Pulling the results up, I saw that we were in second!  Holy cow, Batman!  And less than a minute off the first place team, who I had not even realized that they wereyet another team out there, ahead of us, until just now.  And we were 7 minutes up on the team, who I had passed half way through this lap. The game was on now!

I went back to my tent.  While I was counting down the minutes, the woman I had passed earlier came up to me and thanked me for the encouragement I had given her.  She told me she was done; 3 was all she had in her. I said I knew she had one more in her. Insert foreshadowing here.  For whatever reason, this registered in my brain that her team was done after her team mate finished his next lap.

Dave had another stellar lap of 41:00.  I was ready to lay it all out there on my final one. The legs were ready and willing ... shoot yeah!  I crushed this final lap, letting body memory take over, now knowing every turn, climb, and rock, and root. I knew there was a possibility that the second place team would pass me, since it was the man who was doing the final lap (the woman was doing double laps).  So when I heard a racer fast approaching around mile 4, I figured he had caught me.  When I let him around, I realized it was the 3rd place team, with the man doing the final lap (his 5th). Shocked was soon replaced by anger.  I would be lying if I said that I didn't wish any bad juju on him.  I did my best to try to stay with him, but he was just too strong.  I never gave up, as I knew the other fella was just behind me.

Despite turning myself inside out on this last lap, the second place guy caught me with less than a mile to the finish.  Out of respect, I let him around.  He sent me some good vibes and actually said that I was real competition.  I ended up finishing the lap in 41:22, my second fast lap of the day.  I was only 45 seconds behind him.  

I was stoked with Dave and my performance.  I even managed to snag the fastest woman's lap.  But I was a little miffed by what the winning team did.  Yet I cannot fault them, as the rule was not specific: "members of duo teams must complete close to even amount of laps."  To me, as well as the other coed teams, this meant equal or within 1 lap of each other.  I guess 5 and 3 are "close," but not fair, in the spirit of dirt. But if that is what it took for them to win, I guess that it is racin'.  It's not like there was a prize purse or anything.  We did get these cool podium posters tho'.

I want to thank Kenny and his crew for creating such an amazing course ... hard to believe this much fun was had on the trail in Ohio, of all states.  And Dave, for once again being an awesome team mate.  If I get the opportunity, I would love to do this one again.  Kenny said the rules would be revised next year.  

5/5 stars!

Lumberjack 100

📷:  Rob Meendering

The lumberjack 100 is a 100 mile bike race in the Manistee National Forest close to Lake Michigan and the town of Manistee.  It is 3  31 mile laps plus a 4 mile prologue. 94% of it is on single track, with the remainder being sandy double track, and a bit of pavement on the 5 mile prologue lap.  The single track is mostly smooth and flowy, meandering through the Big M trail system.

Back in 2011, this was my first single speed race, aboard my 2009 aluminum Specialized Stumpjumper 29'r HT.  I rode a 32 x 19 and  won the SS division with a time of 8:15 and was 5th overall.  I know "comparison is the thief of joy," but I challenged myself to try to finish in 8:30.

Jenny was sweet enough to leave a personal message on the back of my race plate

This time I was aboard my Trek SuperCaliber, which I had recently converted to SS with a Paul Melvin tensioner.  I chose to ride one gear easier, with a 32 x 20.  After all, I am 13 years older.  It still felt like I was on a 32 x 19 😄.

32 x 20

I was lucky enough to score a room at Christina and Scott's house for the race.  Only 20 minutes from the venue, a comfy bed, and awesome company.  Christina was also racing SS.

Wake up was 4 am.  Early for most, but I usually arise from bed around 5:30 am, so no big deal.  After washing down a home made pop tart and 3 hard boiled eggs with a mug of Christopher Bean Coffee, I drove over and prepared my pit area underneath the Quiring Cycles tent.

Although initially I had seeded myself in Wave 2 (expected finish time of 8-10 hours), I switched to Wave 1 after talking to Christina.  She told me that last year, she got stuck behind WAY more people after spinning her brains out on the prologue and being one of the last to hit the beginning of the single track.  Which then made for a long party train, once the geared people started getting bogged down on the climbs.

The start went off at 7 am.  The 4.2 mile prologue lap was 2.1 miles on pancake flat pavement, followed by 2 miles on pancake flat double track, and then finishing up with 0.1 miles on single track leading to the first lap. All of us single speeders were quickly spit out the back, butts bouncing on our saddles as we tried to hit 130 rpm's.  I could tell I had the easiest gear, as the other ladies were able to spin ahead of me.  I knew that going into the race and that the first lap was gonna feel too easy.  That was my plan, as I wanted to not burn any matches right off the bat.

When I hit the double track, I was not paying attention and soon got stalled out into some deep sand.  I watched the first through fourth ladies get away from me, as they took a much better line.  Grrr!  Passing by the pit area and now on single track, I was back in my realm.  I caught up to the fourth place woman and passed her when the track widened.

Although there were a lot of racers ahead of me, the speeds were fast ... until we hit the first climb around mile 5.  Although these climbs are tiny by my standards, it brought the race to a complete standstill. WTF?!? While I knew that there would be some party trains on this first lap, I wasn't expecting to come to a complete stop. Patience, grasshopper!  I left my frustrations on the side of the trail, as I have been doing this long enough to know that getting mad does not help at all.

FAST!

There was one more standstill, as people struggled on the second uphill, especially when they encountered a diagonal raised root 😱.  For much of the first lap, I was behind people, biding my time.  I would usually pass on a climb, when they would get bogged down in their granny gear.  But there were a few sections of flat double track ... and then they would pass me right back😠.  Towards the end of the first lap, I was finally able to ride in my own little bubble, as racers began to fade.

4 miles of double track per lap

Coming through the first lap (2:45 + 0:16 for the prologue), I stopped at my pit. Scott helped me to refill my hydration pack and gel flasks.  I opted for a 50 ounce hydration pack filled with Skratch super high carb and 1 bottle 1/2 way filled with LMNT. I also carried a gel flask filled with Torq gel.  Although I have 2 bottle cages, that was not going to be enough fluid to get me through a lap.  And I did not want to have to stop at the aid station mid-way through the lap.

I found my flow on the second lap.  I had plenty of energy and open trail in front of me.  The trail was getting a little loose in the corners and stutter bumps were beginning to form on some of the curvy descents. I was able to tuck in behind some geared racers on the double track and draft a little. Everyone played nice when I was the passer and passee. Midway through this lap, I caught the 3rd place SS woman.  Giving words of encouragement as I rode by, I still stuck with my "pass, gap, and bury" mantra.  Coined by ultra runner Sally McCrae, it means that once you make the pass, dig deep for about 2 minutes to get a gap, which will hopefully allow you to bury them in the process.  

I rolled into my pit area (2:45), repeating the process from lap 1. As Scott was helping me swap out my hydration pack, he told me that if I leave now, I would be 2nd SS, as Jill was still in her pit area.  That was a nice surprise!  Headed out on my final lap, with iced down Skratch in my pack, I was ready to finish this thing!  This lap was hard, as the hills seemed to be growing in number and height.  The trail was also getting more blown out and some of the stutter bumps on the descents were 29'r wheel deep! 

On laps 1 and 2, there was only one hill, in the middle, that I had to walk a 20 yard section.  On lap 3, I walked a short section of a hill, about 2/3 into the lap as well. Near the end of the lap, there are countdown mile markers, beginning with 4 miles to go.  Well, lemme tell you, I looked for the 4 mile sign for 4 miles!  Where the hell are you?  Maybe around this corner, maybe at the top of this hill, OMG!  Finally, I saw it.  This gave me renewed vigor. There were also two geared racers in front of me that made me push hard towards the finish line.  

I came through the finish with a time of 8:35 (2:49 for the lap).  Good enough for 2nd SS and 7th women O/A. 

📷: Rob Meendering

I am happy to have been in a field of 12 badass SS women, the largest in Lumberjack's history.  Congrats to Kristy to winning, the first time she raced SS. Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers and to co-directors Matt and Jenny Acker.  The post race meal was wonderfully good and the podium prizes are worthy of using.

Congrats, podium finishers!

Rope Mill 1/2 Marathon

 

This was the last race in the Mountain Goat Adventures Trail Run Series.  I almost did not get to run, as I was sidelined the past 10 days with plantar fasciitis in my right foot. How this happened I do not know, but I seem to play a lot of running injury bingo these days.  Fortunately I had no pain after a 5k run the Wednesday before the race.  Unfortunately, I had not been doing any run training the past 3 weeks.

The forecast was looking iffy; a slight chance of some thunderstorms.  It was a sticky 65 degrees at the start.  I did an extensive warm up, working out all my niggles (low back, right hamstring, right hip joint capsule).  The body felt pretty good considering my issues.  This was the largest of the 4 events, with 29 women in the field and 7 in my age group.

Adele was there and we chit-chatted while waiting for go-time, trying to calm the nerves. At 8 am, the gun went off, and I took off mid-pack towards the Mill Trails.  This section was wide and flowy.  I soon decided to pass a handful of women, as the legs were feeling fresh.  Adele was right on my heels as we made our way around them.

The first 2 miles went by quickly and I saw my heart rate in the high 160/low 170 range.  Settle, I told myself, and backed it off, as I knew this was unsustainable.  Not wanting to hold Adele back, as she was gonna try for a 2 hour goal, I let her around me. I was able to let it go on the descents, allowing the momentum to pull me up some of the climbs. 

I finished up the Mills section (4.3 miles) in 39 minutes.  Continuing onto the Explorer Trails, I stopped briefly at the aid station and downed a cup of Heed. Not long afterwards, I caught sight of a woman not too far behind me.  Over the next mile, she appeared to be gaining.  I expected her to pass me at anytime, especially when I stopped at the aid station again.  But the pass never came.  Towards the end of this loop, I lost sight of her.  Had she blown up?  Or was she gonna catch me in the next section?  I finished this loop (3.3 miles) in 35 minutes.

The Avalanche section saw me slowing down, as I began to feel the fatigue, and the slight twinges of soreness in my quads on the descents.  I tried to block out those feelings by focusing on the "carrots" in front of me.  There was a big, tall muscular fella in front of me, with strides twice as long as mine.  But he must have been carrying 100 more pounds than I.  This jerked me out of my "woe is me and my sore quads" mode.

I had made it to the 3rd loop of Avalanche, when the skies began to darken and I heard thunder off in the distance.  I stopped at the aid station and drank some more Heed.  Once I started onto the remaining portion of the 2nd loop, I had 1 1/2 miles to go.  The rumbles of thunder got louder and now the skies were so dark, it was hard to see the roots in the trail.  The rain started, slowly at first.  With about 1 mile to go, the lightning began cracking close enough to me that I forgot all about my trashed quads.  Adrenalin carried me that final mile.  Coming down the embankment, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour.  I made it across the finish line and immediately ran under the scoring tent. My finishing time was 2:12.  The final loop was 5.4 miles in 58 minutes.

I ended up being a handful of runners that completely finished the course.  Due to safety concerns since this weather cell looked brutal on the weather map, Lisa made the executive decision to short course  a good portion of the runners, cutting them off from doing the 3rd loop on Avalanche.

I ended up 1st AG and 3rd O/A.  Adele came close to her goal with a 2:09.

I was happy with my performance, but without being able to run much leading up to this race, my quads were angry for the next 5 days!  You know, sore enough that the process of sitting down on the toilet was painful.