ultras & other races – Page 12

2010 Assault on Pikes Peak

I had a few reasons for wanting to ride the 1st Annual Assault on Pikes Peak. One is the fear of Towne’s Pass, a 13 mile, 3900 foot climb that starts at mile 200 of Furnace Creek 508. I thought the Pikes Peak climb, 7700 feet in 24.5 miles would be good training for that. To simulate the fatigue of mile 200, I rode a fast 200k the day before. Second, bikes aren’t normally allowed on the road to Pikes Peak so the opportunity to bike up while the road was closed to cars sounded like fun. Third, although I’ve lived less than 100 miles from Pikes Peak for 19 years, I’ve never been to the top, or to the top of any mountain over 14,000 feet. Bike, instead of hike up, even better!

In spite of the previous day’s 200k ride, I felt surprisingly good on Sunday morning. By the 7:00am start in Manitou Springs the sun was shining and I left my arm warmers in the car. I hesitated, remembering I’d worn my jersey with very large back pockets just so I’d have room for things like that, and thinking that the temps might be considerably colder on the mountain, but decided I’d be working hard so I’d stay warm. I started at the very back of the pack with nearly all 260+ riders in front of me because I didn’t want to sprint off the start line, and it’s motivating for me to work my way past other riders. We quickly hit steeper grades when leaving Manitou and heading onto Highway 24 and I was spinning easily in my 24.5 inch low gear.

It was a beautiful morning and a beautiful ride with no vehicles on the road other than those associated with the race. Before Glen Cove we arrived at the two and a half mile unpaved stretch and the wind started to pick up. Oh yeah, wind. I’d been expecting high winds on the ride, but hadn’t given it much thought for the first 15 miles. After Glen Cove we started up switchbacks and the wind got stronger. In fact, the wind seemed to increase in ferocity the entire way up, then strangely, at the summit, it was relatively calm. The race summary on OutThere.com reported the wind speed as 30-45mph. I would have guessed in the 20’s, but I’m not good at estimating since the wind speeds recorded in my area seem to be measured from some calmer-than-average spot and I do not own an anemometer. Needless to say the windchill felt significantly colder than the predicted high 40’s-50 degree temperature and I was wishing for my arm warmers. Since I didn’t bring them I had a good reason to stay on my bike and keep moving.

Although I live at 9000 feet, and regularly ride up to 10,000, I know from the years I was training for ultraruns and frequently went up to 12,500 feet, that above 12,000 feet things start getting weird for me. Once I saw the sign for 12,000+ feet elevation, I started paying more attention to my heart rate and stayed just below 80%. Actually I found the altitude a little easier to deal with on my bike than hiking, probably because I was sitting down. Still between the wind, the exposed mountain road with no guard rail, and lower oxygen levels it was a bit surreal. I was anxious to get to the top and get my drop bag with warm clothes, but kept a moderate pace, knowing if I pushed too hard and had to stop, I’d be even colder.

The summit seemed to come quickly. Although in reality a lot of time passed climbing at such a slow speed. My official time was 3:54. I’d hoped to finish in under 4 hours so I was happy. I found my drop bag, bundled up and started back down. The first few thousand feet of the descent were the only part of the ride I did not enjoy. Hopefully I will get to bike up Pikes Peak again. It was a really nice way to spend the morning!

Photo gallery of the event.

There were a number of challenged athletes participating in the 2010 Assault on Pikes Peak, including the handcyclist pictured here. Yes, he rode all the way to the top!! Several were disable veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation in conjunction with riding Furnace Creek 508. If you’d like to help these and other disabled athletes you can donate here.

Hill Junkie wrote a far more dramatic and interesting report about Pikes Peak with photos! I don’t agree that there were any 13% grades on the ride, but with the headwind the 8-10% sections felt much steeper. He also discusses the electric bikes that were used by several riders. I think Pikes Peak offered a good demonstration of the capabilities of electric bikes, but as far as the results, all electric bikes should probably be treated as a separate division.

2010 24 Hours of ERock

It’s no secret that I’m not much of a mountain biker. After last year’s 24 Hour of Grand Targhee I said, “No more mountain bike races! … with one exception ERock!” 24 Hours of ERock is only a couple hours from home and I really enjoyed it last year. The event is relatively low key. The other riders are all super-friendly and supportive. The atmosphere reminds me of a road bike ultra, with a lot more dust and loud music.

Last year’s ERock was the first race of any kind I’d ever won so it was odd for me to be in the position of having other racers wanting to “beat” me. While I do prefer winning to not, I always set my goals for a race independent of other riders. I don’t want to feel like my goal is out-of-reach before the start if say, Kristin Armstrong decides to come out of retirement and try her legs at ultracycling. It’s important for me to have a goal that is both challenging and attainable. I need a target that can motivate me even if I’m out classed by the field or if no other riders show up. I’d finished 25 laps in 2009. My goal for this year was 29 laps…actually it was originally 27, then 28, then a few weeks before the race I thought I had an outside chance at getting 29.

The women’s field was much stronger this year than last. Six solo women started, as opposed to four in 2009. The sixth place woman rode one more lap than the second place woman in 2009. Optic Nerve sponsored XC rider, Kim Godfrey, finished second. Elizabeth Boese who’s started focusing on 12 and 24 hour MTB races and posting some good results, finished third. I was also impressed with the 4th place woman, who rode continuously for 24 hours with only short breaks, and finished her last lap during the last hour. I have great respect for someone with the inner will to get out there for one final lap when it makes no difference in the overall results. I’ve only managed it once in five 24-hour MTB races.

The race begins with a Le Mans start. That means running. If I could still run without hip pain I’d probably not be biking so much, and if I wanted to run with a bike I’d do cyclocross. I tried to line up out-of-the-way, as close to the front as possible, planning to run/walk only fast enough to get me to the bike mounting area not too far behind the next-to-last racer.

The first few laps I was going too hard and was trying to ratchet back my effort on the climb. After a couple laps, Jen told me I was in second by a few minutes, and I said something brilliant like, “I’m not going to catch her by riding faster.” Meaning I didn’t think I had as much speed as some of the other women so I’d need to make up time in other ways. I was pretty surprised when I passed Elizabeth after a few more laps. I think it was all due to Jen, who was crewing me. It was so windy last year that we’d decided not to bother with a tent and crew from her s.u.v. in the parking lot. She set an alarm to meet me beside the trail after each lap with fresh batteries and bottles and we were doing fairly fast pit stops. I have no doubt that Jen’s work during the race was worth at least two laps.

I’ve done most of my training on my road bike this year, which meant I had plenty of pedal revolutions in my legs, but almost no time on my mountain bike. I think my longest mountain bike ride since Targhee, last August, was 1.5 hours. And I’d only ridden that long once. Halfway through the race my butt was uncomfortable, but my hands and arms were hurting so much I did not see how I’d be able to continue for 12 more hours. Near the end of the race, I was reminded of ultrarunner Ann Trason’s quote, “It hurts up to a point and then it doesn’t get any worse.” My hands and arms still hurt, but not any worse. And my neck and shoulders felt a little better.

By the time I’d finished 21 laps, about 16 hours into the race, I’d built up a bit of a lead, and it was a good thing. During the 21st lap I’d started feeling very dizzy and by the end of the lap I felt like I was going to pass out. I signaled Jen to meet me at the car. I laid down and tried to figure out what was wrong. My symptoms were similar to the time I’d gotten hyponatremia at Barr Trail Mountain Race (how I managed that during a 13 mile run is another story) so I thought I might have had too much water. Then Jen said, “I’ve only used one gallon of water and a half bag of ice.” I hadn’t drunk all of that. That meant I’d had less than 10 ounces of fluid per hour. Even for me, mostly riding at night, that was not enough water. I drank some plain water, took a couple more Endurolytes, and felt a little better after a few minutes. After about a 30 minute break, I headed back out, but I was very conscious of keeping my effort relaxed and drinking lots of fluid. I felt better, but I had to stop and pee on every one of my last seven laps.

Jen had more confidence than I. I didn’t know until after the race that after my first lap she’d predicted on her Facebook page that I’d meet my goal of 29 laps. Between laps 16 and 25 I thought there was no way I’d come close. I was just slogging away, one lap at a time.

I’m guessing this really was my last mountain bike race. If for no other reason than I don’t expect my 20 year-old Kona with the patched together Marzocchi Z2 Bomber to survive another 24-hour race. In fact I was pretty surprised to get through this race with no major mechanical failures.

ERock is a fun, smoothly organized event. I was especially happy to see more solo women out there challenging themselves and doing strong rides!

Some good photos of the race by ultrarob. More ERock photos by camrewop.

St. Vrain 600k Brevet

The weather report for Saturday was hot, with winds gusting to 45mph, but as I sat on the curb at 3:30am enjoying the calm, I hoped we might get a few hours of respite from the wind before sunrise. However, by 10 minutes ’til 4am the wind had started to pick up. Ah well. I smiled to myself and gave up my last hope that the forecasters had gotten the wind part wrong.

St. Vrain 600k starts in Louisville, Colorado, makes a short jaunt east to Brighton, then back to Lyons, up St. Vrain Canyon to Wind River Pass, down to Estes Park, on to Glen Haven, down Big Thompson Canyon, over to Masonville and Horsetooth Reservoir, heads north to Ft. Collins and Wellington, then over to Gilcrest and back to Louisville to finish the first 400k. The last 200k is a northeastern loop from Louisville going through Evans, Kersey, Hudson, and Brighton.

Prior to this my longest brevet was 300k. I’ve finished longer races; Tejas 500 (miles) and Hill Country 600k. The difference is that an ultracycling race includes race support staff and often each racer has a personal support crew. I had crew for both those events. A brevet, on the other hand, is an unsupported ride. Each rider is responsible for understanding where along the route they can resupply and for carrying what they’ll need. If you have a mechanical or physical problem you figure out how to fix it or hitch a ride back to your car … or phone a friend. But if you think it’s inconvenient to ask someone to drive 10 miles to come pick you up, how about 100 miles!? That would not be unusually far for a rider that has to DNF a brevet.

I haven’t been feeling particularly zippy for the past … oh, month maybe, so my plan was to manage my effort and just get through this last of six brevets in six weeks. I was surprised that the little group of riders started fairly conservatively, but I dropped off the back after 30 min or so, still warming up and not wanting to push it on the rollers. The sun was starting to come up as I left Brighton and the westerly ride was beautiful on the green spring morning. As I rolled into Lyons, the wind was just starting to show signs of the predicted ferocity.

It’s a nice, long, gradual climb to Wind River Pass from Lyons. It’s only 40 miles to Estes Park, and two water bottles will often get me twice that far. I hadn’t planned on the wind increasing my thirst, or calculated the extra time the 4000′ climb would add. All of which meant that 14 miles out of Lyons I was already very low on water. I went off-route at Allenspark hoping for a store, but instead found Crystal Springs! The refreshment was worth the extra half mile. I filled my bottles with ice-cold water and drank another half bottle while I was standing there.

I’d never been to Estes Park before and dropping down into the valley from the south is beautiful! I stopped at the KOA again for more water. Then headed across the valley for the ride down Devil’s Gulch Switchbacks. This entire stretch through Glen Haven, Drake and out Big Thompson Canyon is very scenic. There was A LOT of traffic, but I’m guessing it was a little heavier than usual because another road between Drake and Estes Park was closed.

I was surprised when the route took us by a little reservoir we passed during the Stove Prairie 200k. I had no idea it was nearby. I was starting to feel pretty warm and was looking forward to stopping in Masonville for some nice cold water and ice. Unfortunately all the water in Masonville was warm and there was no ice, but I refilled my bottles and soaked my shirt and headband for some extra cooling and headed on for Horsetooth Dam.

After another stop in Ft. Collins, for yet more water. I have to say the ride got a lot less fun for me after Ft. Collins. I began to question why I was out there and why I’d ever want to do another long ride again! For one thing the wind was stronger out on the plains. And the howling wind, whether from the front, side, or rear, was abrading my nerves. And, while the beauty of the green fields was not lost on me, passing stinky feedlot after stinky feedlot quickly gets tiring (and depressing) to this vegan.

I’d planned to make a quick turnaround after the 400k, but when I got back to my hotel room about 9:30pm, I was too exhausted and sleepy to do anything more than take a shower and go to bed. I thought about DNF’ing, but remembered all the times I’ve wondered why someone would DNF when they still have 10 hours (or, in this case, over 20 hours) to finish, and decided not to make any decision about the last 200k. After I’d been lying in bed (not much sleeping) for about 90 min, I felt refreshed and suddenly motivated to get out there and knock out the rest of the ride.

Back out on the road it was nice. There was little traffic and the wind was calm. I made some routing errors and rode a few extra miles; a combination of not being able to read the tiny print on the cue sheet well and not seeing some road signs in the dark. I’d underdressed and stopped in Miliken to get some coffee and get out of the cold for a few minutes. I put on every stitch of clothing I had with me, unsure if it would be enough; amused at myself because I’m usually so afraid of being cold that I carry enough extra clothing to keep myself and two other people warm. Once I got moving again the light jacket with hood seemed to be just right. By the time I got to Kersey at 4:30am the sky was already starting to lighten. More green fields, more stinky feedlots, a fun descent into Erie, up the rollers to South Boulder Road, across Via Appia and check “done” next to 600k brevet.

Starting up Hwy 7 from Lyons

Highway 7

Heading into St. Vrain Canyon

St. Vrain River

Wildflowers on the canyon wall

St. Vrain Canyon

Glimpse of Long’s Peak

More Long’s Peak

East of Peak-to-Peak Highway

West of Peak-to-Peak Highway

Near Wind River Pass

Wind River Pass

Group of cyclists heading up the road I just came down

Estes Park

Devil’s Gulch

Drake

Big Thompson Canyon

Rd 29

Below Loveland Storage Reservoir

Climbing up Storage Reservoir dam

Loveland Storage Reservoir

Near Masonville

Foals near Masonville

Windsor (I think) anyway, it was windy!

Valles Caldera 200k

This past weekend I rode the New Mexico Valles Caldera 200k brevet. We had nice, if a bit cooler than normal, weather. A few threatening clouds, but no precipitation. If you like rural routes and mountain scenery this is an absolutely beautiful ride! About 123 miles of the 127 mile route you’re riding through public lands. You’ll also enjoy this ride if you’re a climber. It has over 11,000 feet of ascent. If you are particular about road surface this may not be the ride for you. Most of the route has frost cracks at regular intervals. Also, it’s probably best to do this ride during the middle of the week if you have the option. On a beautiful weekend day, there are a lot of city dwellers that want to get out of town and enjoy the beautiful scenery and multiple recreation opportunities.