Hang on to your seats…this is a long race story/report. With such a high quality event, it’s hard to not give it some love and go a little over the top. So, to help you, the reader, out with your time, I added a couple subtitles. If you want to hear just my Sunday race details, just scroll down. If you’d like a fuller idea of the weekend, just start reading.
THE EXPERIENCE
Friday was a good day. After arriving to beautiful weather in Prescott, I didn’t have too much time to get over to the racer meeting. We parked the car downtown, I headed over to the theatre for the racer meeting and Amy, Brandon, and Brett made plans for the afternoon. Brandon and Brett headed out for a short ride around the first section of the course while Amy hung around the sunny and green town square.
The racer meeting was an interesting gathering. I signed in, grabbed my number and race bag and signed the Whiskey 50 poster. The organizers had laid out 6 or 7 posters for all the Sunday racers to sign for sponsor companies. Just signing the poster was odd. Who am I to be writing my signature for others alongside racers like Geoff Kabush, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Tinker Juarez, Georgia Gould, and Pua Mata? Not to mention the huge group of some of the country’s fastest men and women.
I sat down, relaxed, and took in the scenery. Tinker Juarez sat down just to my right and a several other notable riders strolled in. I know my place – I’m no top racer and currently I’m only a later midpack racer in a pro/open group like this in a 50 mile race.
I’ve been asked why I decided to race Sunday’s race with the pros and have a very mediocre placing rather than getting a good placing during Saturday’s amateur race. It’s a pretty easy decision. Am I an actual licensed “pro?” No, but this isn’t a race that is sanctioned by one of the governing bodies. While it’s easy to talk about getting out of your comfort zone, it’s not always clear what that is. The “comfort zone” is like porn, you can’t necessarily explain it, but you know it when you see it (or in the case of your comfort zone – feel it… well, that would work in the porn discussion too, but we won’t go there.) Ever hear the saying, “do something that scares you every day?” I don’t aspire to be the fastest amateur, rather to be good enough to line up against any pro field and be in the mix. Why would I pass up such a good opportunity to race against some of the best around? Was I nervous? Hell yeah, who wouldn’t be?
“Endurance mountain biking is especially good at forcing personal change and adaptation.”
Remember your first race? You showed up with what you thought was your best setup. You lined up with your equal competition in whatever category – beginner, cat 3, cat 2, etc. Not really knowing what to expect, you were probably questioning your abilities as you scanned the racers’ smooth legs and kits filled with logos. You flew off the line, heart racing from both effort and adrenaline, and realized that you were among your peers. You probably traded places with other riders during the race and ended somewhere in the midpack. As soon as the race was over, you were tired, but wondering what was next. What can help me be faster and race with the better guys? How can I push myself more? Two or three years pass and you chuckle at your first experiences. You see people who are at that beginning stage and realized that you tried something new, learned a lot, worked, and came out the other side a stronger rider and person, who is more willing to try something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Endurance mountain biking is especially good at forcing personal change and adaptation.
I want to look back and chuckle at what I thought was fast. I know that I have the ability to get there, but without sticking my nose out into another world, it won’t happen. It’s a personal risk for sure – it’s easy to worry about what others think. I’ve had the comment, “what if you do bad?” By putting myself out there constantly by writing on this blog, updating all social media, and doing other public work, it makes my mistakes that more prevalent. Sure, there probably aren’t a ton of people reading, but I challenge anyone to publicize your ups and downs. Props to all the pros out there in any sport for what they can do and deal with on a daily basis – I can’t imagine. So, long story short, I’ll throw out the cliché; if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.
“Was it fun? I’m still not sure.”
Friday’s crit was set to start at 5:15 for the women and 6:15 for the men. It was set to be 20 minutes plus three laps. It was mandatory for people racing on Sunday to start the crit or else be penalized eight minutes. The laps were very short – maybe .5-.75 mile (I’d have to check the exact course detail to confirm), so being lapped by world cup level riders was inevitable. Racers that were lapped during the first 20 minutes were pulled off the course. Those who stuck to the lead lap through the first 20 minutes, could hang around for the final three, even if they did get lapped at that point. I managed to hang around for three full laps before being consumed by the lead group on my fourth laps around. Although I was picked off relatively early in the race, I still accomplished some goals.
I wasn’t last. Having never done a race like this, I had zero idea what to expect. From what people said and watching it last year, the pace promised to be over-the-top hard. If fulfilled that promise; however, surprisingly, I wasn’t terribly far back and it wasn’t something that I couldn’t handle for at least a short period of time. I came around the first lap not too far from the huge lead group and then proceeded to implode from there. I continued to push each lap, but my legs and lungs were maxed out. Lactic acid continued to build piles in my muscles and my lungs burned with a strange steel and blood-like taste that only appears from such hard efforts. Was it fun? I’m still not sure.
I think the fun comes in accomplishing another goal. It was a great experience to get a taste of the pace that the top guys push. Watching them fly up the short, steep hill uninterrupted is impressive and almost mind-boggling. The front group barely slowed down for a hill that had a mid teen’s percent grade. That’s strong riding. While I don’t expect I will be ever racing with that lead group, I know I have the capability to someday make the first 20 minutes without being pulled.
There was also a beginner “15 proof” race on Friday afternoon. The 15ish (the distances of the race are not exact, admits Todd Sadow during his
XXC Podcast interview) mile race is a great opportunity for beginners to test their mettle against some fine mountain biking trails.
The amateur races for both the “50 proof” and “25 proof,” as well as the singlespeed race were Saturday morning. You can check the full results by going to the Epic Rides Results Page
[HERE]. The singlespeeders were racing for an opportunity to go to the Singlespeed World Championships in South Africa, so the competition was heavy. The field was so fast that the overall winner of the 50 miler was a singlespeed racer.
A racer passes during Saturday's amateur race.
Amy and I got to Whiskey Row with enough time to grab some pictures and pick up the spare gear that Brandon and Brett had worn to warm up while riding over from the hotel. It’s a great scene – hundreds of riders anxiously awaiting the starting gunshots (yeah, gunshots) from the guys dressed as pioneers. The guns were fired and they were off. We hit up
Cuppers Café for a drink to go and headed over to Skull Valley to have friends’, Brandon Newcomer, Brett Ebben, and Ben Jones, bottles and food for a resupply at the halfway point. Ben came through first in under two hours. Brandon wasn’t far behind, trailing Ben by only minutes. Brett rolled through looking strong several minutes later. Ben finished in 3 hours 45 minutes, Brandon finished in 3:47, and Brett finished with a time of 4:02. They were all strong efforts. It was fun to get out on course, get some pictures, and cheer on all of the racers.
After their race, I headed up into the Prescott National Forest to get my legs and mind ready for the race effort that was to come the next morning. I headed up the initial road climb to get a feel for the climb right out of the gate and imagined what the pace would be. Instead of heading over to the initial section of singletrack, I continued up the gravel road until I reached the next segment. I climbed that a bit until I reached the intersection with Trail #9415, which I believe is referred to as Halvorson’s Trail (or gulch or valley…not totally sure). What I am sure of is that it is a great section of trail. It’s a downhill mix of rocks, newly cut (and properly engineered) trail, and smooth trail through open pines. I didn’t feel perfect, but good enough to give it a good effort.
RACE TIME
Let’s get to the race talk already. The Whiskey 50 pro men’s (not to discount the women, I just didn’t race in that one, obviously) is definitely a race to attend. With outrageously high payouts, wide ranging media coverage, and a welcoming town, the Whiskey 50 will be the go-to event during the next several years.
The Pro Men's start line.
I rode over to downtown from the hotel and spent a little quiet time at Cuppers getting a little boost of caffeine while I putzed around in the social media world. It was now almost 8am and I only had 30 minutes left until the start. Lining up for the start wasn’t a concern like the amateur race, so I didn’t need to show up early to get a good spot. I knew my place in the small field of pros, which was near the back. I put in some short efforts and spent the rest of the time spinning some blood into my legs. I knew that the initial part of the lead out going up the road would serve as a final little warmup before the race heated up halfway up the road.
“As we headed closer to the end of the pavement, the pace increased and the field started to split apart. The race was on.”
The gunshots went off and we headed out of town and up the road climb. The tempo was pretty chill early on. A couple guys from the same team decided to jump out ahead. You could hear the group utter a collective “what the hell are they doing?” The leaders kept the tempo steady, ignoring the guys that wanted to do their own thing. For the guys of us at the back of the pack heading up, it wasn’t exactly the easiest pace. There was definitely some heavy breathing. As we headed closer to the end of the pavement, the pace increased and the field started to split apart. The race was on. We turned off the main road, made our way through a boy scout camp, and headed to the singletrack. By this point, the leaders were totally out of sight, as were the chase groups. There was about 20-30 of us stragglers off the back pushing up the singletrack climb, pushing at our own pace. I stuck to
Jeff Kerkove’s wheel, knowing that he would be close to my pace by the end of the day. There was a group of 4 or 5 of us winding our way up the singletrack together. We hit a small section that was a little downhill and Jeff jumped just before it to get ahead and use his knowledge of the course to get a little gap. I sat back and kept the steady effort, knowing that I could use all the extra energy I had on the long dirt road climb out of skull valley. As we neared the slow and steep top portion of the first climb, our group had fallen apart. A couple went ahead of me, while a couple fell off the pace. When I hit the top I saw a new Cannondale jersey that I hadn’t seen yet. Good, a rabbit.
The new rider hit the first descent before me. All I could do at the point was focus on my line and carry as much speed to the bottom as I could. I started gaining some time on him, but I lost sight of Jeff. He must have really pushed the pace at the top of the climb to get to the downhill first. After several minutes of ripping fast downhill, I hit the relatively short service road and turned right to start the ascent to the first aid station. As I turned right, I saw the guy I had been chasing downhill. He was only seconds away.
Taking in some nutrition on the pavment.
I pull out my gels and downed them with a bottle of
Carborocket and a half a bottle of water. That road section is a key place to refuel before pointing your wheels down the Skull Valley descent. It gives your bottle ample non-pedaling time to digest the calories and fluid and be ready for the climb out. I reached the first aid and turned the wheels downhill. I quickly caught and passed the Cannondale guy, David Graf, as he was slowing on the first segment of fast downhill switchbacks.
As we sped down to Skull Valley, I continued to put time on him. Once we reached about 2/3 of the way down, I looked back to see a pack of riders charging at me, including David. “Shit,” I thought. I had spent all that energy to end up not going fast enough on the downhill. I didn’t get too worried though as I was pretty confident I could put some good time on people climbing back out of Skull Valley.
We reached the turnaround point where Amy, Brandon, and Brett were waiting with my new bottles of Carborocket. I grabbed a bottle of water from a volunteer, dumped it over my head, and reached out for my bottles without slowing down. I missed grabbing my food from Amy, but I wasn’t too concerned because I had another gel left for the final part of the climb. I put my head down and got out of there. I took a peek back and saw David probably only 30 seconds back. The climb was on.
I managed to catch up to a buddy, Trapper Steinle, from Colorado I recently met through a good friend. We started up the climb together before he started to pull away slightly. I would pull him back a little as we neared the top of the 12 mile, 2,600 foot climb. He kept the lead by about 10-20 seconds all the way to the end. I started feeling twitching as I began to close and thought it was good to relax and stick to what I could do so that I could pound out the last ten miles back to the finish.
“Whatever pain is endured during Cramp Hill is quickly relieved by a fast mix of smooth, winding singletrack, crowds cheering around water crossings, fast technical sections, and a speedy road descent back into town.”
Meanwhile, as I was focused on Trapper, I had an eye on David behind me. He had closed the gap during the first half of the climb. He put on an attack before we reached the steeper sections before hitting the aid station again. He climbed all the way back to a couple seconds off my wheel. He was playing right into my plan. After steady pressure on the pedals for most of it, I wanted to start pushing it after the aid station. David forced me to go a little early, but I figured what the hell and wanted to make him feel like he did all that work for nothing. It worked. As quickly as he closed the closed the gap, he was falling back. He rode hard for the remainder of the climb and stuck only about 15 seconds back. We passed several riders on our way up. Once we reached the singletrack at the top, I knew I could shake him and ended up about 1 minute 35 seconds ahead of him. It was a great time racing up the hill!
Once to the top of the full Skull Valley climb, it’s about 10 miles mostly downhill. I say mostly because there is a short hill that is very appropriately named “Cramp Hill.” There is something about the mini climb that gets probably 90 percent of racers to cramp up. Perhaps the cause is the loose, bumpy nature of part of the hill or maybe it’s the steep angle of attack that is required to crawl up it unscathed. During pre-race chatter, people tell tales of racers literally being brought to their knees by the painful hill. Whatever pain is endured during Cramp Hill is quickly relieved by a fast mix of smooth, winding singletrack, crowds cheering around water crossings, fast technical sections, and a speedy road descent back into town.
My quads both cramped as I headed up Cramp Hill. With significant experience with endurance-related cramps, I knew that if I relaxed and just pushed through them, I’d be fine. The key was to stay focused on the task at hand push it home to get under the 3 hour 30 minute mark. I pushed it pretty good through all of the singletrack, had smooth water crossings, and picked quick lines through the rocky sections, giving me a quick ending and I was able to just edge my goal. I did end up catching Jeff Kerkove., but he was rolling on a flat tire for the last mile or so.
“I hope to make the jump into that top 25 group sometime in the future and feel like this is a small, but good step in the right direction.”
I rolled over the line in 3 hours 29 minutes and 44 seconds, which was a 13 minute improvement over last year’s race. I was happy. In the men’s pro category, I finished 53rd out of 76 racers. I will take that result, along with what I learned and carry that into the rest of the year. I have some good confidence that I can really push my speed and add it to my endurance base in the future. I hope to make the jump into that top 25 group sometime in the future and feel like this is a small, but good step in the right direction. For the full race results, check out the Epic Rides full pro results page.
High-fives along the finishing straight.
After giving high-5’s down the finishing chute and crossing the finish line, I chatted with a few riders, drank a couple bottles of water, cleaned up and packed my stuff for the trip home. We wanted to get a quick start home, so we didn’t hang around too much at the end other to catch some of the final finishers. On the way out of town, we made a quick pitstop at Chipotle to fill up and we were on our way.
A pitstop at Grand Canyon with my wife Amy.
The drive home was pretty uneventful other than making a pitstop at the Grand Canyon. It was about a 60 mile detour roundtrip off the highway… so a no-brainer after driving 14 hours to Prescott. We found out at the gate that it was the last day of National Parks Week, so the entry was free. Perfect. If you’ve never been to the Grand Canyon and wondering if it truly is grand. Um, yeah, very much so. It was a great way to cap off a great weekend in grand style.
