The start: a cluster fuck. The course: a death climb (1264' per lap to be exact). The finish: thank goodness I'm done.
To see some pics visit http://www.mcclarrinonphotography.com/gallery/5137681_jkg3N#310607249_QioGP
I signed up for the Teva Mountain Games last minute. Originally I had planned on competing in the Rio Stampede, a 12-hour endurance race in Steamboat Springs on June 7. But since that got cancelled due to massive snowpack, I decided to skedaddled up to Vail, Colo. to compete in one of the bigger races of the season.
This race was not NORBA-sanctioned, so you could essentially sign up for any category you. You could sandbag the whole thing or go get whipped by the pros. I decided to stay within my category since they were scoring all experts together. They are some really fast older women out there. I swear, the more miles in your legs, the faster you are.
The Teva Mountain Games XC MTB Race was a part of a three-day competition that included slopestyle competition, a hill climb, kayak competition, trail runs, mud runs, paragliding, dog competition, rock climbing, flyfishing- you name it. It was cool to see all of these outdoor extreme sports converge in one event. Sometimes you become so wrapped up in your micro-cosm of a world, that you forget that people are just as passionate about a different sport and their lives revolve around it in a very different way.
The race kicked off for the pro men at noon sharp on Saturday. 12:00:30 for pro women, 12:01:00 for expert men, and 12:01:30 for expert women. All of the climbing was done on fire roads, and it was very apparent that there was 1264' to climb each lap since the pros ahead started a freight train than trickled all of the way down the mountain. Each lap was 5.3 miles. Originally the Expert women were going to do four laps, and last minute they made some changes and we were knocked down to three. In the staging area there was some moaning and groaning, but as each of us started lap number three, I think there was no complaining whatsoever.
The whole race hurt, a lot. It felt like interval after interval after interval. I am beginning to know myself as a racer pretty well. I don't shoot out of the cannon very fast (it takes me about 12-15 minutes to work into it) and then slowly, I get stronger throughout the entire race. Good for a repetitive climbing race. I watched a bunch of women ride away in the beginning, but slowly I picked them off one by one to claim 13th by the end. I still need to work on a few of the final pushes. I was able to beat a few competitors from my past, but there is still a long ways to go to get up to front. A few of the girls I have been racing with moved up to the pros. I think I have a ways to go yet, but I know it's attainable.
Finally I wasn't the sole vanderpussy out there racing. Patty Buerkle is a fellow Team Vanderkitten rider from Bend, Ore. who flew out for the race. I think she did pretty decent in the women's pro race. At one point I had Ned Overend fly past me, as well as the winning pro man Ryan Trebone and my friend Spencer Paxson. Kind of fun to be "racing with" the pros out there.
After the race Nick and I rendezvoused with some old friends and watched the slopestyle qualifiers. Amazing that these guys fly through the air, crash, get up, and throw another 360. The World Championship Rock Climbing competition was going on as well.
Sunday I woke up to a few inches of snow filling in my bike racks and covering my bike. It was a little unmotivating to spin my legs when that would require putting on thermal tights, a thermal jacket, my mittens and headband. By late afternoon (and an icy bike-bath in the front yard) we were geared up and ready for exploration.
Nick recently moved up to the Wellington neighborhood in Breckenridge, Colo. He was told that most local cyclists live in that neighborhood. Now I see why. About 50 feet from the neighborhood you can jump on singletrack and fire roads that will extend for miles into the mountains. The whole area used to be a big mining area. We found old cabins, johns, rusted artifacts, and mine shafts scattered all around the mountain. We kept climbing and climbing and climbing. Kind of like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. We dropped a rock down a mine shaft and it took nearly 3 seconds to hit bottom. We got dead ended by a bunch of snow banks- it's hard to believe that its barely coming out of winter up there. It was definitely a fun way to putz around the day after a race. My knee felt like it was burning, I think it was just inflamed from the day before. Finally had to coast back home.
Next on the calendar: time to kick off the Winter Park Series with the hill climb next Saturday, June 14. A 5.3 mile non-technical hill climb with a 2,062 foot elevation gain. The course starts at the base of the Winter Park Resort and climbs to the top of Mary Jane Ski Area following the mountain service road. Damn. I hope to do it under 48 minutes. Under 45? Even sweeter.
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