Whew, round 2 of this series was a real challenge. This race took me to Eagle, Colorado. The trails there were really cool, proving that many communities in Colorado have put time and effort into building out local trail systems.
Course Format:
This course was set up as a van shuttle up to the top, 3 stages down, and then a 4th stage where we had to self shuttle. The weather changed a few things, resulting in a bit more climbing at the beginning and some variable conditions throughout the day.
Race Profile
Preride:
I showed up Saturday to preride, and the drive up was not promising:
Vail pass
Things got worse from there - there was an overturned truck that was blocking the road up to the start, but I was able to get around it and start my preride. In the snow.
Stage 1 and 2 were a muddy mess, and my bike was nearly unridable after. Stage 3 was not marked so i got lost and ended up taking the wrong trail. I didn't attempt stage 4 due to the weather and lateness. All my preride notes were: "Look for tape at sharp corners, try not to crash in a puddle and drown."
Sorry, bike
After
retrieving the car on a combination of Natalie's ebike, hiking, and getting a ride, I washed both bikes, I was done for the day. Shower, hamburger, bed.
Total ride time: 3:30
Total ride: 28 miles
Total Vertical: 4800'
Race Day:
The weather couldn't have been more different. Still wet spots on the upper trail, but everything else was remarkable dry.
Stage 1:
I was scheduled to get on a shuttle at 8a and start racing about 9. Due to the overturned truck, the shuttles could not make it to the planed start and we ended up riding an additional 4 miles starting about 1130a. Wasn't terrible at the time, but I paid for it on stage 4.
View from the first pedal transfer
Stage 1 was still pretty wet, and I dumped on a stream crossing, but felt ok.
Stage place: 14/22
Stage 2:Stage 2 was all dry and a ton of fun. Having preridden it, I felt pretty confident, especially with this 1/4 mile flat push at the end. The middle 1/3 was this steep, heavily covered by bushes descent that just left you smiling. Nice short transfer to stage 3.
Waiting to Start Stage 2
Stage place: 12/22
Stage 3:
Stage 3 was interesting because during preride I got off course and never rode the bottom half. During the race, I got a decent start, caught a guy on one of the short punchy climbs and went into the lower, very flowy and dusty section feeling great! ... until I got passed by a 30+ category rider. The benefit was that since I was riding that part blind, I was able to just follow him at a faster pace to the finish. I finished this section thinking I'd certainly be in the top group. I was not. I was 30 seconds out of the top 5.
Stage place: 12/22 (see the trend here?)
Stage 4:
If you'd told me that I finished this stage mid-pack, I would have called you a liar. I felt like hell on this stage, and expected that this stage would be significantly worse than any other stage, not my best finish. It started with a 5 min flowy pedal interspersed with mild rough sections and some small drops that totally drained what I had left. The last 3 min or so were really fun corners and jumps (I assume, I was cursing the sport at this point). With fresh legs I suspect I could have trimmed 30 seconds off my time
Stage place: 11/22
Total ride time: 5:15
Total ride: 28 miles
Total Vertical: 3500'
I finished feeling bad about a 12th place, out of the top ten by over a minute and out of the top 5 by 2:30. After looking at the stage breakout, seeing how consistent I have been I don't feel as bad, and the course was really a fun one. I think some time to normalize emotions is probably normal. I want to have a top 5 finish this year, and to do that I'm going to have to both focus on longer downhill endurance and overall fitness, so I don't get caught sucking wind in the last stage again.
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