Got up at about 3:30am, quick shower to loosen up and was mostly ready to go from the night before. Took the Acura this time and despite the rack being a humongous pain in the ass damn that was the finer way to travel. Easy riding, XM…beat ths hell out of the truck. Got to Whiskey Row in Prescott about 5:50, scoped out parking etc. Prescott has added a big ole parking garage, free on the weekend…that is so smart its always cool to see a city use its brains to promote commerce.
I had called Epic a few days before to find out the skinny on AM checkin, it was uncomfortable they were not and never have been fans. Last year th woman working checkin was such a bitch about it that it got my day off to a terrible start. Its crappy to get mad at volunteers, but I’d gotten bs from this chick in the past for several events, so it was such a welcome change to meet Kat this year who was all good times and good energy to start my day. I know it puts a burden on the organizers, but until Epic gets serious about its mandatory pre-ride-night-before meetings and includes useful information not present with a beer in one’s hand, I don’t see why they can’t accomodate? This year almost 100 riders checked in AM. If I had the time I’d have loved to have made a weekend out of it, but having the AM checkin is super good for me and my busy schedule. I was just so psyched after the downer of last year to see a happy person so early, I donated a few bucks to the food bank to say thanks — would gladly pay a few dollars extra for my fee to have that convenience.
Got right near the front for the start and fuck lotta that good seemed like everyone and the fat kid was passing me at the beginning. Whatever…it didnt taste good but I knew from last year I had to go my pace up the first 15 miles. 2500 feet of climbing, waterbars, pitch — I had to go my speed. So I sucked it up…was feeling depressed, and then my bud Dustin Wardle who I hadnt seen in a year and heard left town goes rolling by. Cool! We said hi, then he was like “well, see ya later” (he is much faster). Its all good, that is what is neat about a race, the focus on yourself goes up. Its that much more intense, even if you are just out to finish strong.
Rolled through the road climb and the couple miles of singletrack climb pretty good. Gobbled up a bunch of folks during the climb, and started to feel less terrible about myself.It should stop surpising me now, but its just the way it is: you better at something, you pass em; they better, they pass you back; the best riders are good at everything. Me goodem at tech climb compared to roadies, me goodem at speed compared to dh’rs, me suckem compared to those that are good at anything. I have been thinking about a post on this, the lameness of the all-mountain rider. But I digress…soon the climb turned to dh rocky babyheads and it was sketchy in some spots. I rode it pretty well, a little smoother than last year, had a scary quick dab out in one spot which I think was the same spot I almost lost it last year. No worries this time, but a couple dudes passed me and then I had to wait for them through some subsequent tech drops. Oh well…others passed who I had climbed by. Or got me afterwards on the fireroad climb. I remembered from last year, this was the leadup to the first big peak roughly halfway throug the climbing…had to stay loose and stay focused.
Rolled right by the rest stop and on into Skull Valley. Tried to note the route on the way down, to see where I could think my way through stuff and where I should just relax and not get mad about the difficulty. Miles 1 and 2, (8-9 going up) were gonna be ugly, as they were last year. The rest seeme doable.
And it was. Same as last year every mofo I saw coming up as I went down shamed me and every mofo I passed coming up as they went down sucked ass and made me better. What can I say…your mind gets weird on these races. And fine it went, 45 min to finish mile 7 a fabulous pace, and then…Skull Valley reintroduced itself to me. Miles 8-12 took me an hour, it was ugly, not as bad as last year I never broke and didnt walk as much, but gawdamn that took the wind out of my sails. I’m just going to cling to that it was better than last year and be happy with that.
Right after the rest stop mile 9-10 I managed to go without stopping, small victory that gave me a little boost, getting closer getting closer, but I kept looking around every little rise praying to see the end of the climb at Sierra Prieta Overlook. At one point when I was pushing, some girl behind me snapped “pick a side.” That was so random it took my mind off the grind. Maybe I misheard her, maybe she said something totally different, maybe I was exhausted and imagining things. But I was like “why do you want me to pick a side, I’m walking and you’re passing“. She was either a very pissy bitch, or I misheard, cause every single rider all day had been friendly and good on either side of the passes. Its one thing I really like about these races, everyone makes such an effort to be cool about sharing the trail, that it totally works and you almost never have conflicts. Most of us are racing ourselves and not eachother, we’re all doing the same event, but also everyone seems to buy into the “Be Nice” plan and because of it everyone benefits. You put it out there, and what goes around comes around. So this nasty comment was so totally out-of-place…I decided she was not going to drop me, kept her close for the last mile of the climb, and when she hesitated getting on the single track at the top I rolled inside her line and off I went. She seemed pissed, but that move was totally fair, it is still a race after all, nothing others hadn’t done to me. Does it make me a dick if I get angry but keep it on the inside and am still nice on the outside? I don’t think so, but either way it didnt matter 200 yards up the singletrack and within sight of the end of the climb my left knee cramped so bad I had to stop and poke at it for a minute. She passed, but I rolled by again on the first technical shot. Heehehehe, roadie chicks on the mtn bike scared of the first rock face they see that explained a lot of things including the attitude, ok vengeance was mine, she is not passing me again, and I still was nothing but polite through it all. The whole drama lasted about 15 minutes, but it got me through the climb. And now finally I was onto the last few miles of singletrack.
Just like last year, this stretch was the payoff for the whole event. Fast, tight, and just techy enough to keep you honest. I let it rip and had fun, and kept having fun, so much fun that I started to think I was riding extra miles. I didn’t know it at the time, but the course added 2 miles in this stretch, which really was just enough to seem a lot longer then I wanted when you think you are almost at the end. The one little climb I pushed for a bit, but rode most of it and again was better than last year. It became clear that the course was longer and I would miss my goal of 4:45, but the track was fun and I was riding it well. There was one dude I passed again, for the 4th time at least. Every time he was resting when I passed and I was rolling when he passed — who is faster? who cares, I passed him 5 miles from the end and just said no matter what my point of pride today will not be letting that little bastard pass me again. Not that he is, or was, or I even exchanged a word all day with him…it was the exhausted id doing all the talking now. The next guy was my best friend and soul-mate, before his miss on a rock and the stroke I had to take instead of carry momentum transformed him into the great-satan-baby-killer before my very eyes. Everyone was my brother, except for everyone I hated…yeah, it was time to get this ride done.
Popped out onto the road finally, and hammerred with all I had. Which was not much, there was a slight grade for about half a mile that felt killer, and right at the end it seemed like I was going backwards even as I saw the cones and road closures telling me the finish was around the corner.
I ended up with the same time as last year 5:03. The course was 2 miles longer, and according to TopoFusion was about 2 points harder on the difficulty index (39 vs. 37 last year). So I figured it was actually about a 15 min improvement after crunching the numbers between the 2 routes. So woohoo! that was my goal and I was happy. Only 4 min non-moving time. The good to take out of this was that my climb was a tad stronger, and doing a long ride every month has really helped. But despite being a better rider, and doing about the same hrs and miles, I don’t think I did enough big climbs. To excel at this event, I need to do more road climbs. Maybe next year.