The night before the race was a lot of fun. Amy and Matt stayed for dinner, beers, ice cream of course, and we watched the TDF on tape delay. Kicking back after Mount Evans and chatting about many things, to include the nuances of MOOTS frames was just great and I was vaguely aware that I had a bike race the next morning.
After dinner Matt and Amy headed home to Steamboat and I loosely began to prep my bike, bottles, and kit for the next morning. I was rather casual about the race and with the 9:45 am start time I would not have to set an alarm---------------a rarity in any multi-sport event.
So..................I woke up when the sun came through the window and had coffee, breakfast, watched a bit of the TDF to get motivated and then prepped the rest of my gear for the day. At 9am I rode one-handed down to the race start with my gear bag and cooler in the other hand. When I arrived to the race HQs I found a convenient place to put my gear and then I rode around the park and streets a bit to make sure my bike worked vice a warm-up.
The big question was how would the legs hold-up after 2 races, a 14er hike, and the Mount Evans adventure in the previous 5 days? Hmmmmmmmmmmm..............I definitely had some sore climbing muscles and I was physically a bit tired but I was confident I could do the race. Heck, my math when it comes to long bike races is Pros + 3 hours and that is what I would probably do............thus 6 or so hours on the bike is manageable even with spent legs. My race strategy was simple; manage my calories and nutrition and ease off if I felt too much effort going in to the legs.
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| The Start in downtown Breck--more than 700 riders |
For those readers that are not aware the Firecracker 50 is a big deal in the MTB scene. It is part of the USA Cycling Pro Ultra Endurance Tour and draws a great crowd and most of the big name pros. Here is the course profile.
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| Most of the race was at 10,000' or higher |
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| Breck Singletrack |
I finished the first lap and nephew Will and Michael were there to assist me for lap 2. Michael lubed my chain and after a bar, a Red Bull, and a thick slathering of BIOFREEZE (http://www.biofreeze.com/) for my aching legs and IT bands I was headed back out.
Thank goodness for Clif Shot Turbo Espresso gel paks (http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_shot_gel_turbo/) as these things were a godsend on the course. I was taking in one of these and a regular gel at each aid station on the second lap and although they taste like ground coffee beans they kept me moving!
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| Kelly Boniface--3rd overall woman and she chicked me in Steamboat 2 weeks ago and again here! |
My second lap was as efficient as my first and I climbed well, but not as fast as I had done in training rides on this course because of the aching legs, but otherwise I rode the single track smooth and at times fast and descended well. I was actually having fun because I was mentally in to the race from a strategy perspective. The goal was to race as best as possible and have some fun and keep the suffering to a minimum.
Early in the race I was passed by quite a few riders and it was no big deal because I was sticking to my plan and on the second lap as I continued to ride well I was not passed at all. Well.....there was one guy that passed me at the beginning of the lap but I passed him about an hour later. There were also several woman that I passed late in the lap and obviously they passed me hours earlier so not sure if me catching up is called "Guy'd" by the fast women.
In the end my placing in my category was not that great but with a finishing time of 6:31 it was a scant 2:35 behind the male pros. I was pleased! Pua Mata won the women's division in 4:29 and for those who have not heard of her she is a superb mountain biker but check out this link to show how talented she is: http://lavamagazine.com/features/break-the-rules,-win-an-ironman#axzz1AIVUdhwa
JOCMO: Having my head in the game for 6+ hours and racing all day!
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