Since there haven't been many race reports recently, plus I think our MTB squad could always use more publicity (haha), I'll post a report on the epic Winter Park weekend we had. Keagan and I made a weekend out of it, and booked hotel for Friday and Saturday, planning to race both the Valley Point to Point and the Super D on Sunday.
First off I'd like to congratulate Jacqui Pesa for an excellent ride to 4th place in our field. This is the second year I've done Winter Park and it seems our age group (Sport Women 40-49) was more competitive for this event this year than last, not to mention some challenging course conditions this year in the last third of the race owing to rain.
The Sport women do the entire 23.5 mile "full course", which involves some long climbs, a good bit of tight singletrack, and some long, fast, technical descents, as well as several sections of rough doubletrack and fire road where you need the power to lock out and cane it along in the big ring. It's at least twice the distance of any Sport women's race I ever did in the Midwest, as well as considerably more elevation gain, requires more technical handling skill, and (bonus) is run at around 8000-9000' of elevation where there's not much oxygen to be had. In summary: it's considerably tougher than anything I ever raced back in the mid 90s in the Midwest AMBC.
A good benchmark for a Sport female on this course is 2:30. 2:25 is a podium finish; 2:30 puts you in the top 5.
My results for both years:
2009: 2:46 for 9th place; winning time for age group/category was 2:18:06
2010: 2:32 for 6th place; winning time for age group/category was 2:20:55
Course distance & route was the same both years, but conditions in the final third this year were quite a bit sketchier so I think this maybe a factor in the slightly slower winning time in 2010.
So surprisingly, despite injury, lack of perceived fitness, starting much slower and feeling... not very lively in general over the first half to two thirds of the course, I turned in a much faster time this year, and just missed the top 5. Since I caught most of my competition on the climbs and flat/power sections, my problem isn't lack of fitness, it's lack of technical skills (more on that later).
They start all of the Sport women together in one group, so there were maybe 30 of us. I was completely off the back at the start line, but I wasn't that concerned about it either. I am never comfortable on that section, no matter how I prepare; it's just painful. For those who've never done Winter Park, they run the first mile of the course straight up a 10%+ fire road along the front face of the ski slope. A lot of people (like, the majority of most fields) will go out way too hard on that section, and you can utterly blow up, lose a lot of time and have a miserable race overall by burning through your entire book of matches right then. Of course there's also always a select few who take off up the climb only to disappear off into the woods, never to be seen again. I'd like to think they're sandbagging but maybe I'm just delusional. Despite being hilariously slow out of the gate, I kept from redlining in the initial mile and managed to pick off a half dozen riders already by the time we hit the singletrack.
The strategy EK set for me was to ride steady / without too many really heavy efforts in the first hour, and to try to ride the back half faster than the front half. It worked well in this case; in hindsight I probably could have picked it up in the middle third as I felt like I was riding a lot faster for much of the last 30 minutes and still finished with quite a bit left in the tank, despite being chilled through from the wind, rain and 20 degree temperature drop. I think I rode a lot of the middle section sort of "lazy" mainly because there was a long section where I didn't have anyone in sight to chase.
My adductors threatened to cramp at 2 hours in, just as I hit the last climb, per usual. This has been the single biggest limiter for me in MTB events, and until now, I've never found anything that actually worked, and I've tried pretty much everything: supplements, vast quantities of water, vast quantities of electrolyte, salt tablets, bananas, diet, massage, stretching, warmup, no warmup, longer training rides, no training rides -- all to no avail. When the cramps hit, it's completely debilitating - I'm forced to either let up and spin a very easy pace, or (more typically, since this usually hits on a steep section where I need power just to keep from falling over) stop, get off the bike and hobble / stretch / pound them with my fists until they release, which can take several minutes. Of course while all this is going on, I am also being passed by the competition.
This time, I carried a gel flask full of pickle juice as an experiment. The hell you say?! Well, my high school cross-country coach swore by this stuff, and it turns out he wasn't as stoned as we all thought. Well okay, he was, but not about the pickle juice. I recently read a sports medicine article about a clinical study done on this phenomenon, where they ran a study on pickle juice and cramping in cyclists. Along the way, they discovered that muscle cramps in endurance athletes are (probably) more fatigue related than electrolyte related, and are also somewhat independent of general fitness level. It seems to have more to do with individual physiology (maybe blood acidity? who knows...) than actual fitness or hydration level.
Whatever; apparently there is some magical combo of salt / acid / enzymes / electrolytes in pickle juice that does something to "reset" the deranged muscle fibres affected in a cramp. Better yet-- it's fast. They think it's absorbed through the oral mucous membranes directly into the bloodstream, so it hits your system much faster than via gastric absorption (i.e. electrolytic drinks), -- in the study they discovered that the cramp goes away almost instantly. I have to say, this was my experience too, and that it really does work. At exactly 2 hours into the race, I began to feel the first fluttery precursors of cramp in my adductors. I immediately pulled out the flask and took a swig of the stuff (it honestly doesn't taste any worse than trying to choke down a gel). Within 30 seconds of taking it, the cramping symptoms completely disappeared, and didn't recur. So I don't really care if it's voodoo, magic, science or the placebo effect, it's the first thing that's actually worked, so I'll definitely be carrying it from now on in longer races.
I lost fifth place to pure lack of technical descending skill. I had her within sight for the last half of the race and actually caught and passed her twice on climbs, but on each descent she would go barrelling back past me and take back the minute or two I'd regained. The final descent didn't have a subsequent climb after it, so that was it, and I was never able to regain contact. Turns out this was the same rider who won the Super D the next day by over a minute; go figure.
The massive thunderstorm that hit in the last 45 minutes made things treacherous for everyone - the final third of the course is mainly on narrow singletrack that is mostly flat, but also quite twisty, rocky, and full of exposed roots, and the rain meant it rode like a hockey rink. I am familar with these conditions from my time racing in Ohio/West Virginia, so I maybe had less trouble with it than some. Skill at riding comfortably on twisty trail with mud and wet roots does not equal skill at fast, loose, rutted descending apparently. I passed 20-25 people (mostly Sport and Beginner men, but at least 2 girls from my field) during this section, and made up a fair amount of time. I also witnessed lots and lots of crashes, mishaps and just plain old riding off into the woods on an errant trajectory.
There were apparently lots more crashes I didn't see, including Keagan, who hooked a tree, hit his head, broke his helmet, sprained a thumb and got hauled away by the medic. Turns out he's just fine, just a bit banged up and had the wind knocked out of him, and was maybe a tad hypothermic after walking his bike in the rain to the finish.
I noticed that Brent has an identical set of scrapes and bashes from his adventures at Longmont; maybe he can give Keagan some tips on the art of crashing well? Although I think in Brent's case it sounds as though he executed clean technique by landing on the guy who took him out; this was the first rule I was taught as a crit racer (bodies are, after all, softer than pavement).
Keagan's crash also made for an epic logistical adventure compared to our original plan. Since Expert Men start (and finish) long before my group, and he wanted the extra mileage anyway, K had originally decided he wanted to ride the 7 miles back to the resort after his race to get the car and come pick me up. What we hadn't bargained for was the rain and his crash, and since the medic didn't have any way to take the bike, I was left at the finish in the cold rain with 2 bikes, not much in the way of spare food or shelter, and no way back. Plenty of people offered me a lift, but no one had room for both bikes, and the rumoured "van" that was supposed to come get me never materialised.
So after standing around shivering for twenty minutes watching the parking lot empty out, I sucked it up and ghost rode Keagan's bike back into Fraser, down several miles of washboard dirt fire road. Luckily someone with a pickup truck finally stopped to offer me a lift, and drove the bikes and me the rest of the way back to the resort. I don't think the spare mileage added much to my training plan save for a lot of shivering, a sore arm, and practise at a fairly useless skill with which to impress the public.
I got back to the resort to find Keagan nice and snug, albeit a bit bruised and grumpy, hanging out in the medical clinic. I snagged a couple of cookies from the racer tent and we both headed back to the hotel for a hot shower, a nap, and then went out for some of the best Indian food I've ever eaten in my life. If you're ever up in Winter Park and in desperate need of a hot meal: Star of India - look it up; I highly recommend them.
My Super D "performance" the next day was utterly hilariously forgettable - I not only had no clue how to load a bike into the lift (garnering some funny looks and ultimately pity from the lifties) I also somehow managed to lose 4 minutes on a 14 minute course. I blame a combination of fatigue, sore legs, lack of skill (lack of skill being the primary issue) and mechanical failure - to add insult to injury my front skewer rattled loose in the last third of the race. Nevermind I was already DFL at that point, I'm claiming a mechanical, and sticking to it.
My MTB goal this year is to improve my skills in this regard, even if it means renting a set of crash pads and a fullface helmet and doing shuttle runs to get past it, as it's cost me placings before.
Not to mention I'm done getting schooled by thirteen-year-olds riding their Dad's crappy hardtail that's older than them.