Monday, May 25, 2015

Race Report: 2015 Gunnison Full Growler

The week prior to the Gunnison Growler there probably wasn't a racer that didn't check the weather at least ten times.  The daily high continued to get lower, and the chance of rain hovered around 40% all weekend.  The racers for the Half Growler on Saturday suffered rain and muddy conditions.  The racers of the Full Growler on Sunday lucked out and were treated to hero dirt without a drop of rain.  The Full Growler is always a chilly start at 7 a.m., but this year was just a little bit chillier with temps in the mid 30's on race start.  Proper layering was definitely key for the day.

The race started fast up the infamous kill hill.  I hit it fairly hard myself, but held back just a bit.  I hung on to the front pack for a little bit, but with lead still in my legs from the 10k of climbing I did the previous weekend I wasn't looking to pull for a top ten spot.  I settled into my own pace for the first big loop.  Although I wasn't feeling quite at top form, I felt pretty damn good.  That alone is worth all the hard training I've done over the winter and spring.  I worked the climbs, and enjoyed all the great descending.  The Gunnison trail system is absolutely fantastic, and rides like a roller coaster.  There is also a good share of technical to keep your wits about you.  The worst of it is in the last couple miles of the loop.  Technical climbing up boulders, steep switchbacks, and rough terrain made the last bit of the loop feel like pure hell at times.  Once I made it through the first time I made a mental note for the second lap what to expect.

The start of the second lap is just brutal: steep technical climbing that seemed to last forever.  I was so happy to finally see familiar trail from the first lap.  At that point, I was feeling even better than I had on the first lap so I upped the pace a bit.  I put my head down and grounded out all the climbing.  I felt fluid and smooth through the trail.  Around 20 miles into the loop there is a lollipop loop in the Growler that is full of a lot of tech and fun.  I concentrated on clearing the section quickly without killing myself.  With a big smile on my face, I succeeded and even passed another racer along the way.  After that section is the last stretch with a lot of great descending, and some mean climbs.  I upped the pace just a bit more, but also kept in mind that I needed to leave a little bit in the tank for the last couple of hell miles.  Once I finally hit the last section I was ready.  I dug deep and cleared every last bit of it.  I knew that there would be a few people that would crack during this sections, and I jumped up a couple of spots along the way.  I did such a good job conserving that I had a pretty good sprint left in me for the finish line.

I ended up with 23rd overall.  With a brutal race in North Carolina a mere week earlier, I was pretty stoked with the result.  The Growler solidifies all the hard work I have done this year, and it felt great!  It was great to see old friends, and meet new ones.  I had a great time, and would like to thank all of my sponsors for making it happen!  Special thanks to Barrels and Bottles Brewery for the growlers for the Growler!  So happy race season is official underway!



Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Race Report: Pisgah 111k

If you're a frequent reader of my blogs, you'll know that last year was a very tough year for me.  I was over trained, over stressed, over race weight, and contemplating throwing in the towel.  With the passing of my father last June, and the birth of my son Nolan in January of this year, my life has been an emotional roller coaster.  I love our little Nolan, but as any parent knows the first year with your first child takes a lot of adjustments and challenges.  Luckily, he's an amazing, well-tempered baby (I like to call him a great beginner baby).  I know that a lot of people expected me to take a step back from racing, but not my incredibly supportive wife, Megan.  She knows the kind of man I am.  When the chips are down, that's when I work the hardest.  Most wives would have asked for a divorce long ago after dealing with the high maintenance life of an endurance athlete, team manager, ball of stress man I have become.  Instead, she has stepped up to the challenge and made sure I didn't miss a day of training.  If it weren't for Megan my racing career would be over.  She pulled me out of the hole I dug and I encouraged me to keep pushing.  It's been hard on both of us, but we made it through.

I toed the line in the Pisgah National Forest with the tail end of a nasty cold, and legs that were just a couple days off from being 100%.  I knew I wasn't going to be a competitor, but that was never my goal for the day anyway.  With around 70 miles, 10k of climbing, and terrain I had never ridden all I wanted to do was finish the race while taking in the experience along the way.  Finishing was just going to be a little bit tougher.  Once again, the chips were down, my motto all year. There was no way I was backing down.

The race started easy paced until we hit the first climb.  My legs nor lungs were not going to keep up with the front pack, so I quickly settled into my own pace for the long day of climbing.  The first half of the race took a lot of adjusting to the unknown.  I was warned about the wet rocks/roots, creek crossings, mud, and brutal terrain.  I had no idea that I would be carrying my bike overhead while wading through several knee high creeks, and sliding down endless mud/water shoots through rocks. 

Something happened to me out there that I hadn't experienced in any other bike race.  It seemed like every time I had to get off my bike to walk through another creek crossing, crank through another deep mud hole, or had more skin ripped off my arm by overgrown thorn bushes it became less like a race and more like a quest for survival.  I kind of went crazy out there.  At aid stations I’d stop and devour bananas with peanut butter, PB&J sandwiches, and anything else I could get into my paws.  For someone that follows a strict race day nutrition plan, this was far from normal.  I just snapped and said screw it.  I was in survival mode!

The second half was nastier than the first, and the last quarter of it was the nastiest.  The last several miles were a lot of climbing, with tons of steep uphill hike-a-bike.  After each steep uphill you were greeted with down hills so rough that it hurt every bone in your body.  It took every last bit of me just to hold on.  When I finally saw the finish line, there was no sprint nor spirit left in me to give.

The race director was there at the end greeting everyone.  After catching my breath, and taking a minute to take in what I just experienced, I thanked him.  The Pisgah 111k, much like my life this past year, was an emotional roller coaster full of fear, thrill, anger, weakness, bliss, and triumph.  It's the kind of experience that wakes you up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat amazed you survived, and finding yourself filled with joy that you got to experience it.  Somehow I was able to pull out a 15th in Open class, and still have some leg left for the Gunnison Growler for following weekend.