Was able to check out some of the Pro Fat Tire crit, which was pretty cool too. Afterwards, I went exploring to find dinner and ended up at the Prescott Brewing Company. Sat up at the bar and ended up talking to a nice guy from Phoenix who was doing the 25 proof. Probably should have eaten a little healthier, but I couldn't resist the BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Yum!
And of course, a nice porter to go with it.
Went to the pre-race meeting (where the race director made the course sound very intimidating) then got back to the room, got all my gear ready, then called it a night.
Work up early on race morning and went to the lobby to get some coffee and oatmeal, then headed back to the room to get ready. Was a little worried that it would be cold standing around at the start. Weather.com said it would be 49 degrees at start time (7:30). Didn't want to bring a jacket that I would have to carry for the rest of the day either, so I settled on a vest and light arm covers. I got to the start around 7:15 and ended up pretty far back (probably in the rear 10-15%). Maybe it was all the bodies, but it felt pretty warm and I ended up stowing the vest even before the race started and was fine.
The start was fun. Countdown, gunshot, and the mass of riders (close to 600) were off through the streets of Prescott escorted by motorcycle. While still on the streets, I saw Willie, then Ben and Mykta of team Troupe. As we began to climb, I decided to try to inch my way up little by little and started to feel the altitude. Because I heard about a logjam up at the singletrack, I wanted to get past as many slower people I could, but without putting out too much effort.
We hit the dirt, and not too long after came upon the big logjam and came to a screeching halt. It probably took about 10 minutes to get 150 yards, but I was entertained by the couple of guys who just had to snake their way through the rest of us who were stopped, and by the gal who decided to drop her shorts and take a leak right in front of about 50 guys.
I finally cleared this major logjam, but it was still slow going through singletrack climbing sections. There were a few tough sections, but it was still crowded enough where if anything semi technical came up, there was no choice but to walk because of all the people walking on the trail. Even on the downhill sections, I was going quite a bit slower than I would have liked. I recall the downhill being fast and flowy with a few technical areas, but all very rideable. Would have been fun to have clear trail in front during this part.
The next section opened up to a fireroad that had multiple short little ups. It was nice to finally be able to dictate my own pace. I then came across aid station #1, which meant I was 15 miles in with the descent into Skull Valley ahead. I had enough water, so I passed the aid station and started heading down. Then I remembered I was going to eat something at the aid station, so I pulled out a Clif Bar and struggled to get it open and eat it while descending. The first part of the descent was pretty fast, but the rest didn't seem very steep and there was actually a little climbing. At least this meant the climb back up wasn't going to be too bad. I got to the bottom of Skull Valley and the route took us into town and aid station #2 and the turn around was in a church parking lot. I took this opportunity to drink some Heed, use the outhouse, reapply some sunscreen, fill up my hydration pack, then headed back up.
As I started to climb Skull Valley, I thought it would be really nice here to have my iPod. I decided to pass the time by seeing how many people I could pass on the climb to the aid station. I was feeling pretty good at this point and the tally started adding up. About 8 miles into the climb, things started to get steeper and I felt like I was starting to slow down, but I was still passing people, so that made me feel better. I saw Ben from Troupe and he was the 63rd person I passed on the climb. Right around that same time, a guy on a Seven hardtail passed me. Unbelievably, he was the only one on that whole climb. That only meant that I really should have started closer up to the front. Got to the aid station and the tally was 66 - 1, net 65.
I skipped the aid station again even though I was feeling kinda crappy at this point, but I figured I would just keep moving. I was a bit dismayed to see that the route continued to climb. I ended up riding with a couple of singlespeeders at this point and remembered thinking how nice it was to have my little gears. It turns out the last couple of miles before the aid station and about 3 miles after were the hardest part of the climb. At this point I was really tired and began to feel cramping come on. And I wasn't even to 'Cramp Hill' yet! First my inner thighs (weird how those always seem to be the first), then hamstrings and quads. I stopped to pop a few more Endurolytes, took a few big swigs of water, then just tried to continue to pedal easy. There was some fun singletrack, then I started up a steep twisty loose climb. This had to be Cramp Hill. Before I even got to it, I had resigned myself to walking it based on how I felt, but I figured I would at least see how it went. Surprisingly, I cleared it, passing a couple of people as I did. After this was probably the must fun part of the course, rolling, twisty singleltrack and some pretty deep creek crossings. It was still some work though, and I was pretty beat. I started to look at the mileage and think about the race director saying you finally know you're about done when you hit the pavement.
The pavement came, and as I was fighting some shifting issues in my largest gears, a group of about 5-6 riders came whizzing by. I figured I'd go ahead and jump in this pack and ride with them to the finish. It was mostly downhill and very fast, but this group was really trying to hammer home, so it was still painful. Kinda reminded me of the feeling at Vision Quest when you hit Trabuco Wash and have that slight downhill to the finish. Moving fast, but still pedaling hard to finish strong. The group was still intact and we wound through town, sped down the last hill to the big left turn and the finish. It was really cool to finish in town with people lined up and cheering. This of course is not me, it's Geoff Kabush, who won the pro race.
The Garmin said 4:25, but I forgot til later that it was set on moving time, so my official time was 4:34. Now off to the beer garden and Whiskey Row!
