2 Epic

Think hard for a minute here:  what is missing from the self-supported racing genre?  I’m talking about the ones that take more than a day, where you are way out there with overnight gear.  I can count on one hand the # of ladies I’m aware of who have done (2 of them out there at it right now - go Mary, go Jen!)  such efforts.

Why is this?  There may be arguments for wild critters like bear, mountain lions and the like being higher on the foodchain out there - but really?  I think it has more to do with the accessibility to this type of education in remote places:

Seriously, it was all crystal clear to me last fall when Ion and I were shot at and harassed by drunken rednecks on ATVs for 2 hours in the night.  That experience will forever change how I choose where to camp.  I hate to think how that would have gone down for a lone gal…

I have a solution. 

Introducing the 2-person self-supported team category.

What is it?  Teams of 2 can race self-supported events, where all the standard rules apply to the team.  IOW, teamates can help each other any way they see fit - dividing up gear, sharing gear, telling each other they look marvelous, whatever.  The team must still be self-supported.  They don’t have to stick together at all times - it’s up to them how they handle that.  But each member must cover all the course, and the finishing time granted the team is that of the last to finish.

Some motivations for this would be…

• rider safety
• removing (at least minimizing) the concern for personal safety among female racers
• creating an environment where those lucky few that work better together than apart can do so and not be penalized for it…
• I want to do Trans Utah with Lynda as my partner.

Trans Utah will have such a category.

So…calling all ladies!  If the issues mentioned here have been holding you back…tell your partner to start training and join us this fall.

I know there are some fast gals out there in the endurance world :)

Good luck at the Firecracker Sarah!

This weekend we headed over to the Paunsaugunt for more sploring. Wow, double decker wow! The scenery was unmatched, trails amazing and weather ride perfect.

The main target was to ride a bunch of the Grandview trail and find a more interesting route up onto the plateau than Proctor Canyon. Finding reliable info on the Grandview trail is near impossible. It is a 78 mile non-motorized trail along the Sunset Cliffs and Pink Cliffs near Bryce Canyon National Park.

The trail rolled right along the top of these…

Views were both huge and immediate all at the same time.

A mixture of ATV and single-track.

A little foot travel was required this time to find the route we wanted up from the valley on top of the cliffs. It will be a real grunt with a bike…

Up to the rightly named Sand Pass.

Looking back at Sand Pass from along the cliffs.

I never did see a Paunsaugunt directly. One stalked me in the bushes for a while when I was riding. I saw it in my peripheral vision only. Another left these tracks each morning near camp.

There is lots of water up on the Paunsaugunt plateau which was a big surprise

This spring had crazy lush vegetation

and this spring was delicious

Breathing fresh Paunsaugunt. Aaaahh

We took the Trans Utah route exploring up to one of my fav summer jaunts this weekend. The Virgin River Rim Trail.

This is one of my special places on the Markagunt plateau. The single track here is blissful.

Sweetest water on earth right here…

and the views off the rim massive

Makes me want to do Trans Utah myself…

At high noon today the Great Divide Race started.  Racers will be making their journey from Rooseville, Montana (at the Canadian border, yes the crossing where I was scrutinized by a po’d mounty with white gloves, but oh that’s another story, the telling of which requires alcohol) to Antelope Wells, NM on the Mexican border.

In stark contrast to the media blitz of Tour Divide, GDR seems under the radar.  In fact, I’m not certain it has actually happened ;)  MC productions are not known to be tardy so let’s assume the riders are off.  Pete B is not racing this year but instead will be updating a race blog and working with a film crew.  That doesn’t actually sound so under the radar, does it?

Joe Polk’s http://www.mtbcast.com/ audio report had one gem of a surprise yesterday.  He listed off the names of 10 starters for GDR.  Most I don’t know - several are from outside the US.  But one I do know that I expect to do very well is Fred Wilkinson.  He’s been on full epic status this year, logging overnites with MC, promoting RimRide, and finishing with the leaders at the AZTR.  The beauty of GDR is it’s underground nature…even though I know Fred, I didn’t know he was doing GDR.  Tour Divide riders had all written a letter of intent that was posted to the TD site long before raceday.

I came really close to doing one of these events this year, but instead I remain employed ;)  I’m not sure which I prefer - short term it’s an easy answer but long term not so much…but my heart and head is out with those racers for sure.  There’s a new link category over in the right margin for Divide Racing, a collection of links I’ve been using to keep updated.  I’ll update them as I find more links.

The whole SPOT thing…is a love/hate relationship.  As a racer I would hate to have one.  It’s heavy, bulky, and worst of all, it turns a purely self-supported effort into another flavor of reality show.  It simply has to change the way racers *feel* about their efforts, strategy, and safety, knowing that anyone in the world can check in on their whereabouts.  Yet, if I was in Brendan or Marni’s shoes, you better believe the SO would have a spot in their kit!

Another aspect of the SPOT is how much commercialism is taking a role in TD.  It will be interesting to see  how this all plays out long-term and what becomes of each event.

Anyway…it sure is interesting to keep up to date while sitting at my desk!  Thanks SPOT! 

Keep an eye on Kevin Montgomery.  He is looking strong and getting stronger.  Did you hear his call-in last night?  Ya man, he’s coming into divide form.  Lookout.  He’s recovered from his little car accident and that prolly gave him the freshness he didn’t know he needed at the start and now he’s gonna chase everyone down.

 There’s ladies out there this year!  Siren Mary is putting in a monster effort right now getting across Montana.  Word on the street is there’s a British gal going SS for GDR.

So much to daydream about….and if anyone has any juice left after this transcontinental push Trans Utah will be waiting early October.  It’s another weekend of route explorations for 2-epic on tap.

Last Saturday was the annual running of the Kaibab Monster Cross on the Kaibab plateau.  We had tossed around several incarnations of how to do this one…how it ended up was that I raced, Lynda & the kids explored the North Rim, then the day after the race we switched roles.  It was a blissful, perfect weekend.  We all got home exhausted and smiling.

Carrying on with the year’s theme, I raced SS.  That wasn’t my first choice, but a few days before the event Brendan showed up with the new Siren SS 29er, and I couldn’t resist.  The first ride on it was like a magic carpet…it fits like a glove, is a perfect balance between sharp handling and stable, and even though it’s aluminum it’s more compliant than the Explosif frame.  Go figure.

A picture is worth a million words.  ’nuff said

This years was more fun than last year - maybe it’s the SS factor, maybe it’s the slightly cooler weather (or maybe I’m just adapted to heat living in St George), maybe it’s cause I knew what to expect.  For sure last year’s event was affected by the Grand Loop fatigue 2 weeks prior.  In any case, I love racing SS.  It’s easier.  There is lots of spun out time in a long route…and that means you get to take in the views, relax a bit more, burn fewer calories and not get as wiped as with a steady geared pace.

5am AZ time start.  Here’s the gang ready to go.

 Nathan was another SSer present.  He totally ripped the Sedona Big Friggen Loop, so his presence meant there was a SS race to be had.  Dave, Chad, Andy, Brian, Calvin and Rob rounded out the field.  How often to you know the entire field by name? 

I rode with Brian and Calvin for the better part of the first 2 hours.  I was most surprised to be able to keep contact on descents and fast sections - after an initial short climb, the route descends for oh, at least 10 miles.  My cleats loosened up so I had to stop to tighten them up…but other than that we stayed together.

Mile 30 or so there’s a long, gradual climb/false flat that was perfect for my gearing and I started to motor on.  The threat of 2 weeks in CA (business trip) was a real possibility, so I decided I was gonna give this thing some punch so I wouldn’t even want to ride for at least the first week

Rainbow Rim trail is such a treat.  Sweet, buff singletrack on the rim of the GC, doesn’t get much better than that.

This pic is from Timp point about 1/4 mile from the trail.  Click for big to see Thunder River.

From RR is the dreaded climb to ~9200′ on exposed, dusty roads.  But for whatever reason, it went by in a blur this year.  Cool breezes and tailwinds…before I knew it there was Deer Lake….

Yes, Deer Lake.  There is a store about 3/4 mile off-route, but I forgot cash.  Dipstick.  But the emergency kit always contains chem tabs and I didn’t need more calories.  So, in Carol Ann’s honor this year I drank Deer Lake water.  It’s a stagnant pond full of swimming creepy things, moss, and ringed with hoofprints.  Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  Shoes off, I waded out a ways to get the water away from the shore.  It was cool and felt great!  What was even better, the water had a not so displeasing “extra” taste factor.  Nutrient dense!

AZT was next.  Quite possibly my favorite part of the course, the flowing woodsy singletrack on the East Rim. This can’t be AZ!

The drop to the infamous East Side Game Road was extra rubbly this year, and the game road was tough for the first few miles then became a very enjoyable cruise through dense wildflowers in a burn area.  White, yellow, orange, blue, red - all represented.  I was racing my ass off through here.  The next climb was going to be mostly hiking so I’d use that to recover.  Turns out some of the climb was rideable on the SS and it went by quicker than I expected.  Cool!

Visions of a sub 11 hour ride started to pop into my head and I drilled the last 9 miles as hard as I could, but it didn’t quite happen.  11:09 - 1:08 faster than last year (geared!).  I’ll take it.

 A conundrum, no?  I NEVER expected to go this fast on a SS on this route.  How is this possible…

Sunday Lynda got to taste the singletrack sections of KMC while I went exploring with the kids.  Wes just couldn’t believe that a white patch a mile off-road was snow…had to be rocks.  It’s 100+ in StG, there can’t be any snow in the whole wide world, right?

So let’s go find out!

Yep, it was snow afterall.  Power slides with candy in hand.  Broken arm be damned, power slides were ON.

Don’t be fooled by the barbie, that hand with the snowball means business!

All in all, a weekend the likes I’ve never experienced.  Makes a guy want to freeze time and space.