Whiskey 50: Podium and a Matching Set of Bruises!

The Home Stretch of the Whiskey 50

The week of riding and racing in AZ has been blissfully warm and great single track training.  However, it’s been tough on the body.  I wrenched my right hand on a training ride on Wednesday.  It was hurt enough that I was unsure if I’d be able to race on Sunday.   Sunday during the race, I earned myself a matching set of hand bruises and punched a rock with my left hand on a loose descent.  Shifting became a painful and calculated endeavor during the race.  I survived, but not without some bumps,  bruises and blood.

The 50 miler started out great with a small, but elite women’s pro field.  We started 10 minutes behind the pro men’s field, so we had the course all to ourselves.  It was great to have clear sailing on the single track sections.  All the single speed and amateur racers 50 and 25 milers raced on Saturday, so the course was just pros on Sunday.  I rode out onto the course on Saturday to cheer and do bottle hand ups for my boyfriend Greg and my friend Charles.  It was a blast to be out there watching about 1000 people dig deep into the pain cave.  I saw a ton of Specialized bikes out there, especially 29ers.  Greg and Charles both had clean races with no flats and no drama.  The only bummer to the race schedule is that they were drinking beers on Saturday night and celebrating their race finish while I was prepping my bike and going to bed early.

Mile 40

My training has been great this Spring and I do feel like I’m ahead of the curve from last year on a fitness basis.  However, due to the snow and long winter in Idaho, my time on the dirt has been limited and my single track mojo has suffered.  The small posse of pro women stayed mostly together on the 3 mile road section out of town.  Once we got onto the single track, I was sitting in 6th place right behind Gretchen Reeves and Kelly Boniface.  I was happy with my position and ready to get down to the real meat of the racing.  However, I was bobbling and botching lines all over the place.  I took a hard crash when I hit some imbedded rocks and sent myself into the manzanita bushes.  My number plate and my front avid brake were both askew.  I felt blood trickling down my left leg.  I did a quick “adjustment” of the brake lever to move it back into place and carried on.  From that point, I’d sort of blown my confidence.  I crashed again and that’s when I stuffed my left palm into a sharp rock to match the right one.  Shifting became pretty painful and my riding slowed to a granny pace.  I finished the rest of the technical descent conservatively, just wishing for the chance to get on the fire road and do some climbing.  I had dropped to 7th at this point with no one in sight.

The Finish Line

The long 15 mile climb out of Skull Valley is an out and back so I got to see all the pro men’s field duking it out as I was heading down.  I also got to see exactly where the top pro women were sitting as I went by.  Before the race, I was really hoping to earn a podium spot, but at this point, it was not looking good.  I settled in for the huge climb and thought about the rest of the season and what a great training day this was.  It was about a million times better than being on my trainer in front of the TV, so I tried to push hard and make the most of the opportunity.  Within about 10 minutes of starting the climb, I was surprised to see 6th and 5th place in front of me.  I passed them both and had moved into a podium spot.  I felt consistent and solid, but not on fire.  I guess it’s all part of the early season fit, but not fast synd

By aid station 3, I could see glimpses of Gretchen Reeves in 4th place in front of me.  Gretchen won the race last year and I have huge respect for her as an athlete.  I was really happy to see the back of her jersey and realize I was not moving as slowly as I thought.  I was worried about the last section of single track and suffering more crashes or a flat.  I pushed hard on the hill to try to earn myself a buffer to take the single track a bit conservatively.  The last section of the race was smooth with no more crashing and just a tinge of cramping.  I was watching my watch and stoked to see that I was going to break 4 hours.

I rolled into town in 5th place.  All of the top 5 women’s times were faster than the winning time last year.  It was great to see the level of competition and earn myself a spot on the podium. Todd and Epic Rides did an awesome job of putting on a first rate event with a great vibe, great prize money and festive event.  Full results are here.

Next up for me is three days at home to do laundry, pack, catch up with sponsors and board a plane for Spain to race in the Titan Desert stage race from Morocco to Spain.  This begins the month of May mileage that will include two stage races in a row!  Thanks for reading.

Oversized Cardboard Check and New Flask!

Greg and I at the Finish

Greg Hammering the SS 50