Breck 100 Race Recap (10th in 30-39 Age Category, 41st Overall)

Where do I even start with this race?! It's been on my mind ever since the 2010 Breck 100 race that hooked me on endurance racing. My goal since twelve months ago was to top ten in my age category and also to finish sub 10:30. I reached one of those goals this year by grabbing the tenth spot of 67 riders in the 30-39 category but missed the latter goal by nearly 17 minutes. Despite missing the goal of crossing the finish line by 4:30pm, I am very content with my race effort and should be. I had endless mechanicals and lovely episodes of chain suck. Also, I didn’t find my race legs until loop three’s Boreas Pass climb just before the aid station, eight hours into the race. That said, I'm saying it now, sub 9:45 for next year's race. That's unless Brett and I take a journey to Oregon to race High Cascades 100. Damn that race looks like fun!

Wednesday, I headed up to Tiger Road, my home away from home for July, for some elevation camping. Friday, I met up with friends at our house for the weekend, courtesy of Kim (thank you!!!). Saturday, raceday morning, called for a 3:45am wake up call which I managed to beat by forty five minutes since I spent the time visualizing the trails in my head. I was wide awake, Bon Iver in my headphones, and making breakfast before 4am.

Singletrack covered with snow on Wheeler Pass.

At 6am, lap one began at Carter Park and sent us to Peak 9, a 2750 ft. climb up Wheeler Pass. Due to Breck's record snowfall this year, upon the first climb we encountered a few sections of snow atop of Wheeler Pass which got us hike-a-biking for a hundred yards at a time, including having to shoulder the bike to scale super steep pitches on sketchy soil. The amount of runoff also created some hairy singletrack downhilling on the back side. After the long descent, I found a few super solid riders for a roadie experience like a team time trial to the first feed station. One of those riders was Jari Kirkland who is such a badass rider! I hung onto her wheel and some Honey Stinger wheels until we reached Carter Park for the lap through.

I was a hot mess last year on loop two so for this time around I seeked redemption. Not so much! Again, I had a lackluster performance on this loop, my legs felt like bricks and the power in my legs to punch up climbs just wasn’t there. There were only a few answers to this, one being that I should have rested much more than I had leading up to the race – not exactly my strong suit and I still haven’t learned my lesson leading up to tomorrow's race, The Steamboat Stinger. The other answer was to keep challenging my legs to come around and to keep my head on straight enough.

Again, when I pitted the second time prior to loop three, Amy, Denise, and Brandon Newcomer were right there for me to care for my bike and nutrition. I’ve never had a pit crew before so having them made a massive difference. You guys rocked! I can’t remember how many times I repeated “these are not my legs” at the pit but I took Brandon's advice to go find them out on Loop three. I eventually did and kept thinking, better late than never! It then became apparent different race for me since I could rip through my favorite section of the course, Gold Dust Trail. If the Colorado Trail on loop two is my nemesis, then the Gold Dust Trail is my accomplice. I always seem to be synchronized with this trail and if you haven’t ridden it, it’s probably in my top ten for favorite trail sections. Ever. After exiting the trail into Como, I finally had a last and final chance to attack a climb, Boreas Pass Road. It’s an 8 mile dirt road climb to Boreas Pass's height of 11,482 feet where I very deliberately found some company for another roadie group ride to save some energy and seek some shelter from the wind. Originally there were four riders, then three, then after I attempted to bridge us with a strong Honey Stinger rider pulling away, I accidentally dropped another rider. From then on, it was a good pace to crest not only Boreas Pass but the entire race since the remaining trail was ten miles of fast and technical descents home to Carter Park. What was so interesting about this section is that my breathing rate was as if I had been climbing not descending. I was breathing heavily out of fear not of aerobic demands. It took quite some time to recognize this until I realized I could relax since no racers were on my heels.

There was peace right there. Not only to know that I had done what I set out to do this very day, but for all the discussions and demands one has with oneself every single day for twelve months to realize this accomplishment. Although I could consider this the end of a chapter, it is only the beginning. I'm training for something much bigger than a hundred mile race. Maybe it's for this fall's bigger 24 hour solo racing demands like the 24 Hours of Colorado Springs Nat'l Championships, but I'm hella sure that's it's for the biggest thing of all, life. You'd be surprised at how much you can learn about yourself and life just by riding a bike. I know I have been and look forward to the trail just ahead.

I ended up finishing the Breck 100 in 10:46:45 for 10th place in the 30-39 Age Category, 41st Overall. Believe it or not, more racers DNF'd (37) in my age category than finished it (32). Official results here.

I have to especially thank my coworkers at Third Way Center for making this season a success thus far. They allowed me to go to per diem status so that my weekends are free to race. They're the most supportive team I've ever been a part of. I miss you guys!

Ben, Scott, Jesse, and me getting our grub on. Mark and Brett are probably getting seconds!

Content the race is over.

What tiny photograph did I have on my handlebar to keep me motivated? Damn right, that's my brother guarding Kobe Bryant just a few days earlier. If that's not inspiring enough for me, I don't know what is.

Breathing thin air and waiting days before to race.

The best part of many days in July.

See you out there,

Tim

"Every damn day."

Firecracker 50 Race Recap: 9th in Maverick Category

First and foremost, I’ll recognize that I’ve been quite absent from the blogging universe so with some downtime in August after a few more races in July, I hope to rally. Sorry!

Due to a mediocre finish at the Bailey HUNDO after a wonderful trip to the Philippines, I sought to regain fitness for the remaining month of June and July. I set out Wednesday before the Monday, July 4^th Firecracker 50 race to camp and ride at elevations above 9500 feet. It started off at Twin Lakes, Colorado where I intended on three consecutive days of logging seven plus hours in the saddle but due to an intense cold front, I bailed three hours in on day two. I was able to manage 11 hours total along the Colorado Trail segments in the area, all with a 12-15 lb. backpack.  I felt like I was training for the Breck 100, 24 hour solos, and stage races all in one weekend!

Leadville 100 race peak

My pregnant bag of 6 CarboRocket bottles.

The CO Trail is gorgeous! Trail segment 11 is the way singletrack is supposed to be! Three weeks after returning from the Philippines, I think my jet lag had run its course by the end of this trip.  Due to the nasty weather, I headed to Breckenridge on Thursday and planned a seven plus hour ride on Colorado Trail and additional trail systems with the same backpack.  I managed another near eight hour day on even more pristine singletrack. For the remainder of the weekend, I caught up with Brett on Tiger Road where we established our campsite for the weekend.  We got a couple of easy rides in, putting me at 21 hours of saddle time upon entering the Firecracker 50.

Since the Firecracker 50 was a preparation for the Breck 100, I didn’t traditionally taper like I normally should, so I originally made goals and expectations of myself that reflected this. Although, plans to simply pace up the Firecracker 50’s initial climb soon were aborted when I realized my legs and mind were motivated and tried to stay on with the lead group. I pushed hard on the eight mile paved and dirt road climb leading into the first sign of singletrack.  Time trialing a hill climb was one thing, but powering up punchy climbs was another.  Due to ramping up hours on the bike lately, my legs felt underpowered on the steep punchy climbs throughout the race.  As much as I could have suffered from a big week, I was feeling lucky to have my legs underneath me.  The first of two 25 mile laps seemed to be going my way until the Carter Park descent where I was ripping through switchbacks until my Ergon GX2 bar end clipped a limber tree I never even knew was there. I checked my Garmin GPS stats and I went from 15 mph to zero in a flash.  I’m not sure what the crash looked like but it had to be ugly. I remember my hip, head, knee, and ankle hitting at different times before I skidded to a stop while my bike was still doing summersaults. I knew that if I thought about this much, it would affect me more than it should, so I made sure my body was ok, then my bike, then pushed through the mistake. My saddle was completely crooked so I tried to punch it straight until I lost patience and agreed to be violated for the thirty miles left in the race.

My unhappy and taco'd saddle after meeting a tree.  RIP...

I am happy I was able to mentally ride through this accident because it could have easily cost me even more time if I let myself feel as unhappy as my saddle.  I lapped through for the second grind up the eight mile climb.  I remember grimacing from the pain in my hip area while dirt worked it’s way into my cuts all over my body.  I kept having to make sure that my bibs were all in one piece because on a crash like that, usually you have an ass cheek showing from ripped shorts, must be the Primal construction!  I later found out, another rider did have it worse than me and was racing bare ass! I was able to catch and pass several of the riders that passed me when I went down.  Again, I attacked the road/dirt climb and was amazed that I had the legs to push as hard as I did.  The rest of the race was crash free and I managed a solid effort throughout, especially when it came to nearly clearing Little French.  If you don’t know Little French, it’s very rocky with shale over shale for a fairly lengthy and steep climb with a couple stream crossings.  It’s a climb I never want to give up on because I can’t stand hike-a-biking and you can lose a ton of time and positioning if you mosey up it.

I was lucky to do incredibly well in the nutrition department without any ups and downs or GI issues thanks to CarboRocket, Hammer Gels, and Honey Stinger Chews.  In nearing the end of the race, I grinded out the last uphill sections and was happy that I was leaving everything on the course.  Rocky Mountain Racing teammate, Aaron Adams, and I were yo-yoing often during the race and I ended up pacing us on the fireroad leading to the Carter Park finish which was a descent my triceps will never forget! It was great to race with Aaron along the way since he’s a super strong rider and pushed me harder to the finish than I could have done alone. Thanks Aaron!

In the end, I finished in 4:57:08, 9^th in Maverick and 109^th overall. Results here.

I have to thank the race organizers, Jeff Westcott and company, and the incredibly clever, supportive, and positive volunteers that helped make this race a success! I only have roughly 16 races under my belt, but I’ve never experienced a more supportive cast than this.  A special thanks goes out to whoever the hell was on the Boreas Pass Road climb who encouraged us to jump off ramps and roll over logs thirty miles deep into the race! I was in race mode so all I remember is jumping a ramp, Rocky Balboa theme music playing, and a guy with a funky headband waiting for me after the obstacle course to slam a bottle of Wild Turkey. These guys need to be at every race. I was absolutely cheesing out!

So, after 26 hours of riding in six days, I’m happy with my results and looking forward to the next race, Breck 100, which is in less than two days.  It’s my race of all races this summer.  That’s unless 24 hour solos become one of my new challenges.  I’m not going to lie, I feel really good and motivated about the 24’s in the early fall, especially the 24 Hours of Colorado Springs which are also the National Championships.

Believe it or not, this ice bath is right on the money at 50 degrees.   Took three of these leading up to the race. Stay in for 10 minutes and your body will thank you later. Follow it with time on a foam roller.

Clearly, post race and happy to be done!

Again, I apologize for falling off the face of the blogging world, my only excuse is that I ride too much to keep in touch. For now, I'll be recovering this week, camping and riding light off of Tiger Road with days and nights like these...

See you on the trails,

Tim

Gunnison Original Growler Race Recap

The Gunnison Growler IV race was everything I expected. It will quite possibly be some of the hardest 64 miles I'll do all season and in the end I was rewarded with 36th place overall out of 194 riders and 15th in the 30-39 age class.  I’ll take it! Race video: Race Video (there I am 57 seconds into the video!)

Luckily a few bumps in the road before race day were manageable, one involving a bistro nearly wreaking havoc on my stomach and sabotaging my race.  The other, some shifting issues that local bike shop mechanic, Sam, at Rock 'n Roll Sports diagnosed as a very worn 13t cog. Thanks Sam! I therefore replaced the cassette with a 11-32 tooth.

I had two major goals in place: one was to finish sub 6 hours 25 minutes (exactly averaging 10 mph) since it put me in the top 45 according to last year's times and the second was to laugh at least once during the race because laughing is better than crying, which was saved for the finish line.  More on that later.

Brett and my camp site, so freaking fun!

Since the competition combined a collection of many great enduro racers and a course composed of <300 foot punchy climbs, very technical rock features, and hairy descents, the course left little room for error or recovery. I don’t remember once letting up on my pace even when there were many miles on the second lap where I was riding alone and even wondered if I was on the proper trail.  As it got deeper into the second lap, I knew if I didn’t spend time convincing myself that I wasn’t going to crack, then I would.  I ultimately convinced myself that cracking was a choice and not because my body wasn’t up to the task.  Once I realized that, I could feel the finish line from nearly two hours away despite lacking significantly in the hydration department for the remainder of the race. In the last 45 minutes of the race, I felt like a pack of wolves were behind me and I pedaled for my life. To get passed in the last few miles by half a dozen riders would have been a great disappointment. It helped that a female rider I had been trading places with gave me the prompt, “45 minutes to go.” At that point I was able to throw down harder and later heard that she’s the female 24 hour national champion of 2010.  Unreal.

Once the race was over, I draped my body over the handlebars, my lungs still filling the cavities under my chest with every breath. It didn’t help that in the meantime, I was swarmed with emotion by hammering the course for nearly six and a half hours.  Brutal training rides in the nastiest weather conditions this winter came to the forefront of my mind. Suddenly, I had my very own crying session a few bike lengths from the finish line.  I’m ambivalent whether it’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life, but the thought entered my mind and is still there. Here's what I had to do to get there...Garmin stats

Done and Done!

There was plenty of self-talk throughout the race, some pep talks and battles where an inner dialogue pronounced itself more and more throughout the race. There were countless times that I had checked my breathing rhythm and wondered how long I could keep up that pace. But I did, so I expect more from myself the next time around. I’ll never know my limits if I never test them and I’m planning on taking plenty of chances at the next race in Bailey. I don’t care whether it’s thirty more miles than this race, it’s going to happen and I’m going to be ready.

For whatever reason, I feel hardwired so that on every morning one of my first natural thoughts include the notion that I must prove my abilities to myself all over again. It works in tandem with another hardwired idea that if I’m not getting stronger, I’m getting weaker, which is a great fear of mine. To satisfy the notion, here’s Wednesday’s proof...Garmin stats. After I realized I had done something special the day of the race, I read later in the weekend that this fella named Bill Martin had won 24 Hours of Round the Clock in Spokane, Washington and finished with 300 miles in the saddle! That’s one of many motivations of why I dug so deep on the following Wednesday, two days after the race. I was very humbled upon this news and have learned to appreciate that I'm just getting started and have many miles to go.

I couldn’t demand more from life right now, only more from myself. I cannot wait to find out what’s in store for the next race, the Bailey HUNDO, but for now I’ll enjoy the fact that I’m flying over the Pacific en route to meet up with family, some I’ve never met, and to watch my brother, Chris, play professional basketball for the Philippines national team.  Try to tell me that’s not a motivation for my goals and dreams.

What I woke up to for breakfast on race day.  Worked like a charm.

We all earned a Growler for finishing the race. I bet it would hold all of the beer I've drank in the last 9 months!

Holy hell! Tapering for races makes me feel like a caged animal!

Mountain Flyer Magazine write up

2011 Growler Results

See you on the trails,

Tim

Gunnison Growler Race Video (recap to be posted soon)

There  I am 57 seconds into the video representing Rocky Mountain Racing (in Halloween colors)! Lots of RMR riders throwing down and Tim Allen killing it!

2011 Gunnison Growler Race Video

Schwalbe Sponsorship Support

Just got the word that I'll be getting individual sponsorship support from Schwalbe!  You better believe I'll be rolling Racing Ralphs this summer at the races.  Some love their collection of shoes, sunglasses, or watches and a few of us love our tires.

My new shoes.

100K and Counting...

Since it's getting close to tapering for the Gunnison Original Growler, I'll cap off the last month of training since I won't revisit the blogging world until after the Bailey Hundo.  It's been a fairly productive month despite having trouble with executing on training rides last week.  My goal lately has been to incorporate more variety in workouts to balance my capacity for all types of terrain.   Some other keywords for the month were trust, justice, redemption, and execution.  For a brief explanation, for as much as I've trained my body this winter, I've focused more on training my mind.  Now, I just have to trust that.  I've lost count for how many times I've ridden for justice, which is as powerful as a hand on my back propelling me forward.  For days that could have been but were never realized, I seeked redemption all last week and got it by execution.  I realized the inability to complete workouts successfully was determining my headspace.  On the next day I was determined to ride three hours in freezing rain and snow via canyon roads to get my mojo back. See Garmin stats here.

The ride for redemption worked! This ride had a ripple effect towards a great finish to the past 30 days which I need to be satisfied with...

Stoked about 100,000 feet of climbing in the past 30 days all on a mountain bike.   It's good prep for those incomplete thoughts that are circulating somewhere in my head about what exactly I'm aiming towards in mountain biking.  At the end of the day (or in mid-ride), I think it looks like this for next year...Breck Epic.  And dreaming bigger after that...Claro Brasil Ride. Anyone up for this to be a duo team?! Aside from training, I think it's only a matter of getting enough $ to make it all happen.

After visiting Gunnison for a course recon of the Original Growler, I am even more excited about the next race which takes place on Sunday, May 29th.  After seeing the tiny town and epic trails, I instantly thought of retirement there. Gorgeous!

There will be casualties.

Upon the first waking moments yesterday, I contemplated whether or not to ride due to some hard efforts lately.  I next remembered what fellow racer Ben Welnak stated earlier in the week.  I immediately threw the comforter off me as an expression of determination. An idea dubbed by Ben as "breaking through small plateaus" isn't something that's been far from my mind lately and helped for a killer ride.  Thanks Ben! Here are some pics of the ride amongst thunderstorms, pouring rain, sleet, and mud batter.  Cold, but so damn fun.  There's so much peace to be had in braving the elements!

En route to Mt. Falcon and LOTB.

Literally, 100 feet of visibility at the top of Lookout.

Is my bike glowing or is it just me? Pretty much summed up how I've been feeling after my rides.

My mud collection.

See you on the trails,

Tim