Grit 50 Epic

I decided to take advantage of the generous offer from the promoters of a discount on this years entry after last years insane race. I of course was nervous and apprehensive as I think most were that attended the inaugural race. I thought, no way could that happen 2 years in a row. I signed up and hoped for the best. The few weeks leading up to the race I checked the weather, checked it again, then checked it again. Hoping for the best. It was looking iffy but, we were committed to going down. Hannah was pumped to finally get a vacation. She's 5, life is pretty stressful at 5 so she needed a break.

Friday's weather was great. Sunny, warm and in the 70's. Saturdays forecast looked to be pretty good until about 2 or 3. It looked like I might have a little rain towards the end or hopefully it holds off. Well, it held off. The weather was almost perfect. There was a little bit of a strong breeze on a few spots but for the most part it was great.

I started out pretty mellow. I felt good, never felt like I was going to hard. Finished the first section feeling good and moved on to Zen. Don't let that name fool you. Not much peaceful about this trail. Super technical, no rest on the ups or the downs. It tests you both physically and mentally. Slip up and you will be picking yourself up off the desert floor. Of course, there were a few sections I walked but I felt good about the trail and finished the first few sections faster than we had finished it the year previous by about 15 minutes. I was pretty happy to have Zen behind me. I rolled into the first aid station with Tyler Seamons, he was riding strong all day. He left the aid station a little in front of me and I didn't see him for a few hours. Banks and Tanner were behind but I figured they would catch up before long.

The climb out Stucki was decent. I paced it fairly slow up that climb and had some headwind, crosswind and tailwind. Tailwind was the best. I got to the top, stopped to stretch a bit and Tanner caught up. We started the decent together, I pulled away on the decent, finished the reaper lap, missed a turn and ran into Tyler who also missed the turn. We met up at the last aid station and Tanner caught back up. I scarfed a half a banana down and refilled some water and we headed off to the first of 2 laps on barrel roll. 2 laps was tough mentally. I felt like garbage on the first lap. Tyler dusted us on that first lap so me and Tanner kept each other company. Tanner was having an issue with his fork so, I lost him on the decent. The 2nd lap I felt much, much better. I felt as peppy as I could at that point. I didn't see Tanner again until the finish area. I finished the 2nd lap filled some water up and made my way towards the return wash. It took longer than I expected to get back into Green Valley, there was some headwind making my way back and I was tired and just wanted to finish. I made another wrong turn and had to backtrack just a bit. I felt like they could have used a few more trail markings but all in all it was pretty good.

I rolled into the finish area a little more than 6 1/2 hours. I was pretty happy. I didn't get sick, felt good for about 80% of the race. Rode strong, and finished with a smile. Lindy, Hannah and Lucy were all waiting for me at the finish. Great way to finish a good, long day on the bike. I will be back next year.

Tyler finished just before me, Tanner rolled in just after and Banks pulled the plug after Zen with some serious dizzy spells. Took him a few days to recover from some nasty illness. Don't worry Banks, I'm already in for next year.

Here are some photos I poached from the race.

Good times in the desert. It was good to see a lot of cycling pals that I never see all winter. It was also good to meet a few new ones. Worst part of the race was a little bit of a sore ass (to be expected) and two nasty big toes. I stubbed them while walking a few of the technical sections. The last one almost had me in tears. Going to lose that nail in about 6 months. Other than that, all good.

Say a little prayer

So, I ask that you all say a little prayer and ask that the weather holds out for all of us slow bastards that will be circling the desert singletrack tomorrow. The pros should be done around 1 and Im thinking I will be done around 4. Please bless us with good weather. Hell, after last year, I will be happy with 50's and partly cloudy or even cloudy. As long as the clouds don't open up like last year.

After all, tomorrow is St. Patricks day and I AM Irish. Well, Im part Irish. That counts. Pray for us.

Time to rock n roll. Lets do this.

Mud and Rain

Many of you know already that I traveled to St. George to participate in the inaugural Grit 50 Epic Race. We were all watching the weather wondering to ourselves and outloud, hope it holds! Even the morning of the race, I checked the report, mid 60's 20% chance of rain, partly cloudy. I can live with that kind of weather. As I drove in from Hurkin to St. George, I could see dark clouds out west and south. Sometimes its hard to tell just how ominous things look from a distance and sometimes those clouds never drop rain. This was not one of those times.

this is after riding 2 miles on a wet road. It helped clean off some of the mud

 There was a pretty big crew from SLC and lots from the Hoood. Jdub, Banks, Seamons, DT, Gordo on his virgin race voyage, Grizzly, D. Bagley and many others. We were all excited because this race links together some of the best desert singletrack around. Technical, fun course. Banks and I had pre-rode the first half of the race earlier in the month and I knew it was going to be tough but had no idea what was on the horizon.

But not all of it

Race started at 9:00 a.m. I enjoy that start time much better than the 6:00 or 7:00 a.m start time. I can get up have a good breakfast and not feel rushed. It was cold but not unbearable at the start. mid 40's. I had arm and knee warmers and had my windbreaker vest on with a cap under my helmet. I think I dressed about perfect for the day, a rain jacket would have been nice but not sure it would have helped much. After about a half hour of racing it started to rain. It was a steady drizzle that pretty much wouldn't stop until about an hour after the race. Sometimes it let up only to follow it with some extra heavy downpour. The first half of the race was great. I felt good, was never cold, trails were in pretty decent shape. Most of the first half is over slickrock and pretty technical terrain, there were puddles around and the rain made some of the sections extra tricky but it was all good. I kept thinking the rain would end, the sun would come out and it would be a marvelous day. Well, that thought would come crashing down as we started the Stucki Springs climb. We got into a decent pace going up the first half of Stucki, then it seemed that it got really cold. All of our hands were going numb and we could barely feel our hands. I kept saying it felt like my suspension wasn't working and my wrists were getting pretty sore. We were all together on the climb, me, jdub, banks and Gordo. Gordo blew off the front out on a mission, we didnt see him again until the finish area. Once we got to the top of Stucki, we stopped to shake out our legs and hands knowing that the decent was only going to make matters worse. We looked at each other and I think I said out loud. "What the fuck are we doing out here" At that point we all laughed and laughed. What else could you do. We were cold, wet, muddy. I have never been that wet on a bike before. Seriously, we couldn't have been more wet if we stepped into a shower fully clothed.

CRAWLINGSPIDER.COM

The first part of the downhill was good. A little slippery but not treacherous. Then we encountered the mud bog. There were people and bikes everywhere, trying to figure out how to lug there 25 lb mtn bike that quickly became a 50 lb bike covered in thick goo, wheels wouldnt roll, there wasnt any shifting going on. It was an unreal scene. We just laughed and said the F word alot. It made me feel better. We crawled our way out litterally, some parts we were able to ride, some parts we had to walk, we eventually rolled up on a volunteer who happened to be on the phone with the race promoter. He said they were pullin the plug. They were going to start pulling everyone off the course due to treacherous conditions, some even were treated with hypothermia.

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We opted to continue down the road that eventually led us back to the start of the dirt and on to the main road back to the finish. Not sure how we ended up there but we did. We were cold, dirty and shivering. People were huddled around a propane heater, some with blankets, I even spotted a dude with a space blanket on. Shivering uncontrollably. Low 40's and pissing rain are not great conditions for a long mtn bike race. It truly was Epic, and Grit to say the least. I have never participated in a Cross race but have watched them. Those were perfet cross conditions. 50 minute race full speed and done. Instead we spent 4+ hours in it we were done just in a different way.

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After all is said and done, I felt pretty good during the race. Only one spot of bother was on the climb to Stucki and I think that had more to do with the cold than anything else. It was a great day and a ton of fun. If it weren't for my riding buddies, I would feel entirely different. We all made an effort to try to stay together the best we could. I couldn't imagine spending that much time in those conditions by myself, that would have been torture. Instead, we had good friends, and one hell of an adventure that we will never forget. Some rides are epic because of a distance that you rode, some rides are epic for the things you overcame. This ride was epic on many counts, weather, trail conditions, bike conditions etc. One hell of a ride.

Thanks for the photo Mrs. White!

DT looks cold! Brrrrrr

Huddling around the heater. I don't think the heater was working. I saw flame but it was still cold.

The fellas, all were able to muster a smile. Thanks again Annie. 

You can check out Jdubs write up here.

Can't wait to go down next year. It can't possibly rain like that 2 years in a row can it?

Thanks fellas!

Oh, I almost forgot! The worst thing that was a result of riding in the rain for 5 hours in the cold? My right nipple got worked. In an effort to get some comments, I am going to prostitute my right nipple. For those of you that are afraid, stop here. My right nipple got rubbed completely raw. Everytime I shower it hurts. I have to shower with my hand over my nipple. Stupid little thing. Enjoy!