Ski/Bike/Ski....Vacation and True Grit Epic

It was a long winter complete with plenty of the usual cold and dark as well as a couple of the harder rotations of residency. In a stroke of good luck though with an awesome scheduling chief and how the blocks fell, I was able to wrangle 2 straight weeks of vacation at the beginning of March with race #2 at the NUE season opener, True Grit.

It's me though, and there is one thing that I love more than riding my bike and that's skiing. My parents live in Hoback, WY now so that works out pretty well for me. I flew into Jackson, arriving at the tail end of a huge storm with >60" in 5 days. After a quick nap, I headed straight to the pass for a lap with my friend Brian. My sea level lungs always love a 1500' bootpack to 10k' straight off the plane. Totally worth it though with faceshots aplenty.

Yeah, the skiing was pretty dang good.

I had shipped out my TopFuel with BikeFlights and it arrived about 2 hours after I did. This was the first time I had shipped my bike and I was super impressed with the ease and logistics. BikeFlights (and excellent break down help/coaching by bike master Jeff Cheng) made it surprisingly easy. That night I got the bike put back together with help from Brian and Tuesday headed out for a road ride (all trails are still snowed in there) to make sure everything was working well and keep my legs in biking shape.

After a couple days of skiing it was time to head south to Utah. Over the last several years I've definitely grown to appreciate the East and our awesome riding, but I love the ability to drive several hours and be somewhere completely different in the West. I left Hoback Thursday morning in snow and 10 degrees and by 3pm I was in St. George, UT in sunny desert and 70 degrees!

There was a pretty rad East Coast crew that came out for True Grit and I met up with Ray, Britt and the Joe's Bike Shop crew for an afternoon ride and preview of Zen Trail. It had been several years since I had done some desert riding and it was so fun to be playing on the grippy sandstone again. It was definitely good so see and work some of the more technical areas and get some tips from Jim and the folks who had done the race before.

Course markings preventing fellow Stomper Wrong-Way Ray from living up to his name

Carla and Jeff got in late that night and Friday we all met up again for another preview ride, this time of Barrel Roll and Bearclaw. The 'Waterfall' section of Barrel Roll was a very cool feature. I motivated up the nerve to ride the lower section but just couldn't make myself give the upper part a go. After checking out those two areas as a big group, Carla, Jeff, Ray and I headed for a bit more with another Zen lap so Carla could see those sections before the race.

Lots of folks checking out 'Waterfall'

Coming down Zen I realized one very serious thing that was about to be a disaster....my grips were destroying my hands. I got my TopFuel back in December and although I had ESI grips on my Tall Boy I didn't have an extra pair so I just had left on the stock grips. Obviously, I had been riding the TopFuel for several months but hadn't had any issues. Well, the rocky desert terrain completely changed that. I could feel the blisters starting even as I rode. Afternoon mission? Find new grips ASAP! Fortunately, I was able to find some ESI Chunky grips at Bikes Unlimited and they helped me get them swapped out. After that it was a lovely group dinner and bed.

Carla and Jim scouting Bearclaw

Race morning came early and in classic desert fashion was surprisingly chilly. I was surprised how relatively small the starting 100(ish) field was. After a short pavement stretch, we hit dirt and the race began. The pace was so fast and we immediately went into smooth, winding fast washes. I worked hard to keep up and stay in drafts. The miles leading up to Barrel Roll were fast, smooth and full of rolling climbs and descents.

At the top of Barrel Roll, Sparky Moirs came flying by me on a technical section-- definitely some inspiration for continuing to work on my technical skills! Shortly after that, I ended up on someone's wheel heading into Waterfall and despite my hesitance in the preride, the power of following a wheel brought me right through the upper section without a problem! Sadly I screwed up the last bit of the lower section which I'd cleaned the day before but fortunately no injuries to me or my bike!

After that, Zen went by quickly. Britt and I rode together through much of Barrel Roll and Zen and it was great to have her as company. I stopped at the aid station for a quick refill and headed towards Bearclaw and the back side of the course which was going to be new for me. The trail was so flowy with a crazy fun long downhill followed by a long gradual climb. I ran into a frustrating problem during this section. After refilling in anticipation of the opportunity to hydrate on that section, I dealt with a clogging Camelbak hose. Learning point: make sure to shake the Camelbak very well after adding Infinit prior to riding. I had to stop multiple times on this section to shake the pack and clear my hose so I could keep up on my nutrition.

By the end of the first lap I was concerned that I had gone out too fast as my legs were feeling very heavy for only halfway through. The punchy, technical climbs were definitely taking a toll on my legs that are used to the longer, steadier climbs of the East. The end of round 2 of Zen came with a big relief-- mostly smooth from there on out with steadier climbs. The heaviness in my legs faded and I felt strong for the remainder of the race. I finished in 8:38:41 which earned me 5th place in an incredibly strong women's field. Carla finished third, so we had a pretty great Carilion Emergency Medicine representation on the women's podium! :) Also, my last minute grip switch out definitely saved my hands and even after ~86 miles (True Grit is actually a bit short of 100mi) my hands felt great and I had no new or even worsening blisters! ESI grips for the win!!

Women's Podium

We all grabbed some celebratory Mexican that night, and the next day, it was back north to the Tetons!! I had awesome company for the first half of the drive up to Salt Lake with Ray catching a
ride with me for his flight out. After an early dinner in SLC with one of my best friends from med school, I made it back to Jackson for another awesome week of more powder, skiing, hanging out with old friends, and even a couple of unexpected adventures. :)

2018 Race Season Begins-- MonsterCross

With the 2018 race season now underway, I thought it would be fun to start reflecting on races and various other adventures. So....a blog! Oh boy...

After starting my year on my orthopedics rotation working Q2 24 hour call schedules which definitely resulted in less bike time especially given the winter weather, the 2018 race season started February 18 with MonsterCross in Richmond, VA. Coming into MonsterCross I had never ridden Pocahontas SP before and was stoked to check out a new area. I live in Roanoke, so most of my rides consist of sustained mountain climbs followed by long descents where my legs get to rest. The flat course with short, punchy climbs was going to be a different sort of challenge. 

Leading up to the race and talking with friends who had done it in years past I got lots of mixed reviews regarding which bike to use...mountain bike vs cross/gravel bike. I don't have a fleet of bikes so my options were either my Trek TopFuel (full suspension and set up winter mode with Knobby Nic tires, definitely not ideal for rolling gravel) or my Trek Crossrip3 (love that bike but I'd been strongly cautioned about some gnarly creek crossings known to shred skinny tires). The rims on my Crossrip are basically impossible for me to change a tire/tube by myself (one of my great fears every time I go out on a long ride) so a big hole I can't plug would have toasted me. I was undecided even up to the morning of the race, both bikes came to Richmond with me. I didn't make the final decision until 5 minutes before the start and opted for less chance of flatting and taking my chance with the higher rolling resistance.

The race started right on time with a wave start. There was a great women's field with many strong ladies including some friends from Le Tour de Burg showing up to race. It was definitely nice to have a smaller group at first as we went around the corner and right into a more narrow area. After a quick lead out, the race was on the pace picked up and we started flying. Prior to the race a friend had described it as “road tactics in the woods”. Boy was that accurate! Fast pace lines through the trees was exhilarating. I was pleasantly surprised at how few sections along the course felt like a flat straight grind, and there were plenty of roots, twists and those creek crossings to keep things interesting. I got an early lead but knew the ladies behind me were super strong and I couldn't let up at all on the effort. It paid off and I finished in 3:03:10, 1st place in Women's Pro/Elite.

Apart from the riding, the race was so well organized, had excellent aid support, and let’s be honest….upper 50s and sunny in February can’t be beat! Despite the rain leading up to the event, the course had drained well and was in great shape. And bike choice? Worked great but I still think either bike would have worked! MonsterCross was such a great way to start the season and I’ll definitely be back!