2018 True Grit Epic 100 and yet another GREAT MTB Trip #suchatrip
Once again, for the third year running, I made the pilgrimage to St. George, Utah foraging my way through the droves of travelers at airports and shuttles, eating their way to their destination with a steady "healthy" diet of Cinnabons and that famous Italian pizza that Michael Scott (from the office) raves about ... Sabbaro's. The nutrition struggle continues for me personally as I fight through the massive amount of unhealthy choices while traveling but was smart and brought with me bananas, apples, dark chocolate coffee beans (love these little guys!), and some kind bars from Runner Boxes that Angie and I get once a month as a nice treat for ourselves. Funny thing about bananas, apparently they don't scan well when carting them through TSA Security so I was stopped and pulled aside. ALl good though, as it was a quick check and I was on my way to my bestest of riding and teammate buds Dave Jolin.
I managed to get to Dave's around 3:30pm after figuring out that I could find a less expensive shuttle (St. George Shuttle Express) that left earlier and prevented me from having to wait around two hours for my originally scheduled shuttle. #winning This allowed me to get my rig dialed in a bit with a quick ride from his humble abode, down the pitchy paved bike trail, hooking into the Chuckwalla trail. Did an easy loop and then back to Dave's ... climbing up those steep lil'pitches ... into a headwind ... having zero energy after traveling all day but hey ... I was on my bike in St. George and was going to be riding all week. Still #winning
Dave and I got in some great rides heading into the race which was on Saturday, March 10th. Quick tangent on that date ... it's my wife's birthday. Apparently, her birthday lands on March 10th every year, who knew? Well, she knows how much fun this trip is for me and she is such a sweetheart and a rockstar wife, spouse, BFF, and my rock in life that she is fine with my taking this trip. I owe her, more and more everyday because its all I can do to try and keep up with her pure awesomeness! Seriously though ... I owe her!
Man, I love the riding out there. The trails are so challenging, the views are spectacular, the warmth is such a welcome change from the cold, snowy temps from Ohio. Dave and I road:
- Monday @ Barrel Roll and Rim Rock
- Epic Fails - I fell over going up to Rim Rock on a ledge rock while trying to acclimate to the terrain. Stupid rider error but I busted my new dropper lever and banged thr crap outta my left-hand side and left-hand palm. To top that, when we made it around to Barrel Roll within the first 3-miles I flatted ... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! #sofrustrated
- Epic Wins - Red Rock Bicycles is THE place to go for all your cycling needs. They hooked me up with a new dropper lever, a new rear tire (it was dead with a puncture at the bead #craptastic), and a nice adjustment to my rear derailleur which that was phantom shifting
- Tuesday @ Zen (x2 loops)
- Wednesday @ Barrel Roll and Rim Rock
- Thursday @ the couch ... seriously we took a full rest day! Boo yaa!
- Friday @ Barrel Roll and Rim Rock (I skipped Rim Rock but Dave road it with Gordon & Emily)
As you can read we had a really nice week of riding, I was able to familiarize myself with the course and all the fun techy bits again, and just enjoy the riding to be had in the area. The hardest part with any race week and traveling to these cool places is holding back. Dave and I talk about it a lot that we just want to go ride and to heck with the legs and how the body feels. I mean how long will we be able to do this in our lives? You just never know where life will lead you and when given opportunities like this ... just go ride ... right?? One of these days I think both Dave and I will have that mindset and then whatever happens on race day simply happens but we would have gotten in some additional awesome riding in and I am sure would have a HECK of a time doing it.
Oh, I cannot forget to say something about our additional roomies!! Gordon Wadsworth and his wife Emily joined us Thursday evening and throughout the rest of the stay. I have only spoken with Gordon on rare occasions after a few NUE races so this was, for me, such a great experience to get to talk to a fellow lover of the MTB and someone that rides at such a high level as Gordon and Emily. I have to say that they are both everything that I expected and had heard. VERY down to earth individuals, wonderfully friendly, willing to talk and share about all sorts of topics, and man oh man ... for me ... I was in heaven. As my wife would tell me on the phone when I told her who we were staying with ... " did you get his autograph?" LOL ... seriously though I cannot say enough good things about the both of them and then to even get to do some non-race riding WITH them (as opposed to seeing the back of the jerseys at the start of the race and then watch them quickly disappear) was such a great experience and joy. The combination of Dave, Gordon, and Emily on this trip just made for an incredible week, at least for me. ;-)
On to the race!
All week my legs, for whatever reason felt great! I mean really great. I never like to talk about how I am feeling going into a race week and I really live in my own head, very much so. If someone asks me how I am feeling, I sort of shrug it off and say "I'll let ya know after the race". This is one of MANY of my quirks that Dave has learned about me. I think if it were anyone else other than Dave I probably would have been kicked to the curb a long time ago. Dave is a VERY patient, giving, and wonderful homie that I can never really say enough good things about. Such a rockstar teammate and I truly appreciate him, his wife, and their friendship throughout the years.
Back to the race (I tangent WAY too much ... this will go quickly... unlike the race)! Body was feeling good so when we hit the start line I was a little frustrated that my legs felt a bit tired. Go figure. Maybe it was all mental because the good Lord knows I am totally mental. The sun was out, the temps we MUCH better than last year and I was on my bike, with a couple hundred of my "closest" friends", and was going to be riding in one of my favorite places. Who cares about how my legs feel I just want to ride my bike and then eat all the foods!! This was the first year I decided to run only bottles where the last two years I have run a combination of pre-loaded Camelbaks and bottles. During the week I tested riding Zen and Barrel Roll with bottles to see if I could find opportunities to take in the fluid son the techiest bits of the race course. It worked out well during the week and I was content to just run bottles which for me is always preferred so I can keep the weight and heat off of my back.
The National Anthem was sung, the racers were lined up, and the signal was given and we were off. Once we hit the dirt, after about a 1-mile paved road section, the field split quickly as it always seems to have done. I of course huffed and puffed up the first climb and then slipped into a stream of riders making their way into the Cove Wash and heading towards the various climbs and the Waterfall (Barrel Trail ... different than Barrel Roll) section. It is one of the few sections I will NOT ride even with a droppah. I simply do not have the skills or confidence so I walk it. Super proud to say that Dave can now ride this section and I couldn't be happier for him!! I have zero issues walking it other than being bummed that I cannot ride it ... but for me, I prefer safety, life, and finishing the ride.
I made my way over to Zen while riding some very sweet rock over sections, gorgeous climbs, and superb scenery. As I zipped through the Zen aid station I never stopped or hesitated ... just put the hammer down (as much as my lil'sauages will allow me to) and shot straight into the Zen Trail loop. As luck would have it ... I got stuck behind several riders throughout the loop who were dabbing, getting off their bike, and just slowing me up on much of the sections that I can cleanly ride. Ugh. I know ... that's part of racing and I am not the best at getting around people but it is something that I am working on. Plus ... there are not many opportunities to get around folks cleanly, at least not for me. Dave caught me on Zen and then he got to experience being slowed up by the same riders. When we hit a gravel road that re-connects us back onto Zen (is that called lower Zen?) I managed to get around all of those riders, mostly, and make up some time. Dave and I entered the Zen aid station at the same time, re-fueled and were off and running onto the climb away from Zen and into the 3-fingers of Death which leads to the Bearclaw Poppy and Stucki Springs trails. Bearclaw Poppy is a HOOT! Very fast, flowy, bearmy, and a MUCH needed blast of a section before the long grind, usually into a headwind on the Stucki Trail. This year, however, SUCH a pleasent surprise that we did not have any gnarly headwind heading up the Stucki Trail back, to Amen Corner, and making our way to Rim Rock and Barrel Roll Trails. Oh and a word about Amen Corner. The Stucki Trail is the one section where, unless you manage to grab a wheel or two of other riders, is just a long grind up and down, mostly up to this quite steep corner where you take a hard right onto a much flowier section, and welcome, of the course. I think it was coined as Amen Corner because when you get to the top, you are pretty much saying ... AMEN!! There is always a volunteer at the top to give words of encouragement and that ever necessary water re-fuel should you need it. The volunteers at this event are hugely helpful, smiling, and there for anything that you need!! MAJOR props, kudos, and thanks to all those that volunteer because without them this event would not be as nearly as awesome as it is every year!!
I made my way to Rim Rock, man I love that smooth climb with the fun switchbacks to the top, and the really fun descent down into the valley followed by the quick steep climb to Barrel Roll. Plus it is always mentally relaxing for me knowing that I have ridden these trails enough to know what is coming around the next corner and what I need to prepare for when it comes to the technical bits. This is the first year I have managed to ride Barral cleanly, sans dabs, so was SUPER stoked about that!! Just a major confidence booster of a trip overall for me because even on Zen I was cleanly riding sections that I could not ride the past couple of years. All Hail The Droppah!!
So ... here we go ... I refueled before heading into the Barrel Roll Trail, cleaned the trail, and flew right past the aid station when exiting Barrel Roll and onto the next lap. I won't go into details of the next lap, but it was actually faster than my first lap because I did not get behind any other riders which was awesome! My body felt stronger than it did last year when I started into the second lap so that was a mental win as well.
Finished the race with a PR of 8:11 + change and was roughly 10+ minutes faster than last year. No, that's not a huge improvement but I'll take it and with the slow ups on the Cove Wash climbs and Zen Trail from other riders ... I think that's pretty good. I placed 12th ... errr ... 13th in the Open Men's category (they always seem to have timing plate issues and I was shifted from 12th to 13th a few days after the race). Last year I placed 15th and the year before that 20th in the Open Mens ... progress! I'll take it!!
I was able to squeeze in one more day of fun before heading out on Monday morning, so we all decided to take a trip to Zion National Park and then hit some of the Hurricane Rim trails (Hurricane Rim, Jem Trail, Cyrptobionic Trail, Dead Ringer Trail). To take complete advantage of the day, we did a short vista hike in Zion (about 45-minutes with some incredible views and photo opportunities). Then Gordon, Dave, and Emily did another hike while I took to running for about just over an hour on an equestrian trail (I did not know that at the time) that was about as sandy as Virginia Beach. In fact, the trail was called, Sandy Bench Trail. Go figure .... totally true!
Vista view in Zion National Park
If you EVER get a chance to ride in Utah ... GO!! Totally worth the trip and take the family because there are a TON fo outdoor activities such as hiking throughout the Zion National Park.
Of course, none of my riding, mountain biking, trail running, would be possible without the MOST AWESOME support of the Rescue Racing Team sponsors!! They all bring their own unique and special relationship to the team to help our cause and provide the team and excellent and quality products that keep us fueled, looking good, and riding some seriously solid gear!! THANK YOU!!
#oec #maxxistires #industrynine #builttolastwheels #truckerco #endlessbikeco #stikrd #christopherbeancoffee #infinitnutrition #jakaroo #chamoisbutter #pioneerelectronics
#rescueracing all for the #pawsandbones of #charlessmithgallhumanesociety
#happytrails
Zen Trail, first climb to the top. Photo cred to CrawlingSpider.com
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