Kicking off the 2013 Race Season: Whiskey Off Road 25 Proof

Saturday was race day. This time last year I had maybe half a dozen all-time mountain bike rides in my legs. I'm still a rookie, but it was time to see if a year with the biking bug was gonna get me through an early season endurance race -- my first of the year.

The Whiskey Off Road: 25 Proof is actually a 30 mile (48kms) course with about 4300 feet of climbing, about a third of it fire road. I was hoping for a 5 hour finish. That seemed reasonable but I really had no idea how my body was going to feel out there. After being largely alone on the trail with Suz for almost 9 hours at the Bow 80ish last year, using stubbornness over appropriate fitness to get through the race, I was worried about being solo on a strange trail all day in the blazing heat. As it turned out, being alone out there was a laughable thought...


1400 racers were on the trail that morning. The 25 Proof start line had 791 people on it! (The rest of that 1400, including Sean, left the start line two hours earlier to complete twice the distance.) With Jared at the front of the start line and Martha not too far back from him, Sarah and I hung out at the Slow and Steady corral and made friends with Joe ... who had three week old water in his camel back and thought the race would take a couple hours to complete. Sarah suggested he might want to move up towards the front if he was that fast. It was fun watching realization dawn on his face that this was a bigger race than he thought he'd signed up for. Ha!

The minutes ticked down and finally the old west guns fired to mark the start. I think it took another 3 full minutes before some room opened up and we could get on our bikes and pedal. That was when my stomach stopped twisting and I got comfortable. I watched Sarah and Joe move on ahead and I eased into the climbing ... the first part of the race is through town on asphalt and I let people ease by me, knowing I had a long race ahead and I didn't want to blow up early. Prescott folks lined the streets all the way up (in fact they were all over the course in places cheering ... I loved the "girls rule" cheers I heard a number of times on the course when I went by), some playing music, some with bells, one dude even smokin' a doobie in his lawn chair. I smiled when I started seeing riders pulled off to the side, stopping to catch their breath. I was doing all right in my steady rhythm breathing, just spinning out the climb.

When we finally hit the double wide dirt track, I felt even better when I started to pass people who were struggling with the pitch here and there. I was feeling good and cruising along without red lining and then, at the start of the single track ... the whole race came to a stand still.

We heard about this "bottlenecking" concern they supposedly managed this year with a reroute, but I really wasn't expecting to be standing around for a full 5 minutes at a time. The Garmin tells the story ... over my race I was standing still for 25 minutes (mostly all through this section). But everyone was in the same situation so it just made for some good laughter and camaraderie. I love mountain bikers! My new friends Joe (lots of Joes in this race?!) and Michael were with me for an hour or so as we got through the bottleneck section and started climbing the water bar section. Lots of bodies and bikes off to the side along the climb as people stopped to catch their breath or some shade as the temperature rose. I lost Joe and Michael after the first half of the climbing when I started the first major descent. Some of those bodies I passed on the way up flew by me on the way down.

At mile 14 the descending was done for a while and I started the big-assed climb to mile 19. More cramped, over heated bodies all along the way and a ton of people walking. I just kept pedaling and drinking from my hose, knowing the only hope this pasty white wintered Canadian had of surviving the 36C hot dusty climb, was to stay hydrated and keep fueling  I had electrolytes and calories in my water but I kept a semi steady pace on eating gummies too. I steered the bike through some shade if I saw it (and if there wasn't a bike and a body sprawled in it) but otherwise I was feeling no anxiety over how I was coping with the heat. The only unknown was whether I'd packed enough water.

As I got to the first aid station I considered stopping to check my water supply but I knew the climbing was almost done. There were 11 or so miles to go after the summit but they were all downhill so I figured I'd be fine ... I also had a bottle on the bike, with just electrolytes in it, that I'd barely touched. I climbed on to the next aid station at the summit. I didn't stop but I did swing by the guy holding up mini bottles of whiskey and tucked one into the leg of my shorts to celebrate with at the finish line.

Nothin' left to do but enjoy the singletrack down the mountain! And I did! I had to give some room now and again for a faster descender but for the most part I enjoyed the uninterrupted single track descent and had some Titus bike love until I encountered a little more bottlenecking towards the end. But soon enough I heard someone say "it's only a quarter mile to the pavement." So that was it, I'd soon be on asphalt with a few miles of pavement between me and the finish line. I'd been watching my Garmin and figured I had a shot at making it under 4:45 so now I had a race against the clock in my mind. I hit the pavement and drafted behind a couple guys for a bit but decided I wasn't working hard enough so I passed them. Then I saw a chick ahead and figured I'd draft her and then try and take her when the time was right. The flaw with my plan is I didn't know what was left of the course in miles or climbing. So I made a rookie move and passed her too soon. Ha ha ... we started climbing again and she caught me, and left me behind so, back to my race with the clock.

It wasn't long and I saw the finish crowd and I rounded the last corner and saw Martha jump out from the sidewalk to send me a cheer to the finish. I got in at 4:44 and placed 31st of 59. I collected my 25 proof finisher pint glass. I'm totally happy with the whole day and how I rode. I was able to stay on the bike and ride the whole course (other than the bottlenecks), stayed hydrated and fueled  had no stomach issues to battle (a recurring theme in last year's races), and smiled the whole way. It surely wasn't a technical climbing course but my legs ate up 4300 feet of climbing on the bike and that felt good.

Sean and Sarah both had great rides with strong finishes. Sarah came in 45 minutes ahead of me in Women's Open. Martha medaled in her Single Speed category with third place, Jared finished top 10 in men's open. To top it off we got to see a Dead Goat on the podium for the Men's 50. A good day for Calgary area riders in the Arizona heat.

Sean and I shared my celebratory whiskey that I'd collected on the course, then, after Martha collected her hardware, we topped the day off with some great Thai food before going back to the Potato Patch to pack up. As if the day didn't hold enough great memories, the mystery of Sarah's claims of snorting wild boars in the bushes was solved. We watched a procession of no less than 25 little wild pigs traipse through the property twitching their noses at us. Hairy Alf pigs! For real ... I've never seen anything like it.

Back in Calgary there's still no dirt to ride other than Bowmont. That's ok though ... next weekend I'm in a hockey tournament and then it's Salty Dog weekend with more dirt and single track in Salmon Arm.

Get on your bike!

Here's a little video showin' off The Whiskey.

Posted with Blogsy

Pre Race Riding in Prescott Arizona

Calgary to Phoenix to Prescott with the bike went off without a hitch. I got to Prescott Tuesday afternoon and checked in, built the bike and went for a townie spin through the hilly neighbourhoods. With a bike shop right beside the hotel, that was obviously the next order of business. Steve the mechanic was a Whiskey Off Road racer too and really emphasized that the trails of the Whiskey race aren't the best of Prescott. With the Alberta gang of 29er Lycra friends arriving the next day, it was great to already have a line on some local-recommended trails. I also did a little shopping. If you're ever in Prescott, check out the Manzanita Cyclery for great outdoor lifestyle gear and clothing. After a pint and a burger at The Raven, I called it a day.

Sarah and Sean arrived on schedule Wednesday rockin the rental mini van. With three built bikes, three bike bags, and three adults with luggage, we were a cozy fit to the rental house but after that it was ride time. Martha and Jared weren't far behind and we all hit the trail to scope out one of Steve's recommendations and link up with the second race route climb and descent.

Out of the parking lot I was workin hard to try and keep up with the seasoned racers. They were kind enough to wait on me as needed and we had a super fun 35 km ride and climbed about 3500 feet. Only one snake was run over ... evidently Sean ran him over and left him angry and snapping in the air as Martha came up behind. He must have gathered himself quickly since he was off the trail by the time I came along. I never saw him. If he managed to fang a tire, it did no good with the trusty tubeless Stan's set up. Angry snake wasn't the only wildlife encountered on the trip...

The next day Sarah and I did an easy 1 hour ride on another one of Prescott's great single track trails. I saw no trailhead names so I can't entertain you with those, but there's a great trail map available at all the bike shops if you're ever down that way. They know how to build fun trails!

Friday the 29er gang headed off to check out more of the course and do a pre-ride of another section. I was under the weather and opted to stay back and rest with a book in the cool house we rented in "The Potato Patch" up on the hill in the pine forest. I did spin the legs out a little later on the road before we all headed into town to watch part of the pro women's "Fat Tire Crit" (wow, they were hammering on the asphalt and up that hill ... looked painful!) and grab some pre-race Italian grub at Papa's. I also registered and grabbed my swag bag. After the pre-race meeting in the courthouse square, there was nothing left to do but mount the race plate, get some sleep, and wake up for race day! Ok, maybe fuss a lot over fuel choices for the next day ...

Posted with Blogsy

Oh Strava, you beast!

Well anybody who's heading south to ride in the coming weeks is doing a whole lot of meditation this weekend I suspect ... OM ... OM ... OM ... I can survive this weather a little while longer! Ha ha ... I seem to be coasting through the wintry weather better than some. Not as well as Gloria though, who seemed genuinely excited about the fresh snow today so she could go play on her new XC skis. (Hope you had a good time G!) Most everybody else I know is riding outside whenever the weather breaks and indoors otherwise ... well I have heard of some just giving up entirely for the time being. Summer's coming though ... it always does!

Friday adventure.

I had a few rides this past week to keep things rolling before the Whiskey. A trainer ride Tuesday (I may have jinxed Team Canada by watching the gold women's game during my ride ... they fell to the Americans. But, doesn't this usually happen the year before an Olympic year, and then we go home with Olympic gold? Just sayin), a Wednesday road ride with Lynda, a pathway ride solo on Friday (after the adrenalin filled dog walk in Bowmont which involved me losing two dogs for 15-20 minutes as they chased a coyote and a deer ... they found me eventually, thirsty, exhausted, and looking very pleased with themselves ... I want to equip them with Garmins and GoPro cameras for future adventures. Oy!) and then some very satisfying hill climbs out in Cochrane yesterday with Sarah.

The hill climbs were a good reminder of how crappy the first climb in a race is going to feel but how the legs give in eventually and get into a rhythm ... we were climbing on the mountain bikes in the wintry wind and some pelting snow. We got 'er done - 2000 feet of elevation gain. I was doing 8 minute climbs with 3 minute descents. We didn't see each other much as Sarah was on 12/5s. We met back at the Rav and hit Coffee Traders for a warm-up coffee and treat before heading back to Calgary.


I met the Strava segment, "Cochranberg," for the first time. I think I'll have to reacquaint myself at some point and give it another go. It's basically the section of hill I was doing but includes a short steep kick before where I ended up starting from. I saw the lower section and had in mind to start my climbs to include that little gem of a kick - it's only 0.1km long but has a 22.7% grade according to Strava. Yeah, I got up that bit (surprisingly I think I did my first trackstand part way up it - the surprise was I managed not to fall over and recovered), stopped, picked my lungs up off the ground, rested for 30 seconds, and reset my Garmin to start recording my first of 5 repeats at the top of that pitch. Me and that little kick will meet again. Surprisingly I have the third best Strava time on that climb overall (the whole thing is 1.3kms) for women on Strava ... oh, there are only 3 of us who've done it. Ha ha ...


Today's a snowy day and a rest day so things are getting done around the house ... though I suppose I'll have to venture out for some dog walking and shovelling. I warm myself up by looking at the Arizona 14 day forecast. Yeah! The new kits are here in time for the race too!

Posted with Blogsy

Waitin' on summer ...

Sante says this weather is a drag.

We've been getting out to the park and I've been riding but there's nothing much remarkable to report. The riding has been cold and often I've been pelted with sleet and rain, but the legs and lungs continue to do their thing and the riding and racing in Arizona this month will be more enjoyable for the winter training. Bring on the desert single track!

I got my mountain bike back from Garry, my new mechanic. The Red Bike is overhauled and ready for another season of abuse on the trails! Lots of new parts ... so many actually that I wonder how the heck I got through the Bow 80 last year without a mechanical. She held together for me and got me to the finish line! I had it out for some hill repeats on the crappy Edworthy hill road last weekend in the sleet with a little singletrack tour before heading home. Nice.

This weekend promises more sleet and chilly temps but the rubber will roll. And rumour has it, I'll be in the new Spin Sister race kit for the riding. FedEx is delivering today. Woot! Just in time for Sarah and I to represent the club in new colours at the Whiskey Off Road.

Get outside!

Posted with Blogsy

Weekday group ride!

I got out for a ride on Tuesday night after work with Lauren and Lynda. Yep! An after work -- in daylight -- road ride. At first I was thinking Lauren's plan was a little ambitious since she proposed a ride to Cochrane at 6pm. A ride to Cochrane for me has typically been a 70-85km loop. However, from her house in Rocky Ridge, and without actually dropping down from the Cochrane hill into town, the loop is 35km. Perfect for an evening outing.

The weather was perfect all day with a sunny high of 19C and, with everyone bracing for the return of winter forecasted for Wednesday, we set out into a mild breeze. Shortly before we made our turn to loop back, the wind was picking up and chilling down. Over the course of our 1.5hr ride we went from 14C down to 7C. Not bad but the toes and fingers were chilled by the end.

I felt strong on the bike after my rest day ... that is once I suffered through the junky legs for the first 10 minutes. We kept a mild pace on the highway and I was pretty successful staying in my MJ-prescribed heart rate zone until we started the return leg.

The girls, on their road bikes with slicks, left me in their dust on the first downhill. My pedaling efforts and knobbie tires on my tank of a cross bike were no match. Might have to switch to slicks and the lighter Scott CX to try and keep up better for future rides. I'll save the tank and the knobbies for those gravel road weekend rides.

Best news of the night? Lauren was looking for a Giver8er partner. Hey me too! "Different Sisters" shall ride as a team!

I'm still fighting the sleepies (so tired lately) so last night I took a break that involved sitting down on the couch and falling asleep pretty much immediately.

Spin class tonight! Jeff'll keep me awake! And word is my overhauled mountain bike is ready to be picked up. I'll pick up The Red Bike tomorrow. The Arizona trails -- and the Whiskey Off Road (Eek!) -- are less than 3 weeks away now!