Monday, July 28, 2014
Thursday, July 24, 2014
High Cascades 100 Race Report
As these 'races' always do, race day snuck up quickly. We did a pasta dinner on Friday night and I knew my body well enough to know not to go to bed early as I would toss and turn as my body just does not like to go to bed early unless exhausted.
I tried to keep things as normal as possible during the week so that it would be just another day. There were no special meals or no pre-hydrating, etc..
We woke up at 4:15 and wiped the cobwebs off to get ready for the day and also get in a light breakfast. It was still dark outside but the good news was that it had cooled off overnight. Unlike the prior year's edition of the HC100, this year was going to be comparatively cooler. This of course is a matter of perspective since the prior year was brutally hot with temperatures going into the triple digits during the race. This year was forecasted to only hit a high of around 90. The biggest difference was that it cooled off a little overnight.
Somehow the hour between waking up and lining up for the start went by in a flash. Before we knew it, the race was underway and we were pedaling around our first roundabout and heading into the 2nd roundabout to ride out on the first 9 miles of pavement.
The race was led out by the organizer and everyone was more or less kept in check before the flag lifted and the race was ON. I quickly settled into the middle pack and tried to spin frantically on my singlespeed to keep up with all the people on gears who were able to ride at a more comfortable cadence. My gameplan was to try to not get too far behind as I knew that we would be bottlenecked as soon as we turned off the pavement.
I saw and chatted with a few familiar faces on the pavement knowing that it might be one of the last times this would be the case until you turned inwards and started to ride your own event. I got passed by tons of people as I was spinning at a super high cadence and could only wonder what the dirt road held in store ahead. The last familiar face I saw on the road was the wife! She had passed me on the last mile of pavement and was also getting ready for the dust fest that was about to ensue.
As soon as we turned off the pavement and onto the dirt road 300, it was a little bit of a mess. There are essentially two good lines to climb that punchy climb and both lines had stacked conga lines of riders snaking their way up. This is where the hard work on the singlespeed started. I was stuck behind some folks at a slow pace and was forced to hit the bad line in the middle of the road that was soft to try and pass. I worked hard to pass a bunch of folks and settle into a pace that felt comfortable. The challenge was not going too far into the red while working to pass people or else it would take too much out of the legs which only meant paying for it later.
I managed to pass a bunch of folks and find a pace that felt comfortable and not be in the middle of a pack and being forced to ride at their pace.
Pretty soon, road 300 leveled off a little and we turned on to a connecting fire road for a little more climbing. We tied into the Duodenum trail. This was my biggest fear for a significant bottleneck. The trail ascended 400 ft through 31 quick and steep switchbacks. I had ridden this trail about two weeks prior and remembered the trail being extremely loose/sandy. My fear was that it would be extremely difficult to pass anyone on the singlespeed and that there might very well be a big hike a bike section since if one person dismounted it might mean everyone else behind them would be in for the same action.
My worst fears were mollified a little as we continued up the trail and only had to stop twice for people dismounting ahead of me. Part of my fear was realized though as I had to grind a really slow cadence on the singlespeed as I was stuck behind people. I was thankful for the cooler temps as we snaked our way up the 31 switchbacks.
The trail leveled off and we hit some moto trail that was a little lumpy and bumpy. We quickly hit a short tekkie downhill section where people were dismounting to walk through. I was stuck in that weird part of the race where people with fitness were ahead of me but some of those did not have good mountain bike skills and were either slowing down during tek sections or dismounting.
I reminded myself it was a long day and soon enough things would open up and allow for the natural order of things to sort itself out relative to pace.
We hit another fire road and I tried settling into a comfortable pace until we hit the next trail at Kiwa. I bumped into some more familiar faces as I started to reel people in on the single. It was fun to chat with a few folks and click the miles away. From Kiwa, we tied into Tiddly where we would connect into Wanoga. We got stuck behind some folks on the singletrack and I made myself remember that it was a long day and not to get too stressed about people not letting me pass. There were a couple of Y's in the trail where I was able to pass a few folks that just were not finding of feeling the flow yet.
The first aid station was at Wanoga and I did not stop as I had plenty of fuel and water to get me to Aid 2.
The course took us on more road until we tied into DinaMoHum and we climbed for a little until we got to descend for a bit. The descent was fun and I was thankful to be heading down the trail (as opposed to heading up the trail at about mile 75 in prior years on this race). The trail flattened out and we got thrown out onto road 950. 950 was loose and soft with no good line at all...urgggg...I knew it was going to be a slog uphill on loose crappy road for a bit. My expectations were met as we continued on the loosest part of the course.
We worked our way over towards Century where we went through the underpass and walked our way up Vista (or the sand wall, or sand pit, or beach). After a short and steep hike a bike through soft sand we hit the road that eventually ties into Dutchman, but we would spur off heading towards Swampy. After a short climb we got to descend into swampy. I passed several people on the descent and started to feel like I was finding my pace for the day. I stopped briefly at the bottom of the descent at Aid 2 and filled up a water bottle. I did not linger and kept moving.
I knew the next 15 miles or so was mostly on singletrack so it was a great opportunity to ride fun trails that were all very familiar. This was my backyard and it was fun to be able to take advantage of that a little.
Soon enough we were on the Swede Ridge Connector and tied into Sector 16 where we worked our way through the windy trail to Upper Whoops. Upper Whoops was fast and fun as always. We descended way too quickly and before we knew it were on Skyliners and about 3 miles away from the next Aid station at mile 53.
This next Aid station was something that I had mentally prepped for as it was the last aid station before the BIG climb of the day. I stopped, filled my bottles, and dumped calories into my bottles to mentally pysch myself for the next big grind. This was the crux of the day. We would ascend to over 6,800 ft over the course of the next 15 miles. It was the grind of the day...once we got to the next Aid station, this big climbing would be done and it would be mostly flat or downhill back to the finish.
One of the volunteers at the Aid station took my bottles and said out loud 'Red Helmet, Red Shirt, Black Face'...she was saying that so she knew who to hand the bottles back to, but it made me realize that I must have had some serious dirt face action going on!
I tried not to linger too much at this Aid station either...The sooner I started back up, the sooner this climb would be done. It was starting to get into the heat of the day and it would take about 2 1/2 hours to get through the upcoming slog-fest.
The legs and body were starting to get tired. I knew this was the steepest and hardest part of the day. The climbs would pitch up at a few spots and require a little hike a bike. We hit 4601, gained a few hundred feet and then tied into Mrazek where we climbed our way up to Metolius Windigo and into the old growth. We crossed the creek right before the Happy Valley connector and I stopped at the creek and splashed some water on my face to cool off a little. Once we darted back into the trail, the canopy of the old growth provided nice shade and cooler temps...ahhh
Unfortunately it was only a temporary ahhh as the climb kicked up quickly. At this point I knew we only had about another 1000 ft in elevation gain until we got to descend. I dug deep and just grinded through the ass kicking that was being doled out.
As we started to hit the upper elevations, we started to hit snow drifts. The snow drifts got bigger and deeper and forced us all off our bikes to hike a bike through them.
After what seemed like countless dismounts and remounts we started the desecent. As we worked our way around Tumalo Ridge to Dutchman, I kept thinking how the trail was longer than I remembered it.
I got to Dutchman and knew that the hard part of the day was behind me...not it was time to enjoy the payoff! This aid station is the only place where I had a drop bag....I sat down to replenish bottles and calories and once again tried not to stick around for too long.
As soon as we left Dutchman, the trail kicked up and just crushed my soul...this was not in my mental layout of the course so it hit me like 2x4 across the side of the head. Fortunately it was not a long climb and it leveled off soon thereafter. We continued to descend on the road back towards Vista. I had these mental points on the course and the next mini crux on the course was just beyond the sand pit descent where the trail would kick up into a steep and loose fire road. I knew this was going to be hike a bike and sure enough there were peeps doing just that as I approached.
At the top of the climb, I noticed a truck head down the way we were supposed to go on 950. It is an open course so there is always that possibility. This was such a buzzkill! It was a nice long descent and I was stuck behind a truck who was going 10 miles an hour and kicking up so much dust that I could not see more than about 30 feet in front of me. This was BRUTAL! After a couple of miles of dust lung, they turned off and I could let go of the brakes for the last 1/2 mile of descent...urggg
The road turned into a little uphill grind and then more spinning on open road until the next aid station on the way back...Wanoga...I stopped quickly for a quick bottle fill on the water. My plan was to use that to spray myself a little on the descent.
From Wanoga, we hit Tiddlywinks for the last 17 miles back into town. Game ON! Before the full on descent, we had to do a little more climbing though. It was through open terrain and it felt warm as we worked our way up.
This uphill also seemed longer than I remembered but I knew it was one of the last pushes back to the finish before all my work would be from descending and hitting the brakes!
I started to catch more people on the descent and was noticing that I felt leaps and bounds better than I did at the same point in the race the prior year.
Tiddlywinks turned into Storm King and I passed a few more people who I knew would all pass me back up when we hit the pavement and I was spun out on the single.
My premonitions held as I finished up the dirt and hit the pavement. I settled into acceptance of getting reeled in my people on gears on the last 7 miles of pavement. I resorted to counting how many people passed me on the pavement I spun spun spun....from the bottom of Storm King to the finish, 8 people passed me but the beauty was that the finish was just ahead!
I tried to enjoy the last few miles as best I could and just appreciated not feeling completely tapped out like the prior year.
I turned off the pavement and on to the final piece of dirt to the finish...went under the banners and was handed a cold coke and cold washcloth...life was GOOD! It was time to relax, collect on the growler (finish growler) and chill. The wifer was still out on the course and I wondered how she was holding up...her race report forthcoming.
All in all, it was a good day. I finished in 10:31 which was faster than last year. This was in part due to weather but mostly to do with a faster course. There was still over 10K of climbing but I think there was more road this year which lent itself to faster times.
I tried to keep things as normal as possible during the week so that it would be just another day. There were no special meals or no pre-hydrating, etc..
We woke up at 4:15 and wiped the cobwebs off to get ready for the day and also get in a light breakfast. It was still dark outside but the good news was that it had cooled off overnight. Unlike the prior year's edition of the HC100, this year was going to be comparatively cooler. This of course is a matter of perspective since the prior year was brutally hot with temperatures going into the triple digits during the race. This year was forecasted to only hit a high of around 90. The biggest difference was that it cooled off a little overnight.
Somehow the hour between waking up and lining up for the start went by in a flash. Before we knew it, the race was underway and we were pedaling around our first roundabout and heading into the 2nd roundabout to ride out on the first 9 miles of pavement.
The race was led out by the organizer and everyone was more or less kept in check before the flag lifted and the race was ON. I quickly settled into the middle pack and tried to spin frantically on my singlespeed to keep up with all the people on gears who were able to ride at a more comfortable cadence. My gameplan was to try to not get too far behind as I knew that we would be bottlenecked as soon as we turned off the pavement.
I saw and chatted with a few familiar faces on the pavement knowing that it might be one of the last times this would be the case until you turned inwards and started to ride your own event. I got passed by tons of people as I was spinning at a super high cadence and could only wonder what the dirt road held in store ahead. The last familiar face I saw on the road was the wife! She had passed me on the last mile of pavement and was also getting ready for the dust fest that was about to ensue.
As soon as we turned off the pavement and onto the dirt road 300, it was a little bit of a mess. There are essentially two good lines to climb that punchy climb and both lines had stacked conga lines of riders snaking their way up. This is where the hard work on the singlespeed started. I was stuck behind some folks at a slow pace and was forced to hit the bad line in the middle of the road that was soft to try and pass. I worked hard to pass a bunch of folks and settle into a pace that felt comfortable. The challenge was not going too far into the red while working to pass people or else it would take too much out of the legs which only meant paying for it later.
I managed to pass a bunch of folks and find a pace that felt comfortable and not be in the middle of a pack and being forced to ride at their pace.
Pretty soon, road 300 leveled off a little and we turned on to a connecting fire road for a little more climbing. We tied into the Duodenum trail. This was my biggest fear for a significant bottleneck. The trail ascended 400 ft through 31 quick and steep switchbacks. I had ridden this trail about two weeks prior and remembered the trail being extremely loose/sandy. My fear was that it would be extremely difficult to pass anyone on the singlespeed and that there might very well be a big hike a bike section since if one person dismounted it might mean everyone else behind them would be in for the same action.
My worst fears were mollified a little as we continued up the trail and only had to stop twice for people dismounting ahead of me. Part of my fear was realized though as I had to grind a really slow cadence on the singlespeed as I was stuck behind people. I was thankful for the cooler temps as we snaked our way up the 31 switchbacks.
The trail leveled off and we hit some moto trail that was a little lumpy and bumpy. We quickly hit a short tekkie downhill section where people were dismounting to walk through. I was stuck in that weird part of the race where people with fitness were ahead of me but some of those did not have good mountain bike skills and were either slowing down during tek sections or dismounting.
I reminded myself it was a long day and soon enough things would open up and allow for the natural order of things to sort itself out relative to pace.
We hit another fire road and I tried settling into a comfortable pace until we hit the next trail at Kiwa. I bumped into some more familiar faces as I started to reel people in on the single. It was fun to chat with a few folks and click the miles away. From Kiwa, we tied into Tiddly where we would connect into Wanoga. We got stuck behind some folks on the singletrack and I made myself remember that it was a long day and not to get too stressed about people not letting me pass. There were a couple of Y's in the trail where I was able to pass a few folks that just were not finding of feeling the flow yet.
The first aid station was at Wanoga and I did not stop as I had plenty of fuel and water to get me to Aid 2.
The course took us on more road until we tied into DinaMoHum and we climbed for a little until we got to descend for a bit. The descent was fun and I was thankful to be heading down the trail (as opposed to heading up the trail at about mile 75 in prior years on this race). The trail flattened out and we got thrown out onto road 950. 950 was loose and soft with no good line at all...urgggg...I knew it was going to be a slog uphill on loose crappy road for a bit. My expectations were met as we continued on the loosest part of the course.
We worked our way over towards Century where we went through the underpass and walked our way up Vista (or the sand wall, or sand pit, or beach). After a short and steep hike a bike through soft sand we hit the road that eventually ties into Dutchman, but we would spur off heading towards Swampy. After a short climb we got to descend into swampy. I passed several people on the descent and started to feel like I was finding my pace for the day. I stopped briefly at the bottom of the descent at Aid 2 and filled up a water bottle. I did not linger and kept moving.
I knew the next 15 miles or so was mostly on singletrack so it was a great opportunity to ride fun trails that were all very familiar. This was my backyard and it was fun to be able to take advantage of that a little.
Soon enough we were on the Swede Ridge Connector and tied into Sector 16 where we worked our way through the windy trail to Upper Whoops. Upper Whoops was fast and fun as always. We descended way too quickly and before we knew it were on Skyliners and about 3 miles away from the next Aid station at mile 53.
This next Aid station was something that I had mentally prepped for as it was the last aid station before the BIG climb of the day. I stopped, filled my bottles, and dumped calories into my bottles to mentally pysch myself for the next big grind. This was the crux of the day. We would ascend to over 6,800 ft over the course of the next 15 miles. It was the grind of the day...once we got to the next Aid station, this big climbing would be done and it would be mostly flat or downhill back to the finish.
One of the volunteers at the Aid station took my bottles and said out loud 'Red Helmet, Red Shirt, Black Face'...she was saying that so she knew who to hand the bottles back to, but it made me realize that I must have had some serious dirt face action going on!
I tried not to linger too much at this Aid station either...The sooner I started back up, the sooner this climb would be done. It was starting to get into the heat of the day and it would take about 2 1/2 hours to get through the upcoming slog-fest.
The legs and body were starting to get tired. I knew this was the steepest and hardest part of the day. The climbs would pitch up at a few spots and require a little hike a bike. We hit 4601, gained a few hundred feet and then tied into Mrazek where we climbed our way up to Metolius Windigo and into the old growth. We crossed the creek right before the Happy Valley connector and I stopped at the creek and splashed some water on my face to cool off a little. Once we darted back into the trail, the canopy of the old growth provided nice shade and cooler temps...ahhh
Unfortunately it was only a temporary ahhh as the climb kicked up quickly. At this point I knew we only had about another 1000 ft in elevation gain until we got to descend. I dug deep and just grinded through the ass kicking that was being doled out.
As we started to hit the upper elevations, we started to hit snow drifts. The snow drifts got bigger and deeper and forced us all off our bikes to hike a bike through them.
After what seemed like countless dismounts and remounts we started the desecent. As we worked our way around Tumalo Ridge to Dutchman, I kept thinking how the trail was longer than I remembered it.
I got to Dutchman and knew that the hard part of the day was behind me...not it was time to enjoy the payoff! This aid station is the only place where I had a drop bag....I sat down to replenish bottles and calories and once again tried not to stick around for too long.
As soon as we left Dutchman, the trail kicked up and just crushed my soul...this was not in my mental layout of the course so it hit me like 2x4 across the side of the head. Fortunately it was not a long climb and it leveled off soon thereafter. We continued to descend on the road back towards Vista. I had these mental points on the course and the next mini crux on the course was just beyond the sand pit descent where the trail would kick up into a steep and loose fire road. I knew this was going to be hike a bike and sure enough there were peeps doing just that as I approached.
At the top of the climb, I noticed a truck head down the way we were supposed to go on 950. It is an open course so there is always that possibility. This was such a buzzkill! It was a nice long descent and I was stuck behind a truck who was going 10 miles an hour and kicking up so much dust that I could not see more than about 30 feet in front of me. This was BRUTAL! After a couple of miles of dust lung, they turned off and I could let go of the brakes for the last 1/2 mile of descent...urggg
The road turned into a little uphill grind and then more spinning on open road until the next aid station on the way back...Wanoga...I stopped quickly for a quick bottle fill on the water. My plan was to use that to spray myself a little on the descent.
From Wanoga, we hit Tiddlywinks for the last 17 miles back into town. Game ON! Before the full on descent, we had to do a little more climbing though. It was through open terrain and it felt warm as we worked our way up.
This uphill also seemed longer than I remembered but I knew it was one of the last pushes back to the finish before all my work would be from descending and hitting the brakes!
I started to catch more people on the descent and was noticing that I felt leaps and bounds better than I did at the same point in the race the prior year.
Tiddlywinks turned into Storm King and I passed a few more people who I knew would all pass me back up when we hit the pavement and I was spun out on the single.
My premonitions held as I finished up the dirt and hit the pavement. I settled into acceptance of getting reeled in my people on gears on the last 7 miles of pavement. I resorted to counting how many people passed me on the pavement I spun spun spun....from the bottom of Storm King to the finish, 8 people passed me but the beauty was that the finish was just ahead!
I tried to enjoy the last few miles as best I could and just appreciated not feeling completely tapped out like the prior year.
I turned off the pavement and on to the final piece of dirt to the finish...went under the banners and was handed a cold coke and cold washcloth...life was GOOD! It was time to relax, collect on the growler (finish growler) and chill. The wifer was still out on the course and I wondered how she was holding up...her race report forthcoming.
All in all, it was a good day. I finished in 10:31 which was faster than last year. This was in part due to weather but mostly to do with a faster course. There was still over 10K of climbing but I think there was more road this year which lent itself to faster times.
Monday, July 21, 2014
2014 High Cascades 100 Pre Race thoughts....
There is always a certain level of anticipation and trepidation going into any hundie for me. This year's HC100 would be no different. The questions always linger...Did I train enough (perhaps)? Did I over-train (most unlikely)? Would the bike hold up? Did I have the nutrition dialed? hydration dialed? bike dialed? course dialed? management of conditions? etc...
As with everything, you can always get into analysis paralysis and at some point you just have to get on your bike and ride.
This year had a few extra variables involved. I broke my Lynskey frame about 3 months ago and had subsequently been riding the wife's single speed for most of my training. I got my new Lynskey about a month before the race and was in a bit of a mad rush to get it built up and ready to ride so I could get used to the bike prior to race day. I was able to get one longer ride in but still did not feel like I was one with the bike. This was a big unknown relative to how the body would feel after several hours on the bike.
My training was a bit more of a question mark for me this year too. My longest training ride was not as long as I would have liked due to the bike shuffling but also due to a bit of a mechanical on my scheduled long ride. I was about 25 miles into my ride when I sliced the sidewall of my tire open and had to put a boot into my sidewall to get me back home.
From a nutrition standpoint I went with a liquid calorie approach...how would the stomach hold up?
From a gear ratio perspective, I also changed it up from the past two years. My first HC100, I went with a 32x20. Last year I went with a 32x19. This year I had been riding a 32x18 all year and left that on for race day. How would the legs hold up?
There were also some other variables involved that everyone else was dealing with...The trail conditions were softer/looser this year. We had snow drifts in the high country so there was bound to be more hike a bike. The course proper was not finalized until the week before the race. This made it difficult to pre-ride big sections of the course (combo of snow and course finalization). The weather was also a big unknown as it had been in the mid to high 90's leading up to race day.
The other cool thing about this year's race was that the wife signed up for a long day in the saddle too. This year would also have a different flavor because of that. It was fun to see her get her long training rides and also go through the agonies of pondering the similar questions above.
Race reporting forthcoming...
As with everything, you can always get into analysis paralysis and at some point you just have to get on your bike and ride.
This year had a few extra variables involved. I broke my Lynskey frame about 3 months ago and had subsequently been riding the wife's single speed for most of my training. I got my new Lynskey about a month before the race and was in a bit of a mad rush to get it built up and ready to ride so I could get used to the bike prior to race day. I was able to get one longer ride in but still did not feel like I was one with the bike. This was a big unknown relative to how the body would feel after several hours on the bike.
My training was a bit more of a question mark for me this year too. My longest training ride was not as long as I would have liked due to the bike shuffling but also due to a bit of a mechanical on my scheduled long ride. I was about 25 miles into my ride when I sliced the sidewall of my tire open and had to put a boot into my sidewall to get me back home.
From a nutrition standpoint I went with a liquid calorie approach...how would the stomach hold up?
From a gear ratio perspective, I also changed it up from the past two years. My first HC100, I went with a 32x20. Last year I went with a 32x19. This year I had been riding a 32x18 all year and left that on for race day. How would the legs hold up?
There were also some other variables involved that everyone else was dealing with...The trail conditions were softer/looser this year. We had snow drifts in the high country so there was bound to be more hike a bike. The course proper was not finalized until the week before the race. This made it difficult to pre-ride big sections of the course (combo of snow and course finalization). The weather was also a big unknown as it had been in the mid to high 90's leading up to race day.
The other cool thing about this year's race was that the wife signed up for a long day in the saddle too. This year would also have a different flavor because of that. It was fun to see her get her long training rides and also go through the agonies of pondering the similar questions above.
Race reporting forthcoming...
Monday, July 14, 2014
High Cascades 100....T minus 5 days....
The High Cascades 100 is right around the corner. The race is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, July 19th. We have reached the stage of believing in the miles logged in the saddle and hoping you have logged enough miles. What is done is done and no fitness gains or losses to be realized this week prior to the day of suffering.
This will most likely be my least favorite course to date for this race. There appears to be more road (as opposed to single track) than years past and more 'loose sections' where we will be riding through some beach sand. Add into the mix that the high country has not yet melted and we will be hike a biking through the upper elevation trails that still have significant snow drifts.
There are a couple of other factors that will contribute to my pre-conceived notions of my least favorite HC 100 to date: The enduro and Oregon 24 races were on part of the course of the HC 100 in the 2 weeks prior to the HC 100 race day...reading between the lines, these sections of trail will be trashed and loose as riding in a sand pit with brake bumps to match.
The upside is that there will be less climbing so theoretically the course should be faster (although course condition in the high country and the aforementioned trail conditions might offset that).
The other wrinkle for me as a singlespeeder is that the race won't spread out for longer and my guess is there will be a huge bottleneck going up Doudenem. There is a 400 ft punchy climb about 14 miles in where the field won't yet be spread out. I will be at the back of the pack due to the course until that point (mostly flat pavement with a fire road climb). This means I will most likely be trying to grind a SLOW gear going up the punchy climb as I will be stuck behind those geared types : ) This steep and punchy climb is loose with little to no room to pass so I fear for the worst...having to either push a really slow gear behind them there gearies (and using way more energy than I want to due to having to go at that super slow cadence), or having to dismount due to the pace.
Once we get through that first uphill, things should start to spread out a little but it is going to be a bit of a buzzkill for that initial climb.
The other little detail for this course is that the big climb comes late in the day when the legs will most likely be fried!
At least the weather folk are forecasting a slight cool down into the low 90's on race day so perhaps the weather gods will smile on us as we are out there suffering...
the course as posted:
This will most likely be my least favorite course to date for this race. There appears to be more road (as opposed to single track) than years past and more 'loose sections' where we will be riding through some beach sand. Add into the mix that the high country has not yet melted and we will be hike a biking through the upper elevation trails that still have significant snow drifts.
There are a couple of other factors that will contribute to my pre-conceived notions of my least favorite HC 100 to date: The enduro and Oregon 24 races were on part of the course of the HC 100 in the 2 weeks prior to the HC 100 race day...reading between the lines, these sections of trail will be trashed and loose as riding in a sand pit with brake bumps to match.
The upside is that there will be less climbing so theoretically the course should be faster (although course condition in the high country and the aforementioned trail conditions might offset that).
The other wrinkle for me as a singlespeeder is that the race won't spread out for longer and my guess is there will be a huge bottleneck going up Doudenem. There is a 400 ft punchy climb about 14 miles in where the field won't yet be spread out. I will be at the back of the pack due to the course until that point (mostly flat pavement with a fire road climb). This means I will most likely be trying to grind a SLOW gear going up the punchy climb as I will be stuck behind those geared types : ) This steep and punchy climb is loose with little to no room to pass so I fear for the worst...having to either push a really slow gear behind them there gearies (and using way more energy than I want to due to having to go at that super slow cadence), or having to dismount due to the pace.
Once we get through that first uphill, things should start to spread out a little but it is going to be a bit of a buzzkill for that initial climb.
The other little detail for this course is that the big climb comes late in the day when the legs will most likely be fried!
At least the weather folk are forecasting a slight cool down into the low 90's on race day so perhaps the weather gods will smile on us as we are out there suffering...
the course as posted:
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Smith Rocks
A day out at Smith...we went climbing a while back and chased the shade for most of the day...good day out, and just a reminder of just how much climbing there is to be had at this mud-pile....
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Bend Area Trails Post Burn(s)
Central Oregon has been in early fire mode this summer/spring and it has made riding a little interesting this year as trails have been closed off.
The first set of photo's are post-fire of a controlled burn area around the Phil's trail system.
The second set are from the destruction after the 2 Bulls fire that was a little more scary as it was not a controlled burn and was way too close for comfort for Bendites!
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