Well folks...this post deals with MoM...yeah she's a great gal that MoM. Actually MoM stands for Mas-o-Menos and it's the first race of the season in the USAC's National MTB Endurance Series.This is the first year of what I will call my semi-serious effort at Mt. Bike Racing. I turned 50 last year and did some races, but this year I wanted to really put some effort behind a run in the 50+ Masters Classes at National and Regional events.
So what was MoM like? All I can say is, “What a race”! Well Ok, maybe I can say a bit more...
I did the event with Ken Gauthier and Brad Peterson. Ken won the overall 50+ Sport Masters Class last year in the NM Offroad Series (NMORS). He's a really strong rider and someone I look to for motivation in this mildly competative world of Ol' Goat Mt. Bike racing. And Brad Peterson is a testament in his own right having come off of total hip replacement surgery last year to throw down for this event. (He and Matt's wife Jeni have something in common there).
So let me first paint the picture of where this race was held. It took place in Terlingua, TX. Since this is the first time I’ve been south of Las Cruses, it was a whole new experience for me. And being 4Hrs South of El Paso, let me just say, you really have to want to go to Terlingua. It is literally in the middle of a very beautiful nowhere.
Terlingua is an Old Mining “Territory” about 40 miles from Big Bend National park. It is in South TX Canyon Country. According to the following web site it has been a bit of a floating enigma for 40 years based on where the Post Office was located….or maybe no one knew people lived there so who needed mail. You can read more of that rich history here;
http://terlinguacitylimits.com/aboutterlinguatx.html
Suffice it to say that Terlingua is a trip and the people that live there are some of the friendliest folks who just want to get really far away from everyone else. However, they really like company and welcomed a merry band of Mt. Bikers for the Mas-o-Menos just like family. I don’t know if the whole “town” came out to put this show on, but since there’s not a whole bunch of people down there, it sure felt like it.
So what was the race like? Well it was held at the World Famous Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) Site…I’m sure you’ve all heard of it.
It had a wonderful rural kind of fairground atmosphere to it with plenty of camping (which we passed up for the comfort of the Easter Valley Chisos Mining Company Motel…gee I wonder why they call it that?).
But what really set this place in my memory is the riding. Absolutely gorgeous is all I can say. There is NOTHING out there to disrupt the shear stark beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert. It is really pretty country and stunning riding.
So what was the race course like? Well let me start by pointing out that this was the first stop on the USAC National Endurance Series and I should have had a clue right there. Well I did have a clue, but I guess not one I gave a whole lot of thought to other than, "gee they have a big climb!?" Maybe I should have snapped to almost 5ooo' of climbing...
This event is technically a "Marathon". Marathons are typically 50-60 miles long and require you to maintain a pretty solid pace. Obviously slower than a 20-30mile XC Race but it isn't a long drawn out grind like the 100mile and 24Hr "Enduro" events. I've started to get a feeling that Marathon distance races suite my riding style and my threshold tolerance for pain pretty well.
The race course itself winds around from the CASI Park(?) through the Lajitas Resort(?) and up through some private property. It starts out on a fast paced dirt road for probably 3 miles that leads to some swooping single track. This drops you down into a stone strewn creek bed for about a mile...
...before you come back out onto a sweet desert trail that meanders up and down and all around for about 15 miles.
Eventually you come up into some small techie ledge climbs and then back down into swooping single track. This dumps you out onto a dirt road for about 2-3 miles that leads to THE CLIMB.
The Tres Cuevas (Three Caves) climb points you up an old switch back mining road past some relics of the early 20th century. I’m sure you folks know what an old mining road is like. Pretty much straight up with very few spots to spin out the lactic acid.
Well after 3 miles and 1000’ feet of this sheer joy, you’re greeted with not one, and not two, but three false summits that just keep egging you on. When you FINALLY reach the Mesa top, the overwhelming desire to open it up on the winding single track up top is only overcome by the stark necessity of letting your legs recover from total exertion.
It’s all well and fine, because in about 2-3 miles after you’ve finally recovered, you’re then faced with being dumped (literally) down a treacherous two track that even for an avowed downhill bombing junkie like me, was a white knuckle affair. Not so much because it was somewhat ledgey and knarly, but because at speeds approaching 25+ mph the penalty for a failure to focus was huge.
It was really rugged and loose at points and all I can say is I blessed my meager soul on a number of occasions for the fact that I had 29” wheels. Thank my lucky stars for traction when I needed it.
So, after 31 miles of that experience you’re back at the CASI site and ready to do it again. Oh what joy!!!
For those of you familiar with NM Riding, picture the Gallup Dawn til Dusk High Desert trail System mixed with healthy doses of Cedro Peak. Stretch that out for 31 miles and you get the picture. This was not an easy course to ride…focus was the key word for the day. Combine that with some nasty looking cactus and creosote bushes and you definitely wanted to stay on the trail.
And did I mention flats? I saw a ton of people standing around on the side of the trail changing flats….all I can say is “tubeless baby”!!!!
OK…so what was the race like? Well, first off the weather was perfect. About 48F at the start with the sun coming up strong at 8:15AM. I was dressed in shorts with a shortsleeve jersey, arm warmers and a vest. I guessed right and was perfectly dressed for the first lap.
The start was nice because they staggered the age groups separately. So the 50K & 100K 50+ Old goats went out as a pack of probably about 40-50 of us. They paced us off the start and then let us rip once we got to the main dirt road out of the CASI Site. Very dignified I might say. I had been on the front of the line but by the time they let us fly I was probably in tenth or so behind Ken Gauthier headed down the road.
Now one of the draw backs is you could tell from number plates who was doing 50K and who was doing 100K. But if you can’t see the front of the bike, that doesn’t do ya a whole lot of good and you could end up trying to run down a guy who’s only doing one lap. On top of that the dust from the road really started to bug me after about 2-3 miles, so I settled in probably about 20th to let things shake out at the transition to single track. From there I just rode hard and established my own pace….60miles is a long haul.
As the first lap progressed I got the big wheels rolling and started picking folks off up in front. I was riding really well but had a couple get offs for folks who couldn’t clear the early arroyo bottom ups or the later ledge climbs. I was able to use my Cyclocross skills and run up and around some of those yahoos which made it all good. Some barking and growling, but you'll have that in a race.
By the time I reached the main Tres Cuevas climb I was able to hook on to two guys who gave me a good pace to clean it to the top. We passed a bunch of people walking and I just kept repeating the mantra of “it’s easier to ride than walk”. My legs actually felt great but I basically granny geared it because it is relentless and I didn’t want to blow up. Spin, spin, spin went the little engine.
When we hit the top I was able to recover quickly and move across the mesa at a good pace, then down the decent. This was my first time down and I had some “Oh Jesus” moments, but I made it to the CASI Site in one piece and right at 2:45 for 31 miles. I felt good and was right on pace for a 5:30 over the 60miles, which was my target. I thought that would put me in the top 10 and that was my goal.
The transition went smooth. I re-upped my camelback with water, grabbed a fresh bottle of electrolyte mix and reloaded a Hammer Jell flask in my holster. I then stripped my arm warmers and my vest because it was getting warm (not a smart move as it would turn out). The temperature had risen to the upper 50’s and felt balmy.
I peeled a banana to eat riding out of the pit and I took off feeling fresh. I was in and out in a matter of a couple minutes and was looking forward to the second lap with a lot less traffic. That’s how it went, no one behind me, a couple folks out in front to give me something to chase and I was rocking.
Then at the 40mile point it started. A small thunder cloud up on the ridge of the Tres Cuevas climb was building up and out of it was a steady 10-20mph headwind. Ok I thought, just settle into a good pace and don’t try to overpower the wind. Well it worked me and worked me, but I didn’t back down. I felt good and could maintain power. By the time I hit the small ledge climbs at about mile 45, I began to feel a bit of a cramp coming on, but I worked through it. No worries!!!
Then things got intense. When I reached mile 50 right before the Tres Cuevas climb the wind had picked up to 20-25 with gusts to 35 or more and the temperature dropped. Oh how I was wishing for my arm warmers and vest at that point, but nothing to do but power on. There was dust flying everywhere and it was getting to be a bit of a Dorothy & Toto moment.
A really strong 30+ Female went by me on the road. I tried to hook onto her wheel but she was too strong for me at that point. Oh well, not the first time I've been girled and probably won't be the last. Then a 30+ guy went by and invited me to hook on and I was able to get on his wheel for about a mile. Man that helped, because my legs were going south with the wind in a hurry.
He dropped me at the base of the climb and I began a granny spin towards the top. I almost made the first part of the climb but got blown off my bike and was able to muster a Cyclocross run up to a flat and remount. From there I kept thinking of Jen Albright’s little moniker of “screen calls from the little voice that whispers get off and walk”. I love that little saying. And it helped big time. Thanks Jen!!!
I rode up most of the rest of the climb before I got blown off line again in a skree section. I was able to hustle up through that 10-20 yard section and do a flying Cyclocross leap back on the bike and have enough momentum to get spinning again. I just kept saying it’s easier to ride than walk so RIDE damn it!!!.
The wind was relentless. By the time I got to the false summits it was starting to rain a bit and I was like “great, I get to descend on wet rocks and gravel while freezing my ass off”. Fortunately it was only a sprinkle and I powered on, but the wind was still hammering. It wasn’t until I cleared the false tops and I got onto the mesa that it finally turned into a tail wind. Whoweeee... home free I said to myself and marshaled what energy I had left to fire off the mesa and down the descent.
I got in at 6:04 and placed 14th out of 29 - 100K old guys. The top time was a 4:41 for our age group, which is hauling. Ken came in 6th at approximately 5:37 and Brad came in 19th with a solid 6:37. The NM Boys did well and I'm particularly impressed with Brad given the Hip Surgery!!! You Rock Brad!!!
Out of the 29 riders in our age group, 11 of them DNF’ed. So finishing was an achievement. I ended up mid-pack in the Masters Class, which is not bad for my first National.
The overall results can be found here:
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2008&id=77&info_id=12105
In retrospect, I was only 6 mins out of a top 10 and could probably have gone harder, but not having ridden the course before I wanted to make sure I paced myself. I trained hard and I guess I could be a little disappointed that I didn’t meet the times I set for myself. I had really targeted a sub 6Hr ride and felt really comfortable after the first lap that it would not be a problem. But that’s the thing about Endurance racing and especially in the desert. Anything can and probably will happen. We all had to face the weather, those that got in sub 5:20 or so probably didn’t have to deal with the brunt of the wind going up the big climb. And that’s the way life goes sometimes.
In any event I felt good about my performance. I never got bonky or cramped, I didn’t have any mechanicals, I didn’t crash, I kept the cranks turning with relatively good power, I made the big climb twice with only a couple minor bobbles on the second go round and hey, I had fun. And that’s the most important thing!!!
So in closing, I’ll just say, Terlingua Territory is a long way from anywhere, but it was one of the most enchanting places to have a race.
Yeah ya had the local Texas color and the wind was whipping bad enough that even Toto wasn't in Kansas anymore. And yeah the town is a bit funky but I thought it was fantastic.
The food was yummy and the people supporting us incredibly friendly. The party afterwards was entertaining but the beer ran out way too soon. No worries there cause we were ready for sleep.
Overall the race was not only challenging but it was scenic and a great ride. And hey, ya know it's a good race when the kids are having fun.
So would I do it again? You bet!!! And I would encourage anyone who loves endurance events to give MoM a go….she’s a great gal in a great setting.
Ride on!!!
