Chupacabras 100KM

Yes, I know, the Chupacabras is a animal/monster that sucks blood from sheep, but the Chupacabras 100KM is a mountain bike race held in Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua (Mexico) that sucks the energey from mountain bikers. This is a HUGE race. This year they broke last year's record with over 3500 racers.

PRE-RACE
This was my first time doing it so I didn't know anything about the course. I decided to go do it since my friend Jay said he was doing it (and signed up for it) but then chickened out at the last minute (He had a good excuse though - watching his son play in a soccer tournament). As luck would have it, Jay and I stayed with a friend (Danny) of his that was racing, so at least I had some company.

Danny and his wife Liz (and Jay) gave me the scoop on the race and the course. The only thing I really got out of it is to be careful on the Levee and the long hike-a-bike section. The morning of the race, Danny got me in the front chute (which made a big difference) using somebody else's name. The rule is that the top 100 finishers from the previous year get to line up in the front chute, but this was a rule that was only followed for about 20 minutes, then everybody was jumping over and lining up wherever they could find space for their bikes. I was still in the 3rd or 4th row by the time the race started.

Danny and I were both lined up about 7:45 AM... the race started at 9 AM, which meant not much of a warm up. I wanted to get a good start since the race went straight into the levee after 1/2 mile or so.

THE START
When the gun went off, I was bit careful, but moved up pretty quickly. I was in the top 20 by the time we hit the levee. I stayed near the front, but the main pack was moving rather slowly - probably around 17-18 mph. I was getting pushed back so I decided to go to the front, take a pull for a minute or two and warm up the legs. I pulled for about 30 seconds and looked back thinking somebody would come around but there was nobody there. Pack was about 30 meters behind me, so I decided to keep going. Pace felt comfortable.

I was off the front by myself for about 10 minutes and built a lead of about 200 meters. Finally, 2 other riders bridged up to me, then 5 more came across. The 9 man break worked really well together and everybody was drilling it. I pulled when it was my turn, but wasn't overly anxious to do to much pulling, we still had 55 miles to go. When we got off the levee into some single/double track section, we were still together but only 4 or 5 of us were working, the rest were struggling to keep up. We finally got back on the levee and this is were we were caught by the Pros - two Italians, Emmanual (from Turbo, a professional mexican team) and a Trek-VW riders. The Trek-VW rider had some mechanical about 1 mile later and never saw him again. Not sure if he finished or not.

We had to "cyclocross" across a couple of railroad ties and this is where the pros dropped me like a hammer ...'Adios amigos!!'.

INLAND WE GO
We finally stared going inland - after over 20 miles - which meant climbing was about to begin. The course is fairly flat with just over 3,000 ft. of climbing - good for me!! We went through a very poor neighborhood with dogs all over the place, and I was still in the top 10. Once we hit the first real climb - steep and loose - but short, more fast guys were catching up with me. My initial goal was top 100, but after talking to Danny and Liz, my goal dropped to top 50, so I was in great shape.

Just before the King Kong steps (the first hike-a-bike) we went though a feed area that also had a microphone and probably a hundred or so fans just encouraging the racers. The announcer was telling every rider their position, which I thought was very cool. I was 18th. Maybe I could get a top 20????

I had done the first 35 miles in just under 2 hours - OFF ROAD!! I was moving pretty good. I got passed by a few other riders and by the time I hit the King Kong steps, I was 24th. Maybe I could get a top 25???? :-)

The steps turned into a 7 minute hike-a-bike - not bad. Danny and Jay had told me that the hike-a-bike section was 20-30 minutes long and I thought they were full of it since it took me about 7 minutes. The next section was fun downhill singletrack through a wash. I was catching people on the technical sections, but it was hard to pass. At one point, I tried to pass another rider in the wash only to realize that the trail went in another direction. I had to stop, catch the same rider and finally pass him... AGAIN!!

Another feed zone, with fans and sound system --- 22nd!!

"THE" HIKE A BIKE
I realize that the steps was not the section that Danny and Jay had mentioned when I saw the climb. This is a brutal, rocky, loose, steep and long section that is 100% UNRIDEABLE. It climbs about 500 ft. in about 1/4-1/2 mile and took me about 35 minutes. Got passed by a few riders .... need to practice hiking while carrying my bike before next year's race. I had new shoes that I had only worn twice before this event and never really walked in them. I thought cycling shoes were for CYCLING!! not hiking. WTF??!!?

Once at the top, then come the other half of the WTF??!!? La Bajada del Diablo (transalation: the Devil's downhill). Ummm? I wonder if it's technical? I stopped to retighten my shoes at the top - a rider goes by and about 30 yards down, he goes down really hard. There's my answer. It is a bit technical. I was riding well on the downhills, and didn't have any issues. I missed one switchback were I had to dab and also walked the last 20 yards due to another one that was followed with a very steep section with big boulders at the bottom. Too old for that shit - I can walk.

THE FINISH
I ended up catching a couple of riders once we hit the dirt roads again, but the last little climb - called the Terminator - did me in. My legs didn't want to keep going. I lost contact with the two, then another rider that I had dropped just about 2 miles ago, caught and I couldn't stay on his wheel. My legs were done. I rode the last 5 miles at a decent pace, not too slow, but didn't have much umph!! in them. I finished the 64 miles in 4:46 - I'm pretty sure I finished around 25th place. Final posting are not in yet. Danny came in about 5 minutes later probably right around 30th place.

POST RACE
This is a big event, with all sorts of drinks, food, vendors at the finish. Top 650 finishers get a jersey, so if you think you can finish 100 km in less than 6:30 hours, you get a jersey. I stongly recommend anyone thinking about to come out and do it. The course is fun (mostly) with only 3000 ft. of elevation gain. I had lots of fun. We parked the cars in El Paso and rode our bikes across the border to the park. About a 1.5 mile ride. If you come, remember to bring proof of citizenship so you can get back into the US. Many thanks to Danny and Liz for taking such good care of me.

Next up is another 100 km race this Saturday in Ensenada. Thanks for reading!!

Payson Stampede 24 Hour race

This weekend was the Payson Stampede 24 hour race. We put together a 4 man team (Dan K., Dan V., Rober and myself) called Masters of Adrenalin. The team Adrenalin had another 4 man team in the Open Division, but since all 4 of us are over 40, we opted to race with in the old man category.

The course was different than when I did it 2 years ago as a solo rider in the 12 hour race. The course starts with some jeep road, then head down the a nasty "singletrack" section which is really rocky and a great place to "eat it". The hard part of the course other than the rocky downhill is the climb. A nasty climb with some sections as steep as 20%. The climb took about 12-15 minutes, then a rolling section, then downhill/flat for the last 3 miles of a 9 mile loop.

The start is Le Mans style, in other words, you have to run for a 1/4 mile to your bike, then head onto the course. Since nobody on the team wanted to run, I "volunteered" (meaning: what choice did I have) to run and do the first lap. The run took me about 2 minutes and I was somewhere in the top 20-30 riders. Once on the course, I passed quite a few riders throughout the first 5 miles. As I hit the final 3 flat miles somebody on the side of the road told me as was the 6th rider through (I thought I was 10-15th) so I was rather pleased. My first lap was just about 45 1/2 minutes plus my run time.

Dan K. was the second rider, Dan V. the third and Robert closed the rotation, then I start over. Dan K., Dan V. and myself were pretty consistent during the day running about 45 minute laps. Robert has some stomach issues and was about 5 minute slower. Once the night came, our laps slowed down a bit, but only by 3-5 minutes.

Results were slow in coming, so we never really knew how were doing for long periods of time. By 10 PM, we were 4th overall in the 4 man category and 1st in our age group by 2 laps. By 4 AM, we were 3rd overall and now up by 2.5 laps in our age category.

At 8 AM, results were posted again and were solid in 3rd place overall, but it meant that we had to keep riding - we were all pretty tired in the morning since nobody got any sleep other than 10-15 minutes. My last lap started around 8:30 AM, and I decided to take it easy - I told Dan K. to expect me in an hour - but once on the trail I just kept a steady tempo, and granny gear on the climbs. This lap was my slowest, but I still managed to finish the lap in a respectable 51 minutes.

The other Adrenalin team was battling for the win and headed into the next to last lap, they had a 9 minute advantage. No news yet on whether they were able to stay in front or not - they were down to 2 riders for the last 4 hours vs. 4 riders on the team that was chasing them.

Overall I rode for 5.5 hours in the two days, but pretty much an all out efforts for the majority of the time. Climbed over 9,000 ft. and averaged 11.5 mph while racing. Not bad considering the course and the long climb.

This is a fun race, but hard. Next year it'll be the National Championship for 24 hour racing, so hopefully all mtn bikers will come out and support the event.

Wendy was my support person and she did a great job, always feeding me and making most of my drinks, except while she slept from 10 to 6 :-) Must be nice!! Max and Flor, our two dogs made the trip with us. They were pretty tired from the "run" on Friday and remained under the shade the entire time, they were great. Never bothered anyone, always by the campground. Even stayed there while we were in the big team RV.

That's it for now. I slept most of the way home, napped when I got home, and now I'm ready to go to bed and it's not even 8 PM.

Saludos a todos, talk to you soon. Next event will be Chupacbras 100 KM race in Ciudad Juarez on October 11th.

TransRockies finale

Since Wendy has not updated the blog with the last day of TransRockies, I figure I better tell you "all" about it... at least my version of it.

Another beautiful day - we were very lucky with the weather - in the Rockies. A little chilly in the morning, but it actually go to the mid 80's early in the day. Wendy and Stu started in Vail, and I cleaned up the RV, packed our stuff and headed to Beaver Creek - a long 10 miles drive :-)

I parked at the bottom parking lot, since I was told the spaces were limited at the finish and since I have my bike, I could ride to the top. Little did I know that the runners ran right by the RV. I rode the last 7 miles of the running course and let me tell you, it was pretty damn hard. The pitches were a few short climbs with at least a 25% grade and the steepest of them all, which was straight up a ski run, must've been about 30% (this was the only one I was not able to ride) and was about 200 yards long. Brutal!!!

Once at the top it was a mix of fire roads, paths, and singletrack. Nothing too difficult. To compare, it took me almost an hour and a half on the bike to cover the 14 miles to and from the finish line. I kept wondering how long it would take Wendy and Stu to cover it. I decided to run/hike/walk with them, so I changed into my "runner" kit and waited for them at the last control station - about 5 miles from the finish. Of course I was fresh for doing a bit of running, so once the two of them got there, I took the camera and would run ahead of them and snap some pictures, then run with them for a while and then repeat. Not to jump ahead, but my quads were a bit sore the next day.

Wendy and Stu finished in 9th place overall in the mixed category. About 18-19 teams started, but only 15 or 16 finished. Great job, specially for Wendy, as she has never done an ultra-distance event. I will say what I rode of the course was very difficult, but I would love to try to ride the whole thing.

I enjoyed myself tremendously. I ended up riding almost 20 hours, with just under 20,000 ft. of climbing, so it was a great training week for me. I did take me a few days to recover from the riding, but I'm back.

Next up for Wendy and me is the Payson Stampede 24 hour in two weeks, we're racing with some of the members of our new mountain bike team. I have a couple of 100 Km races in October and then Baja Epic, a 250 mile mountain bike race in early November. Stay tuned.