As I was riding bikes with my group of high school girls the other night, I looked across the highway at the beautiful mountain. The only thing on my mind is how thankful I am for where I live, what I do, and the people in my life. This has been my first week since June that I have not woken up on Tuesday (and Thursday) morning eaten breakfast, thrown my bike gear on and headed out for a ride with the Crested Butte Deva girls. It felt weird, and somewhat empty. I know that it is a good thing that I am sad to see the season end, and the girls are excited to get back to school and see their friends, but I will miss my days riding bikes with them. I am just so proud of how those girls grew into young ladies over the summer! Learning how to push themselves on climbs and longer rides, change a tire, pick good lines, and most importantly how to be a friend to one another.
With the end of the last Deva week came another Big Mountain Enduro race this time in Steamboat Springs, CO. Like usual, Phil and I left early Wednesday morning to head over and work in Steamboat for the day. We were almost to Poncha Springs (1.5 hrs from home) and I realized that I did not bring ANY Honey Stinger snacks for the weekend! Good thing Steamboat is home to Honey Stinger, and I was able to grab some from the guys when we got to town!
Thursday morning Phil headed to do another shop visit while I watched the Olympics. When he returned we made a plan for pre riding the first day of courses. Unlike on race day, we drove to the courses to avoid a 10 mile bike path/road ride on practice day. From the parking lot we pedaled the short distance up to the start of stage 1, threw our knee pads on and checked out the course. Contrary to most of the enduro stages so far this year, this stage started out with a short descent into a decent sized climb. After the climb the course flattened out a bit with a bunch of LOOSE corners. The name of the game for race day would be: don't crash. After stage 1 Phil took the van over to stages 3 and 4 while I rode stage 2 over to meet him. Stage 2 was kind of a blur, climb, flat, descend, repeat. The trail eventually dumped you out on a two track and it was time to climb up to stage 3.
I think the best way to describe stage 3 is INSANELY SHORT! This was going to be a tough stage for me because it was less than 2 minutes long and had a bunch of rough road in it. Being so short I knew the times would all be fairly close together, meaning every little mistake I made race day would cost me. We transferred up to the start of stage 4 and ate a quick snack before heading down. Stage 4 was going to be a blast to race! Swoopy corners, short climbs, and blown out switch backs at the end! It was going to be a tough stage, but it was also going to be a fun stage.
Thursday morning Phil headed to do another shop visit while I watched the Olympics. When he returned we made a plan for pre riding the first day of courses. Unlike on race day, we drove to the courses to avoid a 10 mile bike path/road ride on practice day. From the parking lot we pedaled the short distance up to the start of stage 1, threw our knee pads on and checked out the course. Contrary to most of the enduro stages so far this year, this stage started out with a short descent into a decent sized climb. After the climb the course flattened out a bit with a bunch of LOOSE corners. The name of the game for race day would be: don't crash. After stage 1 Phil took the van over to stages 3 and 4 while I rode stage 2 over to meet him. Stage 2 was kind of a blur, climb, flat, descend, repeat. The trail eventually dumped you out on a two track and it was time to climb up to stage 3.
I think the best way to describe stage 3 is INSANELY SHORT! This was going to be a tough stage for me because it was less than 2 minutes long and had a bunch of rough road in it. Being so short I knew the times would all be fairly close together, meaning every little mistake I made race day would cost me. We transferred up to the start of stage 4 and ate a quick snack before heading down. Stage 4 was going to be a blast to race! Swoopy corners, short climbs, and blown out switch backs at the end! It was going to be a tough stage, but it was also going to be a fun stage.
The next morning we padded up to check out the bike park stages. The transfer up to stage 5 was a little bit brutal, climbing up 45 minutes of dirt road switchbacks. But hey! This is enduro, they never said the transfers were going to be easy! Stage 5 was pretty much just like a xc trail ride, with a couple of rock gardens thrown into the mix. The hardest part of stage 5 was going to be the sketchy two track full of rocks, and holes at the bottom. Stage 6 was going to hurt. With the start being fairly flat, followed by tight corners, and a good sized climb in the middle it was sure to make you hurt! The only thing I was looking forward to on 6 was the fast flowy techy section at the bottom.
Sometimes it is hard being at a race and hearing people talk about gnarly stages, such as stage 7. It can be hard to have an open mind after listening to these things, but I was confident that my practice at the bike park in Crested Butte would start to pay off. It turned out that stage 7 was SWEET! The gnar started about 30 yards from the start line and didn't let up the whole way down! Rocky corners into rock rolls, steep rock switchbacks covered in moon dust, rock drops, jumps, and finishing with a wooden drop! It was going to be an awesome stage! Phil and I took another lap on both stage 6 and 7 before calling it a night.
The next morning we rolled out bright and early on the journey to stage 1. Before I knew it the starters were calling my number and it was time to blast down! My game plan was to play it safe in the corners and pedal hard whenever I could. Other than the occasional blown corner (almost unavoidable with how loose it was) I made it down and was happy with my run. Stage 2 in race mode was much different than I had remembered it in practice. I was constantly hitting my pedals and didn't recall all of the climbing. Out of breath and hungry I coasted down to the Honey Stinger aid station and at some waffles and chews! Then it was pedal pedal pedal up to stage 3. You weren't going to be able to win the race on stage 3 but you could definitely loose it. I did my best to ride smooth and sprint across the line. The end. Stage 4 was SO MUCH FUN! I felt that I had finally found my rhythm in the loose corners and had a great stage. Phil was waiting for me at the bottom to catch the shuttle to Butcherknife Brewery for some mouth watering BBQ and a ice cold root beer.
Day 2: Oh boy. I think my summer of riding almost every day was starting to catch up to my legs... stage 5 hurt. The top was not smooth at all, coming to a few dead stops and having to restart, followed by dropping my chain. I did my best to push through and completed the stage as fast as I could. I stopped and fixed my chain guide before heading to stage 6 start. I was feeling pretty good about stage 6 and was ready to hammer up the climb and be clean through the corners. I got to the climb and didn't have anything left in my legs. I pushed as hard as I could but was much slower than I had envisioned myself riding it. I made it through the loose corners I was worried about and then I was down into the sweet flowy section! BAAAAM! I went down hard. Didn't see it coming at all. I picked up my bike and did a quick survey of the damage (mostly my elbow, and a torn jersey) and started back down the trail to the finish. Ouch. I must have pedaled harder than I thought because I was able to hold my position. My plan for stage 7 was to ride smooth and conservatively. I had SO much fun on stage 7! I knew it wasn't the fastest stage for me but it was clean! The weekend was a success! Huge thanks to the people who believed in me and made it possible for me to go to these races! Also thanks to my mechanic Phil for making sure my bike ran smoothly!