Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Grand Raid

There were 2 reasons I chose to go after the Grand Raid this summer: any endurance race through the Swiss Alps has to be pretty cool, and it was a qualifier for the 2012 marathon world championships.  I originally planned to do a UCI race in Austria the weekend of the Grand Raid, because the Grand Raid looked too long...  125k with 15,000ft of climbing and a winning time of 7:10 in 2010.  I've never even ridden my mountain bike that long, let alone raced that long.  But when I saw the Grand Raid was on the calendar as a qualifier for the 2012 marathon worlds I had a change of heart.  It was a good choice!

The Wednesday before the race I got an idea how cool the race would be when Beth and I went out to preview the middle part of the course.  Permanent course markers on all of the trails and roads, amazing views down into the Sion Valley and later views of the glaciers above Evolene, and a few sections of actual single track!  The course is a super cool point to point starting in the famous ski town (and tour de france mountain top finish) of Verbier.  From there it's up over a pass, down into the town of Nendaz, and a repeating of several more passes and cool Swiss mountain towns.  Each town had a feed zone on the main street and the feeds are fully stocked with bottles, gels, and food hand ups for all riders. 

Race morning dawned with perfect weather and a short 10min warm-up was all that was needed with the long day ahead.  From the gun I felt pretty good, but paced myself a little slower than the week before at Eiger Bike.  I was still riding in the top third of the 100 elite riders at the top of the first 3,000ft climb and rolled pretty comfortably with a small group of riders from there...  A lot goes through the mind during such a long race, but I've really found some joy in trying to just be in the moment and that was my focus for the next several hours.  Not thinking about anything and simply riding in the moment...

A few hours of mountain roads and trails later I made my way down into Evolene for my second and last feed from Beth.  I was riding just inside the top 30 and feeling good, but knew the biggest climb was still ahead.  The section that looked scariest on the profile was also the section I didn't pre-ride.  A climb from 4,000 up to 9,000ft which included at least a little bit of hike of bike at the top...  By now I was a catching a lot of riders doing the shorter version (they start at other towns midway along the long course and go to the same finish) but the other Elites were pretty well spread out.  I got back in the moment and ground out some 10-12% jeep road climbing for I don't know how long, probably a full hour.  I passed one guy and one guy passed me.  Then at some point we were getting above the tree line and came around a bend to see one of the craziest sights I've ever seen in a race.  Way up on a barren ridge ahead there was a line of riders that looked like little ants from where I was, all walking straight up the slope.   A couple minutes later I rolled to the bottom of the ridge and the road we were on ended, with only a hiking trail going on.  It was a very long 30 minutes of pushing my bike up the rocky scree before making it to a huge cheering crowd at the top.  I have no idea how all the swiss families and fans got out there to the middle of nowhere, but they were on the 9,000ft pass cheering us on. 

From there I knew there was a 15k descent to look forward to.  The top 20, which would qualify for worlds, was out of grasp.  But I was loving the moment, my legs still worked, and I pushed as hard as I could on the descent.  The bottom half turned into some fairly technical trail and I was able to blow by a couple elite riders before dropping into the finish where thousands of riders and friends were cheering everyone in.  It was super cool and felt amazing to finish such an amazing day on the bike.  I was blessed that day and definitely felt it.

Only later that evening when Beth and I made it to out hotel was I able to pull up the full results.  Turns out I was riding a couple spots further up in the field than I thought and the guys I passed on the last downhill actually put me into 20th overall on the day.  The dream of going to worlds is alive and well!

RESULTS

GARMIN

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Eiger Bike Challenge

The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation. –CS Lewis


My race result at the Eiger Bike Challenge is not what I was hoping for. My journey getting to such a tough endurance race in the middle of the Swiss Alps was everything I was hoping for and more. The 2 months or so leading up to my current Europe trip have been a challenge in themselves. I pushed myself as far as I ever have at work, in training / resting, and in planning. Most importantly I didn’t forget my faith and that I need the grace of God to get through every single day. Of course everything wasn’t perfect and there were plenty of stressful days. A week of relaxing with Beth in beautiful Lauterbrunnen at the base of the mighty Jungfrau Peak made it all worthwhile though.

Then it was time to race the Eiger Bike. At 7am the gun went off and the next 60 minutes were spent ascending a 3,000 foot paved climb, heart rate pegged at 180 to stay with the 3rd group of elite riders on the road. A few of the top marathon racers in the world were on hand and were already putting minutes on the rest of the elite riders. The next hour and a half weren’t much different with some very fast descents, several thousand more feet of climbing, and heart rate running only a couple beats lower. Half way through there was finally enough of an off road descent for me to pass a few riders when a random rock badly cut my rear tire and I flatted. I had to cover the cut inside the tire for the spare tube to even work so it was a slow change and quite a few riders came by.

Once I did get going again the result I was hoping for was suddenly out of grasp. Then my legs started cramping. We were doing some long descending before going out onto the last third of the course (another 3,000ft climb) and the rolling terrain was wrecking my legs. Every time at the end of a downhill when I needed to start pedaling my quads would try to lock up. I was able to ride through the cramps but had to start backing off my pace quite a bit and start settling for just finishing the race. The last 2 hours were long! In the end I was 37th overall out of about 200 riders that did the long course, and about 1,000 total mountain bikers at the Eiger Bike.


It wasn’t my best physical performance, but I feel totally blessed to have finished.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107654979



Thursday, August 11, 2011

Eiger Bike Pre-Ride

Our first few days in Switzerland have been amazing!  Yesterday we went to Grindewald and I pre-rode some of the course for the Eiger Bike Challenge.  Finding my way around was tough because there are so many paths through the mountains here.  The views were some of the most amazing I've ever seen while riding.  The trails were, uh, not trails, but steep little roads for the most part.  They're tough enough to make a decent mountain course though, especially with the afformentioned views.  

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/105584329

The Swiss (and people that visit here) are really cool and definitely love the mountains.  The hikers, local farmers, base jumpers, and cows aren't affraid to enjoy the crazy terrain God created here.  It hasn't been bad on my mountain bike either.



Saturday, August 6, 2011

Training Block

The work is done and tomorrow morning Beth and I are off to Switzerland!  I'm so thankful to be able to make this trip and looking forward to some vacation time, and of course some big races - The Eiger Bike Challenge and The Grand Raid!

After racing Downieville and Nationals I took a rest week and then did a big 11 training block focusing on endurance rides both weekends with lots of climbing.  I also raced Over the Hump twice for some intensity.  In the end I logged about 30 hours and 35,000ft of climbing.  I followed that up with 3 days of 45min recovery spins, then a pretty tough 3.5hrs with a solid hour of tempo climbing today.  Now it's time to travel, a couple more easy days, big ride Wednesday, couple more easy days, and then it's go time at the Eiger!