Colorado Mountain Biking

Laramie Enduro 111k

Last year, my friends and I had some vague notion that we wanted to challenge ourselves on our mountain bikes by doing a 100 mile endurance race. At the time, the one that looked most interesting was the Durango 100 because of the amount of singletrack it seemed to have. However, a few weeks into our "training" we decided that the fun of cycling was being sapped out of us – as we were riding for the wrong reasons. So, we bagged the idea, and instead just went out several times a week and had a good time on local trails. Yet, I noted that while 100 miles in rugged mountainous terrain was indeed beyond our immediate skill level (I had only been riding seriously for a year at that time), there were other rides that were shorter which someday might be within our ability. The Laramie Enduro caught my eye for a couple reasons. First, it was at a relatively low altitude (8000’-ish). Second, the overall elevation gain was not astronomical as some of the longer, mountain races. Third, it seemed to offer a wide variety of terrain, including a fair amount of singletrack. This appealed to me much more than simply doing long distance on a gravel road…

The idea of the Enduro was not put forth last year, as we all knew that we still had a ways to go to train up. Given our disinterest in preparing in any regimented fashion, it would have to happen naturally over time. As the months rolled over into 2005, I personally was riding more and more than ever before, and starting to get some serious miles logged. Rides that would have killed me in 2004 were suddenly coming much easier, as did the distance done in each ride. About 3 weeks before the 2005 Enduro, I felt the need to test myself to see where I stood with regard to endurance (who knows why). This left me (and any of my fool friends who wanted to join me) exactly 2 weekends to train up (those rides are elsewhere on this site). Frankly, this is about all the training I could handle…as those rides were not very fun. However, in all seriousness they were vital in helping me get my nutritional requirements hammered out, as well as give me an idea if I was way out of my league. I felt like they served their purpose and gave me the confidence to not only enter, but complete my very first endurance race.

Would it be possible to make the leap from casually riding 30 miles in a day, to riding 70+ miles in a race? Read on to find out…

PRE-RACE

We arrived in Laramie the night before the race, and got a room at the local Days Inn. Apparently this time coincides with Frontier Days in Cheyenne, so the room was a bit pricey. However, I knew that I needed a firm bed to get a good night’s rest before such an event. After getting our packets for the race, we went to the Altitude Grill for dinner (one of the sponsors of the race!), and loaded up on pasta and carbs to help us survive the next day. Sleep was so-so however, as the air conditioning unit in our room kept turning on and off incessantly, and the humming of the refrigerator was also annoying. I woke up several times during the night thinking about the race (not worried per se, just wondering what it would be like) and as such probably only got about 5 hours of sleep.

The race itself is about 10 minutes outside of Laramie, and so did not require us to get up at an obscene hour. Our wakeup call was supposed to be at 5:30, but both of us were already up and moving around before the wakeup call came in! We began the day by stretching in the room, suiting up, and then getting all of our gear and checking out of the motel. Neither of us ate any breakfast, in keeping with our nutrition plan to use Hammer products for this race. My plan was to start out with Hammer gels, and Endurolyte caps for the first part of the race, then supplement with Perpetuem once we were a couple hours into the race. They advise that for best results, these products should not be taken in conjunction with simple sugar foods/drinks – and also to avoid eating for up to 3 hours before a big event like this. I had done this procedure in training, and it worked well.

Lining up at the start.

We arrived at the parking area, and got our first taste of the race atmosphere as hundreds of people were unloading bikes, getting their equipment in order, and then moving towards the start line at the bottom of the hill. As we rode into the staging area, music was playing on the loudspeakers, and race officials were letting people know how much time was left before start, where to line up for the shotgun start, and many other things that I can’t quite remember. It was mainly a time to calm the nerves, chat with 100 other participants, talk about vague strategies of survival, try to get intel from people who had done the race before or had recently ridden the course to prepare. One gent said he rode the Breckenridge 100 recently, and also rode this course the week before – and he said this was going to be a lot harder! We didn’t need to hear that! It was also interesting to see a few teams huddled together preparing for the day, as well as the jovial mood everyone seemed to share. It was really a cool, festive atmosphere.

At about 7:00 the flag was thrown and away we went!

If you click on this map, you will see numbers, which correspond to the numbers in the rest of the article. This is probably only useful if you’ve done this race, or are going to ride it. Otherwise, just read it like a sequential story! For a larger version of the map (about 1.2 mb, click here).

THE RACE START to AID STATION #1 (0-18 miles)

1. Shotgun start, everyone just left as one big pack, with the fastest pro riders in the front, followed by the sport class, and finally the intermediates. We started out about in the middle of the whole pack. As we climbed the gravel road in the first mile, the field really became spread out, and I quickly lost Brandon in the crowd as he was slightly faster than me here. I wouldn’t see him again until the finish line! This was fine however, because unless two riders have exactly the same strength and speed, it really doesn’t make much sense for faster riders to wait for slower riders. Over the course of 70+ miles people are definitely going to need to go at their own pace and rhythm. After the first mile of road, the trail goes to singletrack, but was so crowded with riders in my part of the field it was slow going (certainly not crawl, but more like a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride). It was like a big fun group ride, with people hooting and shouting. Enthusiasm that would later be crushed!

2. The next section was a gentle climb on gravel road. The crowd was starting to spread out a bit. Mostly I was passed on this section, since lots of people had light bikes which powered up these hills. I would then pass a few of them on the downhills, as many riders were pretty tentative about going fast on gravel. At one point on a flat part, one of the tandems literally blew by me, in an impressive display of power. I would later wonder how a tandem made it over all the singletrack, but apparently they did just fine. Kudos to them!

3. The road here ended with one final downhill ending at a junction where we hit the singletrack again. This section was also very crowded, making you subject to the speed of the people in front of you. One hill caught many riders by surprise, forcing numerous dismounts. Another hill was un-rideable (for most of us) making another long procession of climbers walking their bike up the hill. Once to the top, I popped a gel shot and some e-caps for the first time (about 8 miles in), the time lost allowing about 10 riders to pass me again. I wasn’t concerned in the least about losing position to anyone in this race, as I knew the real race was between myself and the clock.

Looking over the Windy-Windy descent. It wasn’t bad, as long as you went slow!

4. The singletrack was fairly short here, and ended at the Windy-Windy descent. This is a very loose, very steep hill (maybe 100’ straight down) which is all gravel and very rutted. I stopped to snap a picture at the top, and as I went down I saw a guy passing me hit something funny, bounce so he was sideways in the air, and somehow land the bike again and continue downhill. This hill is easily rideable if you just take it slow and maintain control. Nonetheless, there were several people who washed out here. I’ve also heard one poor chap broke his arm here. Brandon wrecked here as well, as the guy in front of him fell over, forcing Brandon to bail. He was a little scratched up, but still serviceable! The trail then continued on the gravel road for about another mile of easy riding.

5. Once we left the gravel road it joined a dirt double track trail for a while, and began a long steady climb. A short ways in, it once again became hardpacked gravel, and at this point the riders were beginning to really spread out. The climb was never bad (middle chain ring), but riders with lighter bikes continued to pass me. I just dug in and did as many pedal cranks as I could swallowing my pride as rider after rider went by.

6. There was a volunteer at the top of the hill directing traffic, and we began one of the highlights of the entire ride here. Wide open sky, beautiful weather, and a fast downhill on a gravel road. Riders were pretty spread out here, so no one passed me, and I didn’t pass anyone else. Just a ripping good time for a couple miles as we all caught our breath from the last climb. One thing that would continually haunt me is how much ground/time I could have saved if I had a large chain ring. Since I only have a bash guard instead of a big ring, I felt like I was limited not only in the long downhills like this, but also on the fast flats where I couldn’t get going any faster than what I could make in my second ring. I often times would shift up and up and hit the limit, forcing me to be content pedaling at my max speed as limited by my rig. I’m sure this is a taste of what it is like to ride a Single Speed bike on a race like this!

7. The fire road became a bit more rugged once it reached the bottom of the hill, although it remained fairly level throughout. Once we reached the intersection with the main gravel road, we began a series of quick ups and downs, followed by a long continuous climb towards Aid Station #1. I still felt really good at this point (approaching 18 miles) although I was definitely moving at a pace that was slower than many of the riders behind me. On long climbs such as this, I would start to see more and more folks pass me by. Only on rare occasions did I catch up with anyone. Nonetheless, I still arrived at Aid Station #1 a full hour ahead of the cutoff time, so I felt that while I wasn’t going to be breaking any records, I should at least have enough time to complete the race at my own pace.

AID STATION #1 To AID STATION #2 (18-32 miles)

8. Aid Station #1 was a welcome relief because up until that point I had only had one Hammer gel (that came with our race packet) and some water. I made the mistake of assuming there would be goodies at the start of the race to fuel us up. I must have missed it if there was, so essentially the first 18 miles are done unsupported. I certainly didn’t plan that very well! So, here I picked up a few Hammer gels, downed one on-site, and refilled on water. Again, I was sticking to a strict nutritional diet based on advice given by Hammer. No solid foods (boy did that stuff look good!) and no Gatorade. I was in the pit for not more than 5 minutes, and away I went. Once past the aid station the gravel road continued for several more miles, with a variety of ups and downs. Generally this section wasn’t too bad, especially after the recharge of the aid station. It was a bit disconcerting to look across the valley and see riders going the other direction, knowing that I still had to go up the valley before coming back down where they were! The riders were spread out over probably 20 miles by this time already.

9. We were soon directed off the nice gravel road and on to a less well maintained forest service road that was mostly packed dirt. A volunteer was standing next to a truck here, informing us that a steep hill was around the corner…and sure enough there were several. We got our first taste of fast ups and downs here, with many people walking some of the steeper sections. I was able to ride most of this, although one hill was a steep ball bearing field which I decided wasn’t worth wasting the energy. This would be the first of many dismounts today!

10. We soon came to the point where the course first crossed the blacktop highway, and volunteers and the sheriff were out stopping traffic for us. This gave me a chance to take stock of my bike and take a short rest while pedaling along without worrying about terrain. At this point, my bike was performing up to specs (I just put on new tires, and a new rear wheel/hub). It was running dead silent, with clockwork precision. Soon that would change… Once off the highway, we had a short, bumpy downhill on a washboarded gravel road before beginning a long section of singletrack in the forest.

11. The original course map didn’t quite show the correct route of this section of the trail, but I believe some re-routing needed to be done because of some sections of trail that had deadfall from a recent snow. However, generally this section was easy and fast rolling singletrack, with a mixture of the odd root, the short steep climb, and fast descents. The eventual downhill out of this area seemed like it was a couple miles long, although it was so lush that it was hard to go much faster than a cautious speed. I also came up behind several riders, which insured that I didn’t go too fast through here. The trail continued along some ups and downs for another couple miles once we reached the bottom, and lead directly into Aid Station #2.

Aid station #2. Sprits were still pretty high here.

AID STATION #2 to AID STATION #3 (32 – 46 miles)

12. Aid Station #2. Reloaded on Hammer Gel, popped some endurolyte caps, refilled water, and was on my way (maybe 5 minutes spent here). I asked about Hammer’s Perpetuem but I didn’t see any at this station, and I was beginning to think my nutritional plan was going to be destroyed. Without Perpetuem I feared I wouldn’t have the energy to sustain myself later in the race. My only thought was that they were saving the Perpetuem for the later aid stations, which turned out to be true. This was a very busy aid station, and I was beginning to see the people who were basically riding the same speed as I was (I think I saw a couple of the same people at every aid station except for the last one). Departing the aid station, there was a short stint on a gravel road before turning onto a long, fast, generally level double track which followed a creek. On this section I really felt that I was missing my big chain ring, although I was only passed by one person on this two mile stretch.

13. Cow Pasture. Strangely enough, the trail entered a fenced off area, and followed some barbed wire fencing along the edge of a cow pasture. We were literally on a cow path here! The trail did one quick descent before reaching the gravel road again, which we followed for about 1/4 mile, before turning left back onto another cow path. We spent a long time following the fence line before the trail became a more dubious flavor of footpath which looked like someone took a brush hog to create a brand new trail through the high brush.

14. In the middle of the cow path section, the trail intersected a small (5’ wide) creek. There was one woman stopped there, wisely taking the time to determine the best way to cross. For my part, I knew that over 100 riders had already passed through here and the creek was almost certainly fordable because there were no visible planks or anything…so I decided to take the chance and just plow on through. Well, the first thing that happened is my tire went straight down about 2 feet. The second thing that happened is that I went flying off the front of my bike. Since I don’t have clipless pedals, the dismount happened in a split second, and apparently (through some quirk of fate) my pants got stuck on the seat, which slowed my rate of exit from the cockpit. In the end my bike was laying in the muddy creek, and somehow I was left standing just in front of it (up to my knees in black muck!). I vaguely remember the woman cheering me on for such a great recovery LOL. After this, my bike had all kinds of mud and debris packed in various parts that it really started to squeak and complain…

Riding along the fenceline of the cow pasture. This was near the creek I endo’d into!

I’ve heard of several other riders who tried the same thing as I did, some with even more horrifying results. One gent fell right into the pit, and was totally covered with the black stuff. I also learned much later that there indeed was a plank there, but it was ridden so much that it must have been mushed into the muck, and thus was not visible to the casual eye. It was also placed to the far left of the approach, which isn’t obvious until you are right on top of it (or standing there looking at it!). Lesson learned about water crossings on unnamed paths 35 miles into a ride!

15. Once off the cow paths, you resume riding on the gravel roads, which as fatigue sets in were much more welcome. There was one point here which was a pretty tiring (although short) climb, before a quick downhill before turning down another doubletrack which followed another creek for a couple more miles. Another place where the big ring was missed.

AID STATION #3 To AID STATION #4 (46 – 56 miles)

16. Aid station 3. This aid station was at about the 45th mile, and at this point my legs (quads especially) were really feeling fatigued. I was definitely getting the point where I felt like I was slowing down, and the bad thoughts were dancing in my head asking such things as what I was doing there, and could I ever hope to finish. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see this aid station was the FIRST one which had Hammer’s Perpetuem…which I promptly loaded up on. I can honestly say that once I had some of that in me, almost instantly my muscles were feeling better. I supplemented this with regular hammer gel and the ubiquitous e-caps. I left aid station #3 feeling pretty good, as I took off down the singletrack.

This water crossing did have a wooden plank so I didn’t have to endo into this one.

17. At this point, we have some serious saddle time going on. We also approached what I remember from the course profile as being the end of the "easy" parts, with much uphill staring us in the face for the latter part of the ride. Once off the singletrack, we began a few miles on the gravel road, which included several small but steep climbs, as well as one creek which required a plank to get across (no I wasn’t taking any chances here!). Finally, the road turned into about a mile or so that was straight up – formally marking the beginning of a slog of about 35 miles remaining on the trail that were almost entirely uphill. It was getting to be about midday, and while it was not overly hot, the combination of the sun and hot rocks underneath began to make things uncomfortable on this climb. I had to stop twice underneath some trees to cool off, unload my camelback to reach my perpetueum mix (I didn’t want to taint my water with that stuff, as I hate the taste of it). This meant that I needed to stop and dismount every 45 minutes or so to fuel up…but this wasn’t really as big a problem as it might seem because I welcomed any excuse to take 2 or 3 minutes to collect my thoughts.

18. Once to the top of the climb (was a lonely climb too, as I didn’t see anyone until I reached the top and was passed by one cat), we began a nice section of singletrack passing a dry lake, winding through some scrub forest, and eventually descending a bit down a short valley – ending with a beaver pond which required a dismount to get around it. And then, once again, we began to climb.

19. Mile 52. I had just finished the steep climb of about 1/2 mile above the beaver pond. Despite taking regular bunches of e-caps (about 2/hour) – my left quad began to cramp on me…forcing me off my bike to try to relieve the pain. At this point, with what I thought was still 18 miles to go, I was seriously doubting that I was going to make it. But, I popped two more e-caps, and began to ride again standing up to relieve pressure on my quad. After about 5 minutes, it settled down again enough so I could pedal more comfortably from the sitting position. At various times from here on out, both my left and right quads would try to cramp up on me, forcing me off my rig to try to sooth the pain. Luckily, be it a placebo effect or not, popping two E-caps when it got really bad seemed to fix me right up. The cramps eventually faded mostly away as I climbed out of the 50’s on my odometer.

Some lonely trail out there…

20. As we emerged over the beaver pond, the trail follows doubletrack next to a fenceline. This section truly felt like I was in the middle of Australia, with no signs of people for as far as the eye could see. In my weary state all I could think about was "The Dingo Ate Your Baby" from Seinfeld! Luckily there were no wild dogs, or any animals on this section. Far on the horizon above me I could see one rider, and far behind me I could see some other riders. Otherwise, it was pretty desolate here. This was a tough section of road. After being delayed with the cramping, I was definitely going slower on the bike. The two track turns back to all an gravel road, which was generally flat but with a trend uphill. Eventually, it reached the pavement again, and we had volunteers stopping traffic to help us get across. One of the guys, who probably saw the shape I was in (I was pedalling very slowly here), said the next aid station was only 1/2 mile up the road. Thank god! Instant motivation!

AID STATION #4 To AID STATION #5 (55 – 67 Miles)

21. Aid Station 4. I came into this aid station really dragging. I was moving like I was swimming in molasses, although I only spent the bare minimum of time loading up on Perpetuem and water before cruising out again. The woman helming the station gave me a sideways look when I requested 4 scoops of perpetueum for my little bottle – but obliged me by filling me up. This was my lifeblood at this point… There was one guy who was there cramping really bad…and I felt exactly what he was going through. However, I saw him a bit further on and although he tried to ride it out, I wondered if he would be able to finish the race. The last I saw he was off his bike trying to walk off the cramping… as I was slowly walking my bike up a rocky incline that I simply had no energy or desire to tackle.

Somewhere between stations 4 and 5. A sea of grass we had to plow across.

22. Once past station #4, the trail turns to singletrack once again. My memory of this section is a bit fuzzy, but I do remember the trail being overall pretty rideable. I recall entering a creek bed, and the trail did get a bit rocky forcing me to dismount several times to get over large boulders. Overall I still felt alright until I reached a point where I could definitely see the trail was going straight uphill. It was somewhat of a sad moment for me, as I finally dropped my gears into my small chain ring at this point (~62 miles). Prior to this, the entire trail was done in my middle ring. Yet, even in my small ring, I could only make it up about half of this hill (maybe 1/4 mile long total) because the second half was almost straight up. When I finally did make it to the top and I popped out of the trees, I was greeted with dark clouds and thunder…

My last picture before the rain. Things were grim after this point…

23. This section of trail would have been pretty fun on any other day. Rolling singletrack, with a few obstacles here and there through a nice mixed forest. However, after coming up the last climb, with 60-some miles behind me, and fatigue really becoming a factor – I was slapped in the face again with the onset of a downpour of cold rain. I was completely soaked before I could stop and get my rain gear on. I considered stopping to put on my jacket BEFORE it started to rain, but I just couldn’t convince myself that it was going to open up (certainly not as hard as it did anyway). Part of me wanted to get wet too, as anything to refresh me/cool me down would be welcome. In retrospect, I should have put on the jacket first! To make things worse, this section of trail has some dirt uphill sections which became slippery mud – forcing me to walk my bike for probably a half mile or so (if I was fresh I probably could have pushed through it – but not as I was). There was one fence where I caught it just right so that a woman rider ahead of me was standing there holding the gate open for me in the pouring rain…I can’t remember thanking her but I hope I did! I think we had a conversation, but I really don’t recall what was said. I was pretty out of it during the rain storm! At this point I was just dying to reach the next aid station. I eventually ran into a couple other riders, one of whom said the station was "just around the corner." Sadly, there were still about 2 miles to go! I noticed that the woman ahead of me was pushing her bike, as were the two riders behind me, so I didn’t feel too bad that I also was pushing.

Once the rain started, the adventure immediately changed into a miserable survival mode mentality. I can clearly remember thinking that on any other day I would have just stopped, pulled over, and let the rain pass. Not today however. There was considerable lightning, and I thought several times that if I ever did reach station #5, they might end up closing the course no matter what time it was. Luckily, there were no lightning strikes near me (Brandon said lightning was almost coming down on top of him!) so I felt relatively safe pushing through the rain. Other, perhaps smarter, racers behind me did in fact stop to find shelter.

24. The approach to aid station 5 was a mixture of wet sloppy singletrack, mixed with wet roots, high grass, some large puddles of muddy water, and even another stretch next to a fence in a cow pasture. At one point, as I was rounding a bend, I cut my turn a bit too sharp, hit a solid tree stump that was sticking straight up (but hidden in the grass) sending me into my second endo of the day. Luckily, because I am unclipped I landed on my feet down the trail a bit – and I was so tired that I hardly thought twice about it. I just stood there for a minute to collect my thoughts, tell myself to hold it together for a few more miles, and get this thing done safely. Back on the bike, with a few muscles dancing around asking me not to do that again…more pedaling.

When I finally reached aid station 5, I ran into a bunch of exhausted riders who were standing around with the same dazed look I probably had. Luckily, there were some great aid workers there who were filling up our water for us and generally making our lives easier. My odometer read 67 miles and we were led to believe this race was only slightly longer than the 67 miles the race organizers said was the true length (I think everyone assumed it was about 70 miles). So, when I asked how far to the end, I was crushed to learn I still had 7 miles to go. This was easily the low point of the entire day. Apparently a lot of people ahead of me had given her the same look because she said that many people were coming through here thinking the end was a lot closer…

Here is a picture Brandon took of Aid Station #5. Not happy times at all.

I was probably only at the aid station for 5 or 10 minutes max, since at this point they told me I was ahead of the cutoff by only 15 minutes I knew I had no time to waste. There were a couple other riders standing around, but none were coming in behind me. With the weight of the cutoff bearing down on me, I put on my wet gloves, sloshed around in my wet muddy shoes, and mounted my rig for the last 7 miles. Truly the most miserable I’ve been in a LONG time. It would be sooooo easy to jump in a truck for a quick ride out of this trauma…

AID STATION #5 To FINISH LINE (67 – 74.5 Miles)

25. Leaving the aid station, I was told I only had about a mile of climbing ahead of me, before it leveled out, and eventually descended back to the start line. Unfortunately, that mile of climbing came after about a mile of additional climbing on the wet gravel road that they failed to mention (or I failed to hear). When I finally reached the start of the Headquarters Climb (a famous climb on this course), there was a sign posted which was the final cutoff of the day. You had to be through the gate by 4:20pm. It was 4:01! I was also under the mistaken impression that all riders had to be across the finish line by 4:45pm, which while ultimately untrue, summoned my deep reserves to push through the misery to complete this race. I had exactly 44 minutes to go about 5 or 6 miles! I knew it was going to be torture…but I wanted desperately to finish.

Looking back, the climb here is roughly analogous to the climb in Waterton Canyon (near Denver) from the bench just above the dam, to the bench at Lenny’s Rest. It is about 1 mile long. The climb started out with some gnarly rock gardens which simply had to be walked. Eventually after about a 1/10 of a mile, the trail smoothed out a bit, although it also started to ascend up a couple of switchbacks. The bulk of the trail was rideable as the grade wasn’t too horrible and the path was starting to dry out slightly from the recent rains. However, towards the top there were some rock fields that were simply too much for my tired legs to push through. I ended up walking a fair portion of the last 1/4 mile to the top. Once at the top, a medic manning a gate told me I had about 4km to the finish line. I remember thinking that it was odd for someone to tell me how many kilometers were left in the race…as this is America where we use the ancient term "miles" to convey length. This provided some humor in my tired brain, as I reflected on what country he must be from, as well as how to convert 1.6k to 1 mile in my head to solve for how many miles were in 4km. I guessed it to be about 2.5 miles… I have no way of knowing whether that was true or not, as I didn’t have the mental strength to remember to look at my odometer – or if I did I sure don’t recall doing so. It sure felt like longer than 2.5 miles.

26. This last section from the end of the climb to the finish line started out with some ups and downs, that while not difficult or technical, became extremely trying because my power was all but spent. I finally caught a woman that had been in front of me since it started to rain. I also caught one more guy whom I hadn’t seen earlier. As the trail finally leveled off, and then began to go downhill, I began to feel the clock ticking heavily upon me. I still believed that if you didn’t make it to the finish line before 4:45 your race result would not be counted.

All I could think about was going 70+ miles and miss the cutoff by seconds. As such, I turned off all the safety’s on the downhill and simply blazed down the trail as fast as it would let me. The trail was fairly wide, and not overly technical, so high speeds were easily achieved. Even though I was thoroughly exhausted, this section was exhilarating and gave me some renewed energy to push on strong to the end. After seemingly doing this forever, I finally reached the gravel road that marked the final half mile to the finish line (downhill). I knew my watch said that it was after 4:45, but I was counting on the official time being different than mine…so I threw it into my highest gear, and pedaled as hard as I could for the homestretch.

27. Coming into the final race area, cars that were leaving pulled over to let me by and people everywhere were cheering me on to the finish. I was topped off on gears, standing on my pedals, and pushing it like I was going for a trophy (I was really pushing to avoid disqualification!). In the end, I made it in well before the final (revised) cutoff, so my efforts were not in vain! However, despite pushing every ounce I had out of my bike and body, I did miss my imaginary cutoff by a lousy 55 seconds! I think I would have broke down and cried right there and then if they had disqualified me. As it was, I checked with the race official, and she assured me that as long as I passed the 4:20 cutoff way back at the HQ Climb, I was good to go. Indeed, a few racers were still coming in 45 minutes after I finished.

I met Brandon at the finish line and got off my bike and just sprawled out on the grass to absorb what just happened. The first thing Brandon said to me was "was that not the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life?!" I quickly agreed. This race was by far the hardest I’ve ever pushed myself at anything. It blows away any previous "hard labor" I’ve done. 9:45:55 of grinding, cramping, climbing, endo-ing, baking in the sun, freezing in the rain, and generally being absolutely miserable (at least in the second half of the race). It was only tempered by the fact that others suffered through the same misery as I did, and the fact that my race result would be logged as officially completing the course!

Finished! Totally tapped out. Nothing to do now but rest and begin recovering. I decided to start as soon as I crossed the finish line.

My odometer matched Brandon’s at 74.5 miles ridden, making my average speed 7.88mph. Not bad for a flat pedal grinding, 34lb All-Mountain Bike pushing, No-Big-Ring spinning fool such as myself!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Was it worth it?: I’ve done a lot of riding the past 2 years, since I seriously took up the sport (in the casual sense). I have no asperations to win an endurance race of this nature, and after seeing the shape and times of some of the riders who did win, I can honestly say I have ZERO interest in committing that kind of time and energy towards that goal. My hat goes off to those who can complete a course like this a full two or three hours faster than I was able to do. However, as for building sheer mental willpower, I can honestly say this was the toughest, most gruelling thing I’ve ever done in my life. Normally a ride of 35 miles would be pretty epic in my book, but to ride 40 miles, and THEN have to do 35 more miles (almost all uphill don’t forget) takes a tremendous amount of fortitude to not just pull over and bag it. That so many people do in fact complete this race is a real tribute to the skill and endurance of many of my fellow riders. I also salute those who couldn’t quite beat the time cutoffs, or who were injured and had to bail. This was truly a brutal course. As for me, I always believed I was going to finish, and boy am I happy I did it!

Nutrition: I felt that my nutritional plan worked out fairly well on the whole. I let my guard down in the first 18 miles by not bringing enough of my own nutrition to start the race, but that didn’t seem to affect me too badly. It was fortunate that I had at least one Hammer Gel to get me through. I do wish I would have thought to bring some Perpetuem along with me in powder form, as I definitely would have popped it before I reached Aid Station #3. You are supposed to start on it after about 2 hours of exertion. Luckily, once I did get the fuel in me, it really seemed to carry me through until the end. While there is no doubt I was exhausted, I did still have enough power in me to continue until the end, and perform very impressively past Aid Station #5 trying to do the big climb and finish the race before the imaginary cutoff. After the race was over, I didn’t feel like eating anything however until I had rested for quite some time. My stomach never ached or hurt during the race, and I consider that a great bonus!

The course: My chief complaint of the entire course was that there was no accurate meausurement of the true length. I truly felt like I was punched in the stomach at Aid Station #5 when they told me I still had 7 miles to go before the end. It would have been nice to have exact numbers in my head for the real final cuttoff time at the end of the race as well, since I would have played it a bit more safe on the final stretch rather than go for broke to beat the cuttoff. The singletrack was all well maintained, and I can’t remember any downed trees or other hazards along any of the course (other than rocks of course). Everything was well marked, although I did see one gent coming down a climb which he said was a wrong turn (at the barbed wire fence crossing). Apparently a few other people also made a wrong turn at that one spot. Still, for 75 miles of course, that is a pretty impressive volunteer effort!

Aid Stations/Volunteers: I can’t say enough good things about the people at the Aid Stations, as well as the people working the major intersections, turn-offs, and gates. These volunteers would often cheer as we rode by, and when you are the only person from horizon to horizon it sure helps pick up the spirits hearing a friendly voice giving encouragement. They were also very helpful at the stations, with Station #5 being of particular importance as it was the point where almost all energy to think clearly was gone. They were more than helpful in filling bottles, handing out food, and so forth. Of course, by that point, most of the food was soaked! Yet, they were still cheerful to the riders, even though we looked and felt like the walking dead at that point.

Comments/Suggestions: A couple thoughts came to me as I was writing this. 1. Try to give riders a more accurate idea of the distance. This is most important for the intermediate guys and gals who are fighting the clock. When you have no idea of distance remaining, it is very difficult to pace yourself. 2. It would also be nice to have a large map at each aid station, which shows a detailed view of the next section of trail. There was a nice map at the packet pick-up in Fine Edge sports with the route highlighted and a nice fellow giving riders information on the various parts of the course, but since we weren’t carrying a map with us, it would have been helpful to have copies of that map at each aid station. This would help people mentally prepare for the challenges ahead. It wouldn’t require any extra effort from volunteers other than printing extra maps, and taping them to a table or something at each station. 3. I would also make sure Perpetuem is placed at Aid Station #2 (if it wasn’t this year – although I did look for it). 4. Be a bit more careful in posting information about cut off times on the website. I had no idea about what the final cut off time was, even after I crossed the finish line and asked about it. I had printed out the information web page and was studying it before the race…but the information turned out to be all wrong (mileage and explanation of cut offs). The course route map was also slightly off, with some of the trail up in the forest being drawn wrong or left out. Also, Aid Station 2 and 3 were left off, and Aid Station 4 was located in the wrong spot on the map. 5. My last suggestion is to put those young women in evening dresses at Aid Station #4 all over the course. And, for the ladies, maybe have some gents out there in tuxedos.

None of these suggestions were critical to my race experience, but are meant as friendly suggestions to help improve the experience for future riders. Overall, 99% of the race was VERY well done and was quite impressive given the volunteers involved. I have nothing but good things to say about the race organizers, volunteers, and so forth…although I may have been cursing the originator of the "Wyoming Mile" at various points near the end of the race.

Would I do it again? As we were walking our bikes back up the hill to the parking area (we were way too tired to ride them), Brandon and I agreed that putting ourselves through this sort of torture was hard to call "fun" in any sense of the word. I knew that once the passage of time had come upon us, we might consider doing a race like this again. However, in that moment of sheer exhaustion, I think there was nothing that could convince us to do this race again. In writing this race report, it did summon SOME fond memories and good times that happened that day…so I can’t say it was total torture. Maybe this is part of the healing process, and pulling some of these better memories from beyond the haze of the second half of the race is the begining of planning for Enduro 2006??? Then again, even voicing such a thought could get me a bloody nose from Brandon.

All our Enduro Pics.

Thanks for taking the time to read my report!

Brian. Aug. 2, 2005.