NW Epic Capital Forest 100 mile MTB race

No matter how I look at it, this was the most strenuous and challenging bike ride and race I have ever done. 100 miles, 90% of which was single track trail, and over 12,000 vetical feet of climbing. What a ride! I can honestly say with 4,000 miles under my belt in the pervious 6 months, I was sufficiently trained for this event. 

This was the start group. If you look closely to the far left you can see my front wheel right behind the red bike. Not a big turnout for the 100 mile version and the 6am start. The 8am 50 mile start had much more participants. 

There I am at the start, about 30 minuets out of bed, a bit flustered because I was struggling to get my lenses clean using the spandex of my shorts, with marginal success but I was ready for the effort ahead. 

The start was fast considering the distance involved. I tried to stay with the lead group for the first hour or so but eventually settled into my own pace about 12 spots back, stopping at every aid station for water and a quick bite to eat about once every 12 miles. I had Hammer Propel mix in my bottle and water in my camelback. At 270 calories an quite a bit of fat per bottle, the Propel would be my primary fuel for the ride. I had another serving of powder in my jersey for a 25 mile re-mix and another pre mixed bottle and powder pouch waiting for me at the end of the first 50 mile lap. 

I ended up forgetting to pack the powder in my jersey as I was distracted by my mid race chain lube application. The chain lube was definitely needed after 50 dusty miles since the first application but i really could have used that drink mix. .As a result of forgetting my mix, I ran out of Propel and was feeling tired and starting to really drop my pace at 75 miles in. It was getting hot with temps in the low 90's by this time of day. Good thing most of the race was well shaded but the heat was definitely slowing me down and making me a bit uncomfortable.  My next rest stop I threw back a bunch of shot blocks and a shot of cola, which brought me a second wind. Time to start going for the easy quick energy. I only had a couple more hours to go. 

The descents were quite rough, as shown above. For the pre ride I miss understood my GPS and rode up this rough and steep stuff but for the race we were riding down it. 85 miles in I was at the top of the major climb and actually felt quite alert and well so I bombed Dow the terrain even faster than the first time and made some significant gains on my competition. Training though the winter was paying dividends! 

At the end of the day I had not only finished, but had a fairly flawless race with no flats, mechanicals other than sluggish shifting, and no Bonk! I finished 4th in male open, 12/32 overall with a time of just over 10 hours. 10 was my goal, close enough! It was a good way to compare myself to to some of the other highly trained competition. I filed in OK but missed the win by an hour and a half. Not there yet, but very happy with where I am. 

I was running a home made11-42 cassette with wolf tooth 16t replacement cog and a single Raceface narrow wide 34t chainring up front and I did not need the 42t the entire day so it's time to throw a 11-36 on and call the 1x10 drivetrain done. I resorted to shoe gu to keep my seatpost from slipping in the frame and keep the seat angle where I had set it. The shimano rotors, also a recent change, were flawless and didn't make a single squeal. With 300 miles on the bike, most of the bugs are finally worked out. 

I seriously expected to be Able to drive 2hours home after this but I was far too tired. I crawled into be about 4 hours after finishing my race. Good thing I never broke down camp this morning! I slept 12 hours, out cold. 

After the race i picked up this 11-36 shimano xt cassette. The shifting is much better and it's a lighter setup than running the 42t. I dig it. 

NW Epic 50/100 Pre ride

I decide to take advantage of a free weekend before the NW Epic final race at Capital Forest to pre ride the 50 mile lap and see what I was getting myself into. I already signed up for the 100 and so far, only 6 others are in the men's under 45 open but lots of entries for the 50. 

With the gpx file loaded on my Garmin and a water filter in my camelback, I was ready for 5-6 hours of solo exploration. The rout is 50 miles and 5,500 vertical feet, basically all singletrack. Sounds hard! Turns out, it is. 

Most of the trails are in good shape and quite fast and about 70% of the rout is shaded deep forest; these trails are killer. 

My Garmin 510 proved far for reliable out there so I was constantly dropping and re-linking with the rout. I missed a turn and ended up nearly back at the start. Oops. I back tracked to the rout up the small intro climb. 

Back on rout I was having a lot of fun on the flowing singletrack. The course is well suited for my 29er hardtail. 

Finally the big climb started and the child's play came to an end. Due to poor trail conditions/maintenance, a lot of the climb was hike a bike. Man, this is getting real!

Up and up to the top of the highest hill around. The trail became very rough and unforgiving. Some parts rideable, some parts, not at all. I was pouring sweat, and that's not typical for me. 

Above is an exam of one of the semi-ridable sections. It's hard to keep a rhythm on a long steep climb with all this on and off but it does end about an hour after it starts and the payback begins. Put down some solid food such as a clif bar well ahead of this climb. It's very very hard!

 Some very fun descending on the way back. I was running out of daylight and therefore hauling ass to race the sun but still couldn't help but stop for a picture or two. 

Next week will be fun! I think 11 hours will be my time target. 14 hours is the cutoff!