Front Range 50

I woke up Friday morning fully intending on racing the Battle of the Bear, a 30 mile xc race. I spent the morning feeding and playing with my nephew and leisurely packing up the car to make the beautiful drive down US40 through Granby, Winter Park and Berthoud Pass to get to the race venue. I had to leave my bike at Green Mountain Sports in Lakewood for the afternoon (thanks for fitting me in guys!!) for some brake work, so that gave me ample time to hang out and think....I returned to the shop at 4pm to register for the race and pick up my bike. I don't know what got into me, but I decided I was in the mood for a longer sufferfest than usual and ended up signing up for the Front Range 50 instead of the xc race. Perhaps it was the cool organic cotton t-shirt only given to the 50-mile riders that hooked me or the okay from Coach Eric that made me pull the trigger. But, considering that the Leadville 100 is my A priority race this summer, I figured if nothing else this would be good training, a great lesson in pacing and a good way to measure my current endurance fitness.

Pre-ride shot of a section of the 10-mile loop.

Almost 100% single track. Now that's a good racecourse!

I knew there were more than a few women signed up who could give me a good run, so I went in expecting a hard day on the bike. After a good warmup I rolled to the start at 8:30am with a pretty risky strategy: ride as hard as you can for as long as you can and see what happens. I knew this could have worked out one of 2 ways: a spectacular implosion 2 or 3 laps in or a pleasant surprise of how long I could ride at my xc pace.

I went out hard and ended up in a tough battle with Eszter for the first 3 laps. She was riding a lot harder than I wanted to, but I figured my best bet was to stay with her and let her set the pace. After a few back and forth trades for the first 3 laps, I was finally able to pull away during the middle of the 3rd lap. I kept it steady and strong for the final 2 laps and tried my hardest to stay disciplined enough to stay on the gas the entire time. I ended up 1st overall, about 5 minutes up on the next gal, in 3hrs 32 min. I averaged 14mph...that's a smokin' fast racecourse!

The most challenging part of the race was negotiating the passing. It was really hard to pass on this course and there was SO much traffic out there. Plus, most of the passing lanes were littered with cactus and goatheads. It turned out to be a great day of interval training though. Trying to repeatedly pass 1-4 men at a time was pretty exhausting and a test in my ability to attack and recover.

The thing that gave me the most anxiety about the race was getting my nutrition dialed. Seeing as I hadn't planned on a 50-mile race, I didn't bring any of the typical products I use for longer races. Plus, I was doing it self-supported. I had to stop each lap (about 42 min. each) and grab a water bottle out of a cooler I had placed at the feed zone. Having to think about stopping and grabbing what you need while you have "race brain" is not something I'm used to because I typically have hand-ups from our mechanic or super-hubby Nate. But it worked out just fine. I did loose a little time in those transitions, but I guess it just made me race harder in the end. Plus, it was pretty fun to cruise into the feed zone cyclocross style with one foot on the left pedal, skidding wildly and doing running mounts to get going again. It made me hungry for 'cross season.

I was super pleased with my performance. Considering I had a tough week of training and had not prepared mentally or physically for a 50 mile race, this was a great day on the bike. Hats off to Warrior's Cycling. These guys and gals sure do know how to put on a great race-lots of good schwag, free beer and food and a generally rockin' good race vibe.

One highlight of my day was meeting and chatting with John Bliss, the Board Chairman of IMBA. Not only does he chair one of the best non-profits in the nation, (which by the way if you are a mountain biker and are not a member get your karma back in check and join now!) he also got 3rd in his age group. I got to reminisce about my days as the development director of a cycling advocacy organization and then marvel at how much my personal life has changed in the last year...but that's a tale for another day!

These are the results if you're curious.