National Championships (Yes, XC)

When USA Cycling announced that the 2011 & 2012 cross-country national championships were going to be held in Sun Valley, I was stoked. Sun Valley was the first real mountain bike destination vacation location I visited when I was a beginner mountain biker. It's a quick 4 hrs from Jackson Hole and is, for me, a locale that conjures great memories of big group camping/riding trips, super buff, flowy singletrack rides, an endless pathway system and delicious eateries. I even won the Idaho State Cyclocross championships there a few years ago.

The XC race happened to fit in some intensity at a good time for me. I did the PC50 miler last weekend and am headed to the High Cascades 100 this coming weekend, so intensity, not volume, is what I needed as a tune up for my upcoming 9.5 hr race.

Misery loves company.

So yup, I was probably the only pro there using the National Championships as a training race. It was actually quite nice going in with no pressure, no taper, no specific preparation. Just show and go. Who knows, maybe I should do this all the time because I had my best XC race result in recent memory. Although I approach every XC race knowing I am capable of a top-10, I don't train specifically for the distance, so it's always a mystery what I'm going to feel like. Getting 7th in such a tough race was pretty awesome, especially because of the nature of the course and the field. Everyone wanted to have a great day.

Exiting the rock garden. No line. Just pedal 'till you're done.

The women did 5 laps on a 3-mile or so course that essentially went straight up to straight down with one little "power" section in the middle (2 ridiculous, man-made rock gardens. Fun, but really ridiculous). There was no where on the course where you could just pedal. Meaning, no traditional power sections for me to make up time in my usual fashion.

It was basically a race of 5, 9-min or so sustained hill repeats. The hill repeats however were totally heinous. Pure suffering on a doubletrack ski area service road, 100% in the sun, hitting well over 21% grade for some sections. We were then rewarded with a series of tight, squirmy switchbacks on a fast descent (no passing at all) that was extremely loose, rutted, dry and (against everything I believe in having to learned to ride out west) absolutely encouraged blatant, unbridled skidding. There was a cool man-made rock drop that only looked weird before you actually turned into it. Sending it was great fun.

The best 2 seconds of the race.

My race was pretty straightforward. As usual, I started the first lap on the first climb way in the back. No way I was going to punch it on the first climb. I simply settled into my endurance mentality and pace and hoped for the best from my legs. I had next weekend's High Cascades 100 on my mind and knew how deep I was willing to dig for a xc race. I climbed as strong and steady as I could, knowing that 5 trips up would take its toll. Granted, I had no choice but to push a big gear. Riding a 29er with a 36 was pushing it for me. Then again, if I had more gears, I probably would have used them and therefore would have gone slower. I kept it to a sane pace on the DH, knowing how fast a mistake could catch up with you on that descent. An out of control skid could definitely send you down a steep side hill. I slowly picked off gals one by one on each of the trips up the climb. I know, shocker. After being as low as the 20s, I made it up to 7th by the 4th lap and that's where I stayed.

Doesn't this look like a lovely ride? We got to do it 5 times.

The only issue during my race was when I burped my rear tire on the 4th lap down the rock chute. I felt that dreaded tire-to-rim thud/clank and was amazed that it held any air at all. It wasn't until the start of the 5th trip up the climb that I realized how low it was...I decided to just ride it the whole way up and then suss out how it felt on the last descent before I stopped to give it air. I had about a 30-sec. gap on 8th going into the last DH, so I thought what the heck, just tone it down, don't roll it and hope for the best. And the best happened although it did make that last lap a bit more interesting. I finished with about 16 psi....having started with 30. Yikes. Had I realized it was so low, I definitely would have stopped.

Suddenly, I was done. 1:49, that's it? Yup, that's the crazy thought I had at the finish, knowing I still had some left in the tank. It always surprises my brain when XC races are over. The experience actually makes me appreciate both xc and ultra disciplines more....if that makes any sense. It's nice to be done so quickly (xc). But it's also nice to finish a race without having felt like you were going to loose your breakfast (ultras).

This appears to be exactly where I burped my rear tire....

People ask me all the time why race I XC when my focus is on 100-milers? Racing XC puts me in touch with my limits. Pinning it for 2 hours teaches me my breaking point. If I never raced XC or cyclocross, I'd never figure that very important reference point out. Plus, XC just plain teaches you how to get around a course fast. Period. It forces you to take chances, to handle your bike well, how to be efficient over time and how to suffer like a dog.

A few also asked why I didn't go to the Breck 100, part of the NUE Series, this same weekend. Mostly because I wanted to go to Nationals in my home state and yes, I wanted to do a new race to me, the High Cascades 100 the following weekend. But more importantly, when there is an abundance of good races to choose from in my already packed calendar, it was easy to turn down the Breck 100, a race that pays the women half as much and half as deep as the men. I think that's a big reason why only 3 pro women went to that race. If you make the statement that women are not important to you, why would we show up to support your race? I can't think of a format more worthy of equal payout than the 100-miler. We race the same course as the men. I'm typically out there an hour longer than the winning man. Equal pay for equal work, eh?

Speaking of, I'm on my way to the High Cascades 100 in Bend, OR. The course and race in general has received great reviews and will be my longest 100 of the year so far. And yes, they are paying equally!

(All photos here were taken by Michael Kane, lifted from Facebook).