Whiskey Off-Road race report

Friday morning, I was feeling very lazy and neglected to do my opener ride. This was my first of many poor decisions for the weekend. I had only done 2 super easy rides since the Gila and my legs were ridden with lactic acid. Adam and I hopped in our pimped out rental car(2006 Jetta, fully loaded) and headed out to Prescott. Six hours later, we arrived at High Gear bike shop to register and pick up our stuff. I had heard that the race promotor was kind of a tool, but had a completely different image in my head. I pictured an overweight chodeman. You know, the kind who pedals wit his knees pointed out and a big booty. Instead, this guy was a younger, arrogant looking guy who thought he was totally badass with huge sunglasses. That fad is still a mystery to me. 2004 was the first year this race occured, and Adam was there to win it. When Adam crossed the line, big sunglasses promoter(maybe overcompensating for a small pepe?) was flabberghasted and accused Adam of cheating. "There is NO way you could have done it that fast! I rode it yesterday and it took me an hour longer than you" he exclaimed. "You cut the course and I'm going to have to disqualify you." He was so persistent in his accusation that he even had Adam second-guessing himself that he accidentally cut the course. A few minutes later, second place came across the line and the tool realized he was mistaken. Everyone got cool schwag and big trophies, but b.s.g.(big sunglasses guy) gave Adam a little bag with trail size sunscreen. This year, Adam called to make sure we could still register because we missed online reg. Big sunglasses guy had warned him on the phone in his pompous manner, "You know, there are A LOT of fit guys coming this year. I hope you've been training." So w got our stuff and headed to the camp site, got set up, and relaxed.

Pimping it in Prescott. Who needs a hotel?

Saturday morning, 5:30 AM. i woke up with the birds and started getting my stuff ready. After choking down my usual pre-race oatmeal power breakfast, I got set up and ready to go. Adam and I cruised down to the start of the race at 7:20. On the way there, a chode was standing up and trying to sprint past me to show me that he was pretty awesome. Everyone was already lined up, so with no warm-up, we got int he group. There were about 400 riders at the start. Some fast guys, lots of chodes. I knew I was in trouble because I hadn't warmed up, and would be in the back on the singletrack. Much to my dismay, I was correct in my assumption and got stuck behind a bunch of fat guys who don't know how to ride a mountain bike. They'd bobble in front of me, I'd have to dismount. Then I'd have to let the 10 chodes coming up behind me by and get stuck behind them. On top of that, my legs felt HORRIBLE. I decided I would try to enjoy the day and the view. After all, 50 miles on a mountain bike is a looong way. AT the 10 mile mark, i still felt bad and was seriously considering bailing on the 50 miler and going with the turn around for the 25 mile race. I got to the feed zone at 15 miles. It had taken over 2 hours in the midst of the chodes which is a ridiculous amount of time. I knew there was a long dirt road descent followed by an even longer dirt road climb. I decided to press on. I could see how far back I was because you ride down to the bottom of this road and ride back up and continue even higher. I was the 7th or 8th woman back, and even 2nd had a substantial gap on me. I decided to see if my legs had opened up by the bottom of the climb. Sure enough, i started feeling great and motored it up the 18 mile climb. If ONLY I had done my opener ride, I wouldn't have gotten stuck in the back on the singletrack and made up like 30 minutes. I passed about 50 guys. The course got back on the singletrack and I actually caught and passed 2nd place on a technical climb. The course was not marked well, but I managed to not get lost. I was ecstatic to work my way up to 2nd place, especially after not really racing for half the race! Despite all the "FIT GUYS", Adam won the men's category as well. I was very happy with my technical skills and the Gila had proven to get me fit for climbing. I had to say, my Avid Juicy Carbon disc brakes are a life saver and make a world of difference on the descents. The ones in the race were my worst skill, and I actually did pretty well. YOu know, really loose, rocky singletrack with a drop off on one side. Not my favorite. so the race ended up being a success. Adam again got screwed out of some good schwag. I think sunglasses guy was bitter.

Cool bar where the awards were. There were a ton of people watching.

Adam giving a winners speech after a few cold ones.

It's quite apparent from this pic that being in front of large crowds makes me a little nervous??? Oh, the guy in the pic is big sunglasses dude.


At the awards ceremony, beer was super cheap and good. That's why I LOVE mountain biking. :) We were pretty beat and I was in my sleeping bag by 9 PM that night. The rest of the trip will be in the next entry...Sedona and Flagstaff. Highlights: riding in 100 degree desert on some sweet trails, summersalts ON my bike, and rude AZ people.