Whoa, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these race reports.  I know all the brothers and sisters of the Big Ring have missed me, but that damn thing known as schoolwork has been getting in the way a lot.  Anyway, enough of my excuses, here’s the word from the Whiskey Off Road 50 Proof race:

I’m going to start this adventure off on the evening before the race.  I was supposed to be up in Prescott for the “mandatory” packet pickup, waiver signing, and pre-race meeting on Friday evening.  This didn’t happen because I had to work until 7pm in the bike shop, so after talking with the race promoter earlier in the week (Todd Sadow of Epic Rides), and having him tell me “no worries, just show up an hour before your race start and we’ll get you set up;” I was therefore fine with this.  So back to the adventure part, Prescott is about two hours north and west of Scottsdale where I work.  After closing up the shop, I get into my car and start the drive.  Not so much fun, but I’ve got my race mix blasting on the IPod so it’s not all bad.  The crazy part of the drive comes at about a third of the way there.  I’m going up a long climb, and I see a car in front of me hit the brakes and swerve abruptly.  So I’m thinking, “What the hell is going on here?”  Then about 5 seconds later, I see headlights coming at me down the highway (this part of the highway is one way)!!!  I nearly shit myself, and then continue on with the drive.  Adrenaline buzz…check.  I arrive safely in Prescott about an hour later.

My race morning started early.  I woke up at 545am…15 minutes before my alarm was scheduled to go off.  I get some pretty bad race day anxiety, but no worries, time to start getting ready.  First thing: get food.  3 packets of instant oatmeal is my normal pre-race meal.  A mix of apple cinnamon, plain, and maple & brown sugar…good stuff!  Also start hydrating and keep trying slam food down my throat.  Ok, feeling alright, this is an odd feeling, I’m normally REALLY nervous before races…to the point of it being hard to eat. Around 645 I decide that it’s time to cruise on down to the race venue to sign my waiver and get checked in.

I get down to the race venue, a few blocks away from where I was staying and immediately start running into old friends.  This is good, I’m still relaxed.  I get checked  in, sign my waiver and whatnot.  Ok now time for the customary pre-race deposit and/or dropping off a few pounds of excess weight.  After that I was starting to shiver a bit, glad I’ve got my arm warmers.  Time to start riding around a bit and get warmed up.  About 10 minutes before my 8am start.  In the mass of 140 starters for the 50 Proof (50mile) race, I find my buddy Daryl, we exchange good words and converse about what our race mixes playing in our ears will be today.  He says his is all metal, I say that mine is a mix of metal, ska and punk.

At 8am, with the command “GO!” we all roll off.  The race started on Prescott’s infamous Whiskey Row (hence the name Whiskey Off Road).  The race started with some steep, on road climbs.  Damn!  Altitude sucks!  The first few miles were all on road and then switching to fire road and then finally onto some technical single track.  Lots of step ups and tight switchbacks.  After lots of climbing and getting used to the altitude, the trail started to drop down sharply.  The downhill was loose, technical, and full up water bar drops.  My one pseudo crash came during this downhill section.  I got my front wheel too much into the side of the hill and washed out.  Thankfully there was a fairly “soft” bush to keep me from face planting into a cactus.

After the long downhill it was back onto fire roads for a few miles until the first aid station was reached.  Upon arriving at the aid station, I fueled up with some bananas, sun chips, a couple of gels, and some endurolytes.  This aid station is a crucial junction in defining the various race distances.   If you were doing the 50 proof as I was, you turned left to descend to Skull Valley; the 25proof riders turned right and continued up the hill.  So anyway, I start descending down to Skull Valley.  The descent is 12.5miles of all fire road.  Upon reaching the bottom, there was another aid station.  At this aid station, all riders did a 180 and head back up the 12.5miles that we had just come down.  On the way down, I passed the leaders who were coming back up.  My friend Scott Keller was in 2nd place and we gave each other words of encouragement in our brief passing.  I think my words were something along the lines of, “Keep it in the big ring brother, he’s only 30 seconds ahead.”  Well I didn’t really say that, that would have been a bit hard to say in two seconds, but the intent was there.  This was going to be not so fun, but as small conciliation, there had been a headwind coming down the hill, so it was encouraging to know that I would not have to fight the wind on the way back up.

Upon reaching the aid station where I had made the turn to go down to Skull Valley, I refueled again and took a breather after the climb.  I though that the climbing was done once reaching this station.  I was wrong.  The climbing continued for another 3 miles or so, to another station.  At this aid station, the course finally got back to some great single track.  The majority of the climbing was done.  This single track was the good stuff that reminds me of how much I love mountain biking!  Undulating along mountain sides, a few drops here and there, rocks, loose stuff, switchbacks, stream crossings, and some sweet jumps!  All the way down I could see the town of Prescott getting closer and closer.  With about 3 miles to go, I hit pavement again.  It was invigorating to hear the killer bee swarm of death noise of my knobbies on the blacktop.  After descending down the road for about 2.5 miles, the course took a 90 degree right turn onto a small uphill before the finishing straight.  At this point, my legs felt as if they were going to fall off.  After making it up the hill, it was another 90 degree left onto the DOWNHILL finishing straight.

All in all it was a great day on the bike.  My total time was 5hrs 25min 44sec for the 50mile and 7200 feet of climbing course.  My finish place was 93rd out of 140 riders in the men’s open category.  I now have a goal to break for next year!

Keep it in the Big Ring!

Hail Eddy!

-Brother Lee