2013 Grand Junction Off-Road

Alright let me get my excuses out of the way:

• I'm old. Racing age 42 this year.
• I'm slow. I am just not gifted like others and have to train hard to get results.
• I raced a 5 year old, 27 3/4 lbs, 26" tire bike. I LOVE my 2009 Fuel Ex 9.8, but it's outdated and heavy. And I admit I am a 29er fan now, especially after owning a 29er then racing this rocky course on my 26" bike.

How did I do?

The short version, in case The Fat Cyclist is reading (and I don't wanna anger Fatty): 40 miles in 4:08, one front flat, one left leg cramp, 8th place in Men's Open with 52 finishers, 16th place overall out of 118 finishers.

The long version

Epic Rides puts on a top notch event. Downtown Grand Junction was closed off for 3 days to make room for a large stage used for awards and music performances, a start-finish area with barricades, arch, sponsor expo, and registration tent. This area was surrounded by hotels allowing for lodging options within walking or riding distance of the events.

I chose to leave my travel trailer at home and stay at the Rodeway Inn because the race started downtown on the pavement for over 2 miles. The Rodeway Inn worked out well being relatively inexpensive, a few blocks away from the festivities, and across the street from a grocery store.

Friday

The start-finish area had commentators providing entertainment all three days. Even early afternoon on Friday the commentators were providing fun facts about the area or racers passing by, all the way through the pro races on Sunday.

On Friday night we were treated to fat tire criteriums starting with a clunker race, followed by pro women, and ending with pro men. My teammate Debbie participated in the pro women criterium but wasn't feeling well so didn't complete the race.

Saturday

We had a neutral start on the road until the first singletrack section at the Lunch Loop trailhead. The single track quickly changed to a double track where passing became possible and the racers started deciding their places. I stuck with the second group, watching teammate Josh take off at the front of the fastest group.

After a bit of climbing we got to enjoy some technical and rocky singletrack twisting around bluffs, junipers, rocks, rocks, and more rocks. At about mile 10 the trail opened up a bit, pointed downhill, and the bike and I got in a nice groove. Until a rock garden filled with sharp volcanic rocks. I skipped along the top of the rocks at about 17mph until my front tire started spewing Stan's sealant all over me. I slowed significantly, rolled along hoping the sealant would do its magic, then decided to stop to put a bit of CO2 in the tire so I could keep rolling, hoping the hole would seal. After 3 attempts at stopping and filling the tire I decided I needed to put a tube in the tire. 4:54 later I was off and rolling again. That easily cost me 10 positions, possibly more because we were in a relatively tight group.

Aid station #2 came, I filled up a bottle, and started down a super fast jeep road to the Colorado river. That descent was so fast and pretty long that I wondered if I had missed a turn off to the trail somewhere. Once at the base of the descent I started seeing course markings again and felt relieved. Until I saw the horrendous climb to get out of the hole I had dropped into. This is where the infamous 7-mile windmill road climb started.

I actually felt great climbing up and up, passing a bunch of people, trying to motivate others as we rode together briefly. I am pretty sure I made up all the places I lost during my flat on this climb. I think I passed around 15 people which was nice as I typically just hold my own climbing wise. According to Strava I am 9th of the people that rode on that day. I later found out that Josh ran out of water and had a difficult time on that climb having no power and feeling dehydrated. He only beat me by 1:03. Dehydrated. And weak.

Following that massive climb which finished at about mile 26 of the 40 was another extremely fast jeep road descent, then a short steep section of road to Aid station #3 which I had a terrible time climbing. I fumbled to the aid station, got some help from volunteers to fill my 2 bottles, and started up the 2-3 mile slickrock climb. That was a nice climb as well but at that point I was mostly alone, save for one person. We rode near each other for a few minutes while the race helicopter circled around and around, making me wonder what kind of a celebrity he was.

The top of the climb arrived quickly followed by what I thought was aid station #4, but turned out to be an area for support crews, not necessarily an aid station. I didn't need anything until the finish anyways so I blew by it and started down the road descent until I noticed the real aid station #4. I thought I had to turn there, slowed, waved like a lunatic, asked where I needed to turn and was waved through to more super fast paved descent. I may have hit 41.3 mph during that descent. Maybe.

Finally I spotted the turn off the road onto Andy's trail which takes us on a lunar-like journey through multicolored dirt. My first turn onto the dirt was pretty stiff, followed by a rocky section that threw me off the bike. I probably should have unlocked my front fork before making the turn onto the dirt. Doh.

Andy's is quite technical skinny singletrack with plenty of opportunities to fall of the earth and a few good climbs. At one point I was assured I only had one climb to go which was wonderful news. Then I was told I was merely 33 minutes from the leader, a happy surprise for sure. After cresting the climb after the last climb (yeah) I clipped a rock with my left pedal and went flying off the bike one more time. This trail had gotten the best of me a handful of times already and I was now tired and worn out so I was given yet another reminder to stay focused.

I looked up and saw the Lunch Loop trailhead again, putting me back on the road toward Grand Junction. I assumed as aero of a position as I can get on my mountain bike and started plowing myself to the finish. I caught up to a single speeder that I offered to get on my wheel. He did and I took him to the first right turn where he dropped off. I finished the course trying to catch one more person ahead of me, falling short by a few seconds.

Did I mention this course was rough? Take a look at some videos, remembering they try to make the course look better than it really is :)

Sunday

After watching the pros start in town I headed to the first aid station to watch Debbie come by, then headed to the top of the slickrock climb. The first 5-6 pro men came by then I heard the news Debbie had pulled out of the race because she still wasn't feeling well. I then went back to town to enjoy a nice breakfast and watch the pros finish. Late afternoon I went to 18 road in Fruita to soften up the legs. Pretty good recovery day.

Summary

This one was good. I wonder how well I would have done with a 29er. I wonder how well I would have done with a 22 lbs bike instead of 27 3/4. I wonder if I didn't have a flat. Will I race this one again? I'm not sure. I liked the event and it was well organized, but when it comes down to it I may race Point 2 Point in beautiful mountain trails 4 hours closer to home rather than desert racing.