El Paso Puzzler!
This is the hardest race I have ever done! And Every ONE should participate in it at some point in their training.
I had a great night sleep and woke up at 5 AM. The day began with heating up my cappuccino, 4 eggs, .25 cups of brown rice grits with honey and raisins and .25 cantalope. Everything went smoothly for an 8 am start.
The first lap was supposed to be 11.5 miles. I was estimating that I would be able to do 7 mph for the 50 miles. I came through the first lap 10 minutes early. This had me feeling very confident. I stopped in transition for just a couple of things and was off feeling great. The first hill, 2/3rds of the way up in I was already running a granny gear, 20 minutes behind schedule for the second section. The second descent was red granite shale for what seemed 1000 feet straight down. It wasn’t necessarily the big climbs that took their toll on me. For me, it was the relentless, steeps in and out of arroyos, with loose creek arroyo descents and technical steep short ascents in between the double track that really seemed to slow me down.
My mantra, ” don’t look down”. I am very excited because this race hit my goals of working on my descents. That was another highly motivating factor of the race.
My blood Ph was high and I was unprepared; I didn’t have dates, cashews and coconut. Mmm…Caveman, help me out.
The third climb was the new singletrack heading up a very steep grade, at least 1000 feet. It was not packed down, I felt comfortable walking it, most of the time. The time I tried to ride, my bike gave way and I fell downhill. Unfortunately, I began to curse. That section probably should have been run first because of fatigue. I was at the top with many people. I started my descent. This part is still unpacked and I’m glad it’s much more rideable, I really liked it. It was smooth and flowing. This part went on for a very long time I began to feel lost, there were no black and white flags, just pink and green ones, I was worried I was bitten by a rattlesnake, I was sick to my stomach and cold. I began to think I would be out there until 10 PM, there was no one around and I was tired and afraid of mistakes. I had definitely made some. I needed my core to be warmer, wind vest was the missing ingredient.
I have never been so thankful to see someone in my life as I was the guy from CO. He reassured me I was on the right track.
Jeep Road, yeah! The jeep roads there have rocky arroyos to0. :o) The jeep roads were so much fun. The last 10 miles took me almost 2 hours. The last 3 were my very favorite. They were lower, I was able to push harder and it was smooth again! Thank you big Dave and Borderland Mountain Bike Association and TMBRA.
Lisa it was awesome seeing you there and chilling at at the end. I was definitely exhausted and totally out of it. Saying, I was going to “cry to momma” Really, I needed to get in some fuzzy wuzzies. The girl from AZ via MN on SS you Rock!! Look forward to seeing your time. You did awesome. I rode with another woman doing the 35 from Mexico, she was good on the descents. And the girl from Las Cruces won our age group. We got our piece of the rock.
Thank you to the volunteers that were awesome, out there all day helping out. Thank you. And thank you to my sponsors for making it all happen.
It was awesome seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones. I think…I would really like to do it again; it will take some serious early winter altitude training for me do really well there.
It’s so beautiful there in those mountains the whole experience was truly blissful. And watching the sun rise this morning on the way back was truly amazing.
Just to put it into perspective.
E2 85 miles in 7 hours
Leadville 100 miles in 11:40
El Paso Puzzler 50 miles 8 hours
Xterra Maui Plunge Cake walk
Did I mention how grateful I am to have worked on my descents!
Thanks to my husband for talking to me until midnight and then talking me into a hotel.
Home on the couch for 2 hours, naps. And now work. Then, car.