Im writing this post from our accommodation in Colorado Springs as I prepare for this coming weekends US National Pro XCT #3. A short note on the course, the track is awesome, really awesome. Its probably one of the best I've ridden so far, with a rad amount of technical riding. Theres not as much climbing as I would like, but the amount of technical riding makes up for it. I love it!
So onto last weekend. Although Im not a marathon specialist, myself and the team opted to race the Pro UET in Big Bear last weekend for a number of reasons. 1. Was to help team mate, Eric Bostrom, try to retain his number one ranking in the Pro UET series. 2. To race at altitude before heading over to race my favored discipline of XCO in Colorado, and 3. With the 50miler fitting in perfectly in my new training regime, it would prove to be great conditioning for the up coming XCO races, allowing to build a "bigger engine" so to speak.
I went up to Big Bear right after the Sagebrush Pro UET in an attempt to get used to the high altitude. Needless to say, the training blocks/weeks leading up to Big Bear were absolutely brutal, a few of which were tipping over the 20hr range. The altitude definitely took its toll, but by the time the race rolled around I was confident that I was fully acclimated. The only thing I was unsure of was how I would hold up on tired legs.
Race day rolled around and we were greeted with a glorious day in Big Bear. The sun was out, not a breath of wind and clear blue skies. Team orders were the same as Sagebrush, protect Eric and try follow/pull him up to any attacks made by Tinker or any other championship contenders. Although the weather was absolutely perfect, there was still one thing that would work against the riders, the heat. By the time we started the race, the heat was already becoming a little uncomfortable, couple that with the thin air and the 50miles that still lay ahead, it was gonna be a tough day.
The start was pretty mellow as we rolled out of the parking lot area and cruised towards the first climb of the two lap 25mile course. As we hit the foot of the climb, a surge from Tinker and a younger rider went off the front. I help back, hesitant to see if Eric would be able to roll up to the front of the bunch so we could begin to reel the move back. Unfortunately after a couple of minutes I had to make the decision to try reel back the gap by myself, I soon found out however, that it was gonna be a very long, tough day for me. My legs felt really heavy but fortunately I was able to hold a good consistent pace and was also able to rely on my technical skills to pull back the break. Half way through the first 25mile loop, I had pulled back the 2minute gap the leaders had opened up, and managed to get by on one of the steep sections. I unfortunately made a silly mistake after getting my feed bag and dropped all my bottles. I stopped to pick them up, and in the process, dropped bag down to third. Not having much on the climbs, the two managed to open up another gap, I managed to stay calm and rode the gap back over the course of the 2nd lap. Tinker gapped his brake away companion early in the 2nd lap, I began to feel a little better and soon caught the rider in 2nd. I immediately attacked and started to bridge up to Tinker who was around 2minutes up the road. I caught him at the feed station with around 8miles to go, and so began a game of cat and mouse. I started to suffer a little with the distance, which allowed him to put his endurance to good use. He edged away as we approached the final descent into Big Bear, but the super rough, XCO type single track allowed me to eat away his gap at a rapid pace. I soon found myself in his dust and still closing the gap down.
Unfortunately, he managed to hold me off by around 30seconds by the time we reached the finish line. A little unhappy with my result, but still confident after having had such a gnarly training block, i was able to leave the race pretty psyched about the upcoming pro XCT. Pua once again destroyed the women's overall and finished in the top 10 of the men.
Now we're on towards Colorado Springs, where I hope to have a repeat of Texas.
Until then,
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