The Laramie Enduro

Last weekend was the first race for me in months!  Summer in Phoenix can be like living in a very dry sauna so the racing scene in Arizona pretty much stops.  With my focus being on the Leadville 100 (this coming weekend!), I decided to take a trip home to Laramie, WY and participate in the 111K race.  I had wanted to do the Laramie Enduro in 2007, the year before I moved away, however the week of the event, I had injured my shoulder from a silly crash.  This year, I figured it would be a good chance to get some altitude in, visit family, and help me prepare for the 100 mile race.  

I flew into Denver on a Monday and my good ol' Uncle Joe picked me up from the airport, and took me back to Cheyenne where I stayed the night before heading over to Laramie.  I had planned to ride long Tuesday, scope out some of the course I had never seen nor ridden, however one of my friends had mentioned a Tuesday night race series up at Happy Jack.  

I decided to start my ride on the first part of the Enduro course and then make it back in time for the race.  The first part of the Enduro starts on singletrack and then heads through some forest service roads.  If you follow the course description, it's hard to follow unless you really know the area since many of the forest service roads are not marked or change.  So just to sum that ride up, I ended up getting a little lost, heading way farther northeast than planned, got caught under a big storm cell with hail and rain, and finally found the highway, busted my butt up the road and made it with 5 minutes to spare before the start of the race!  I was pretty wet, but had not time to swap bottles or remove my camelback.  I paid my $10, jumped in line, said hello to old friends and took off!

I had no idea where we were going however I had ridden the trails at some point in my life so I figured I'd be ok.  We booked it through the trees, over roots, up short steep hills, and through some muck.  I ended up in 4th for the women and finished with beer and braughts.  I'd say about 80-100 people showed up for this series so I was pretty impressed for the little town of Laramie!!

The middle of the week I got to spend some time with my niece Elizabeth and my nephew Isiah.  These two are my little brother Mark's kids and a bundle of fun!  At 2 and 1 years, they sure have some amazing energy!  I did grow up the 2nd oldest of 7 kids so I spent my entire childhood raising little kids, however I've been away from it for so long that WOW, babysitting these two gave me a perspective on how much energy is used to keep up with them!  I swear by the second day, I was more tired than I have ever been riding or racing my bike all day!

My niece Elizabeth (2) and nephew Isiah (1).  Balls of energy!!

Race day was on early Saturday morning.  My parents and siblings drove up from Gillette to watch the race and had arrived late so I wasn't going to see them until I was out on the course. I had given my brother Mark a cooler of drinks and food with instructions on which feed zones to be at and approximate times I'd get there.  

The race started at 7am.  I had decided to push myself at the start but pace myself since it would be my longest ride ever on my mountain bike!  Immediately two women took off sprinting up the gravel road and onto the singletrack.  I thought to myself that either they were really really fast, or they were going out too hard and would pay for it later.  It didn't take long to figure out that they were just really good.  We moved fast through the singletrack, through Tie City and over Happy Jack Highway onto the forest service roads.  The field started to spread out.  Guys raced by me and I kept my pace.  

There were a few sections that would be loose or rutted and I decided to play it safe so I wouldn't pay the price of crashing.  The year I didn't race the Enduro, I watched Aaron and he had crashed hard within the first 12 miles in the gravel section.  So, I wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen to me.

I stayed in 3rd place for the first 5 miles, and then another lady caught up to me.  For the next few miles we would try to pass each other.  She was faster on the descents and I would always catch and pass her on the climbs.  Finally we started talking and decided to work together.  We had turned back in the south-westerly direction and the wind was much stronger so the alliance had paid off to help us make more ground.  After about 8 miles of working together, a group of 6 men, all on single speed bikes passed us and I jumped onto their train.  The other lady stayed on my wheel but after a few miles, I turned and noticed she was nowhere to be seen.  I decided to push and stay with this group as far as possible to help gain more ground.

We turned back onto Happy Jack Highway and rode back onto the single track in Happy Jack Recreation area.  I had pre-rode this section of the course the day before with the Hanson family so had it figured out.  My legs were feeling good however they had the sensation and warning signs that if I pushed too hard early, I would be cramping really hard later.  So, I made sure to take advantage of my granny gear and spin it up all the steeper climbs.  We weaved in and out of the trees and after a few miles, we were back in the open on more forest service roads, past an aid station, over the highway again, and booking it through cow pastures, service roads, more fields, muck, more cows, and soon I saw my family all cheering.  I stopped for a brief second, swapped out my hydration pack, grabbed another bottle, food, and took off.  "Ride Faster!!" they said.

Uncle Joe in his rocker cheering (aka harassing) the riders, "You look like an old ladies knitting club!" he'd say to a group of guys that rode by. "How about we trade you our bike for the rocker," they'd yell back at him!

The next part of the course was in an area I had never imagined with lots of singletrack, fields, beautiful scenery, and a longish climb up a gravel road.  It was here that my energy levels dropped a bit and my mind went to, "and you think you're going to do Leadville?!!" I thought I had been good about eating and drinking but I was past 40 miles so my body was burning energy like crazy.  I started stuffing food into my mouth.  But after passing through another cow pasture, the lady I had been working with earlier passed me like I was standing still.  I tried to keep her in sight but she was moving and my energy hadn't come up yet.  

Ahhh, coke.  Mile 52 at aid station #4 with my family support crew!

Finally, I made it to the next feed zone at mile 52 where my family was waiting again.  They could tell I was fatigued and my uncle kept saying, "I thought you said this would be fun!?"  He was really confused on my choice of 'fun' activities! I chugged a Mexican Coke, shoved more food in my mouth.  "Can you make it to the finish?" my brother Mark asked.  "I need you at aid station 5." "What do you need?"  "I need at least moral support!"  I started to take off on my next big climb.  The next 10 miles were going to be through some of the most technical sections of the course as we passed through the Vedauwoo area that is famous for so many rock formations.  I was surprised at how well my legs were feeling as I watched a lot of guys walk through these sections while I could ride the more technical and steep climbs.  At times I would get into that granny gear and spin it up or stand out of the saddle to get over the rocks and roots.  

We came through another mucky field with small bridges that got us over some wet crossings.  There was a group of guys behind me and one of the guys decided he should pass me (without asking) as we intersected the muck. It was first of all a terrible place to try passing someone and second something I'd call a 'dick move'.  Needless to say, he got stuck and had to clip out!  "Teach him a lesson," I thought to myself!  

The landscape at this point was unbelievable and magnificent.  My brain was coming around and I couldn't get over how awesome the ride was despite it being somewhat torturous to my body.  A few of the sections I rolled down were somewhat technical with rocks and I had to clip out a few times.  I also came flying through a rutted out trail where I had to brake a little fast to avoid crashing and ended up slamming my foot down a little hard.  I was fine.  I just kept spinning.

Aid station 5 came and was a relief.  I grabbed another bar, stuffed my mouth and all of a sudden another lady passed by.  Shoot. "I need to go chase her down," I mumbled between bites.  I took a deep breath as I was pretty fatigued but knew I could muster one last bit of energy.  I took off, and never did catch her, but I did feel a second wind as I was able to climb through some really rough sections of the course and pass a bunch of guys.  "It's you again," they'd say. 

And finally I finished!!  I was so happy to be done.  My time was 6:27.53 and 5th place for the women!  The lady who won was almost an hour ahead of me, however 2nd place was only 30 minutes down.  So, I think had I had better energy in the middle of the race, I could have made up better time there.  But no worries, I wasn't sure what to expect for my first Laramie Enduro and was pretty thrilled I didn't have any stomach issues or cramping so I'm ready for Leadville!!

Me, mom and dad.  Dad was pretty excited about the New Belgium beer garden at the finish - great reward for crewing!!

Thank you family for all the support!!  The feeds, housing, moral support, airport rides, and did I mention food?!  

Also thanks to the Hanson's for driving up to Laramie to race! It was so much fun having some friends and teammates at the race.

Now I am getting all packed up for the big race of the year, the Leadville 100.  Wish me luck!!