Tatanka 100 Race Report

Roll With It

If you would have told me last week that my trip to South Dakota for a 100 mile mountain bike race would include: epic rainstorms that turned the course into one long mudbog, mechanical failures all around, more rain, did I mention rain? and also that I would pull out of the race, I would have said that I'll cancel the hotel reservation and stay at home thank you very much.
But in the end, despite all the rain and troubles, the trip was a raging success.

Clouds Ahead

I had been nervously watching the forecast since it came up on NOAA a few days before the Rapleje race.  It never looked good.  Rain in Montana and the Dakotas for weeks leading up to the race, including race day.
The road trip started well, until about halfway through Indian country, around Ashland MT, when the rains appeared like a grey veil over the horizon.  We hit mists, then drizzles, then full fledged rainstorms in Spearfish.  Checked into the hotel, then dropped off my bags at the race registration in Sturgis.

Gray Day in Spearfish

Bag drop at the Sturgis Community Center

Hopes Dashed

At this point, I was still stubbornly hopeful the rains would break and the course would clear.  Then I took Kip for a walk at the park behind the community center.  What looked like a grass field was saturated with rain and there was an inch of standing water everywhere.  I started to look around.  Spearfish and Sturgis had been hit hard by wind, rain, flooding, and tornado warnings.  In the past 12 hours.  So, yeah. . . . .

Rainy Start

Woke up at 3:52am in Spearfish to rain.  Raining like a cow taking a piss as the French would say.  The start in Sturgis, under stadium lights at Woodle City Park, was in pouring, sideways rain.  Followed a police escort down a windy canyon road, then up a smooth forest service road a few miles, past a cool dead snake, and up onto the singletrack.

B.C., Durango, Sedona, Moab, Tetons, Black Hills?

So, the next twenty miles or so of singletrack is some of the best I've ever done.  The Black Hills a destination MTB area.  This ST absolutely blew me away.  There was one cool forest zone after another, from ponderosa slopes covered in fallen needles that smelled like and took me right back to the Monzano MTs in New Mexico, then aspens worthy of any Steamboat slopeside, then tall towering pines, then rocky ridges, all of it dappled in Fly Agaric, Russula, Puffball, Morel, and other fungal delights.  Vultures, hawks, eagles circling overhead.  Bighorn sheep, deer, toads, and snakes.  Snapdragons, wild roses, yarrow.  Creek crossings so deep and rowdy there were ropes to hold onto.  Flowing ST hanging on the topo lines and snaking up and over ridges.  Berms.  Jumps.  Insanity.
Then you hit the mixed use section, and it becomes rockier and rowdier, and still just kicking ass.  The aid stations were really well done. best I've ever seen.
We as bikers owe a lot to the runners who seemed to be more in charge at the aid stations.  The volunteers were friendly, well-equipped, thoughtful, awesome!

Bitten by Chucky the Baby Doll Head

The mixed use trail climbed up from Nemo SD, an over a divide, down an insane DH into Pilot's Knob trailhead.  The DH was great, but it was also full of square rocks, sharp ones, the size of doll heads.  About 2 miles from the bottom of the DH I felt something wrong.  Rear tire going flat.  Stopped.  Air was pouring out of a 1.5" tear in my sidewall.
I'm running tubeless.  I had checked my sealant as part of my pre-race prep, but no sealant can cope with a tear that big.
I also had a patch kit.  By combining several patches like a flower shape, I was able to cover the tear on the outside.  Then I had a big automobile patch that I found on a roadside once when Yokie lost her wallet on the interstate, and I used that to cover the patch from the inside, so I had the sidewall patched inside and out.
For a 1/2 hour I listened to music, ate Epic bars and homemade cheesy waffle & fennel salame sandwiches, waiting for the rubber cement to dry on the patches.
Then I reseated the tire and tried to inflate.
It never really worked.  The tear was just too big.  Also, in the pouring rain, with a bike as muddy as mine, the glue was never going to dry and seat properly.
I walked the bike into Pilot's Knob, and got a ride to cell phone coverage.  Yokie and Rose came and got me at the Sugar Shack, a nice restaurant outside of Deadwood SD.

Analyze This

In the face of failing to achieve my goals, I am tempted to over analyse my early withdrawal.  And I have.  I should have had newer tires for the race.  They had 650+ miles going in, and on the MT trails, that's a lot.  That's more than my old MTB tires would last sometimes (300-1000 miles was average for me on my Trek Top Fuel 69er).  That's my bad.
Also, and extra bottle of sealant may have helped some.
Certainly, I need to still slow down a touch more on the downhills.  At least the rocky ones.

But I did feel much better when I ran into Tinker Juarez that evening, the pre-race favorite and all around MTB legend, and he had pulled out as well with a broken rear brake.  And so did many, many others.  Also, on the upside, I felt great during and after the race, with plenty left in the tank.  Shrek outperformed almost every other bike there, with no mudstops or traction issues like so many others I passed.  My training and nutrition programs are working great, and there is a lot to be happy about.
And next year I'll be back to kick some ass here.  With new tires.

SD Roadie

So, when those plans fail, you go on a nice road trip with the fam.  And SD can take care of that no problem.  If you've never thought of taking a trip to SD, you need to rethink that .  That state rocks.

Bridal Veil Falls, Spearfish Canyon

How are your fishfinding skills?  

The falls outside of Savoy, SD.  Amazing creek, great forest, cool vibe.

Three of the most important people in my life.  One of them is a human.  

Kip-Approved Playground, or KAP

Supermodel & SuperPhotoBomber

Who would have thought you'd ever see Yokie do that?!?!
It's so cool to see her and Rose with Kip lately, he's a little lover boy.

Take #128

Not many pics because the traffic was bad, but this area of WYO was amazingly scenic.
With the rain lately, the colors were so vibrant.
And Devil's Tower has an amazing setting and feel about the whole area.

My favorite aspect of the Tower:
it frames my 'hawk really well :-)

Queen Ratso

So this is my dad getting ready to travel across the spine of the Rocky MTs, 

from MT all the way back down to Albuquerque, with Ratso the dog in tow.  

Cause dat's how he be rollin'.  

Yo.

24 Hours of Rapelje Race Report

Sacrifice (Rain) Fly

For the first time, I showed up at Rapelje the day before, on Friday evening, to set up my camp.  When I got there, I was one of the first people.  Set up in a good spot, right next to Team Muleterro.  All signs pointed to rain, and soon, but I needed to get a run in for Kip, so I took off up the course.
By the time I got to the top of the first long, straight road away from town, I turned around and it looked like it was raining on Rapelje already, so going back meant going right into the rain.  No choice but to turn East and see what happens.
What happened was rain.  Quite a bit. Right at the end of the lap, around the scum pond area.  Trashed the bike, and got my traditional Rapelje Gumbo Lap out of the way.  My hope: that I sacrificed one for the team, and that as a result on Sat & Sun the course would stay dry.

Running Start

Another 1st: I ran a bit to start the race.  Usually I walk the Le Mans style start, where you have to run 100 meters or so to your bike.  I've been playing soccer lately though, and reffing, so I jogged and got off to a pretty good mid pack start.  The course was in great shape, taller grass than usual, and lots of cowprints and super diarrehea everywhere, but every year we stay at the same loop it gets better and better.
59 min flat for the first lap, then a food break.  I am trying to stay more on top of my food and water intake this year, so after every lap I made sure to hydrate and get some calories in.
Another lap at 59 min.  Then one at an hour flat.

Racing a Fattie

Shrek (my Trek Fatbike with Hed carbon wheels) was a great choice for the course.  There were some other fatbikes there as well.  Saw two or three traditional ones, and two or three others fitted with 29+ wheelsets.  I think that in the future, that will be a growing approach for people: a fattie with normal wheels for the winter or adventures, and a second 29+ wheelset for fast rides and races.
As for Shrek, I was glad to have the 4" tires; there are a lot of sections where the cowprints are rock hard, creating a singletrack with a reverse cobblestone patter, as if you took out the cobblestones and just left the divets.  By the end of the race, it was a lot smoother, but for the first sixteen hours or so the extra width, running tubeless at around 7.5psi, really took the edge off.
Also, there are sections where the fat tires are a distinct advantage.  Rapelje has a few little DH sections, and the last one is the most serious; it's a small section, but it's a rollicking, wild ride down from a small ridge to the valley floor, where the track runs straight as an arrow across the valley floor for at least 500 meters or so.  The big wheels hold the momentum from the DH really well,  I could roll across the valley floor on momentum alone and catch people who where steadily pedaling along.  There are also long stretches of double track straightaways where the fatbike seems to pedal and roll really well, with surprising efficiency.

Intermezzo

The rains came in the early evening.  It looked really bad from camp, so I headed home to Absarokee to clean the bike, shower, and drink some chicken broth.  When I got back about three hours later, the skies looked really bad, but on the ground it seemed nice.  My neighbors at Muleterro said that the track was running great, and I saw people coming in for timing nice and clean.  So I felt silly for leaving, and hurried back out.
Track was great.  57:30.  Big break to hook up my new lights.  There was a problem with the shipping, so they came late.  I had to set them up for the first time that night, in the dark.  Luckily, the Fenix BT20 lights are easy to use, and the setup went smoothly, and I took off.

Night Fever

My first night lap was by far my worst.  I couldn't get my temp right, and I was stuck in a empty spot in the circuit, with no other lights around, super lonely, I just wasn't feeling it.  I turned on some tunes, and that made all the difference.  Having music at night is sweet.  I put the phone on my chest strap, and used the speakers.  Headphones suck and have potential safety issues.  The speakers are just the opposite.  People can both see and hear you coming, but they are quiet enough you can also hear trail and traffic noises.  Anyway, the music shook off the doldrums and the sandman, and I was cruising again.
Three laps in a row: 1:10, 1:05, 1:08.  Then sleep.

Coffee Run

Filled up the water bottles with butter coffee, and headed out. I felt great.  55 min flat.  Great surprise at the pits when Yokie and Rose showed up, with smiles, beautiful outfits, and more coffee.  So, filled up again, and went all in on my last lap.  51 minutes 42 seconds.  That beats my previous best by about twenty seconds, though I've never timed it as accurately as I can now with Strava.  And my previous best was on an efficient full suspension XC machine (Trek Top Fuel 69er), so doing a faster lap on a rigid bike that cost about half what my old one did was a great feeling.

Thanks

Nine laps, 104.2 miles, 9 hours 22 minutes in the saddle, and at one point I went 28.2 mph (must have been on the steep DH section).  My most mileage at Rapelje ever.  Couldn't have done it without the support of Yokie and Rose.  They've always been there for me this year, putting up with me taking off for whole days.
And my dad came up from Albuquerque.  He drove up here on a BMW motorcycle with Ratso, his half Chihuahua half Jack Russel dog stuck on the back of the scooter (pics later).  Too cute man.  It was his second year in a row at Rapelje, and it's a great treat to have him there.  This year I had more energy, and my bike was running better, so he didn't have much to do, but it's great to have a friendly face back at the pits.
Also thanks to the Muleterro guys.  I met Dan and Sam, and camped next to them, and I couldn't have asked for a nicer, cooler couple of dudes to have for neighbors.  And the fact that they were clearly smoking me in the same solo class kept me motivated to get back out every time.  Sam did 13 laps, on a cool 29er that he welded (or brazed - not good at that vocab).  Dan was on a Mukluk Ti, cool bike, with 29+ wheels.  He was way faster than me until he hit his head hard on that widowmaker tree in the cool techy rocky section.  Really stoked to meet him because he's coming out next week to SD for the 100 miler as well, so it will be great to have some MT guys out there with me.  Something tells me he'll be way ahead of me during the race, but it's still nice to have somebody you know out on the course.
And, as always,  thanks to Rapelje and all the racers.  For those who have never been, it's a really unique race, with a cool vibe, that is tough to describe but a real joy to experience.
Thanks to all!!!  See you next year.

Jump for Joy

Classic Montana Ride. . . . In Wyoming

The Pass
Yesterday was classic Montana style riding: all four seasons in a day, epic flowing ST mixed with impassible downfall and missing trail segments, retracing the steps of the Lewis & Clark expedition through a section of the mountains that hasn't changed much since they passed through, crazy wildlife, Beartooth Pass, all of MT in a day.  All of it just over the pass in: Wyoming.  But only barely.  And other than the relative abundance of Aspens, which is welcome for me as it brings back Steamboat and SOCO memories, the wildlife and terrain is just like this side of the pass.

The ski area on top of the pass.  This is how it looked at 7am.  When I passed back by on the way home, at around 12:30, it looked pretty much the exact same, but way more crowded.  You gotta be pretty hard core to enjoy this, when only about 200' down the hill, it was a pretty nice spring day.

Beartooth Butte, Beartooth Lake

This pic was about one mile into the Lewis & Clark Trail (FT 176).  It was nice at this point.  Took off my arm warmers and was basically biking in a tee-shirt.  One hour after being in 25 degree temps on top of the pass.  

FT 176
This is a six mile all ST trail, that parallels the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone river, which is maybe my favorite river in the whole world, and I love rivers.  The CFOY is really special.  The water is so clean, and the bed of the river has unique often exposed geology, the fishing is off the charts, and the human traffic is extremely low.  For most of the six mile ride though, the river is off to the south in a deeper and deeper canyon.  The ST is on a shelf above, and even though you're following a river downhill the trail actually trends up on the way out.
Along with the strangely deceptive uphill, there is a lot of downfall, creek crossings, and swampy sections, which leads to a frustrating first few miles, and probably the reason the trail isn't more popular with bikers.  There needs to be some trailwork; these issues are easily solvable by routing around the swampy meadows the trail seems to seek out, and making some stone and log crossings over the creeks, most of which are navigable as is and with some work could be highlight trail features instead of frustrating portages.
Anyway, this was all done in amazing spring weather, with wildflowers all around, and the trail all to myself, so it went by quick despite the fact the downfall was the worst I've ever seen in four trips to the area.

Each one is more scenic than the last, but as a rider trying to keep a good zone going,
each one is also more frustrating, cold, and time-consuming than the last.  

Vista Point
After two or three miles, the trail smooths out.  There is some climbing, but it gets fast and fun for the rest of the out, with amazing forests dotted with small granite slickrock playgrounds.  Eventually, you get to one of the best vista points in the world, about 6.5 miles from the trailhead.  Sorry, no pics because it was very dark, cold and windy.  Besides, after turning back on the three missions I got to this point with friends, I was excited to finally push on and try the descent, down over 1000' vertical in less than 1.5 miles of trail, to a section of the CFOY canyon that is otherwise virtually inaccessible.
Most bikers turn around at the vista.   On the map, the dh looks too steep to be enjoyable.  Then you get to a few miles on the bottom of the canyon, enticing for sure, but the only way out is to climb all the way back up, or to climb up an equally crazy climb and push towards the Morrison Ranch in the middle of nowhere on a cool bench opposite Sunlight Canyon.  It's another 15 miles away.  I knew the uphill would be one giant death march, and I suspected the bottom of the canyon alone would make it worth it, but would the dh add anything, or be another portage?

Going Down. . . . . 
Verdict: this dh is 1.5 of the funnest miles of your life.

This cool park is about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way down the hill, and we surprised two huge, glossy cow elk here on the way down, and the same two again on the way back up.  It makes a tempting stopping point.  If you do this ride, at least consider coming to this point.  After this, the trail gets really steep, and you get even more committed to going all the way down.  This is a good compromise.

Most of the dh was like this: surprisingly rideable, even flowy, with a heavenly backdrop.

If this doesn't look good to you, we are not on the same page.

This was the steepest part, and honestly I shouldn't have ridden it.
I did though.
Shrek kicks ass.

Another, lower vista point.  The clouds finally cleared enough for pics.  

Bottoming out: after a few punchy climbs, the dust settles, and you're at the bottom.
Once you stop and catch your breath, it's amazing the changes: the air all still, thick, heavy, and filled with smells of life and the river.  It's all quiet and peaceful.  And not very close to the river.  I went downstream for a mile, before downfall turned be back upstream.  There's a ranch upstream too, so I wanted to see either the river or the ranch, or both.

The bottom of the canyon, on this side at least, is super swampy and navigation is tough.  I waded through hip deep water twice down here.  Funny I just named my bike Shrek and I ended up stuck in a swamp for almost an hour.

The closer I got to the ranch and the river, the more work they had done on the trail, including this swamp bridge.  

Finally reached the river after almost three miles of poking around on the canyon floor.   Kip was super uneasy.  With only about twenty meters of terrain between river and canyon wall, I'd imagine it's a crazy wildlife corridor. He did not want to stay around.  I snapped a few pics and started what would turn into a 1hr death march back to the main vista pt.

Looking up at the falls leaving the Sawtooth Lake area.

One of my hip deep slogs.

On the way hiking up, it rained.  Then sleeted.  Then snowed.  Then hailed.  All in about 15 minutes.  Then there was a pause in the storm, and I raced most of the 6.5 miles back to the car, against the storm, on trails like this.  Awesome.

Ultimately, I lost the race, and spent the last mile in this weather.  I knew I was losing it when I started to laugh out loud at my train of thought about what to call it: snail (snow + hail) or slow (sleet + snow).  The places a biker's mind goes when the body is being pushed; it's pretty freaky in there.