The Raddest Race
The race start was great. Drone overhead filming the peleton. Spectacular scenery and singletrack. Great energy in the field.
Immediate impressions of the ST: some of the best ever. Just an insane trail.
Views: almost indescribably awesome as the sun rose.
Race-wise, I should have been further ahead in the lineup. Instead, I got walk-blocked twice on the initial switchback ascent. Things smoothed out & I settled pretty far back in the back. I took it easy this first 25 miles, in retrospect I took it way too easy. Since it was nice and cool, and since initial positioning can be so important now that I'm in more competitive shape, I should have pushed harder. As it was, I knew I was running about mid pack for most of the first 25 miles. I felt great. I was drinking 1 scoop / bottle of Tailwind, still mostly running on my butter coffee. Smooth.
Most blogs and pre-race meeting info focused on the brutality of section 3. Instead, I found section 2 to be the hardest. Part of this was probably due to the severity of warnings about section 3, which made me take it easy where I should have pushed harder.
All in all I felt great; I made a point to keep eating (Cowbot edibles) and drinking (Tailwind @3scoops / bottle). I had a long sleeve white shirt on, which was a huge advantage. Another big advantage was the special evaporative bandana, which I kept tied around my neck. Stupid Dwayne Wade ads aside, superhanky rocks.
The race settles into a cool groove right away and keeps it up for the entirety. Sick, flowy, never too techy but certainly never boring ST. There are no flats really, or at least only a few sections. Instead, you go up, usually about 200 to 600 vertical feet in a mile or two, and then you go immediately down into the next valley or canyon, all of which are similar but each with a slight new quirk. I couldn't take pictures, check out some pics on google, but each little valley is like a teeny Grand Canyon, except covered in grasses, coneflowers, and trees. These valleys wind around like the confusing topology of Utah canyon country, and the trail is draped over them like a long thread.
This is all broken up by really cool black gates that you lift up and then they chop back down. There must be a couple of dozen on the trail. Cool and unique touch.
Views are off the charts. Wildlife that I saw included lots of deer, lots of snakes I heard vaguely but didn't see, lots of rodents, and tons of vultures. The Dakotas have lots of vultures that hang out in big groups and make for great bird watching.
Before the first aid station I caught up with another fatbiker. A nice guy from MN. He trailed me for a while, and when he dropped off he told me that I was now second place fatbiker!
As section two wore on, I caught up with the first place fatbike guy. He looked like he had been riding fast, but he also looked drained. He confirmed I was in first now, which gave me a big boost, and for the first time that day I kind of put the hammer down a bit. I didn't want either of them to catch sight of me again.
By section three my HR monitor had broken (Polar sucks), and my computer had broken too (Cateye sucks). Also, my phone was having some battery issues (totally my fault) and so I was running a bit blind for the second half of the day.
I was so worried about section 3 turning nasty, that I was always waiting to hit the wall. When I saw aid station 3, it was a huge surprise how quickly I got there, and how good I was feeling.
Changed outfits, most of my setup too, going lighter and drink only (no more snacks), and took off. Riding section four, I surprised a lot of people. I had energy. Too much really, because it reflected how poorly I planned the race. I'm not used to having goals higher than simply finishing. Most of the climbs in section 4 I hammered out of the saddle, and I tore down the descents, catching almost every rider I had seen that day.
Finished in 12:56 minutes, 14th place overall, and 1st place fatbiker. Won $100 for the fatbike victory.
Jesse from RMS won his category as well, (the two man team) so that was cool.
Last Bits of Advice
One huge mistake I made: you need dinner at the final drop bag, or, even better, a ride. If you don't have a ride, plan on, at the bare minimum, puting a lot of snacks you know you love in the finishline dropbag.
Ideally, I'll bring the fam, and they meet me, we can eat, and then we can leave from Medford which works perfect anyway.
Baddest Place
The Maah Daah Hey 100 takes place in the NoDak badlands, billed as the "Baddest Place". That's true.
Unfortunately, the first bad thing you notice is the traffic. If you come next year, be prepared for crazy traffic. Saturday night and Sunday morning were OK, but Friday night, picture something like this:
Take a two lane highway through the prairie, with occasional buildings and turnoffs; add the volume of traffic you'd expect from rush hour in Denver; take out all the sane drivers, & replace them with white-knuckled ragers clawing the wheels of coal-rolling Dodge monster trucks, furiously trying to get ahead in the lines of traffic, despite the fact there is no passing because the two lane highway is absolutely stacked going both ways, and every third vehicle is a gigantic semi carrying God knows what, emblazoned in more environmental hazard markers than a Fukushima cleanup truck, and every agency known to bureaucracy is fielding every available officer to take a piece of the economic pie.
Long story short, if you're driving, take the Google Maps time, and add on an extra 30% or so. Google Maps said 5.5 hours for me, and it took me every bit of 7. On the way back I went in the middle of the night, and that was much better.
Other specifics for those considering attending: the CCC Campground is at the end of a 1 mile drive, with a pretty strictly enforced 10 mph speed limit (because you kick up tons of dust if you go any faster). The next best option is Juniper Campground, but to get there it's six miles of 20 mph speed limit, strictly enforced by National Park Police. So it'll take you 15 minutes or so from the highway. FYI it's worth it. It's a great campsite, down in a river bottom, at a really nice park, and the driveway to get there was spectacular.
There are lots of big new hotels in the area with lots of vacancy signs and fair prices, so that's probably the best option considering the long commute and unreliable availability of the campgrounds on offer. Next year I'll either go directly to Juniper (which was great - a really cool campground - and way less dusty than CCC), or grab a hotel in Watford.
Final Verdict
In the end, this was my best bike race ever. If you are contemplating doing any bicycle race next year, this should be on the top of your list. I'd give five out of five stars to almost every category that matters for a bike race: trail, people, location, organization, scenery, and on and on. 10/10. A+ race.
Thanks MDH!!!