PCPP

I do not quite know what to call races in the 8-14 hour range. Ultras? I certainly don't think of an Ironman as an ultra. Enduro? Probably.

At any rate, the Park City Point to Point is a 75+ mile mountain bike race with a claimed 14k feet of climbing. That is pretty long, though the shortest of the 4 enduros I have now ridden. The organizers claimed a rider who finished under eight hours is "damn fast", a title which I definitely wanted to claim for myself.

The problem is, the enduro is almost the same sport as traditional cross country mountain bike racing, but not quite. It is close enough that a fast XC racer can be great, but is not necessarily great or even good.

My first enduro was the most suffering I have endured, ever. For a year after that race I literally felt sick to my stomach when I heard some of the songs that I was listening to in the second half of that race. In fact there is still one album that was a prerace favorite that I do not like much since the race.

Anyway, the second one was better, but still pretty tough for the last few hours.

The third one was done on a whim, and got pretty bleak, but then I came back at the end and started to feel like I might someday figure this out.

Well, for number four I still did not have everything figured out, but it was by far the best yet.

Friday afternoon I got my fork back for my Scalpel (which was out for a rebuild), and even though I knew it was a stupid thing to do, I could not stop myself, and starting putting the bike back together at about 9 PM. The whole time I thought, "Why am I doing this? I should race one of the other bikes." But I couldnt stop. I finished building and packing at about 12:30 and then lay in bed awake for the next hour thinking about how tired I would be at 5 next morning.

What have I signed up for?

(BTW, thanks to Kim and Lyna for the photos, sorry they are mostly of me)

Anyway, we started at 7 am. Kim woke up early and drove Reed and I to the race. It was pretty chilly standing on the start line, but for riding it was good and I was glad for the cool weather miles early on because I figured it would help me not get too dried out. It turned out the adrenaline of the race was plenty to make up for the late night and sleep was not an issue.

The first 4 hours went just fine, a weed that jammed up my cassette that I had to unwind right after the start, but no real problem. I started a little slower than the lead group, and as the time went on I was reeling people in one at a time.

Everything is A-OK

Fox was even handing out money. Unfortunately I lost mine somewhere along the course.

Fox and the funds

This continued until the four hour mark, when the cramps started coming on. I took some salt, drank some water, and things calmed down...for a few minutes. Then they came back. More salt, more water, so far so good. I quickly realized I did not have nearly enough salt to make it through the race. I was out by the next feed station, and they gave me about 1/2 a bottle of endurolytes, which I started chomping, but they do not have much salt and I continued this cycle for the next three hours, when I ran out of those. I was hoping for the last aid station, but they did not have any either. Duff gave me a packet of salt, which was the best thing all day, and that got me going for another 20 or 30 minutes.

As we dropped into the Canyons resort and what I assumed was the descent to the end of the race, I thought I was set for both the finish and the eight hour mark. I caught up with Aaron S, who was experiencing his own similar issues, and we rode together to what was for me a last, unexpected climb of about 500 vertical feet.

Arrrgh! So much for my 8 hour finish and wow, the legs were crampy. Anyhow, we rode to the finish and I crossed the line at 8:04. Just shy of my goal and a lesson learned that I think is going to help me a ton in the next one.




So the salt was my mistake and the bad part, but the really good thing about this race was how much fun it was. The descents were awesome. Several fast sections including a top speed of 52 mph dropping into the Park City aid zone. People talk about feeling at one with their bike, and that was exactly how I was feeling on most of the descents. Several twisty sections, etc. etc. All off road, essentially all single track, all fun. The climbs were great too with no walking sections and only one really hot sun-exposed climb. The race really highlights how great the trails are in Park City. Am I gushing? I should be as the course is fantastic.

Anyway, I was disappointed to not be right up at the front, or even make the 8 hour mark, but it was the first enduro I have really enjoyed and I am pretty happy with that.

It was fun hanging out after the race and listening to everyones stories about their race. Enduros are like that - everyone finishes with their own stories and experience. While I was getting my food after the race Josh Tostado (who finished second to Alex) walked up, asked how it went, etc. Super fast, great guy. Holly finished fourth (BTW, wow Chris).

Well, maybe by next year I will have this figured out. And maybe I will get in again, but as word gets out, this race is going to get hard to get into, even if no one makes a movie about it (smirk) .

The babes at the finish