Silver Rush 50 Race Day

The Silver Rush 50 has come and gone.  I had an absolute blast.  It was difficult, but such a great experience.  Aaron was with me the whole day as a great support and photographer.  Love him.

 

 (I love how the clouds mirror the mountains in this shot)  We stayed in Frisco, about 30 miles north of Leadville and arrived plenty early for the 9:00 a.m. race start.  Before 7:00, the lot was starting to fill up.

 There was a paved bike path that linked to the start area which was perfect to warm-up on.  Aaron and I rode for about 25 minutes and took in the sights.

 A veteran of the Leadville racers I met during the week, Todd, told me to make sure to get my bike to the line early.  Apparently this is how you hold your spot in line.

 
About 7:30 or so, I put my bike on the line.  I was on the far left (from racer's view), front row.  I read the day before in my information packet that the first male and female up the hill would get an "invitation coin."  It seemed two lucky people would qualify for the 100 race before they ever jumped on their bikes.  A male and female volunteer would be standing at the top of the hill, waving the coins.  It actually crossed my mind to put my camelbak and bike shoes at the top beforehand and start the race in running shoes and just go for it.  I decided otherwise.

 How does one stay warmed up and ready for an hour and a half?  I tried some yoga that I recently learned.  I call this pose "laughing cow."  It's something like that.  Maybe I should rename it to constipated cow.


With about 10 minutes before the race, I walked up the hill to get loosened back up.

 

Here I was talking trash to a fellow competitor.  She said something like, "You're nothing but a crazy flatlander who can't even pick up your bike without breathing hard.  Don't even try to compete with us locals."  Oh, wait.  That was me who said that to myself.

 I reset my bike computer from the warm-up and started my Strava.

 Here we go!  Waiting for the count down and shot gun to go off and start our mad rush up the hill.

Some people carried their bikes, most pushed them up.  I'm right at the tip of the big red and black wheel.  People started passing me pretty soon, and toward the top I saw a girl ahead of me.  Oh well.

At the top of the hill, my mind was focused on getting on my bike quick and hitting the trail (there was a bottle neck section less than a mile in, so the sooner I got going the better).  My concentration was broken when the lady with the coin ran over to me.  "Are you the first one up the hill?"  Out of breath, I shook my head and managed to get out, "No, that girl..." and I pointed to the female racer who was already on her bike ahead of me and taking off.  As a heavy golden coin was shoved into my hand in the middle of the chaos of passing riders, she said, "Oh, no, she didn't want it."  (My guess is the fast girl up the hill had already qualified.)  So 100 yards into the 46 mile race, I was in.  I had qualified.

Still having goals in mind and a race ahead of me, I carefully put the coin in my back pocket and joined the mad rush.  However, I was so thankful for the opportunity that had just been granted to me.  Instead of racing for a hope of qualifying, I was fully released to just enjoy the day.  I still had to cross the line in under 8:00 hours, but the pressure was off.


It was hard to set a goal for the race, since I didn't have any previous similar experience to go by.  I used the finish times for last year as a gauge.  In order to make top 5, I would need to finish in around 6:15 hours.  Top 10, around 7:00 hours.  Barring a flat or sickness, I was hoping for 6:30 and would be happy if I crossed under 7:00.

Since the race had so much off-the-bike sections, I needed to go by the clock for my splits and not my bike odometer.  I put a sticker on my top-tube and wrote the following times for the 2 main aid stations:  Printer Boy (PB) and Stumptown (ST). PB outbound in 2 hours, or by 11:00 a.m.  Out of Stumptown, or the halfway/turn around point by 12:30, back to PB and to the finish by 3:30.  I also put my motto where I would be reminded often.  SPKM:  Stay Positive.  Keep Moving.  Any time I felt my body or mind starting to wane, I repeated it.  The arrow reminded me to look up and take in the breathtaking scenery every once in a while.

The race went as smooth as it could have.  The 50% chance of rain that threatened held off.  I didn't have any mechanicals or cramps or too much problem with the altitude.  Having my splits helped me a lot mentally.  Part of my race strategy (which I read in an article from Rebecca Rusch, stud racer who holds the record in both the SR50 and the LT100) was to keep my heart rate in check and my pace slower than a competitive person would like.  Many people passed me before the first aid station, but I knew I couldn't afford to blow my system up early.  At the first pass through Printer Boy, I was 12 minutes ahead of schedule.

I pulled into Stumptown at around 12:25.  I needed to get in and out quickly to stay on track.  My pace slowed a little in the next split, and I was about 10 minutes behind schedule going into the home stretch.  I had felt good so far, making myself eat and drink according to my plan, and staying within my limits.  I decided to pick up the pace and see if I could make up some lost time.

The last section is characterized by a looong, steady gradual dirt road incline, definitely rideable, but in the lowest gear.  It was about a 30-40 minute, grind it out climb.  This was the hardest part mentally.  There were several times when it seemed the top was around the bend, only to reveal yet another long section of road.   Toward the end, several riders had dismounted and were walking.  One guy was bent over his handle bars.  As I passed, he said, "I'm having a mental moment."  I knew a long downhill was coming up, so I looked down at SPKM several times, looked around at the mountains, and didn't let myself look up to see how much further.  The top finally came and I allowed myself to stop pedaling for a brief moment before the tiring descent began.

During this last section, I ended up passing 3 girls in my class (there were 18 total in my 30-39 age group, although I didn't know who they were or how many until after the race).  The downhill parts were challenging enough.  It takes so much concentration to pick safe lines and maintain alert position for miles on end.  One lapse, and disaster.  One lady passed me on the long downhill, and another was not far ahead who had leapfrogged ahead of me on the climb.  I knew I had less than 30 minutes left and I was feeling strong, so I switched from endurance and conservation mode to cross-country race pace.  I ended up passing both the ladies a couple of miles from the finish.  I also was hoping to get as close to my finish goal as possible.  With 6:35 on the clock, I finished in 7th place for my division.   Aaron was there cheering me on. 

Lots of friends and family have been super encouraging and supportive.  I got this picture from my parents who are keeping our dogs this week with a "Good luck" wish.

Rob and Lisa are from Texas and race TMBRA.  Lisa has already qualified and was in town to train for the 100.  She and I saw each other quite a bit on the course and finished within 8 minutes of each other.  I'm super excited she and 2 other friends from Texas, Jen and Amy, will be at the 100 together.

Goodbye Leadville.  See you in a few weeks!