The Whiskey 50 made for a great wrap-up of my early season racing. Being a single 47 mile loop with plenty of big climbs it was quite different than the ProXCT’s, at least on paper. When racing, it’s largely racing and this one was simply longer than most. At times the pace may have been ‘easier’, but obviously much more work was done before crossing the finish line. I knew that I was riding strong and ready for a good finish. The start went smoothly and things were shaping up nicely. When descending to the 260 trail, I dropped my chain and had to stop for a quick fix. Being it was a technical section it took some time to actually stop. Guys were quickly go by and I eventually got back into action after ten riders or so went by. The cause of the dropped chain was part back-pedaling to level the pedals and part chain slap. This was enough for the chain to come off to the outside of the big ring. (Interesting enough, Shimano has a fix for this with their prototype 2012 XTR.)
After about ten minutes of descending I had finally gotten to the bottom of the 260 trail while the lead group had already checked out and was out of sight. With more than half of the race remaining I set off in chase, hoping to regroup with others that might come off from the front group. Three of chased hard on the dirt road from the aid station to Skull Valley and made up some ground. From Skull Valley the course climbs for about an hour up to the Sierra Prieta overlook. I kept a steady-hard pace going and caught more guys near the top. We caught Barry Wicks shortly after the feed station and soon later I got by Tim Allen. I had Tinker in my sights when the descending began and I was able to pass him on ‘cramp hill’ – yes both of my legs were cramping so it’s appropriately named. After this it was simply a matter of riding smooth and going fast until the finish. The descent is so fun, and during the race it’s even better when you’re at the limit like that with little or nothing left in the tank. I rolled into town solo and came across the finish line in 8th.
I was pumped with the result and knew that I had ridden well out there. It’s a long and tough enough race that not having anything go wrong is awfully tricky. I had one relatively short spell of bad luck, but it was enough to lose the front of the race. Next year I’ll be back with the experience of having raced it and better knowing what to expect. A big thanks to Troy, John, and Nora who helped to make the weekend so much fun. We had a great place to stay and having everything within walking or riding distance worked out great. Prescott delivered a fantastic race weekend as promised. This race will likely be the biggest I’ll do all season and I’m happy with how it turned out. It’s just the right amount of ‘epic’ for a guy who still wants to focus primarily on racing XC’s. Good stuff!