Utah Mixed Epic Summary and Lesson Learned

 So, I pulled the plug. I believe this is the second big race I ever quit, and I certainly have mixed emotions. I feel I let a lot of people down; Kids on Bikes, the people who donated, and myself.  There were some good things to come out of this though, and I’ll get to those later.

At the Start with Leadville Legend Todd Murray

Heading out of Salt Lake and into the Mountains

Normally, I thrive on these kinds of races and conditions. The harder it is, the more I like it. But this race was different. Almost from the beginning, I wasn’t feeling myself. My body would not acclimate to the heat. The first three days were over mountain ranges and rough terrain, that normally, I would have loved. But the heat, even at 9,000 – 10,000 feet seemed to really take its toll on me. I was constantly, lightheaded, nauseous, and couldn’t force myself to eat. I was riding 15 – 18 hours a day, with almost 30,000 feet of climbing in the first 200+ miles and not eating anywhere near enough.

Typical Day 1 and 1 Terrain

Day 1 and 2 Climbs

Beginning the very first climb off pavement

I just had no appetite. I pushed on, hoping that after three days my body and mind would acclimate, and I’d be able to turn things around. The wind picked up on the evening of the third day and a smoky haze filled the air. I rode into the night, finally stopping and setting up camp around 11:00 PM. I was now out of the mountains and into the desert. I was really looking forward to the incredible views of the Milky Way, typical of the desert night, but instead the haze blocked everything but a hazy orange moon. Getting up and continuing on at approximately 4:30 the next morning, I could smell the haze and smoke as I rode through the early morning. As the sun rose it became obvious that there was a large fire somewhere and the haze was thick. The rest of the day was spent riding through a moonscape looking desert, dealing with heat, smoke, wind, and sand. It was a long day, and I still had no appetite, I was really getting sick of drinking warm plastic tasting water but it was absolutely necessary to stay hydrated. Bloody smoke buggers now turned into a full on running bloody nose. A female racer, Jackie, who I’d been going back and forth with the last couple days caught me after I took a short 15-minute nap. She had a great attitude, only disappointed that we could not enjoy the scenery because of the smoke. I was not so jovial, and my conversation was limited to grunts of displeasure, and statements such as “I’m done”. My attitude and morale were at an all-time low. This really bothers me, because I pride myself in staying positive no matter how tough things get. Eventually, I came into Hanksville, UT a little after dark. I needed to get a hotel, or access to electricity to recharge my lights, Garmin, phone, and backup batteries. Hanksville consists of two gas stations, two motels, a couple of restaurants, and a campground with cabins. I booked a cabin, re-supplied with water and junk food at the gas station, took a shower and ate dinner. Other than a gas station pizza, that was the first real food in four days. My nose was still bleeding off and on and my throat felt like it had been ripped inside out.

Hitting the High Point of the Race

Riding in the Haze

I woke up at 4:30 the next morning to take on the next segment of the race, which was supposed to be the toughest; passing over the Henry Mountains. The wind was blasting, which as far as I could tell, blew the smoke out, but my throat and lungs still burned. My nose was clogged with smoke buggers, that no matter how much I blew, seem to keep coming back. I was feeling weak and nauseated, so I decided to wait until 7:00 when the restaurant opened, and eat breakfast. I had no appetite and was still feeling weak at mid-morning. It was at this point I came to the decision that I was going to have to scratch from the race. I still couldn’t come to grips with that decision, so I thought I would hang around for a day, and see how I felt the next day. Others ahead of me, including my friend Todd Murray (Lisa Iwamiya Murray) did the very same thing, and continued on after a day’s rest.

Not Looking to Well after 4 days of heat, exhaustion, and not eating much

Logistics getting home from Hanksville were complicated. There were no Uber, buses or any other type of commercial services that I could get a ride with. At home we were having contract work done, and my wife could not leave until they finished toward the end of the week.

This is where a miracle happened. One of the good things that came out of this. Brent Colwell, who I met seven years ago, while participating in a weeklong ultra-endurance running race in Costa Rica, reached out to me and asked if he could give me a ride home. I was flabbergasted and speechless. Surely, he couldn’t be serious. He lived in Utah, ( the course went right by his house which I had passed by two days earlier), had the week off from work, and was headed to the mountains in Colorado to do some camping, hiking, and biking, and would be happy to take me with him. This is nothing short of incredible.

We drove through a bit of a snowstorm over Vail Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel but made it safely back to Colorado Springs some time around midnight. The next day we hooked up with  Steve Bremner, who also ran the ultra-endurance race seven years ago, and we did the “must do while in Colorado Springs” Incline/Barr Trail Loop. For some reason I felt pretty good on this outing, which made me beat myself up even more for quitting the Utah Mixed Epic. However, after Brent left for Leadville, it all came down on me and I slept for almost 13 hours straight and am still feeling wasted. Despite the race being a disaster, we had a great “Coastal Challenge Reunion” and I got to show Brent a little bit of my beloved Colorado Springs.

The other good thing that came out of this, even though I failed to finish, is we raised almost $2,000 for Kids on Bikes. This is the real victory of this whole endeavor. And for that I can’t thank everyone enough. Believe it or not this goes a long way to help KoB accomplish their mission to “…empower all kids to lead healthy, active, and happy lives through bicycling…” Despite my failure, we helped a lot of kids.

Finally, What went wrong?

Over the last two days, I have analyzed and obsessed over what went wrong. As I said above, normally I thrive in tough ultra-endurance challenges. But the answer is simple. It’s exactly, as a coach, I’m always preaching against and preventing my athletes from doing: OverTraining! As my wife Roswitha (Rose DeWitt) said, I never gave myself a chance to fully recover from breaking my back on July 15. Now that I look at my training log, I realize she is absolutely right. I was hideously stupid. Just 2 ½ weeks after breaking my back I did a 100-mile virtual race/ride on Zwift, followed a week later with a 135-mile ride followed a week later with a 165-mile fully packed ride (the naked guy ride). Three days later, six weeks from breaking my back, a big day riding most of the Leadville 100 MTB course followed by another virtual 100-mile race/ride three days after that. Finally, a 100 mile gravel race just 6 days before the start of the Utah Mixed Epic, which started just a little more than eight weeks after breaking my back. Throw in all the riding in between, and this is an extreme example of stupid overtraining. I simply blew it, and as a coach there is no excuse for that. The good news though, is my back feels fine, I’m just exhausted and will recover.

I have nothing but awe and respect for those that are still out there. They will be finishing up over the next two to five days. And everyone still out there deserves huge kudos. The Mixed Utah Epic is no joke.

Thanks for reading, your encouragement, and support of Kids on Bikes.

-larry

Final Prep before Heading to Utah Mixed Epic

First, I want to thank everyone who has donated to support Kids on Bikes. Every bit makes a difference. I will be proudly wearing a “Kids on Bikes” jersey throughout the race. This will help motivate me when things get tough. A big reason I am doing this race, aside from the adventure, is to raise awareness and support for this great organization. I have very strong connection with their mission. I grew up in a family that could not afford a bike. I cobbled together an unsafe raggedy bike from bits and pieces I could find, and it became my gateway to freedom and whole other worlds. Without biking and running as a teenager, who knows where I would have ended up. The race is scheduled to start on Sep 4, one day before my 63^rd birthday; Sep 5. I hope to make that an epic day within an epic ride. We shall see. But what I really hope is that we can really up the ante on support for Kids on Bikes. Every bit makes a difference!

 

Some how I got all this plus on the bike! (Except Gemma the dog)

I did my final ride this morning, before heading to Salt Lake for the start of the Utah Mixed Epic on Friday. Bike is packed and ready to go. I feel good, but nervous. The course description sounds pretty brutal, but I feel I’m ready to take it on. There is ton of climbing right out the gate, so I hope I haven’t packed too much. Could be a lot of pushing? My biggest concern is lack of water over the long desert sections with no resupply sources. I’m set-up to carry up to eight liters (2 Gallons) of water if I need to. I think that should get me through those sections. Temps are looking to be in 100s at the lower altitudes, so I may do a lot of night riding. We shall see.

Packed and Ready

From the Cockpit

 

The Utah Mixed Epic TrackLeaders site is now up, from which you can follow the race.

 

Thanks for reading and thanks for your support to Kids on Bikes!

 

-larry

Final Tune-up for Utah: Pony Xpress 160 Gravel Race

Carried Everything So I didn't have to stop at aid stations

Pony Xpress 160: Man is was so nice to do a real race vs virtual. And it was awesome! Big kudos to Phil Schweizer for putting on such a great race while following strict COVID protocol. The course was splendid! I started with the lead group which may have been too fast. It was very cool though, because riding in a pack like that was the real version of riding in the packs I’ve been virtually riding in all summer on Zwift. Eventually the group broke into two and I was in the second group. I believe most of the people in these groups were doing the 80k vs the 160k. Eventually got dropped by the second group and rode alone for a while until my friend Tom Turney, with a group of five or so, caught me. We rode together, then about half turned off at the 80k turnoff. We caught stragglers of the groups ahead, who like me got dropped. I decided not to stop at the second aid station, which left three of us riding together from that point. Some rolling hills, and I discovered one of the riders was in my age group. He seemed strong and totally in control, riding a much lighter bike and carrying minimum stuff. I was able to gap him a bit on the climbs, did not have the gearing to stay with him on the pedaling descents. Finally, at about 48 miles we hit a big climb of 11+ miles, followed by another 5 mile climb shortly after. I managed to open a gap and catch others on these climbs. I motivated myself by telling myself I'm a climber, this is what I live for, I love to climb. It worked, although a couple times I had to back off just bit and remember to relax the upper body, before I got myself into trouble. I was worried on the descents since I didn't have the gearing to go as fast as some of the others, so all I could do is get in the most aerodynamic tuck possible when I couldn’t pedal fast enough. During the last 8 miles or so the skies opened up and made this race really epic. It was a deluge, like I haven't seen in years, complete with hail. Just kept riding, almost completely blind, wind gust that were incredible, flooded roads. Luckily the last 5 or so miles were on pavement, so the rain actually washed all the mud off my bike. Ended up winning the 60+ category by 11 minutes, finishing 23^rd overall. It felt so good to be racing again, and it was so much fun! This is a real confidence booster for Utah. Now it’s time to rest, rest and rest some more.