Training Log Archive: glewis

Event: USARA National Championship
 

USARA Nationals in Bishop, CA. Hosted by All Out Adventures. Team Strong Machine was myself, Cliff, and Kate, hoping to avenge our miserable performance from the previous year. We did not.

I had originally planned to come with the whole family, but as the summer approached and we looked at schedules and flights we realized how non-feasible tat would be. Prices were much too high and the schedule was really difficult, requiring overnight flights and long drives. Because I had agreed to come I didn't feel comfortable backing out, so I committed to racing despite the tight schedule. This was the first warning sign that we shouldn't have raced at all. I flew out on Wednesday night, landed at LAS around midnight, rented a car and drove for a few hours before getting some terrible sleep in a gas station parking lot in the desert. The rest of the drive was beautiful as the sun rose, but I was completely exhausted. I arrived in Bishop, visited some stores and got a delciious Mexican breakfast before heading up to Mammoth, where I would meet Cliff and Kate for a bike drop at the top of Mammoth Mountain. As I put my bike together I noticed it getting colder and colder, weather for which I was not prepared. I was also noticing the altiude - I had really never experienced altitude like that in Bishop (~4k'), let alone that at Mammoth (about 7k). When Cliff and Kate arrived with Wilder, we got all of our bikes together and headed up the gondola. This was objectively beautiful and we really enjoyed the views, despite the fact that I couldn't breathe and was already nervous about the following day. We dropped off the bikes and headed back down to do some media before the pre-race meeting. We enjoyed spending time with our friends from Rootstock and Toyota Tundra among others before the meeting. There wasn't much info given here that we didn't already know, so we were excited when it ended and we could head back into Bishop for dinner and packing. We ate at a delicious ramen shop - I was plenty full but it was much too salty for what I needed before a race - probably warning sign number 3. We finally headed back to our hotel and got to packing. There were 2 bins that we would be seeing at varying times, so it made the logistics difficult to process. I also had to pack all of my food - Cliff and Kate had graciously purchased all of my food in LA, so I just had to pack it in the correct bags and bins. This was stressful for me, as I am particular about how I like my food and gear. We finally bedded down after dropping Wilder off with Cliff's aunt and got some medium sleep. This whole process of packing and stressing was another warning sign.

I woke up exhausted still from the journey, and noticed the telltale signs of altitude that I had never felt before - dry skin, nose problems, etc. We got ourselves ready for the race and headed over to the park where we would leave a car (also the finish). We got maps, went to the bathroom and loaded up on busses for the drive to Mammoth. The maps were big, and there were some logistical discrepancies that added to the stress. We were dropped off at Horseshoe lake, grabbed our tracker and readied for the start. I usually find myself overly excited at this time, bouncing around and barely able to contain myself. Today I felt dread, sadness, and a overwhelming lack of excitement - another warning sign. The race began with running a very short distance to get a supplemental map and then trekking up Mammoth Mountain to our bikes. We had planned to take a conservative approach during the day, but we had differing ideas of what that pace was. Kate also began struggling with GI issues within the hour stopping at least once on the way up. We saw a bunch of lead teams pulling away from us, and we were struggling to keep pace with the teams around us. We finally crested towards the top and saw the top 2-3 teams riding away on bike. We took too long TAing here. The points for leg 2 were on trails and at junctions, and I was struggling to find those on the supplemental map. We eventually got them plotted and left on bikes, heading downhill really quickly.

This leg was not at all our strong suit, so we took it cautiously and conservatively. We saw Bones here after they had a miscue, and were around a series of teams consistently. I was frustrated by the mapping situation here. I was looking forward to doing some actual bike navgiation, but the map was an "interpretation" of the trails and was a 3D rendering, so it wasn't very user friendly. We were concerned that Psyched kept passing us without really navigating - I think the best strategy would be to stop overthinking the trails and just ride in general directions. We were relatively alone when we finally descended off of the main portion of the mountain and across a road, where we would make our way down even further, following sandy roads and trails. Even though we were biking downhill, the weather was hot, the air was thin, and we weren't really having fun. The exclamation point on that was when Kate took a really hard fall on her bike and slid into a tree head first. She was shaken up but physical okay. Her helmet had a small crack but she felt comfortable moving on after 5-10 minutes to settle ourselves. We were passed by VERT here just before we set off again. We were back and forth with Rachel Furman's team (Natural State?) for a bit here. This section was, again, not much fun as the trails on the ground didn't match the map - this should be an easy thing for an RD to fix but they clearly made no effort. Also, we realized that by following the signs for the "Mammoth to June" trail. This helps explain how teams were staying ahead of us without really navigating up until this point. We excited these sandy trails and made our way across a highway and onto a paved road., where we would ride to the paddle put-in.

This section was a highlight in terms of beauty - we were riding along a relatively flat grade with beautiful mountains to our side. It was objectively gorgeous and a distraction from the dust, heat, and thin air. We passed NYARA and Psyched and rode with Katana for a long while here, while also seeing and passing a number of teams who had skipped some of the harder MTB points in Mammoth. As we got closer to the campground where the put-in was, we caught our first glimpse of non-ranch life (it had been looking like Texas for a long while) and saw VERT putting their boats into the water. We had spent the ride discussing how to split up the double- and single-kayaks, and had settled on Cliff and I in the double towing Kate. I think the excitement of TA messed us up, because we decided quickly to put me into the single. There were apparently some sno-cones here, but we were not offered any. That would have been a big help, as I was a mess from the heat and dry, thin air.

When we got into the boats I was really in need of some time to fuel and hydrate, but I was falling behind even when paddling. We set up a tow and got to moving a little better, but I was still eating and drinking (and consequentially peeing) a bunch. Cliff was getting frustrated by my slow moving, but I was struggling with the set-up that we threw together at the last minute in TA. There was also plenty of warning about toxic algae blooms in the lake and not drinking the water, so we did our best to drink and filter as much as we could before we entered the lake. This was messed up when we passed a rotting cow leaking rotting cow juice into the river about 2/3s of the way down. The lake paddle was incredibly monotonous, as we could see the takeout the entire time but never felt like we were getting closer, especially with the headwind. There was a media boat that came over for an interview, but I think we were so bothered and negative about the entire experience that they wisely chose to cut that footage...

We took out eventually (after paddling directly through large sections of the algae (we were told that wouldn't happen) and took some minutes to eat and drink before setting out on a short trek. Kate was struggling again here, but we fueled and moved out of TA. The trek was a neat idea - over land and through a specific stream crossing. The open terrain meant that we could see where to go but had to pick the correct lines. We again got frustrated by the teams with apparent local knowledge, who were moving slower than us but flying past us. This section was again really hot, and my stomach and head were hurting, most likely from the elevation (over 7k' still). We trudged towards the TA as it got dark and had to plot more points while preparing for a cold night biking back up to a higher elevation before stomping through a wet canyon. I remember talking to Garrison here; I was really negative and was not having any fun at all. While I worked on the map, Kate let us know that she was considering dropping out. Cliff offered slight resistance while I offered none, almost encouraging her to stop. We agreed to walk to the restaurant close by (Tom's Place) and get some food while deciding. Garrison joined us eventually, where we had a great meal (the clear highlight of the trip) while realizing that there was no way that we wanted to go back out and race. Our hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies were so far out of it.

Garrison drove us back to Bishop where we got a room before Cliff and I headed back to the different TAs to gather our bins and bikes. We watched Toyota Tundra TA into the canyon before heading back to get some sleep. When I woke up I had some hotel breakfast before packing all of my things in my rental and heading over to the finish, where I watched Toyota Tundra finish. I got some more of that Mexican breakfast before heading back over to the finish and seeing many more teams finish. Kate and Ciff arrived and we updated VERT and Rootstock on our overnight demise, and I had a really nice chat with Tower about their terrific race. I had scheduled an earlier flight home after we dropped out, so I got out of town and headed back through the desert to Las Vegas. The trip home was stressful; I can't imagine doing that after finishing the full race.

I won't say that I'm happy that we went and did it, but I am grateful for the experience. I hope to use that in the future when identifying situations where I don't feel comfortable racing.

C • Report? 2

One last thing before Nationals. Feeling good, legs seem to be recovered well.