Whew, what a week! I'm sitting here gnawing on a burrito, after a wild week in Las Vegas for InterBike just trying to figure out how time flys by so fast and how all the crazy things we anticipate and look forward to in life come and go oh too quickly.
I knew the Vapor Trail was going to be a rough week being that Jon and I literally loaded up and drove to Vegas as soon as I finished Vapor around Noon this past Sunday. Ill try and keep things short and sweet, but a quick run down on Vapor: 125 miles, 10PM start, high altitude, 18k feet of climbing, incredibly rough terrain, hike-a-bikes and oh so much fun. If you are looking for THE premium backcountry endurance test in the US, this is it, hands down. No one who has raced it will disagree.
Last year, Vapor was rough for me. I was new to Colorado, new to racing/riding high alpine terrain, for lack of better words, I got my ass handed to me by not only the course but the incredible talent this race draws in. I vowed to come out swinging in 2014...
Jon was kind enough to loan me his Industry Nine rear wheel(mine is toast and Ive been breaking spokes on it alot lately) and an entire XX1 drivetrain. I was in hog heaven, even though I was rocking a hardtail for such a brutal course, I had great gear with my Felt HT, a KS dropper, Jons parts and I decided to run Maxxis Ardent races, front and rear. 2.25's. They were the perfect choice for the chunk.
The race started off much slower in my opinion than in 2013, I wasn't complaining. I wasn't breathing hard at all leading into climb up towards the Colorado Trail. Some really cool guy from the GO team from Gunnison was in the lead group with just myself and Jesse. Cary Smith and Josh Tostado were just behind us. I couldn't believe I was already ahead of such strong dudes and I wasn't even in the red(which is NOT where you need to be in this race, ever).
Jesse and the GO rider dropped me on some of the chunky rock sections about 2-ish hours in, I wasn't willing to take the chance of descending quite as fast as they were. I rode my tempo and held 3rd for a while. As quickly as the race started and I felt great, I hit a wall. I literally bonked after aid 1. All I took from Aid 1 was a bottle of Tailwind Nutrition and it did NOT sit well with my stomach. Near alpine tunnel, Cary had passed me and I just couldn't hold it any longer, I had to use the bathroom. I kept talking to myself over and over, "this cannot be happening". I wasn't able to eat or drink, I could hold down NOTHING for the next nearly 5 hours. I dropped a ton of places before meeting Jon at the Snowblind aid station around sunrise. I wanted to quit sooo bad, afterall, my goal was to win this race, not just finish, but win. I knew if I had the perfect race, I could. Jon was a great help, he made me down a Coke and I was able to eat a Twinkie in the comfort of the aid and with all the support from people, I decided to push on. And I am glad I did. I had a killer second half of the race. I lost nearly 2 hours from alpine tunnel to snowblind, I walked alot with my nauseous stomach. That sugar kicked in and gave me just what I need to finish the last 6 hours strong. Oddly enough, I barely drank and ate anymore even for those 6 hours, but I had a great hard tempo going and nothing was stopping me, I passed nearly 13 racers in the last half earning 7th overall in the race.
Coming in behind names like Cary, Josh, Jesse, Kerkove, etc... and all in the name of having a bad race, I was stoked. Take what you can get in Colorado because everyone is crazy fast and the talent pool is unbelievable here.
I wrapped up my race with a burger before the drive to InterBike in Vegas. I had a killer week in Vegas, there is LOTS in the works for 92Fifty', Elevated Legs and myself. I will keep you all posted as things progress. I apologize for being the worst blogger, pretty much ever. I promise to change that in the upcoming season, I will be bloggin and on social media alot pimpin' out the new year! Thanks for reading, now go ride yer bike!
-KT
No comments:
Post a Comment