Valentine’s day was the first race in the USA Cycling ultra endurance series. This 100k race held in Terlingua, TX was rumored to be fast, fun and full of personality. The snow’s still falling in Idaho and the majority of my current training consists of Nordic skiing, backcountry skiing and pushing steel in the gym. My mountain bike went into storage in mid November and my only cycling in the last few months has consisted of going nowhere in my living room on the trainer.
The Mas o Menos 100km race presented the prefect opportunity for me to get some early season time on the dirt and to get a gauge on my winter training. I dusted off the Specialized Era and dug through my plastic bins to find bike tools, tubes, shoes chain lube and the usual stash of bike racing gear. The travel included lots of driving and multiple flights. I had to look up Terlingua, TX on a map and had trouble finding this tiny cycling community on the Texas-Mexico border. It’s a 6 hour drive from El Paso, very near the Big Bend national park. The terrain is rocky moonscape with some of the best desert single track I have ever ridden.
My friend and fellow pro, Yuri Hausweld was on his 3rd season at this race, so he helped educate us on the logistics and brought us into the fold of the Texas cycling community. I was lucky enough to get to meet and stay with the owners and managers of the six Bike Barn shops in TX. They took me in, helped me un-winterize my bike and pointed out all the tricky parts of the course. This personal touch elevated the whole experience for me.
Despite the remote location, this is one of the biggest mountain bike races in Texas and boasts a huge turnout each year. The Texas riders are in the peak of their riding season, so I was full prepared to go down there and have some stiff competition. My riding skills are also pretty rusty and I was completely un-acclimatized to the heat. I was ready for some cramping, crashing and early season suffering. The course consisted of 2 laps on a 50 km course. The lap was relatively flat, fun single track for ¾ of the loop. The one exception was a 1500 ft climb call Tres Cuevas. This loose, rocky hill has a stout reputation for being the crux of the race and a deciding factor in the results. The other big deciding factor in this race was avoiding flat tires. This place was full of cactus and veering off the narrow single track to pass was strongly discouraged by the locals. There were also multiple dips and compressions with tire eating rocks. Our hosts were awesome at pointing out critical lines and notorious areas for flats.
The pro women and pro men started together. We had a 2 mile sandy dirt road before breaking into miles of single track. Despite breathing dust and the lack of visibility, I tried to stick with the pro men to get into the single track in good position. I was fairly sure I was the first female to enter the single track. I spent most of the first lap trying to hydrate sufficiently, smooth out my riding, avoid the sharp rocks and keeping my hands off the brakes. The single track was a lot like a pump track. It wasn’t difficult riding, but it was a fine line between keeping up the speed and not flying into the cactus on the sandy corners. It was a super fun roller coaster ride.
The hill was near the end of the first lap. There was a cash prize for Queen of the Mountain, so I keep looking behind me on the switchbacks to try to see where the competition was. I crested the top of the hill and asked if I was the first female. The race officials at the top said NO! I kept the pressure on an finished the first lap in hopes of getting a time split. There was no announcement regarding my placing, so I grabbed some new water bottles, Hammer gels and set out on the 2nd lap. I definitely felt the lack of early season fitness on this 2nd lap and had to pull the pace back a little. The relatively flat terrain started to feel more hilly, so I worked hard to keep off the brakes and milk the terrain for as much speed as possible. Along the course, officials were telling me I was the first woman. However, I wasn’t completely sure and I also had no time splits for how far back the next woman might be. I ended up working on managing the heat, staying hydrated, and trying to pick off men in front of me.
Even though 100 km is a relatively short race for me, I was thankful that the race wasn’t even 1 km longer. Since I was running scared the whole race and not knowing time splits or placing, I pushed hard right to the finish line. Running scared worked in my favor. I won the women’s race, won the Queen of the Mountain cash and broke the female course record by 6 minutes! I also got some great points for the USA Cycling ultra endurance series. I was ecstatic to have such a positive measure of my early season fitness and it felt really good to be back in race mode again. I came home really motivated for the 2009 season and on a high from being at such a great race with such a colorful group of cyclists.
It’s still mid winter back home, so the skis and the trainer must stay for a bit longer. However, being in Terlingua at Mas O Menos was precisely the kick I needed to keep me focused and psyched while the snow is still on the ground. All I have to do while I’m on the trainer is close my eyes and envision that fast, flowing Texas single track!
For full results and a few photos of the race, check out:
Desert Sports
Cycling News
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Posted under MTB: ENDURANCE
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