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Channel: Josh Tostado

Tommy Knocker 10 Hour – 2019

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The Tommy Knocker 10 was the first race of 2019 for me, I have been to this race before and I always have a great time at the Zia rides races. This winter I’ve been down in southern Arizona for most of the winter, doing a lot of exploring in new places and riding a lot of great trails. I felt like I was more than ready to put a good effort in for 10 hours but even when you feel great there’s always that voice in the back of your mind that’s being negative and telling you that you haven’t done enough. I’ve always questioned my fitness and I think it’s a great motivator to question yourself, it keeps you honest and always striving to be better.

The week before the race I had to make a quick trip back to Colorado and get my race bike and supplies for more time in the desert. I made it out of Colorado just in time, as the next huge winter storm arrived. I got to Silver City a week early and got to check out some of the riding in the area. The Continental Divide trail runs through this part of NM and was stoked to get some exploring in on a couple sections of the trail. I’ve always liked NM it’s got a really good vibe, the people are friendly there’s tons of great riding and cool history and culture to experience, I could definitely see myself living in some corner of the state someday.

The Tommy Knocker course got a bit of a change this year, adding a little more single track but overall keeping most of it the same. It’s a 12-mile loop with 837 feet of climbing on each lap, a couple short sections of double track and the rest is high desert single track. It’s kind of desert meets grassland and really makes for a beautiful landscape.

I stopped looking at who is coming to races a long time ago, because you can only do what you can do and thinking about someone else being at a race doesn’t really do anything for you… just show up and race hard. The start of the race was pretty chilly and it was only looking to get into the low 50s so I started with arm warmers and a vest and kept those on all day. I went out fast to stay ahead of things and tried to keep a regular pace throughout, my fastest lap was under 50 minutes but never went over the hour mark so I was happy to keep it really consistent all day. I mostly drank my custom Infinit Nutrition mix and early on when it was cold I supplemented that with so Honey Stinger products.

My Santa Cruz Blur is an incredible race bike! It really is so fast, I had zero problems with my Shimano Di2 which performed flawlessly and always has! My tire setup for about a year now has been Maxxis Aspen in the rear and Ardent race in the front, always with EXO TR and I’ve really liked that combo but I may change it up a bit this year and try some new things out.

I ended up riding 120 miles in 9 hours and had time to go out for one more but it would have been really close as I had to finish before 6 PM for the lap to count so I decided to stop and enjoy a beer instead. I was happy take the win at the first race of the season but more importantly got to connect with some of my mountain bike family that I haven’t seen in awhile and connect with people I’ve never met  before. This really is what it’s all about connecting with friends and making new ones wile doing the thing I love most, riding my mountain bike!


Sedona Big Friggin Loop – 2019

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I’ve been coming to Sedona for over a decade, the place has changed a lot in the time that I’ve been coming here. When I first started coming to Sedona I was riding a 3-inch XC bike with tubes and really skinny tires… I got away with a lot because of youth and athleticism but definitely took my lumps. Early on I was introduced to some of the locals who were already riding bigger suspension bikes with aggressive tires and it really opened my eyes to what was possible on a mountain bike.

Like all places that are special and beautiful it can get loved to death, it can get very crowded. In Sedona but the riding is incredible and the saturation of trail riding in a relatively small area is unmatched in my opinion. The area can be intimidating to a beginner or intermediate rider because of the nature of trails here, everything is really technical and even the “intermediate” trails are much more advanced than most riding destinations you will go to. The thing that draws so many people to this place is the dramatic landscape, just around every corner is another breathtaking view and I always like to say it’s so incredible it looks fake, too good to be true!

sedona 2019 High Tower LT

I’ve known about the SBFL for quite some time and have always wanted to do this race and for some reason or another have never been able to make it happen. At 53 miles it’s my shortest race of the season but what it lacks in mileage it makes up for in hard trail riding, the first section of the race goes over high line trail, one of the more technical trails in Sedona. This year in AZ it has been a very wet winter and the major river crossing on the course was to high to safely cross so the promoters decided to divert the course to a bridge that would add a good amount of road, and to keep times in the same general zone they decided to take out some trail and add some road. I was a bit bummed about the change but it was necessary and the road section was all climbing so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

The day of the race ended up being perfect weather with the high temp only getting into the low 60’s, the leisurely race start of 8:30am at the Bike & Bean bike shop (who are gracious enough to host the event and after party) was a nice treat, usually I’m staring races at 6 or 7am so the extra sleep is nice.

sedona 2019 blur

Once we got going no one really wanted to take the lead so I jumped up front and started up Slim Shady trail at a leisurely pace. Once we hit Highline trail I upped the pace and was soon by myself, I figured I could make some time on this section because of the technical nature of the trail. Highline is probably the most technical section, but the entire course really doesn’t let you relax. The race is completely self-supported and I think it really levels the playing field, you can’t have someone meeting you every 10 miles to give you handoffs. It kind of annoys me when a race calls itself a “self supported race” but then you can have someone meeting you along the course at any point the whole way. To me that’s not self-supported and I don’t get why some races out there do this.

I figured I would be about 5 hours and I knew it was going to be cool temps so I went with about 100oz of my Infinit drink mix, and this ended up being perfect and I even had some left over. I’m not going to go into all the trails we rode but you pretty much ride through every trail network in the area except for Hangover. I ended up finishing just under 5 hours for the win!

I was pretty happy with that, this is definitely my kind of race, it’s really not my distance but this is what I want in a race, demanding trail riding the entire time basically what I ride on a daily basis. As usual my Santa Cruz Blur with Shimano DI2 was flawless throughout, I definitely take it for granted that it’s going to work perfectly and I never really even think about if it’s going to fail me because it never has. I will definitely be back for the full trail version of this race without any road. If your looking for great trail races this is one of them, put it on the list you won’t be disappointed.

Buena Vista 720 – 2019

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I’ve always loved the Buena Vista area, this part of Colorado has such a beautiful landscape and striking contrast. You can be down in the high desert valley riding your mountain bike through a maze of rock formations and pinion pines while the collegiate range with its snow covered peaks guards the valley from incoming storms.

Having lived in Park County Colorado for the last 8 years I’ve been coming down to the Arkansas valley for the dry, fairly warm winters and an abundance of great riding that can be year round. At only 35 minutes to BV and 55 minutes to Salida, this has become my go to winter riding spot. The riding in BV is great but was limited until the past few years when local business owners have raised quite a bit of money for trail work.

josh-tostado-finish-Buena-Vista-720---2019

If you want to get miles in on dirt, there are a ton of options but now the trail network directly out of town is growing and I think in 5 years BV could be a riding destination on par with other spots in Colorado. This was a first year event put on by Chocolate Bunny Productions, who has put on enduro races and now several 12 hour endurance events. The Salida 720 last year was the first of these 12 hour races and now with this event ( Buena Vista 720) and a hopeful 3rd event in Colorado next year, they will have a nice 12 hour series going. The standard was definitely set at the Salida 720 for the type of course you can expect at these races, it was a mountain bikers course where bike handling skills were just as important as fitness. The BV course while not as technical as Salida was still a great mountain biking course and with more single track to be added next year will be a must do race for the future.

The race started in downtown Buena Vista with a short running start, then straight into the Barbara Whipple trail network and climbed up to county road 304 and out on the old rail road bed for a couple miles out to the Midland trail system. We then climbed up county road 376A for a mile to the start of Bacon bits, with twists and turns and bits of rock features dispersed throughout the trail. Bacon bits continues on into Midland trail proper that has similar riding to bacon bits, fun and moderately technical. After Midland trail you reconnect with 304 and back to Barbara Whipple trail system and on to Broken Boyfriend south, this is the hardest part of the course upping the ante with some harder rock features that add up over time. The last section of the course is a fun rip back down through Barbara Whipple back to the finish.

The first lap of the race I went out hard and chased a team guy for the entire lap, going a bit harder than I should have and I knew I was going to pay for it later in the race but it’s all about fun and it was a good time chasing some fast dudes around for the first couple laps.

After a few way too fast laps I settled into a more reasonable pace and cranked the laps out one at a time. I stayed hard on the gas all day long with consistent laps ending up averaging 1:04 lap times for the day on the 13.5 mile course.

josh-tostado-rest-Buena-Vista-720---2019

This year I’m trying out a different Maxxis tire setup with an Aspen up front and a Recon race in the back, so far I’m sold on this combo and we’ll see how durable this will be after several hundred miles of racing, so far so good!

I figured I would do 10 laps and that’s what I prepared for, I came in off my 10th lap at 10 hours 50 minutes and definitely had time for one more lap but I had just lapped second and having finished 135 miles a beer was calling my name. This race is going to grow into a great event, the riding and town are already stellar and with the addition of more single track for next years race it’s going to be a must do event.

josh-tostado-podium-Buena-Vista-720---2019

Royal Gorge 12 Hour – 2019

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I always try to do new races when I can, especially on trails that I’ve never been on before. A big reason why I love mountain biking is to constantly be exploring new places to ride and visit. You could spend a lifetime exploring all the places to ride a mountain bike just in the US alone. For some reason I had overlooked the Royal Gorge as a place to ride, I knew that there were trails up there but I had never checked it out nor had I ever even been out to see the Gorge.

josh tostado royal gorge 12 hour view

The Royal Gorge itself is beautiful and incredible! definitely worth checking out. The bridge that you can walk across is a total tourist trap, it’s like 25 dollars to walk across the bridge, I’m sure its a cool view but definitely not worth it. Skip the bridge and just go for a ride or hike on the many trails that are in the surrounding area. You can tell that the trails that are being built in the gorge area and in and around Cañon City are being done by professional trail builders. They really are doing a great job and there trails for every level of mountain biker out there.

The venue and camping for the race is picture perfect, its a nice little campground right on the course with fire pits and picnic tables at every site. At the moment the campground is free to camp but that will likely change because it’s the nicest free campground I’ve ever seen. The course was 100% single track and a good mix of smooth and fast riding and some decent technical stuff to keep you honest. The views all over the course are world class, early on you have spectacular views of snow covered peaks, then you get to traverse mini gorge fingers halfway through and finally near the end of the course you have an amazing view of the gorge and can see all the way down to the Arkansas river.

josh tostado royal gorge 12 hour so serious

This spring has been a crap shoot as far as weather goes and in the days leading up to the race it looked like anything could happen. On the morning of the race we awoke to blue skies and chilly temps, the forecast was calling for mid 60’s and a 20 percent chance of rain so I started of with arm warmers and a vest.

Any time I don’t have to do a running start I am a happy camper, it’s not that I don’t enjoy running, I do, just not in carbon soled bike shoes! For the start we had a long dirt road climb for about a mile then into the course. I figured I would sit on some team guys for a bit but we were going pretty slow and I was cold so I wanted to get warm quick so I jumped up front and put down a harder pace to warm up a bit.

josh tostado royal gorge 12 hour descending

I was in lead ahead of a couple team guys by a few minutes about halfway through the lap and I’m going uphill and all of a sudden my tire springs a huge leak in the sidewall. It was a very strange sidewall cut/hole, there were no rocks to speak of, the only thing I can think is that I rolled over some glass just right or a nail or something. As soon as I heard it I jumped off my bike to try and get it to seal up, upon inspection I new it would need a plug but was possibly to big for a plug or even two plugs. This is where you have to make a decision try to use the plugs and use the one CO2 that you have and hope it works or just put a tube in and have to race with a tube the rest of the day. I chose to go with the plugs and I did end up needing to put two bacon strip plugs in the hole crossed my fingers and aired it up and it held! Thank goodness. I was back on my bike and now chasing back to the two team guys that had passed me.

After the first lap I had to get resupplied with another co2 and more plugs just in case, after a bit of scrambling around I was back on my bike and out for more racing. As the day progressed I stayed very consistent with my lap times, between 52 and 57 minutes all day long, other than my first lap with a puncture fix and an extra mile of climbing at 58 minutes.

josh tostado royal gorge 12 hour climbing

We kind of got the tour of Colorado spring weather throughout the day, at times the sun came out and it was almost hot, the wind came and went then came again and we got brief periods of rain and some grapple (not hail and not snow, soft hail or hard snow depending on how you want to look at it).

I had it in my head that I was shooting for 12 laps but 13 was definitely possible, I came in off my 12th lap with 52 minutes left, to get a 13th lap I would have had to match my fastest lap and that wasn’t happening, maybe I could have had it without the first lap slowdown, but at any rate a beer and pizza were calling my name. I have really fallen in love with the 12 hour format, especially when its great riding. It’s long enough to really put the hurting on you and everyone no matter what age, sex, or class finish at the same time and you just eat and drink and be merry, isn’t that how all bike rides should end?

josh tostado royal gorge 12 hour podium

Photos: https://gillen-photography.smugmug.com

Salida 720 -2019

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When I look at putting a race schedule together, usually in the first couple months of the year, I have to take a lot of things into consideration. Racing mostly 100 miles or longer recovery is a huge part of putting a schedule together and making sure there’s plenty of down time somewhere in the middle of the season is very important. I had a huge block of racing starting with the BV 720, then the Royal Gorge 12 Hour and ending with my last race the Salida 720, three 12 hour races in 5 weeks. When I wrote everything down on paper this block of racing was quite intimidating, at 43 years old I have to be really careful with recovery so that I can be 100 percent come race day. If I could make it through this gauntlet of racing, while able to put hard efforts in at each race, it would really give me some great fitness for the rest of the season.

salida 720 2019 josh tostado view

The first of the two 12 hour races I felt great! I had good energy coming into each race, I was very consistent all the way though the races, and still able to push hard at the end of each. Coming into the Salida 720 race I felt beat up, I had tweaked my knee a little bit in the previous race and I had a stupid crash in-between races hyperextending my wrist bad enough that I wasn’t sure if I would be able to race at all. I figured that I should just tape my wrist up and do the race and if it became to painful I could always just stop. Of course the Salida course is the most technical of the three races and probably one of the most technical xc courses you’ll find anywhere, so coming into it with a bum wrist was not ideal. The weather for race day was looking great, a bit of moisture a couple days before the race made a huge difference in course conditions and the forecast temps were in the low 70’s with passing clouds, it was looking like a perfect day.

For the first lap of most races I usually like to go out hard with a fast team guy and I definitely got that this year with Nick Gould, who went out hard (and put down the fastest lap of the day)! We rallied together for most of the lap, I would let him go on a couple climbs where he was going a bit faster than I wanted to go and I would eventually catch him on the decents.

salida 720 2019 josh tostado climbing

I had Taylor Sheldon to worry about so I kept the pace high all day, What I didn’t know is that he had a crash on the first lap that set him back a bit but had stayed strong for 5 laps before dropping out. Still thinking Taylor was chasing me I was definitely pushing it but I was not feeling my best and was fading with my wrist not feeling great.

I came in to start my 8th lap and asked Nick if he knew how far back Taylor was and he told me he had dropped out and the next guy was way back, I was pretty relieved to hear that because I was pretty smashed and didn’t really want to do a 9th lap and could stop after 8.

salida 720 2019 josh tostado van

It’s always great to win but really feeling good and being able to push hard to the end of a race is the best case scenario. I definitely didn’t have it at the end of this race, I pushed my body to its breaking point and barely made it through, which I should be happy with but I guess I’m always striving for more and never satisfied with almost. just because you don’t think you can do something is no reason to not try, do things you think you can’t do, usually you’ll surprise yourself and when you fail get up and try again, that’s part of succeeding.

salida 720 2019 josh tostado podium

Oregon 12 & 24 – 2019

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I had scheduled a pretty significant break from racing the entire month of June, I love to race but sometimes you need a little break to get those competitive juices flowing again. The first race after my break was supposed to be the Tatanka 100 on July 7th, but for unspecified reasons that race was canceled. Looking around at what else was out there I really didn’t see much besides the Breckenridge 100, this race definitely holds a special place in my heart having done it 12 times I know whats in store with this race and it was looking like it would be lucky 13 for me. A couple weeks before the race they announced that the Breck 100 would be canceled as well, the winter was huge in Colorado this year and most of the course was still under snow so putting on the race would be impossible. Now I was scrambling and not really seeing anything longer than 50 miles in the Colorado region, then I got an e-mail from mudslinger events about the Oregon 12 & 24 race on July 13th in Bend OR. I have raced in Bend many times at the High Cascade 100 and I know the quality of riding there so I figured I’d give it a try, seeing how great of a job Mudslinger does with the High Cascade it was a no brainer.

The venue for anyone that’s familiar with Bend is about halfway between town and MT Bachelor at Wanoga snow park, situated at about 5000′ in elevation. The course is an 11 mile loop with just over 1000′ of climbing, consisting of about 80% single track and the rest double track and dirt road, the trails were mostly smooth and fast but there are some very challenging rock garden sections that I looked forward to trying to clean every lap. The course ended up being super fun! At first I was a little bummed that it wasn’t 100% single track but it really wasn’t that much road and the trail was super fun, pretty short up and down the whole way so it kept your interest the entire time.

It definitely can get very dry in this area and thankfully they had received some rain prior to the race. It was still pretty dusty, but the trail bed stays pretty good with all the large healthy trees in the area dropping pine needles into the trail making a big difference in ride quality. I recently noticed this because parts of Colorado that have a problem with dead lodgepole pine trees because of pine beetle and other unhealthy trees and have done a lot of clear cutting because there were so many dead trees. This has had a big impact on the trail making for dry ball bearing type conditions all the time because there’s no more forest to soften the trail year after year. Basically what I’m getting at is the riding in OR was dry but still really good!

For this race they start at 9am for the 12 & 24 so for the 12 you have to have lights after 7pm which is kind of a cool way to do it and the 9am start was seriously luxurious! Usually best case scenario is 7 but a lot of times its 6am or earlier, waking up at a normal hour was pretty nice. I’m not a big fan of the running start especially when it’s about a quarter mile, but it was kind of necessary with the race going straight into single track. I finished the run with about 4 guys in front of me and followed a couple 24 hour team guys for the first few miles, after I got warmed up a bit I went to the front on my own to put down a quicker pace.

My lap times were very consistent throughout the day with my fastest lap at 46 minutes and my slowest at 55 minutes. I felt great all day with a couple middle of the day laps were i was feeling the heat but for the most part I really was able to push hard with great energy the entire time. At first before the event I was thinking I was going for 12 laps but as the day progressed and I kept putting fast laps down and not really slowing I realized that it would definitely be 13 laps and possibly 14 if I had someone close behind me. I did end up doing 13 laps for 143 miles in just over 11 hours, I thought about doing 14 because I felt really good at that point but I had already had a great race and with a pretty big lead there was no reason for another lap, also with another hard race in two weeks at the Butte 100 It would be foolish to crush myself for no reason. I’m not a huge drinker but I definitely do enjoy a couple beers from time to time especially after racing all day it really is a great way to celebrate doing something hard but rewarding all day and it was nice to watch the 24 hour racers continue into the night.

Butte 100 – 2019

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This was my second year coming to the Butte 100, I do love experiencing a race for the first time, everything is new you have to figure out where the best place to camp, the course is a mystery every turn is a new experience. All of that unknown can bite you in the ass as well, last year I got lost with Tinker for over 30 minutes, I went on to finish and win the race (to my surprise). This year I was bound and determined to have a clean race, no getting lost, no mechanicals, and I wanted to feel strong for the entire time.

I really enjoy coming to Montana, The people are very friendly, it’s wide open country where you can go out and get lost and not see anyone for a long time. You can do that in Colorado too but it’s getting harder and harder and it seems like every cool spot has been discovered. I’m no expert on Montana and I’m barely scratching the surface as far as places to see and ride a bike but Butte has some amazing trail riding. The Continental Divide Trail goes right through there and this section of that trail is a gem! There’s a bit of everything on this part of the CDT, fast up and down roller-coaster through decomposing granite, technical rocky riding that will test the most seasoned trail rider and steep switchback climbs that go on for what seems like forever.

The first 50 miles of the course is all on a motorized area with steep climbing on two track and moto single track, there’s some dirt roads that were very sandy this year that made for some slow going. The second 50 miles of the course is where all the CDT is and other than a double track section and a bit of road is all trail riding.

The 6am start of the race is early, I always wake up 2 hours before races to eat and get everything ready so waking up at 4am is not a good recipe for getting good sleep. I usually sleep pretty well but occasionally I’ll have some insomnia before races. I’ve struggled with this my entire racing career, it has gotten better but it still plagues me from time to time. I didn’t get much sleep for 2 nights leading into the race, it kind of sucks but I have done so many long hard races on zero sleep that once you start you forget about being tired and you just go.

I set the pace at the start and just went with it, I wasn’t sure who was going to be with me but Eric Chizum matched my pace and it didn’t take long before it was just the two of us. On the first downhill I tested him to see how fast he was going to be and put a nice little gap on him pretty quickly. I did this several times in the downhills and he would would work harder than me to catch back up, after you do this for 50 miles, it’s going to take a toll on you.

By the time I came into the start finish area after the first 50 I had put about 3 minutes into Eric and headed out on the second 50, which is the much harder part of the race. I figured if I just stayed consistent once I got to the trail riding there probably was no way he would be able to catch me. I felt good the second half and was able to push the entire time, I didn’t know how far back Eric was so I just had to ride like he was only a couple minutes behind and for all I knew he could have been.

josh-tostado-butte-100-2019-pits

Once I started getting closer to the end I was thinking I could finish under 9 hours so it gave me some added motivation to keep pushing hard when I just wanted to slow down. The end of the course just kept going and going and the under 9 hour mark was slipping away, I went hard for it but it just wasn’t going to happen. I ended up finishing in 9:08 and Eric had slowed on the second half coming in over 9:40, after the race we talked and he had been on a hard tail because someone had told him it was a hard tail course, we both laughed about this because this race is definitely not a hard tail course!

This race is a must do for someone looking for hard 100 mile races, the vibe is great, the people are great, and the riding is great, also word on the street is they are putting in more trail in the first half making for an even better course.

Marji Gesick 100 – 2019

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The Marji Gesick 100 has gotten quite the reputation over the past couple years as the hardest 100 mile race in the country. Now that’s a pretty big statement… but I will cut right to the chase and say that I fully endorse that statement! Now here’s where I have a bit of a hard time with the claim that it’s the hardest single day race in the country, what consists of a single day race? is that just during the day? is it a 24 hour period? This year Marji had an out and back on the course and to me that’s about like a 24 hour race even though the winner did it in 26:20ish, so if you put that in the one day category then I would call that the hardest bike race in the country.

I have been thinking about this a lot, so I’ll talk about it a bit more, because blow by blow race reporting is really boring to me but this topic is quite interesting… What is the hardest race in the country? Well as far as 100 mile races go I give the nod to Marji Gesick, the only other 100 I would put in with Marji is the CB 100 in Crested Butte, and even though it’s 125 miles the Vapor Trail, both of those races haven’t happened in a couple years so you can’t really compare something that isn’t happening anymore.

Now is Marji harder than say a 12 hour race that’s on technical single track that you ride over and over? that’s hard to say, I felt like I was more beat up at the Salida 720 12 hour race but it’s more mileage, 127 or something and in a lap race you can go light and grab more food and drink every lap. In the Marji your carrying everything you need and getting some water along the way until you can refuel at the 60 mile drop. Also in a 12 hour lap race your getting better and better at riding the lines because your doing it over an over on the 13 mile course or whatever that course may be. So Marji against a 12 hour race that’s hard to call but I still give it to Marji because it’s all different terrain and you’re carrying everything, plus there was some debate on the actual mileage of Marji, it was claimed to be 105 but I heard a lot of people saying it was more like 115, either way it’s a hard race.

Now to the 24 hour comparison, any 24 hour race is harder than Marji 100 in my opinion, but the out and back version of Marji (which I put in the 24 hour category ) has to be the hardest race in the country, 210+ miles on that terrain is about as hard as it gets, beyond that your getting into Arizona Trail 300 territory and I think that’s really a different animal because you really are self sufficient and carrying everything and although I’ve ridden a lot of that section of the AZT I can’t speak to the difficulty of the race because I’ve never done it.

So basically Marji as a whole gets my nod for hardest 100 and hardest race in a 24 hour period or in one big push has to be Marji out and back! They kind of have all there bases covered with the addition of the out and back, I don’t think anything tops that.

Now to the actual race, I’m going to make it relatively short and sweet. I did get to pre ride some of the course and the riding I got to do made me really excited for the race, it was raw single track mixed with super bermed out fast and flowy riding, always punchy climbs with a bunch of technical stuff thrown in everywhere. I didn’t even get to pre ride the good stuff (in my opinion) mile 60 to the finish. The last 40 miles of the race was just raw street fight technical single track, super fast transitions, some rock slab rollers, full body riding I was seriously in heaven in this section.

The start of the race is a spectacle to see! there were bonfires, a drum circle, electric guitar, star spangle banner and a unicorn leading us out on the Lemans start. I felt like I was at a music festival rather than a bike race, best start to a race I’ve ever seen! We did about a half mile run and then its into some nordic center type trails for about 7 or 8 miles. The pace was super manageable and we had a group of about 6 or 7, we had just gone through what I think is called top of the world kind of a slaby technical up and down pretty technical for XC racing but rode everything sight unseen with no problem.

Marji-Gesick-2019-start-2

After we get a ways in, and I can’t remember the guy’s name because later on he was having flat tire problems but we are doing about 20 down a pretty wide section of trail and I think he was just not paying attention and clipped a pedal, goes sideways in front of me and hits the dirt, I slam my brakes on and I’m basically sliding into his bike and eventually him so I hit the eject button and lose the bike and land right on top of the dude. He totally breaks my fall I jump up thinking he could be hurt but he’s totally fine, bikes are fine we both jump back on and we’re going again.

The next 50 miles basically became a guided tour of Marji Gesick by Matt Acker and Scott Quiring, I was quite happy to let a couple guys from Michigan show me the way. There were other guys in the group and the group actually grew to about 7 or 8 people by the time we got to the 40 mile mark. I got out of the aid first only having filled my bottle with water and got into Gurley and up’d  the pace a bit to try and shrink the group, before I knew it Scott was right on me, we got to a short steep road climb so I took the opportunity to eat and Scott took the lead for the next section with Matt and Cole House jumping back on shortly. We all rode together to mile 60 with Cole getting ahead of us just before the aid, and I dropped off the pace just before then on the bike path section. I definitely should have started with more food and Infinit drink mix, running out of both from mile 50 to 60. I knew once we got to the aid and I could refuel I would be ok but at the moment I was not feeling to good and the heat and humidity were definitely getting to me.

I pulled into the 60 mile aid and got all my stuff together, new pack filled with Infinit Nutrition and more food, downed a Honey Stinger chew and a gel and filled my bottle and was off just behind Matt and Scott. I caught Scott after a few miles and he let me pass, I think he was feeling it a bit too! The next 40 miles I ate and drank as much as possible and started feeling really good again. I was having a super good time riding the trails, some of the climbs were super steep and hard and I was cleaning most of it, which was surprising me because a lot of it was the type of stuff that you give it a go even though it looks like you won’t make it but when you do it really gives you an energy boost even though you just sprinted up some crazy rutted out rocky trail. It was also a lot of really quick transition up and down, all kinds of funny 180 turns with all manner of rock and sketchiness, everything was steep and I was loving it.

Marji-Gesick-2019-fuel

I kept pushing hard because I knew Scott was somewhere behind me, Matt had been riding really strong and he had been telling me how much he liked this section of the race so I knew he was probably not going to be caught. In the back of my mind when I started the race I had 10:30 as a finishing time and the closer I got to the end I figured I might be able to pull it off! I pushed hard the last few miles and if it wasn’t for one last hill and little trail at the end I would have been under 10:30, instead I was 10:32 which in hindsight I’m pretty happy with, first time racing there on a hot humid day.

Marji Gesick is a special race, Danny and Todd have created something you don’t find very often, they decided to make the hardest race they could come up with while other races are looking to make a race easier so they can get as many people to do the race as possible. If your looking to test yourself and you fancy yourself as a trail rider then you will have to give Marji a go at some point, trust me you won’t be disappointed!

Marji-Gesick-2019-podium


24 Hours of Old Pueblo – 2020

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I have been wanting to do this race for a very long time, in the past I’ve always taken the winter off from riding and skied, at least for 3 months anyway. I love skiing and always will, it used to be what riding bikes is to me now but slowly over the years that ski time has gotten smaller and smaller until last winter it was 2 days of skiing because I spent most of the winter in Arizona.

I kind of decided last winter that the best way to be ready for 24 Hours of Old Pueblo (OP) was to just continue training from 2019 through the winter and be in top form in February for OP. I seem to end up doing things the hard way and instead of heading south when the winter hit in Colorado I stuck around and did my best to get as much volume as I could wile helping my girlfriend remodel her house. Living in Fairplay, CO is actually a great spot for winter riding, I’m in close proximity to several great mostly year round mountain biking areas. Buena Vista is 35 minutes, Salida is 55 minutes, Buffalo Creek, Canyon City and Denver are all an hour and 10 minutes away.

I really was able to take advantage of all the great riding around me and by February I felt like I was in the best shape of my life! At 44 years old I really work on the little things a lot more like core work and nutrition but I also am more balanced with everything. I used to not drink alcohol during the season at all, but then in the off season I would drink beer everyday for 2 months, not getting drunk but a beer or two. This is something that I’ve changed in the last couple years, now I have a beer from time to time year round and I feel happier about it and more balanced. I’m not going overboard in the offseason and don’t let the fitness go off the tracks I just keep things going year round with good nutrition and treating myself to things I enjoy makes me less stressed and more even.

Having never done OP or even been to the venue I wasn’t to sure what to expect, some of my friends had told me about the course and that it is a power course which is not really my strong point but I didn’t really care because 24 hour racing is so much more than just being strong. a lot of it is in your head a lot of it is how durable your body is, your pit crew is huge and of course you do need to be fit.

For bikes I pretty much always race on my full suspension Santa Cruz Blur and I had 2 of those fully outfitted with Shimano XTR, I go with the full suspension especially in 24’s because even the smoothest course becomes very rough after 14 hours. For nutrition my foundation is always my custom Infinit Nutrition mixes I also supplement that with whole food and Honey Stinger products. For lights I have been using Nite Rider for over a decade and I went with the new Lumina Dual 1800 on the bars, and the Lumina micro 850 on the helmet, lights are so crucial in a 24 hour race, if you can ride like its day time it makes all the difference.

I got to the venue a week ahead of time and there were already 100 RV’s there but with hardly anyone around, people just show up like 10 days before the race and leave an RV so they have a good spot. After searching around a bit I found a great spot on the course, and as the week went on I realized why people come early and stake out a spot, It really was kind of madness the couple days leading to the race. People were just camping everywhere and there literally was no place to even park on race day. I was very thankful to have a great pit crew for the race! My girlfriend Marlee Dixon came and she’s pro, having pitted for me for several 24 hour races and because she’s a mountain bike racer herself she knows how to anticipate what I need throughout the race. I also had support from Santa Cruz with Jordan Nguyen coming out and wrenching on my bikes and helping with anything else, It really has been huge to get so much support from Santa Cruz for the 24 hour races I’ve done all over the world in the last couple years I really could not have kept this bike racing dream alive without them.

The thing I dislike the most about 24 hour races is the running start, I’m not opposed to running just when I’m wearing carbon soled bike shoes and I’m about to ride for 24 hours, sprinting for a 1/3 of a mile doesn’t really get me excited. This was probably one of the craziest runs that I’ve had to do, luckily I had Marlee in a good spot to hand me my bike and I was able to stay out of trouble for the most part. I was in pretty good position to work my way up to the front with some team guys and after about 5 minutes on the bike I was up were I wanted to be.

The plan for the race was to do 20 laps, and to do that I wanted to be in the 1:12 to 1:15 average lap time range. I knew the first lap would be faster than I wanted but when we came in 57 minutes the plan to go slow and steady kind of went out the window and Marlee was scolding me for going so fast, you can have the best intended plan but once your out there in the heat of the race you kind of get sucked in and just start racing. The pace went like this for about the first 6 or 7 laps with Taylor Lideen, Dylan Johnson, Adam Hill and myself pretty much riding as a pack.

We had all been riding together for a wile and I can’t remember what lap it was but I came in to the transition tent just behind Taylor and when I came out he had put the hammer down and was gone, that’s when I decided it was time to just ride my own race we had all gone fast at the beginning and now it was time to settle in for the long haul. Dylan came by me that lap and asked If I knew how far Taylor was and I told him he had attacked pretty hard and was likely ahead by at least a couple minutes he said he was going to try and chase him down and I think he expected me to come with but when I didn’t he kind of looked back asked how I was feeling I told him I was good and let him go.

I took a couple laps of still going a good pace but kind of resting from the hard effort we had all done in the first 7 or 8 hours. After midnight I actually felt pretty good and I was laying down consistent lap times, right were I wanted to be to get 20 laps. I knew that Taylor was going for 21 laps and I thought he would get it, by 6am the next morning he had about a 30 minute lead on me and I had a 30 minute lead on Adam who was in 3rd place now, Dylan sometime in the night had fallen off the pace and decided to call it a day. I knew I probably had 2nd place in the bag and I figured winning was probably out of reach but I felt good probably better than I’ve felt in a 24 in a long time so I kept going as hard as I could. I had been doing the math all night long and I knew If I didn’t blow up I would be able to get 20 laps without to much of a problem. About 8:30 in the morning I was finishing my 17th lap and going out on 18 I noticed that I was lapping Adam. Now that I was a full lap up on 3rd and with Taylor still putting strong laps in I didn’t decide to slow down but the drive to keep going super hard started to fade. I had second wrapped up and barring a huge mechanical or physical breakdown, 20 laps was going to happen so I just kind of excepted the fact of where I was at and was very pleased to be there.

When I came in after 19 laps to go out on number 20, I was pretty out of it and when Marlee told me something about Taylor sitting in his pit, it really didn’t register at first and I kind of thought to myself well here we go last lap we’re going to duke it out… When I went by his pit he was sitting there and didn’t look very good so I decided not to take any chances and put it all out there, everything I had left in the tank I used. I was really going hard that last lap and was doing some math in my head and realized I could be pretty close to the record if I dug deep so I gutted myself and ended up putting in a 1:09 last lap 5 minutes from Taylor’s record from 2018.

When I came across the finish line finally for the win, I couldn’t believe it! I literally broke down mentally and physically, every ounce of energy had been used and I let the emotion flow out of me, tears of happiness and pain flooded down my cheeks as my mind and body could rest now that it was over. I really came into this race with the goal of 20 laps, if I got 20 and came in 4th place I would have been happy but instead I kept fighting to the end and got the win.

These 24 hour races do not get easier, I’ve done around 30 of them over the last 18 years of racing and it’s still a huge test for me, to ride for 24 hours is hard to race for 24 hours against some of the best endurance athletes in the country is brutal. 320 miles with 24,000 feet of climbing is what the final tally was and only the second person behind Taylor to get 20 laps. This was a big goal of mine for the 2020 season and I really think I put more effort into it than I have for any race in a long long time, I think having goals throughout the year can a helpful tool, you have something to strive for, It really lit a fire under my ass, that is for sure!

Infinit Nutrition & Durango Dirty Century

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I get a lot of people that ask me about fuel for racing and training. There’s really no cut and dry answer to what you should use on any given training ride or race. For the most part I use my custom Infinit nutrition blend. Through the years I’ve worked with Infinit to create a couple of custom blends that I use for all my training and racing. For people that don’t know about Infinit Nutrition it’s basically customizable drink mix, you can take all the ingredients that the body needs to preform athletically, carbohydrates, protein, sugar, electrolytes and control how much of everything you want in that personal mix. For me personally I have two different blends, a race mix with caffeine and a training mix with protein, I run similar levels of ingredients for both blends running on the high side of electrolytes because I tend to be a heavy sweater. Having everything your body needs in what your drinking eliminates the need for food; i.e. bars, gels, salt tabs and any solid food. Why would you want to just drink all of your calories? Well your basically getting an IV of calories and nutrients straight to the blood stream without having to use energy for digestion, leaving all the energy for what you’re out doing. In a perfect world just being able to drink my Infinit all day is my go to, getting my 275 calories or so an hour is when I feel like my engine is working perfectly.

Durango Dirty Century 2

Doing training rides and races between 3-6 hours I can usually carry enough drink mix to keep me going strong the entire time. For races longer than that there are usually aid stations and spots for resupply and a lot of times I can have more drink mix waiting for me ready to go. This is not always the case with training and racing, sometimes there are factors that make it hard to have your perfectly formulated go juice with you at all times. In those cases I will use my Infinit as a baseline nutrition and add calories with gels and chews from Honey Stinger. Would I prefer just Infinit? Yes, but its not always a perfect environment for having exactly what you need.

Case in point, last weekend I did a race/ride called the Durango Dirty Century. Its a backcountry mountain bike race that’s 100 miles of mostly high altitude single track riding, very demanding riding that took me just over 11 hours. I decided to do the race fully self supported, meaning I carried everything I would need for 11 hours and had a water filter so that I could filter water out of mountain streams along the way after I had run out. I started the ride with 100 oz of water in my pack and another 25 oz on my bike, that translates to about 1400 calories of Infinit that I started with. Not being able to get a resupply along the way I also carried another 2000 calories of Honey Stinger products.

The first 6 hours I felt great! I was drinking my Infinit and was really going fast, If I could have had a resupply of the same amount of Infinit after that I think I could have continued my pace the entire time. I really noticed that I was slowing down when I ran out of Infinit where as in a lap race when I can pick up more drink mix I stay much more consistent the entire time. The difference between drinking something and eating something as far as the time it takes is drastic as well, when your on technical single track opening a wrapper to eat something is next to impossible so stopping to do that takes time and again the body will use energy to digest those calories.

Durango Dirty Century 3

I also notice the energy highs and lows when I have to eat my calories as apposed to drinking Infinit. It’s less of a consistent energy and more of a spike then a drop, you eat something else and another spike then a drop and so on and so forth. The type of racing for me has always been the long endurance mountain bike events, usually 100 miles or more. The difference in all of those races is vast, one race will be totally different than another even though they are similar distance. The trick is to find the best way to fuel for the type of race you are doing, best case scenario is you have a fresh bottle of Infinit waiting for you around every corner but life and racing is not always perfect so you have to roll with punches and do the best you can to keep the calories flowing. Interested in making your own custom drink formula? Go to Infinit and do a free consultation with one of their nutritionist and they will help you create a custom formula to meet your specific needs.

Durango Dirty Century 3





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