In my last post, I discussed a weekend bike park trip to Big Bear, California. Bears were everywhere there! That bear theme was also evident at the Tour of the White Mountains (TOWM) race the first weekend in October in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona. How so? Well, the top 5 finishers in each of the race categories win a custom, locally-sourced carved bear. More on that in a bit….

I was interested in doing the TOWM two years ago, after successfully finishing the Whiskey 30 race. However, due to other events and not wanting to ride my bike during the summer (it’s HOT in Phoenix!), that didn’t happen. I don’t remember what I was thinking when I registered for TOWM on a whim at the end of the summer (for the 50 mile option!), but I figured I’d be ok despite the lack of training. I mean, I’ve done lots of long rides and I have a little experience doing mountain bike races, right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

How did things go, you ask? All in all, I had 3 weeks of actual training, which included my “long ride” and my taper week. (For those who are curious, “tapering” simply means to reduce your training intensity and duration a couple of weeks before the event.) My focus was to ride every day with one rest day per week and build up my “time in the saddle.” It was harder than I thought to ride everyday during the summer!! And by “summer,” I mean the last 3 weeks of September. We actually got a heatwave here in Phoenix the last 2 weeks of that month, which made me regret my decision to do this race (again) and doubt whether I could do it.

Race day!

My friend Tina and I drove over to the race venue and arrived around 6:50am. The 50 mile category rolled out at 7:15am, so this gave me time to situate myself and decide whether I REALLY still wanted to do this. (Spoiler alert: I did the race.) By 7:05am, the 50 mile riders were corralled into the starting area. Funny story: when the race announcer indicated that the US national anthem was going to be sung, I thought we ALL were going to sing it. So, when he started singing the anthem, I heartily joined in and very quickly realized I was the ONLY rider singing along. I stopped singing pretty quickly!

Finally, the shotgun went off at 7:15am. We were off! I knew I had to pace myself and not sprint right out of the gate, so I took it easy and concentrated on pedalling smoothly and warming up. There were 221 riders in the 50 mile category, most of whom were men. I did pass a few ladies somewhere in the first 5 miles and I also passed a few guys, which motivated me to maintain a steady pace. The first half of the race went well: I didn’t stop, I managed to eat and drink on the bike, and I wasn’t regretting my decision to do this event.

The latter half of the race did not go as well as the first half, which was to be expected. However, I didn’t expect to struggle so much! Around mile 36? Mile 38? I honestly don’t remember now. But somewhere around there, a wicked steep “hike a bike” (or HAB) started, which stopped me in my tracks. Literally. That HAB section was about a mile and a half in distance, but gained almost 1000 feet in elevation. If that wasn’t bad enough, the actual trail was extremely loose with lots of little rocks and tons of dirt, which made upward progress laughably slow. And if THAT wasn’t bad enough, my legs decided to cramp. My left quad muscle was first and the cramp was so bad, I couldn’t walk. I almost fell down, actually. Then, after a few minutes of measured breathing and praying, that cramp subsided. I started my HAB again, then my right leg cramped. This pattern went on for a few more cramps.

In the middle of my cramps, a Good Samaritan named Bev appeared out of nowhere and offered me some pickle juice, which is really great for restoring sodium and electrolytes. She stayed with me for about 10 minutes, until I told her to finish her race. After she left, I felt brave enough to continue my sad, slow climb, stopping every few minutes to rest so I wouldn’t cramp again. That whole HAB section killed my time and speed and put my goal of finishing the race in jeopardy. After reaching the summit of the HAB section, I still had about 20 minutes left to ride the 2.5 miles to the last aid station. If I didn’t make it, I would DNF (“did not finish”). There was NO WAY I was going to DNF. I did NOT want to come back next year and do the race again. I HAD to finish. So, I kept on talking to myself as I pedalled those 2.5 miles to that last aid station. I made it there with 6 minutes to spare! Bev also made it to that aid station 3 minutes before me! What a relief. That was definitely the highlight — and lowlight — of my race experience!

After reaching that last aid station, there were still 12.5 miles to go. Ughhhhh….well, after a few minutes of rest, I pedalled away, slowly and steadily. Thankfully, there was not much climbing left, so all I had to do was keep my turtle pace and keep the end in mind. FINALLY, there it was….the last right turn through the finish line arch. Tina met me at the end, having finished her 35 mile race a few hours ago. I was so very glad to finish within the time limit!! I earned a finisher’s camping mug for my effort, haha. Tina also told me that I got 3rd in my category, which meant I won a hand carved bear! WHAT?? Stranger things have happened!

I mentioned earlier in this post that 221 riders signed up to do the 50 mile race. A few days after the race, I did some poking around the race website and learned that of the 221 riders, 174 finished (in other words, 79% of the riders finished). That made me feel a little better! I was not the only one suffering, haha! The 35 mile category was the biggest one with almost 700 riders.

Will I do this race again? Not sure. If I do, I will definitely train so I can walk up that HAB section easier!

Gear and stuff:

• I didn’t wear a vest or jacket as it was forecasted to be on the warm side. That was the correct decision. Although it wasn’t warm by Phoenix standards, the temperature hit a high of 26 degrees Celsius (around 80 F). I also didn’t wear elbow or knee pads because I banked on the fact that the course would not be super technical. I was right about that as well. There were a few chunky sections, but nothing crazy. Everything was well within, if not below, my current skill level.
• I was thankful that I didn’t have any mechanical issues!
• I was very annoyed that I had leg cramping issues. Grrrr….Next time, bring some pickle juice.
• Food: I prepared a baggie of Skratch Lab chews and Shot Bloks and put that in my top tube bag for easy access. I also had a Camelback hydration pack, which carried my water and a few additional snacks.
• Water: I filled my 70 oz Camelback with 4 packets of Skratch Lab electrolyte drink mix. I also had an extra bottle of water with drink mix that went into my bike’s bottle cage. My thought was that I’d drink most of my calories and eat a few chews every half hour or so.
• Music: I wore one of my AirPods and listened to a Spotify playlist focused on steady tempos called “Riding Music.” Little did I know that “riding” music included ALL kinds of riding, including road bike riding, horseback riding, and um, after hours riding. Please do not ask me to elaborate on that last one! My AirPods didn’t last the whole day, but I was distracted enough for most of my race, so that was good.
• Other considerations: perhaps bring a portable charger? Is that a thing on these long “race” type of rides? Obviously, that would indicate that you’re NOT super competitive! Also….lesson learned: train longer and better. 😉