Mountains Revenge 2015

A belated race report on the 2015 Mountains Revenge!

Dead of winter right now, but I just got all my bike repair parts including the new rear derailleur to replace the one I smashed during loop four of the Mountains Revenge last summer. That got me thinking about how I'd never done my race report, so I figured I would put down a few thoughts.

Several no-shows and a couple late arrivals left us with only four starters for the mass start, although Ken Boyer did put up a very strong time trial the night before after he had a scheduling conflict. So at 2pm, Nick Woodland, Bernie Romero, Phil Von Hake, and myself rolled out of Keystone Village to tackle loop #1: a classic on the Westridge section of the Colorado Trail. David Pickett Heaps and Eric Brown were a bit late to start but would soon follow.

I brought out a bit more squish than the others with my Yeti SB-66C and quickly fell behind on the climb up Keystone Gulch road. My intent was to go without sleep, so I wasn't in much of a hurry anyways. Once on the Colorado trail I was flying down the very familiar descent when I heard some metal break off from my pedal and fling off to the side of the trail. At first I thought it was my cleat, but it turned out to be one side of my SPD pedal. So for the rest of the race I had to line up the correct side of the pedal so I could click in; annoying, but not a deal-breaker. I finished up lap 1 in third place behind Bernie and Nick.

Lap 2 was a crusher, up through Montezuma and then a very tough & loose HAB over Radical Hill. I could see Nick a good ways in front of me and I think Bernie gave us a shout from the top, but I could never make any ground up on either of them. Once over Radical Hill you get to ride (and hike) some cool rolling jeep roads on the top of the world. We got a little light rain and enjoyed a beautiful sunset up there before the rowdy descent back down to Montezuma on St. Johns Road.

Once I got back to camp I was surprised to find that Nick wasn't back yet, because I knew I had never passed him. After a few minutes he came riding in and I was crushed to learn that I had inadvertently skipped a portion of trail from Montezuma to Peru Creek Road. I was totally bummed because I figured I was relegated, but I headed out for loop 3 anyways since it was a relatively easy, but tremendously fun loop through Summit Cove.

I was in a mental funk though until it dawned on me that loop 4 would head straight back up to Montezuma and I would have a chance to ride the section that I had missed. My punishment would be an extra couple hundred feet of climbing and two or three extra miles, but it seemed to be a way to get back on course and to fairly compete in the event.

Loop 3 was mad fun; a great night ride through Summit Cove on smooth flowing trails. I felt great and enjoyed it immensely, but I knew that loop 4 was going to be a killer.

Nick and I were in camp together and we both figured Bernie was already out on the loop, but I guess he decided to catch a few zzz's before loop 4. I took off before Nick because I had to ride the punishment loop that I had missed on loop 2.

Loop 4 was a long 33-mile adventure over Deer Creek, followed by a gnarly descent down Garibaldi Gulch. While hiking up Deer Creek about 3am I saw some lights ahead and eventually caught up to Nick. I was happy to enjoy some company and we spent the rest of the HAB bullshitting our way through night. We didn't know that Bernie had taken a break and we both assumed he was way ahead since we didn't see his lights. It was about 4am when we finally got to the top.

Adam had warned us about the ruts on Garibaldi Gulch and he was not lying. With the advantage of all that travel on my Yeti I was able to rock surf my way down a little faster than Nick, but when I reached the bottom I found that I had smashed my rear derailleur to smithereens. I couldn't shift at all, but I did have my lowest gear available.

The thought of being stuck over by Breckenridge was giving me a mild panic. I hiked up the steep hill leading to the Galena Ditch trail and took a food break to figure out a plan. Nick caught back up after a couple minutes and pushed on.

All I could do was stand & mash on the pedals, but I figured I'd continue on the loop since all the hideous climbing was over anyways. So I was able to keep going, but pedaling that hard was wiping me out. The road climb back up to camp / transition finished me off. It was only 8am and I still had plenty of time to take on loop 5, but  knew I would have to walk the entire way to Montezuma and that seemed too lame. I had 102 miles in the bag and I guess I was content, so I took a short rest and drove the 15 minutes back home and climbed in bed.

Nick and Bernie manned up for a few more miles towards Warden Gulch and Nick took home the official title with 107 miles. Hat tip to Ken Boyer for his 115 mile effort the night before; I wish he had been there for the mass start with us. Looks like he has already signed up for more punishment next year, as have Nick and myself.

So far there are 16 registrants for 2016. I hope everyone follows through because it would be super fun to have that many folks out on the course together. Kicking it off with Lenawee will be badass.

Here's my Strava of the first 16 hours until my GPS ran out: