2022 Tahoe Trail 100k
An absolute blast!
Our west coast squad entered the Tahoe Trail 100k race with high ambitions, many of us hoping for a Leadville qualifying race. Others had qualified for Leadville already and aimed to improve their starting corral. One rider, Jack, completed his very first mountain bike race! Mountain bike racing is always fun!
The Bikes
Gerry built up a S-Works Epic Hardtail with the Brain-equipped RockShox SID on the front. A full X01/XX1 drivetrain complete with a Quarq power meter took care of his watts. Roval Control SL's and the Specialized FastTrak tires finished up the build.
Yumeto opted for his Santa Cruz Blur 4, with Fox Factory Suspension with remote lockouts both front and rear. A GX AXS/X01 drivetrain got his power to the wheels and Reserve 28's with a Maxxis Rekon/Rekon Race combo put that power to the ground.
Whit ran her Specialized Epic Evo for this one with a Fox 34 up front. SRAM NX/GX drivetrain, SRAM Level brakes, and Roval Controls wrapped in Specialized Fast Traks completed the build.
Jack rode his new Specialized Epic Evo blinged out in full Fox Factory kit! Shimano XTR drivetrain and brakes were his choice of running gear and he chose Roval's Control wheels wrapped in Specialized's Ground Control's for the extra grip.
The Race
Yumeto
I had ambitions for Tahoe Trail even though it was my first time since I was hoping for a Leadville spot through this race. In preparation, I started to work more closely with my coach to gain some mountain bike fitness and spent quite too many hours making sure my gear was running better than usual for race day. Several weeks before this race, we went up to Tahoe as a team for the Lake Tahoe XC Race (read that recap here) and I did well, so I had my hopes up for a good performance and result.
Coming up from Los Angeles the night before the race was quite the struggle, as the 500+ mile drive in traffic took well over 9 hours. I had to choose if I wanted to make the drive longer by stopping to stretch or to just tough out the sore bum and get up north as fast as I could. Everything was packed in the car and ready to go the next morning, so when I arrived, I quickly found my place on the couch and went to sleep before our 4:45AM wake-up alarm.
I started the first lap strong, eventually finding myself in the top 10-15 riders at the top of the first climb, feeling good even though I wasn’t altitude acclimated. We had pre-ridden part of the course as a part of a recovery ride last month, so the trails weren’t new, however, the conditions had changed and I found myself slipping and sliding around in the loose dust.
By the halfway point (the beginning of the second lap), I was in a string of riders chasing one another, steadily gaining time on every climb. That being said, I could feel muscle cramps starting to set in as I began the starting climb for the second time, and had to meter my efforts significantly in order to keep them at bay. Perhaps that was spending all-day yesterday seated biting me back, or maybe it was just the conditions, I’ll never know. I gained time on every climb but lost even more on every singletrack or loose fire road descent. Alarm bells were going off, but I couldn’t do much about it, I had to keep moving my legs, one pedal stroke after the other.
My bike wasn’t doing too hot either. The B-screw holding the top pulley of the derailleur away from the cassette had slipped, which meant I lost a few gears and every shift was met with grinding and clicking from the rear end. At the time I didn’t know what had happened, and I had yet to shift into the spokes, so I kept going with maybe 3-4 gears out of 12 really usable. Certainly unexpected, but what can you do?
I kept everything in check until the final 10 miles in which I imploded and locked up in spectacular fashion. Combine that with mechanical issues and my lack of pace on the singletrack sections, I was hemorrhaging time and places. I made my first aid station stop with 5 miles to go, chugging two bottles full of electrolytes, and that brought enough energy back into me to slow-roll it into the finish. With all the mishaps in the second half, I still managed to hold on to a top-20 finish and got a Leadville Coin!
See you all in Colorado in August! I will be Leadboating!
Gerry
This was my A-race for the year since I decided to target endurance MTB racing and gravel. I had already received my Steamboat slot and was looking towards the Leadboat challenge, so I needed to get that token. I had never done a MTB race before this year, but with a lot of years experience racing road and gravel....how hard could it be?
I had a good build-up earlier in the year: Sea Otter Classic, team camp down in LA, and a solo 8-hr Boggs relay. It partially fell apart when I came down with the flu the first week of June. Like most of us, I hadn't been sick in over 2 years and this knocked me out hard. It took about a month until I felt myself again and could push. I stacked another solo 4 hour endurance race up in Tahoe. To cap it off, I spent the two weeks prior to the race at elevation, picked up a new S-Works Epic Hardtail, and was ready to do this.
The race was split between 2 ~50k laps. The first lap was awesome; I was racing my bike! Riding in groups, making selections, using my brain to exploit my strengths and limit my weaknesses. Sadly, it all came off the rails in lap two. Per usual, I went out too hard and, although I never exploded in the typical sense, I was battling leg cramps in the final climb of lap 1. To prevent locking up and getting off the bike, I had to manage the sensations and back down the pace ~50-100 watts. It was so hard letting the wheels go when my mind and lungs all said GO, but I had been here before (in almost every mass start event I've done) and knew I had to start limiting my effort. I was on the brink of devastation over the final climb of lap 1 and and first climb of lap 2, but was able to recover and hit the pedals again closer to my normal.
This eventually came to an end when my legs said quit and cramped. Stepped off the bike for a couple minutes until they unlocked and got going again. This happened one more time on the penultimate climb. As I got going again and approached the final climb, I started doing the math. My aspirations for a good finish were gone, but I could STILL get under 5 hours. I needed something to motivate me so I pushed the pedals as hard as my legs would allow and was able to get in at 4:59 and change.
In summary, the first 2 hours were great, the last 3 hours were a real test of mental strength and discipline. If I had to do it over again, I'd do the exact same thing: nothing really beats that feeling of racing bikes and that awesome result when everything just goes right. 10th in 30-39 age group, 35th overall. I'll get 'em next time, or cramp trying.
Whit
Having lucked into lottery spots for SBT GRVL and Leadville, I signed up for this race to get some mtb race miles in the bank and optimistically to improve my start corral. After several weeks of work/travel/heat derailing training/sleep, I tabled the latter.
TL/DR: just missed a podium, 4th AG, 21st woman (P.S. Only 11% women in the 100k - where my mtb ladies at!?).
I’m still figuring out the sweet spot for mass starts, having either staged myself too far up and demoralized myself bleeding places on the first climb or too far back and gotten stuck behind the riff-raff on the first technical section. I erred too far back and was in a bottleneck of dismounting riders at the first steep pitch. I worked my way through the crowd and went through the first single track smoothly, thankful Gerry and I had pre-rode the night before. I picked up a few more spots on the fire road descent and my confidence went up as we connected with familiar trails from the Tahoe 4-Hour Race and team recon ride a few weeks before. When I caught our friend Mitch at the next single track, I realized I better dial it back. I cruised pretty comfortably over the next few sections, thankful for the recovery descent on Sawtooth Road before the climb back up to Northstar. I had been dreading this since looking at the course profile the night before, but it turned out to be the most innocuous of the race. A smooth descent through the bike park sent me into the second lap feeling good. As we started climbing Stumpy Super G for the second time though, things started to come unhinged.
After years of Ironman, I like to think I’ve got endurance fueling pretty dialed, but between a single bottle cage on my bike and stubbornness not to stop at aid stations, I didn’t manage my nutrition well. I conceded at the Mt. Watson Blvd aid station and crushed 2 cokes. Cramping on the climb up to Sawtooth took me off the bike for a minute. Even after salt tab and taking the descent extra easy, it seemed I’d passed the point of no return. I couldn’t get my heart rate in check so I limped the last climb and stopped again for electrolyte mix at the aid station with only 4 mostly downhill miles to go (note to self: always carry extra Skratch). The final pass through the bike park felt near impossible; my feet and legs were cramping so bad I could barely stand on the pedals, but I made it across the line. Not sure I could have pushed through to close the gap to third this race, but taking some lessons from this one and looking forward to the next to hopefully get up there with better race prep, start positioning, and fueling.
Ultimately, we decided to defer my entries to next year and roll Leadboat with a whole GLV crew in 2023. Excited to put in some work, and hopefully race a few more, now knowing a little more what to expect at these endurance mtb events!
Jack
I have to say I had a good day on the bike. Recently, I graduated from college and started a new job, so I haven’t had as much time as I wished for to ride my bike(s). Having said that, stoke levels were really high for this race so I just sent it1
It’s my first mountain bike race so I was pretty darn happy I kept the rubber side down. And I’m especially proud of my nutrition strategy—with the help of gas station Rice Krispies and Uncrustables I was able to crawl to the finish line!
The Post-Race
After the festivities at Northstar, we drove to Donner Lake covered in dirt, dust, grime, and the paste that’s made when they all mix with sweat. Rinsing off in the cool crystal blue water was a refreshing respite from the alpine heat! We had quite a blast with our canine companions that had long awaited our return from racing as we played fetch with massive branches—we earned our dinner and sleep, and they did too!
