The Games

What a weekend! The more I live here, the more I get addicted to the outdoors. Watching and competing in the Teva Mountain games was awesome. I didn't see a lot on Thursday or Friday because I was working. Friday night I ran ice and PBR for the Ozomatli show and made some decent tip money. I was a little apprehensive about doing it, only because I didn't want to wear myself out for the Hill Climb on Sunday. But I shouldn't have worried about the concert, I should have worried about standing in the sun for hours watching the World Cup Bouldering competition. It was sick. I saw Sharma suck it up in the semi-finals and not advance to the finals. I was a bit disappointed, but seeing the other men/women tear it up was amazing. They are stupid strong. After the semi-finals I walked around a bit until they opened the VIP tent next to the climbing wall for the finals. This became a bit of a problem for me. VIP tent = free beer. (Problem 1) I didn't drink that much, but I shouldn't have had any since i was racing the next day. Oh well. I went home right after the finals and had a nice relaxing dip in the hot tub.


I was surprised how un-nervous I was for the race (yes, I just made up un-nervous. Add it to your vocab). I usually don't sleep well the night before and get un-relaxed (see how I did that? Just call me Mirriam Webster). I had stored my bike and other gear at my office in Vail so I wouldn't have to worry about loading it up that morning. They posted the race order at 10 a.m. and had the first racer start at 11, so I knew I wouldn't be rushed. Got on my bike to go check the starting line-up and I was set to go at 11:21:30. I still had some time to kill, so I decided to go check out some of the other climbing competitions. I shifted into my largest cog (the easiest gear, necessary for climbing hills) and disaster struck. My rear derailleur wasn't shifting into gear. It is now about an hour before I am supposed to crush this hill climb, and I can't get into the most important gear. To keep it PC... FUCK!


I raced to a bike shop in Lionshead Village by my office and found that my derailleur hanger was bent. They are installing fire sprinklers in my office, so they got access to my bosses office where I had my bike locked. My guess is that it got knocked over and bent by them because it was riding fine on Friday. bastards. Luckily the guy fixed it pretty quick and I went to change and then warm up. During all of this I was still surprisingly calm, given the fact that I was about to compete in my first race ever and my bike was messed up. After a second trip to the bike shop to adjust the derailleur again, it was time to head over to the start line. No time to warm up. (Problem 2)



Still I was relaxed and just trying to have fun. It helped that one of my friends was checking riders in for the start of the race and I could talk to her. The race started on a ramp, took off down a chute of spectators, and up a short hill to the access road where I would spend the next 20 minutes pushing my legs and lungs to capacity without failure (a.k.a. bust your ass, but don't blow up before the climb). We took off in 30 second intervals and I was the second to start from the Beginners category. I passed the guy in front of me within a mile and was feeling really good. That's a pretty big confidence booster. But I knew I had to slow down or I was dead. I passed a lot of other riders in other divisions which kept me going strong. The whole time I would check behind me for anyone coming up for an attack. Nobody was in sight. AWESOME!!! The Pinarello is mine (they were giving a 2006 Pinarello Galileo to the Beginners winner)!

I kept pumping the pedals. I would check every few minutes to see if I felt like I could push harder just to make sure I was giving it my all. I kept repeating to myself "Smarter, Faster, Stronger" or "Pinarello" to push myself. About 1.5 - 2 miles from the finish a guy came up beside me. Not good. It wasn't the guy I had passed, so he had gained at LEAST 30 seconds on me if I finished with him. I pushed a bit harder and pulled ahead of him. That pace wasn't going to last for long. He attacked again and I couldn't keep up. Another guy passed me. Not good. The Pinarello was gone. I kept pushing it as hard as I could, but I couldn't even get out of my seat to sprint up the last 100 yards. At least I knew I gave it my all and had nothing left. If I wasn't gasping for air, coughing up a lung, and in pain, I would know that I had energy left that could have got me to the top faster. The camaraderie at the top was pretty cool. Everybody was congratulating each other for a great race and strong finish.

I ended up in fifth place out of 13 riders with a time of 39:23. You can check out the results. Scroll down and click on Backcountry Hill Climb. I am under the Beginner Male division. Not sure that the guy who won should have been in the beginner division as he competes in expert mountain bike races, but I'm still happy that I did well.