Regardless of his skill level, there will be people at his level with whom he can expect to be competitive. This is a race after all.
For sure, a thousand people, there’ll be plenty at my level.
The terrain is Andes. Dry, not a lot of plants in general, rocky, dusty, long and steep.
So, Sat was the big event. It was the worst organized race I’ve ever seen. From the start, the guy ordered only Large shirts, and then was all offended when people complained, claiming they were “a gift”. There were 5 water and food stops along the course, and by the third, they had run out of water! Dangerous on 35C blazing heat.
Overall, though it went well. The course was up a dirt road, so nothing really technical. I fought through the crowd at the beginning and got to what I thought was a good pace. The first 45 min were over a paved highway, so I drafted as much as I could. For the first 3 and a half hours, I felt like a total badass. Never let my mouth get dry, timed when I ate, stopped when I needed. Was just passing people easily, cruising up small rises, and definitely spent more than half the course on the big ring. The views were absolutely gorgeous, passing farms at first and then next to a raging river and as the terrain got drier and gained altitude, past a lot of mines and some gnarly ricky Andes. Lots of locals and miners came out to cheer and watch everyone pass, which was really cool, nice to have the support. I saw one old woman throwing water on people, gave her the international “ooh, right here” sign, and it was frigid and delightful. There were really few times I was out of breath, and the first thing that started to hurt was my lower back. The last hour was pretty brutal, I was just waiting to see the finish, and it never seemed to show up around the next corner. The finish was at a hotsprings, which I was surprised to see a little town around. There was a downhill part through the town, with locals yelling “frena frena! despacio aquí” at corners. Even a little jump. Then the finish line was up a hill on the main drag.
I finished in 4:54. My partner snapped a great pic of me crossing under the timer. I wanted to puke and cry at the same time, but fought back both. Really ranks up there with the three hardest things I’ve ever done, but I’d have a hard time naming of the other two. Other guys on my “team” (dudes from the office) came in well over an hour after me, and everyone bragged about my time, how much ass the gingo kicked. I stay humble, but proud I squeaked in under my goal of 5 hrs. The winners finished in like 2:50, which according to my partner who rode up with a bunch of gear and food, is how long it took in the truck.
So big thanks to all for your advice! I feel like it gave me a lot of confidence for my first competitive event. I’ll try to post a couple pics later today.
Awesome. We need more people like you here.
Thanks for the race report. Sounds like it was awesome.
I am still waiting for pics of the finish, but here are some that another guy put on the office network drive.
Our team. Me on the left.
Super focused for the start
Some of the course at the second water stop
Another thing I wanted to mention: The first two digits of the number they gave were your age (mine: 2502). I was so impressed with the number of 50+ and women who passed me toward the end! This makes me so happy that people are that into mtn biking here. And makes me happy I can do it forever.
the babe is going back to states for xmas, so I gotta take full advantage of her computer being here and post a heap of pictures.
this is me crossing the finish with my time
and this is me trying not to puke or cry
nice choice on the performance eyewear.