Whiskey Off Road Rewind
PART 1
The Whiskey 50 is a must for me every year. After 3 years of racing the 25 mile event, I stepped up to the epic 50 miler, which has everything the 25 does with the addition of a hour climb that makes or breaks every riders race. The last two years, Epic rides (promoters) has turned the Whiskey Off Road into one of the biggest races in the US. With the combination of amazing singletrack and a $30,000 cash purse, they bring the fastest pros in North America to battle it out. After getting back from the Sea Otter Classic earlier in the week, I drove a few hours north to throw it down with what was sure to be the fastest competition yet.
I got out of the pro riders meeting around 1:30pm on Friday and had a little under 5 hours before the race weekend kicked off with Fat Tire crit. We stopped by this little mexican place to get some good eats and then hit up the oh so great Trader Joes to grab the normal cyclist shopping list consisting of Almond Milk, Rice Cakes, Granola, Bananas, Pears, Chocolate Milk, and my favorite find being Gluten Free Waffles!
I rode to the race course from the house making sure my legs were nice and warmed up for what was sure to be the fastest/ hardest 20 minutes of my life. I came up to the start/ finish line after a few pre ride laps on the course only to find half the pro field already lined up. Myself along with guys like Kabush, Woodruff, and Shepherd all were able to squeeze up to the front of the race due to an opening on the right side. Once all of us got situated we looked forward and all we could see is a stack of hay bales covering a few signs in the first corner that wasn’t any farther than 100 feet. I look bad to 3 of the top pros staring back at me hoping to go I had a quick start and was able to avoid the “wall of hay” ahead of us. I looked down at the road pedals I put on my MTB bike and gave them a look that said “my bad”.
The start gun went off and I started somewhat fast for having road pedals and 90 feet later we had 80 pros sliding and leaning on one another in the first corner, just hoping everyone would keep it up right. This lead us into the climb which involved 100+ meters straight up , 10 meters of flat right hand corner, then another 100 meter climb before we turned once more and descended to the finish. My first lap was stellar considering I was top 20 and feeling fast. Then I hit the climb again going at maybe ⅔ the speed due to the solid rock that was in my stomach that I wasn’t sure if it was the Mexican food from earlier or a scene for the movie Alien and the crowd was about to witness a alien ripping out of me. From here I lost a good 4 spots a lap until I was pulled with 3 to go. Not exactly the way I wanted to start the weekend but hey, at least I was able to open my legs up and at least was able to know my legs were ready from the hell of a race that was sure to be upon us on Sunday. Now it's time for recovery and some food!but I think I will stay away from Mexican food.
I got out of the pro riders meeting around 1:30pm on Friday and had a little under 5 hours before the race weekend kicked off with Fat Tire crit. We stopped by this little mexican place to get some good eats and then hit up the oh so great Trader Joes to grab the normal cyclist shopping list consisting of Almond Milk, Rice Cakes, Granola, Bananas, Pears, Chocolate Milk, and my favorite find being Gluten Free Waffles!
I rode to the race course from the house making sure my legs were nice and warmed up for what was sure to be the fastest/ hardest 20 minutes of my life. I came up to the start/ finish line after a few pre ride laps on the course only to find half the pro field already lined up. Myself along with guys like Kabush, Woodruff, and Shepherd all were able to squeeze up to the front of the race due to an opening on the right side. Once all of us got situated we looked forward and all we could see is a stack of hay bales covering a few signs in the first corner that wasn’t any farther than 100 feet. I look bad to 3 of the top pros staring back at me hoping to go I had a quick start and was able to avoid the “wall of hay” ahead of us. I looked down at the road pedals I put on my MTB bike and gave them a look that said “my bad”.
The start gun went off and I started somewhat fast for having road pedals and 90 feet later we had 80 pros sliding and leaning on one another in the first corner, just hoping everyone would keep it up right. This lead us into the climb which involved 100+ meters straight up , 10 meters of flat right hand corner, then another 100 meter climb before we turned once more and descended to the finish. My first lap was stellar considering I was top 20 and feeling fast. Then I hit the climb again going at maybe ⅔ the speed due to the solid rock that was in my stomach that I wasn’t sure if it was the Mexican food from earlier or a scene for the movie Alien and the crowd was about to witness a alien ripping out of me. From here I lost a good 4 spots a lap until I was pulled with 3 to go. Not exactly the way I wanted to start the weekend but hey, at least I was able to open my legs up and at least was able to know my legs were ready from the hell of a race that was sure to be upon us on Sunday. Now it's time for recovery and some food!but I think I will stay away from Mexican food.
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