Race Report: Grasshopper Ukiah Mendo Gravel Epic, Justin
Justin won this past weekend’s Grasshopper race for pro men and you can read about it on cyclingnews.com with a podium shot below!
Race Report: Whiskey 50 Off-Road, Prescott, AZ, Chris
This event is in it’s 20th year and had been on my radar for a number of years ever since the same promotor put on the Carson City 50 in 2018. It is true mountain biking with technical single track and 6500 ft of climbing over just less than 50 miles. I felt relatively well prepared for this distance having managed well at the Sea Otter 70 mile event a couple of weeks ago.
The race was on Saturday and I was able to arrive in time to pre-ride the first part of the course on Friday. It starts with a 1500 foot climb on pavement then single track so I was confident that the elevation would sort things out. It is also a mass start of all the amateur racers together (509 people total !!!) which is quite unlike Sea Otter where the course is quite congested with groups starting every 5 minutes where racers of completely different speeds are all mixed up on the course and annoying each other.
The weather for the 8am start was cool and sunny, with conditions predicted to get to the low 60’s with some wind during the day. In previous years there had been rain and even snow at the higher elevations so I counted myself lucky! I started well and was able to get to the front of the huge group on the pavement climb, staying out of the wind and not bothering to chase the three people who jumped away on a steep section of the climb.
I entered the single track in about 12th place, and I was fairly sure that all the people in front of me were juniors and open men racers and not part of the 45+ men’s division. I lost a couple of spots by the top of the single track climb and maybe two more spots on a 1200 foot descent that had one narrow racing line with lots of baby head rocks if you drifted out. It was old school mountain bike descending without berms in the corners and since I had not ridden this section I had to be fairly cautious to avoid flatting or sliding around too much on the loose surface. There were sections that were like riding on a sea of marbles!
In the second half of the race I tried to defend my position by going as hard as possible, keeping in mind that the race time would be at least three and half hours. I rode with one junior for about an hour on the mid-race climb but we were passed by a few faster riders. On one of the last single track sections there was an A or B line choice that included a Moab style slick rock steep roll down on the A line, and I decided to do it. This three minute section went well and I had no issues on the rock, but coming out of this section I took a wrong turn that took me a minute or so to realize. I flipped around and tried my best to make up the time I lost, but ultimately finished 4th in 45+ Men (out of 164) and 23rd overall.
I enjoyed racing in a new area with high altitude single track and know exactly where my wrong turn was so I will not have this issue in future years! I also pushed my fueling to new levels during the race without any stomach issues, achieving 105 grams of carbohydrates per hour. I think this was key to not cramping or running out of gas in this long event.
