I got Creamed at the Puff

Not sure what I can add to my previous race reports from the Cascade Creampuff 100. It is still hard, long, hot, and has a lot of GREAT single track!! The course this year was a bit different with slightly more fire road as well as some really steep single track climbing.

I had my first flat ever at a Creampuff, which is not bad since I have been there 6 times now!! 600 miles with only 1 flat, you can't really complain about that!

Here are some other stats from my 6 years of Creampuff:

First year: 2004

Hottest year: 2008 with 103 degrees at the bridge

Missed year: 2007

Best overall place: 9th in 2008

Worst overall place 32nd in 2009

Longest time: 11:55 in 2008

Fastest time: 10:18 in 2010

After 100 miles and 15,500 feet of climbing I ended up in 3rd behind speedy Rebecca Rush and Sonya Looney

Here are some pics of me on the fun single track!

8 Hrs of Cool

Me, the Summit Chuters, and all the other racers had a great time at 8/24 Hrs of Cool last weekend. Eric was racing on an 8 hr corporate team (the famous Summit Chuters, sponsored by CB Hannegan's of Los Gatos). I was actually racing for Global Biorhythms, which is the organization putting on this race.

The course was almost the same as when I raced there in the fall (the Knickerbocker), but it was definitely less dusty, and there were several spots where the mud was quite deep. The solo racers took off at noon and the relay racers left 3 minutes behind. The weather was really nice, a bit warm, but there was a nice breeze. I felt really good from the start and my lap-times were 56-58 minutes. I was trying to hold off the Summit Chuters as long as possible. On my forth lap Mark Jeffrey came flying by me out of nowhere. I guess you don't get those rainbow stripes for nothing!!!

I was hoping to get 8 laps, but on lap 5 an 6 I sort of lost my motivation, and slowed down a little bit.... I decided 7 laps would be a good ride. I was also looking forward to hanging out at the pit area and especially to eating some of Alex's Ceviche. He had brought all the ingredients and was chopping everything up to make a huge bowl of shrimp ceviche to go with all the beer the guys had brought. Tough racing I have to say....

Happy to Cross the Finish-line

Dave Hokeness doing his pre-race ritual before taking off on one of his laps

When I finished my race shortly after 7 pm, the Summit Chuters were leading the corporate category by over 25 minutes. Even though they were having plenty of refreshments, they took their race very seriously as you can see from the picture of Dave on the trainer above.

After the night laps, the Summit Chuters had pulled ahead of the 2nd team. Apparently this lead made a certain rider feel like he didn't have to race his last lap but could continue drinking beer and bail out early to go to the Sharks' game instead. Alex took his role on the team very seriously and pushed hard to try to get 24 laps and missed it by only a couple of minutes. Good job to the Summit Chuters!!!

The Summit Chuters and me (replacing the missing Shark's fan)

More Ultrasport..

Rob, the long-time checker in Rohn is awesome. He takes a week of his vacation time to volunteer and help out with the Alaska Ultrasport. To get to Rohn, he has to drive a snow mobile for a couple of days, over the same mountain pass we crossed. Then he gets to sleep in a tent and take care of a bunch of smelly racers who haven't showered for several days. Talk about dedication!!!! Rob has a lot of experience with winter racing, so he know exactly what we all need when we get to Rohn after a 20 hr push!!

Rob fed us more raviolis and after we got rehydrated, we put our sleeping bags on the thick layer of twigs covering the ground. It was nice to be only 3 racers in the tent, plenty of space. Just as I had fallen asleep with the assistance of an ambien, a group of 11 riders came in all at once. We were quickly reassigned new sleeping spots, outside in the snow. Luckily it was really warm!! I was so tired, I didn't really care how long I slept, and we didn't get out of our sleeping bags until 7:30 the next morning. Many other racers were getting ready to leave, but we didn't get on our bikes until 10am due to some minor mechanical issues with my bike, having to dig through our drops for more food and replacement batteries, and me just moving really slowly!

Once on the trail, I felt good. Time seemed to go by really fast. We had to cross some more open water, but in general the riding was fun, fast, and fairly easy. We were making pretty good time.

It was getting dark when we hit the Farewell burn with its infamous tussocks. Some of it was ridable, but sometimes it was faster to get off your bike and walk. All of the sudden we spotted a tail light in the dark and after about an hour we finally ran in to Brij (the super funny guy who moved from India to FAIRBANKS about 10 years ago). We chatted with him for a couple of minutes while taking a little time to eat and drink. As we were getting closer to Nikolai, I was calculating in my head that we could probably just keep riding all the way to McGrath without stopping in Nikolai at all. I can EASILY do 24 hrs, I kept thinking, I feel GREAT!!!! NOOOO problem!! Somehow the low bloodsugar crept up on me. I looked at my GPS and noticed I was going slower and slower. Better eat a few Swedish Fish to get some energy, I thought.... Unfortunately, no combination of food seemed to work. I was getting the tunnel vision, feeling weak and dizzy, wanting to lay down in the snow and pass out. My brain was working in slow motion, and so was my body. The last 3 hrs were torture (especially for Eric) as I was pedaling at a snail's pace, trying not to fall of my bike.

When we finally reached Nick and Olene's house in Nikolai at 2 am, a big group of riders, including speedy Tracey Petervary were taking off. I could barely make it in the door. I'm not quite sure how I got my clothes off, but somehow I made it to the table and had some of Olene's delicious moose-stew and bread.

After refueling, we planned on sleeping for 2 hrs and then taking off to see if we could possibly catch the group in front of us. We got to share one of the bedrooms with Dave Prahmann who was also looking a little rough. I used the little cot, and Eric laid down on the floor to try to get a little bit of rest. As exhausted as I was, sleeping wasn't easy, and after a couple of hours of tossing and turning I got out of bed to see how I felt. Hoping my stomach would cooperate, we decided it was time to get going. Chris Plesko who had been sleeping on the couch got up and was taking off with us. Dave got up too, but as we were leaving, he decided to rest a little bit longer. We were definitely not in a hurry to leave, it was too hot to put our all of our clothes on inside of the house. Chris, Eric, and I were joking around, talking about the race, and taking our time getting out the door.

Once outside, the chilly air seemed to wake me up. I felt ok for the first few hours, but then I started having problems with my blood sugar and stomach again. None of the muffins, cookies, danishes, or candy bars seemed to do the trick. I felt nauseous, and had trouble keeping food down. I tried the last of the mini sausages I had brought and that seemed to work a little bit better. Chris generously shared some peanut butter and cut-up summer sausage, and that was definitely better than all the sweet junk food.

Almost there...

It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, warm enough I even had to take my hat and gloves off. With about 10 miles to go we spotted 2 riders coming toward us on the river! It was Peter Basinger and Jeff Oatley coming to meet us!! Peter who had been in front the entire race, ended up winning over Jeff by only 33 minutes. We rode together, talking, but with 7 miles to go, I decided I was tired of eating cookie dough and was ready for some man-cakes, so I picked it up for a little bit. After a couple of miles I couldn't see the guys anymore, so I decided to take a nap on the side of the road. They finally showed up 20 minutes later, Eric had gotten a flat tire!!

Peter and Tracy's house was as great as I remembered. Peter was serving man-cakes, coffee, and omelets. The table was covered with home made cookies, brownies, cakes, and bread. We spent a 2 nights there and had a great time. Tracey (who finished about 6 hrs ahead of me AND set a new course record for the women), Jay, Phil, and walker Tom Jarding took off the next day to continue their trip to Nome. Tim Hewitt is also on his way on foot to Nome.

One of the highlights of the trip was when Dara and Kevin, next door neighbors, took us dog-mushing, and show machining. Dara and Kevin have 2 sled-dogs. Together with 2 of Peter's dogs as well as the indoor Chocolate Lab Leo we had a 5 dogs pulling the sled. It was so much fun!! Maybe next year I will just do the Iditarod sled-dog race instead..

Dara showing me the ropes in dog-mushing.

Thanks to everyone who made this incredible trip possible.

Bill and Kathi and all the Ultrasport volunteers for putting on a great event.

Rob and Neeraj at Physical Therapy of Los Gatos, for fixing me up before the race.

Matty (Eric's mom) for modifying our pogies to keep our hands warm.

Peter and Tracy for opening their home to all the racers and feeding all of us.

Dara and Kevin for showing us such a good time while in McGrath.

Peter, Rose, and Jon for your hospitality and help before and after the race.

Eric; Thanks for being the best "team-mate" anyone could ask for!!!!

Ultrasport continued

Although it is only 35 miles between Winterlake lodge and Puntilla, it took us 15 hours. I didn't even recognize the trail from the year before, it was so torn up from the Irondog (snowmobile race) the previous week. We pretty much pushed our bikes the entire way. The happy steps were brutal going up. It was so steep and slippery, and really difficult getting the bike up without sliding back down.

We finally reached Puntilla around 6 pm. After a can of yummy ravioli, I claimed one of the two beds in the back of the little log cabin and slept for another 3 hours.

While sleeping, a whole bunch of other racers had arrived in Puntilla. When I got out of bed to wake Eric up, there were people everywhere. Someone was sleeping underneath a bed, while someone else was laying down on a make-shift bed out of chairs. I guess I was lucky to get a real bed where it was quite. Sean Grady was up at the same time as us, and took of just a little bit ahead of us. Getting ready seems like a long process. Retrieving your strewn out clothes, filling camelbaks and thermoses, getting dressed, and putting everything back on the bike while trying to eat and drink always takes longer than it should. At 1 am we were finally out the door and on our way to Rohn.

It was windy outside, and Sean's tire tracks had already been blown over by snow. We made our way across the lake, pushing our bikes, trying to follow the reflective markers along the "trail". After a while we could see 2 zig-zagging tire tracks and footprints ahead of us. After a couple of hours, we say 2 headlamps moving around. We kept hiking until we caught up with Sean and Phil Hofstetter who were searching for a hard packed trail and trail markers. It was really difficult trying to find a packed trail and we had to post-hole our way forward most of the time.

Sean Grady's picture of me and Eric pushing through some alder bushes in the dark

When we finally go to the turn-off for Rainy Pass (10 miles from Puntilla) it was already day-light. We stopped and had a little snack before continuing on.

Eric taking a little breather while eating a muffin.

Phil was having some problems with blisters and decided to stop to take care of his feet on the way up to Rainy Pass. It was a hard push, and I was working hard to follow in Eric and Sean's footsteps. At one point we got to a stream of open water. I was so glad we had brought the Neos. I was a little nervous they would leak, it would have probably been a good idea to try them out before the race...

Me carrying my heavy bike across open water on Rainy Pass.

Bike-pushing toward the summit.

I think it took us about 12 or 13 hours to reach the summit. The going down was only slightly easier than up, as we still had to push through alder bushes, do some trail finding, and cross water here and there. At one point we heard the loud sound of avalanches, luckily they weren't near us. This is when my bonking began. I started having trouble eating, and my brain seemed really slow. Eric started asking me questions, and I just starred at him with a blank look on my face. I wasn't sure I could make it all the way to Rohn without bivying in the snow. When we finally reached the river, I was really hoping it was going to be ridable. We were all getting tired of pushing our bikes. We were able to pedal the last 5 miles to Rohn, which we reached 20 hrs after leaving Puntilla.

The Rohn Cabin

Alaska Ultrasport- 2010

Back in Alaska for the third time... Eric and I, along with everyone else involved in the Ultrasport, had been watching the weather along the Iditarod trail for weeks before the race started. We were all a bit nervous about the warm weather, causing overflow on the rivers, open water, and soft snow. Just the day before leaving for Anchorage our water-proof Neos overboots arrived in the mail.

Some of the food for our drops.

In Anchorage we stayed with Jon and Rose, friends of Peter Basinger. We spent the day before the race building up our bikes, going to the pre-race meeting, grocery store, and picking up some last minute things at REI. In the evening Jon made us the most amazing pre-race meal of grilled salmon (that they caught), mushroom (that he picked) pasta, stir-fried veggies, and a blueberry (that he also picked) crisp with ice cream. I spent hours dreaming about this meal on the trail.

Peter's mom drove us to Knik lake where we spent a couple of hours at the bar watching the US vs Canada olympic hockey game while waiting for the clock to strike 2. We missed the last part of the game, and had to wait until we got to Skwentna to find out that Canada had won in overtime.

The first leg of the race is 57 miles and ends at the Yentna roadhouse. It was slow slushy riding and it took us 10 hours to get there. We saw a big moose on the way there. Eric and I stayed only 10 minutes at Yentna, to fill up our camelbaks and check in. We arrived at Skwentna (mile 90) around 7 in the morning, after 17 hrs of riding. In Skwenta we got a 3 hr nap in a real bed while drying out our wet clothes. We had a great breakfast before taking off around 11 o'clock in the morning.

From Skwentna we had about 40 miles to get the Winterlake lodge on Fingerlake. We made good time, but I felt like I was working really hard to keep up with Eric's pace. Eric was riding his new Pugsley snowbike for the first time, while I still hadn't been ready to give up on my "skinny-tire" bike. It looked like he was riding so effortlessly in the soft snow, and I was going anaerobic just to keep moving forward. I was also getting a little self-conscious about all the comments I was getting: You are riding THAT bike???? I saw your tire-track and thought it was someone out for a little spin!!!!! You would be soo fast on a snowbike!!!! :-)

We arrived at the Winterlake lodge sometime close to midnight. After a yummy chicken/rice/black bean burrito we slept for another 3 or so hours in the walled tent. Thanks to ambien, I could sleep anywhere, anytime!! In "the morning" we replenished our food and batteries with stuff from our drop. There was no need to bring more hand or toe-warmers, as it was so warm I hadn't had to use one yet. After a little oatmeal and coffee, we took off around 3:45.

More to come......

La Ruta de los Conquistadores

Me and our host Federico Escalante at the starting line Day 1 of La Ruta

After missing my favorite race La Ruta de los Conquistadores last year due to a broken foot, I was really looking forward to racing again. This was my 6th time racing La Ruta!!

After lots of rain, the Carrara (the national park that goes through rainforest) was the muddiest I have seen it. Although the race organizers had re-routed part of the course we hiked through deep mud for a couple of hours. The wheels got clogged up instantly if you didn't carry your bike on your back. I was in second place when we entered the mud, and after a couple of hours I could spot Adriana Rojas, the Costa Rican woman who was in first. She was really strong, and I lost her when we got back on "normal trail". The first day was 64.5 miles with 10,300 feet of elevation gain. I definitely didn't feel my best and at the end I lost over 10 minutes to Adriana! My time was 7 hrs 12 minutes for the day.

Day 2 featured some of the steepest climbing I have ever done, maybe THE steepest. The first climb of the day was a gravel road with 5 or 6 paved corners. The pavement had big rocks in it and was definitely not level. When I looked down at my Garmin, it said 30% and then I was going so slow it turned off!!! I was able to ride the whole section, but sometimes it seemed like it would have been faster to walk. I finally caught Adriana near the top of the last climb and then was able to put a couple of minutes on her on the technical down-hill. Day 2 was 44.5 miles with over 10,000 feet of climbing!!! I finished in 4 hrs 58 minutes.

La Ruta Legend Heart Akerson finishes day 2 with a smile on his face

Heart was way off course when a local guy spotted him and gave him directions back to the race. Heart finished the day in the dark!

Day 3 goes up the volcano Irazo and has a top altitude of over 10, 000 feet. Since we had to be shuttled to the start-line we had to be up at 3:30 again for a 6 am start. I had forgotten how steep the beginning of this day was.... I felt pretty good during this climb and reached the top in a little under 3 hrs. It was a quite chilly on the way down, really foggy and drizzly. After riding through water and mud I didn't take the time to lube my chain because I was trying gain as much time as possible on the rocky down-hill. When I chain-sucked my chain got caught between the big ring and chain-stay and for some reason I had a hard time trying to pull it out. Luckily I finally succeeded and that was actually my only "mechanical" during the entire race, so I can't really complain.

The rest of the down-hill was on wet pavement in the fog and I was taking it pretty easy because I didn't want to crash or miss a turn! I was happy with my day. I finished in first place with a time of 4 hrs 52 minutes. A couple of times I had to stop and ask some locals for the right way...

End of Day 3

Adriana Rojas was still in the overall lead by 4 min 50 seconds with only 1 day left of racing. I thought my only chance to make up the time would be on one of the 2 climbs in the beginning of the day, because the rest of the day is all down-hill or flat.

Me and Heart at the starting line of Day 4

It had rained all night before the start, and it was still raining in the morning. Luckily it wasn't cold. The rain actually felt good as we started riding. We had a long neutral start out of the town of Turrialba. I am usually not very speedy in the beginning of a race (old age), but I was doing my best to keep from getting dropped by the front group. As we started climbing, I knew I was going to have a strong day despite sore and tired legs. I was in a group with Adriana and 5 or 6 men when we reached the first check-point at the top of the first climb. The second climb of the day is on steep gravel and I was able to leave the rest of the group behind. Unfortunately there is a long, gradual paved down-hill after the climb and 3 of the guys caught me. I had no idea how far Adriana was behind me, but I assumed she was right behind the guys, so I sprinted across the first rail road bridge with my bike on my shoulder.

I was able to hook up with 2 other racers on the flats. One was Cory Wallace who rides for Kona. He had some kind of derailleur issue and that's why he was riding near me, he had been racing in the front the first few days. Cory had to stop several times because his chain kept falling off, but he had no problem catching back up. Cory and I lost the other rider at one of the bridges. He was a little nervous walking on the slippery trestles, especially after I almost knocked him over one time. I was wondering if Cory thought I was going to have a heart attack I was breathing so hard trying to stay on his wheel. Meanwhile he looked like he was out for a easy spin...

The last 2 hrs were a combination of rail road trestles and riding through flooded gravel roads paralleling the beach. It rained the entire time. The puddles were deep enough to reach over my bottom bracket, and sometimes we just had to get off and wade through knee deep water.

When I finally crossed the finish-line I knew I had done the best I could that day, but I wasn't sure that I had made up the near 5 minutes. It was a nervous few minutes standing by the finish line hoping Adriana wasn't going to show up. Despite a crappy first day, I was able to recover and win La Ruta for the 4th time! I was so happy to end my year with a La Ruta win!!

This guy lost his saddle during the race, and used a coconut for a seat!!!

Eric and Karen, the official time keepers, had to work long hard hours in the rain.

Many thanks to Roman, Pipa, and all the La Ruta volunteers for making this another great event.

Thanks to my favorite time keepers, Karen Harrison and ERIC (also my favorite mechanic :-)

Thank You so much to my awesome sponsors Magura, Kenda, and PTLG

Federico for being a wonderful host and taking such good care of us while in Costa Rica!

Knickerbocker 8 Hr in Cool, CA

The Knickerbocker 8 hr MTB race is part of the "Leave No Trace" Series put on by Global Biorhythm Events. The other races are 24 hrs of Boggs Mountain, 24 Hrs of Cool, and Tahoe Sierra 100. After racing at Tahoe Sierra 100 and talking to Jim Northey who is the enthusiastic organizer of all these races, I decided it would be fun La Ruta training to do the Knickerbocker 8 Hr race. Auburn is only about a 3 hr drive from our house, so it was a fairly easy trip on Friday afternoon.

Le Mans start

After a quick Starbucks stop on Saturday morning, we drove the 10 miles from Auburn to Cool. The race started with a very short run to the bikes, and as 200 people hit the single track the dust was brutal!! You literally couldn't see the ground in front of you and I took it pretty easy because I had no intention on crashing. After the first loop the dust settled, and the course was fun! Each loop was approximately 12 miles with 1700 feet of climbing. It was almost all rolling single track, with a few steep sections. There was a checkpoint after 7 miles, with lots of helpful and cheery volunteers.

My goal was just to stay consistent, get a good training ride in, and have fun. At one point I thought I might be able to get 8 laps in, but as I had to stop a couple of times to get my chain cleaned and re-lubed at the check point, I realized that was going to take way too much effort. 7 laps was plenty of riding for me. I ended up with 84 miles and a little over 10,000 feet of elevation gain in 7 hrs and 9 minutes.

Me and Melanie Dominguez who won the overall series and got to ride home on a cool scooter!

Hanging out with Tinker and Roger- my pen pal I met on ebay.

Tinker- who didn't have to ride that many laps to take the overall title of the series, also won a hard-earned scooter for his efforts. He was really excited about the scooter and said he wouldn't think of selling it, because he had to race hard for it. After the race, the volunteers started BBQing hamburgers and we stuck around for a while before heading back home. Jim told me that he only found 3 gu wrappers on the course after the race, and filled 3 bags of recycling, and only 1 with trash. Pretty good for 200 people racing for hours.