I’m So Fancy……………is the song that was stuck in my head
during the Fruita 100k mountain bike race.
Actually, the chorus of the song is what kept repeating in my mind
during the latter part of the race since I can’t really make out what the rest
of the song lyrics are actually saying.
It wasn’t until a few hours later, when I heard the song again on the satellite
radio that it clicked that this was the song in my head during several hours of
the race. It is interesting how the
subconscious mind works in times when you are at or near your limits
considering I had first heard the song on the radio only two days prior during
the drive down to Fruita. Oh, and the
music artist turns out to be an Australian hip/hop star that I have never heard
of……….random!
“I'm so
fancy
You already know
I'm in the fast lane
From L.A. to Tokyo
I'm so fancy….”
You already know
I'm in the fast lane
From L.A. to Tokyo
I'm so fancy….”
So,
owe yeah, where was I, the Fruita 100k:
60
miles; 6,300’ of Climbing; Spans 2 States; and has a whole lot of steep ups and
downs.
Beth
and I decided to make the trip for the Fruita 100k two months prior since I had
a work conference planned the following week in Snowbird, Utah. I have always wanted to ride in Fruita, but
had never made the time to stop on the way, while driving to other far off
destinations. In fact, if it weren’t for
Beth’s interest in the race, I still wouldn’t have ridden in Fruita yet.
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| View from camp the night before the race. Would it be an omen for a good race? |
Beth
and I arrived in Fruita Thursday evening and we easily found a nice campsite in
Rabbit Valley, which was where the race was to start. Friday we went for a short ride along the
Kokopelli Trail, which was also a good portion of the race course. After the ride, we spent the rest of the day
in Fruita and nearby Colorado National Monument. Race day came and we picked up our numbers
and toed the line at 7:00 a.m. The race
is in its 4th year of existence with racer numbers wavering between
50 to 75 racers each year. This year’s
participant number was slightly lower with ~60 in attendance. The course was brand new from the previous 3
years by adding 26 miles of singletrack and 2,000’ of climbing. We had limited information on what the new
singletrack actually entailed, but assumed it was straight forward (i.e., not
to technical), which we would come to realize a different story later that day.
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| Beth overlooking the Colorado River |
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| Colorado National Monument |
Going
into the race, I didn’t have many goals other than to finish and have fun. I had ridden less this year due to a busy
spring at work and general motivation.
Going into the race, my training consisted of just normal riding with a few
hard efforts at the Thursday Night Ride (TNR).
The race started and my plan was to hopefully make a small lead group,
since the first 10 miles were on the technical jeep road of the Kokopelli
Trail. The race started and the pace was
very reasonable and I found myself in 2nd place. At about mile 1, there was a technical ¼ mile
section that consisted of steep ledges and loose rocks that we happened to ride
the day before. I decided I wanted to
be in the lead briefly going into this section, so I would have my choice of
lines and avoid any miscalculations of other riders. I moved into the lead right before this
section, rode the section without incident, which resulted in a small gap opening
up on the field. Since I didn't really
know what my fitness currently was or how my body would respond, I decided just
to ride my own pace and see what happened.
It wasn't for probably another mile or so, that two riders joined me with
a small chase group maybe 30 seconds back.
I ended up leading the race for the first 7 miles before a group of 4 of
us switched leads for the next few miles.
In the last mile before the singletrack, I lost contact with the lead 3
while messing with my computer and their train quickly opened up a 30 second
gap on me due to a strong headwind.
Starting
the 13-mile singletrack loop (Zion Curtain Trail), I could see the first 3
riders, which were now separated from one another. I consider myself a pretty good technical
rider, so I wasn’t too concerned and was still riding my own pace. I quickly realized that the technical rider
part of me, decided not to show up on this race day as I almost endo-ed over
the first ledge system, losing my rear wattle bottle in the process. For the remainder of the loop, I was unable
to get in a rhythm and was bouncing all over the technical singletrack.
The singletrack
was very diverse and consisted of sagebrush singletrack, steep pitchy climbs
and descents, slick rock, canyon overlooks, chutes and pinyon-juniper
woodlands. I couldn’t believe how
technical the trail was and was getting beat up pretty bad due to my inadequate
skills and lack of flow. I ended up
conceding 1 spot during the singletrack section and was now in 5th
place. After the singletrack, there was
a very steep climb to another desert plateau and then 6 miles to the turnaround
spot.
The
nice thing about out and back races is you get to see where everyone is, which
put me just under a mile from the
current leader of the race at the half way point. On the way back, I was kind of dreading the
singletrack loop again, but it turned out to flow a lot better in the opposite
direction. I was also thinking about
Beth a lot and was wondering how she was handling the singletrack since I knew
she had never really even seen or tried to ride anything like it before. I saw Beth just as I was beginning the
singletrack section, while trying to hang on 3rd places wheel. I saw Beth and she was waving to me and said
everything was okay, and she seemed in good spirits. It was really hard not to
stop and talk because I was actually more vested into her race than mine. The
climb back up to the top of the mesa on the singletrack loop involved a lot of
suffering and a little loopiness that is pretty common towards the end of an
endurance mountain bike race. It wasn’t
until mile 40 or so that I finally started to feel strong and my technical
skills came back to me. Coincidentally,
this is when the SONG popped into my
head and I started to get “Rad” as I like to tell myself.
The
singletrack started to flow and my body was no longer in survival mode. I finished the singletrack in 3rd
position after 1st place had crashed and significantly slowed him
down for the remainder of the race. The
last 10 miles were all on the Kokopelli Trail and I just hammered it, but
assumed 1st and 2nd place was far from reach since I
hadn’t seen either one since the first 3rd of the singletrack section. Nearing the final mile and last steep climb,
I spotted 2nd place, which looked like he was fading up the
climb. I couldn’t believe it and charged
up the climb trying to close the gap, but ended up coming up short by 13 seconds
by the time I reached the finish line in just over 5 hours 15 minutes. 1st place ended up only being just
less than 3 minutes ahead of me!
After
recovering a bit and getting some food back at camp, I went back to the finish
line and checked with the Race Director to see if he could tell me what check
point Beth last passed. I found out Beth
was out on her second loop of the singletrack and was expected at the next aid
station within the next 15 minutes. I
ended up driving as far as I could on the Kokopelli Trail with the Subaru,
which was only about 3 miles, to wait and cheer Beth on for her final few
miles. This was actually one of the
highlights of the weekend, when I was just sitting in the desert for about an
hour, observing its vastness and enjoying the quite solitude.
Beth
arrived and looked strong and just blew by me declining any food or drink. I drove back to the finish line to see her
finish and congratulate her. Upon
finishing, the Race Director was asking her how it was and she stated that “she
was now a better mountain biker now than she was this morning.” The cool thing about travelling to mountain
bike races is you get to experience such different trails and challenges. This race was definitely an achievement to
just finish with its technical stature let alone race it. I was so proud of Beth and how positive she
was during her race.
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| Final few miles of the Kokopelli Trail |
So, if
you are curious of what the SONG
that got stuck in my head during my race is, check it out (Google Iggy Azalea Fancy), but be forewarned, it
may pop into your head next time you enter the pain cave. After doing a little research and watching
the video, I am little embarrassed about even admitting to listening to this
song and even liking its “catchy” beat. By
the way, I haven’t heard the song since.
What’s the worst (or best) song that’s gotten stuck in
your head during your races?
