Last time I was racing at Snowbasin I saw the advertisement for the 50/100K races and thought it sounded really fun. But I thought I'd be back in Las Vegas. Then I got a spot at the Park City Point to Point race and realized I needed to stay in Utah to keep training. It wasn't until the day before that I committed to racing.
Registration ended at 6:15 AM, so that meant a 4:15 AM wake up time. I had registered and gotten dressed, water bottles filled, food lined up all before the sun came up. I was anxious that I wasn't getting in my usual long warm up, but then I realized no one could warm up in the dark, so the playing field was level.
As you will see below, it was a shotgun start. If that doesn't get your heart racing and feet moving I don't know what will! I felt really good right from the start. I was in front for all of the climbing on the first lap. Heather caught me on the descent, then she slid off a bridge and I was in front again for a bit. She caught me again by time we hit the super muddy part of the course. She has much stronger technical skills and flew through all of the mud. As soon as the course started to climb again I caught her and just pushed from there. The course is perfect for me since it ends with a few miles of climbing. I didn't see her again (even after my slowish descent on the second lap) and I was able to pedal my way into the finish line in first place! This was my longest mountain bike race so far and I was pleased with how I felt afterwards. Now if I can just keep that feeling all day PCP2p may not be so bad.
The Mount Ogden 50/100K was a really well run race on a great course with a great facility. I highly recommend this race to anyone looking for a high quality race. The prizes and cash payouts were generous. I will definitely do this one again next year.
MTB Race News did a nice write up about the race. The race director also recorded an interview with me that they played while the 100K people were still racing. He was going to email the file to me, so if I get it I will link it to this post.
Covered in mud