Vail 100 Y2K
by Dave Hyland 

This summer I competed in the Vail 100 mountain bike race.  It is a really cool (but sick) challenge that I think would be of interest to Maumee Valley Wheelmen.  Some of the cool guys on our club rides are really mountain bikers.  Last year a couple of them did the Leadville 100 and came back with some cool stories.  I thought about doing it, but didn’t realize that it had already filled up before I decided to do it.  Then I found out about the Vail 100.  The Vail 100 wasn’t supposed to be as hard and it wasn’t filled up and I was going to be in Colorado meeting my folks to celebrate their 40th anniversary so I took the plunge and signed up. 

Although my mountain biking buddies do a lot of training on the road for Leadville, I knew I would have to do some serious miles on the mountain bike since I’m just not as comfortable on a mountain bike as they are.  My main training plan consisted of progressively longer weekend mountain bike rides leading up to a long ride of 8 ½ hours (in 100+ degree heat) in addition to the normal routine.  A new suspension seatpost (Moxey) really helped out the back. 

My wife, Amy, had promised to support me for the race.  (Some of you may  remember her from CFC – one of our early “dates”).  This was quite a sacrifice for her since she always races.  She had done a lot of the national women’s calendar this summer including the Olympic Trials and Wendy’s Challenge so she didn’t mind so much since I had to be the bread winner while she was racing all over the country earlier in the summer. 

We got to Colorado about 10 days before the race.  I shipped our bikes out and arranged in advance for Vail Bike Service to ship them back.  They performed a great service and charged a reasonable fee.  The real problem once in Colorado was to try and taper.  The altitude wears you out and you need to taper but the riding is too incredible to pass up.  Amy and I rode about every day and did some really fun (but long) rides.  Finally I managed to back off the riding the 2 days before the race and felt like I could actually breathe the thin air. 

The night before the race I woke up to thunderstorms at 2 am.  It continued to rain throughout the night but fortunately was not raining for the 7 am start.  The promoters told us the course was rerouted to avoid some “bad mud sections”, and then the gun went off.  It was amazing how fast people took off given 100 miles of mountain biking ahead.  I managed to hold back knowing that after the first two miles, a 2000 foot climb was to begin.  Things were going well but about one-half hour after the start, it started to rain.  No big deal.  I was prepared for bad weather and got out the rain jacket once it was time for the first descent.   We dropped about 1000 feet and then climbed another 2000 feet to Muddy pass.

Muddy pass was well named.  Given the rain, it was like riding through peanut butter.  It stopped raining but people began to get frustrated with the mud and also start having mechanicals.  A lot of people dropped out at this point.  I wondered about the “bad mud section” they rerouted out of the course.  At the top of Muddy Pass was the first aid station.  I had set my watch to go off every 20 minutes to remind me to eat so I didn’t need a lot there but managed to choke some food down anyway.  

After Muddy Pass we had a 3000-foot descent.  It was very discouraging.  It seemed like I was passed by 50 people during this stretch.  At the bottom, Amy was waiting for me with a new camelback and food to stuff in my jersey.  She also had tools.  I let some air out of my shock.  Unfortunately I have the roadie mentality that a good fork is a stiff fork.  This isn’t really true bouncing over rocks on a mountain bike at high speeds.  The race promoters had warned us that even though we were at 46 miles at this stop, it was really the beginning of the race for most.  A bit nerve-wracking when you’ve been on your bike for over 4 hours and “the race is just beginning”. 

After a quick pitstop, it was back up the 3000-foot climb to Muddy Pass again.  Then a 3000-foot drop.  The second descent from Muddy Pass was a really tough one.  It was steep, narrow and very rocky.  You really couldn’t sit much which made it very fatiguing.  During this descent I began to have real doubts about whether I would be able to finish.  During this dark period a guy on a single speed from Colorado caught me and we talked a bit (yes he was on a single speed and caught me on the descent – I did much better on the uphills).  The guy on the single speed was incredibly upbeat and really helped me get my head on straight.  It helped knowing I was about to see a familiar face, too.

At the bottom, Amy was waiting for me with chain lube and tools to get my front derailler working.  Being able to shift into the granny turned out to be very important shortly after I left the stop.  As I pulled out of the stop, Amy shoved a snickers bar in my mouth.  I was sick of eating at this point but knew I needed the calories so I choked it down.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a snickers that didn’t taste good before.  Coming out of this stop, the really hard climb began.  3,000 feet over about 10 miles.  It was narrow and rocky.  I kept looking at my speedometer.  It would go back and forth between 3 mph and 4 mph.  It seemed to take forever to get up this climb.  There were people walking and it would take forever to catch them.  Finally I made it to the top.  The last stop at Muddy Pass. 

I was really getting sick of Muddy Pass by this point.  I grabbed a quick bite, looked at the watch and realized that if I made good time, I could make it to the finish in under 11 hours.  It was 22 miles to go but all downhill on jeep roads.  I took off.  As I neared the bottom, the road was really washboarded and vibrating my fillings out.  I remembered the race director’s warnings to be careful on the descents and was a bit conservative.  Finally the descent ended and I was on Vail’s city streets flying towards the finish.  I raced across the line and looked at my watch – missed 11 hours by 1 minute, 30 seconds.  No big deal, but a 10+ hour finish would’ve been nice.

I ended up finishing 102nd but no one really cares at this race.  Everyone who finishes in under 13 hours gets a medal and jersey.  Everyone is cheered equally.  Actually the last to finish under 13 hours gets the biggest cheer of all.  There were about 500 starters and 72% finished.  We climbed about 15,000 feet.  It’s not too technical so I would recommend it for roadies.  It was great to have Amy for support.

Last Updated 03/19/08