After some hot food and a rest in their lounge, we once again thought we would be good to go. Unfortunately my stomach did not have the same intentions. Even with Fran towing me on the bike, I was forced to stop yet again. This time for good.

As we flagged down a car to drive Arnau and I to Burnie, the reality that I had forced my team to withdraw began to hit me. Although I could not continue, it is still extremely difficult to let myself and my teammates down like this. I am so thankful that the boys have been super supportive and caring throughout. Despite not always being able to communicate with words, they communicated their empathy very well. Thank you to Fran Costoya, Arnau Julia Bonmati and Benjamin Medina for being wonderful teammates. I am sorry our race ended this way.

Anyway, Team Buff Thermo Cool has reached the halfway point of the race, where they have a mandatory six-hour rest and get a hot meal. Impressively, Sari found a computer and managed to send this message:

“Super wet and muddy everywhere. Teammates are awesome. Tired, super sore knees but otherwise all is well.”

Buff is six-hours behind the lead teams, Seagate and Silva. They are “carrying a 2-hour penalty” because apparently one teammate lost their required race jersey somewhere along the way. With the penalty time factored in, they are in ninth place overall. There is still a long way to go, including a 65km trek along the coast, followed by a 150km mountain bike leg. Team Buff is healthy and strong and they still have a great shot at the podium. Thanks for following along and supporting Sari!

(Sari and Fran paddling in the first 17k leg)

Howdy. Sari’s slower, lazier half here – reporting from the comfort of my couch. Here’s the latest on the race in Tasmania (from what I can glean online, half a world away).

So far Team Buff Thermo Cool has:

-paddled 17km
-trekked 20km through the Tassie bush (do I sound like a local?)
-shot at clay pigeons and missed, resulting in a 10 minute penalty
-navigated through a series of caves
-mountain biked 50K
-trekked 60k

From there, teams were supposed to do a waterfall rappel, but it sounds like that section was cancelled. Then, the course gets really strange. Apparently each four-person team has to squeeze into one, two-person inflatable kayak for an 8km paddle. Why, I don’t know. After that unnecessary bonding experience, the teams have a 20km paddle in their own plastic kayaks to a transition area at the end of Lake Mackintosh.

If you’ve been watching the GPS tracking or the leaderboard, you’ve noticed that Team Seagate took a commanding lead early in the race. Seagate is made up of a bunch of legends in the adventure racing world so it’s no surprise they’re in front. Team Buff fell back to 10th place after their shooting penalty, but the latest GPS data has them in fourth place less than two hours behind the leaders.

The top three teams (Seagate, Silva and Blackheart) will all be tough to beat, but keep in mind the race is less than half over. After this paddling leg, teams have a 105km mountain bike, followed by mandatory six-hour rest zone. Then there’s a 65k trek, a 150km mountain bike and a 75km paddle. The race is still anyone’s game.

Thanks for reading and for cheering on Sari!

To wit:

• Sari and her teammates from Buff Thermo Cool will be racing over 450 miles in a big loop around Tasmania, starting and finishing in the city of Burnie
• The race includes trekking, mountain biking, sea kayaking, rafting, caving, abseiling, navigation and more.
• The race director predicts it will take the top teams six days to finish (Monday morning local Tasmania time).
• Sari’s teammates are the reigning world champions hailing from Spain and France. Here’s their Facebook page.

Here’s a very cool Google Earth overview of the course:

And here’s a blow by blow description of the course.

The race started today, or tomorrow at 9am if you live in the Australia Western Time Zone. I’m not sure it’s fair, but somehow those Aussies/Kiwis get to live their lives a full day and a half before us. But I digress. The race began on Wednesday morning local time with a 17km sea kayak leg followed by a clay pigeon shooting challenge, where one teammate had to hit one of five targets. I’ve seen Sari shoot an air rifle and she couldn’t hit a chipmunk if it were gnawing on her foot. Unfortunately, it seems her teammates are as bad a shot as she is and they failed the challenged, which resulted in a 10-minute penalty. No big deal in a race this long. The team is now off on a trek, followed by a mountain bike ride and then a caving adventure(!?).

I suspect the top teams will stick pretty close together in these first few days and the race won’t really start to shake out until day 3 or 4 when sleep deprivation and fatigue really set in.

From what I can tell, the favorites in the race are Team Silva (#9), Team Seagate (#2) and Team Blackheart (#3). But, this is adventure racing and mechanicals, injuries and sickness can slow down even the fastest, best prepared teams.

I’ll try to post updates daily here, but if you want to follow along with the race and join me in yelling at your computer screen when our team takes a wrong turn or is moving slow, here are some options.

• Official race website
• Race GPS tracking (check team #1)
• Wish the team luck on the race message board here.
• #arwc2011 on Twitter
• Race Facebook page

The teams actually have to stop and blog at several points during the race. Once I find those posts, I’ll be sure to share them.

Otherwise, thanks for following and supporting Sari!

Cheers,

Ian

Racing a course sight unseen can sometimes be an advantage because I just have to keep going as hard as I can – at least that’s what I told myself before the race.  I spoke to a few people who had raced here before and they all told me to use easier gearing. I managed to borrow  a compact crank set, but next time I will make sure to find an easier cassette as well.

I started in the Top Notch group and quickly realized I was going to spend almost the entire race in my easiest gear. I battled with a singlespeeder for much of the 7.4 miles and 4,500 feet of climbing, thinking he was the smart one for not carrying the extra weight up the mountain.

Right from the start I slipped into third place among the women and I kept it right to the finish line. I never saw another woman coming from behind however I knew that one had to be right there and sure enough a woman finished 28 seconds back. Last year’s winner, Marti Shea, finished on the top step and her closest rival, Kristen Gohr finished in second again. I’m very impressed how fast these women are and hope I can be closer to them next year.

Speaking of next year, I hope to be back and hope I can improve my time. Knowing the course will be much better and maybe, just maybe, the weather can be as perfect as it was this year.

A special thanks goes to Ruthann Brown of Polartec for motivating me to race and treating me like a queen all weekend!

Results here.

Suffering to the finish right after the 22% grade.

Media:

The Conway Daily Sun

U.S. Cycling Report

Velo News

Mt. Washington Auto Road Website

Women's winner Marti Shea and myself on the podium. 2nd place Kristen Gohr was hiking down. A woman after my own heart.

22% grade looks like a wall in person.

Ian convinced me to enter the lottery way back in January and to our mutual surprise, I got in. For the rest of the year, I tried to focus on the race and made a spot on the podium my goal. Of course, a lot of other top pro woman had the same idea. In the weeks leading up to the race, the hype and anticipation surrounding Leadville started to really get to me and I began to dread it.

Fighting through the pain at Twin Lakes

Thankfully my coach, Lindsay Hyman at Carmichael Training, has raced Leadville before and she gave me good beta on each section of the course as well as nutrition and hydration recommendations.

Friday afternoon, my Honey Stinger teammate Max Taam and I got out for a pre-race ride and a little time on the St. Kevin’s climb. As we dropped off the backside and began the short descent, my wheels slid out from under me and I went down hard and fast, sliding on my side down the dirt road. More embarrassed than anything, I jumped right up  to inspect the damage. Thankfully my bike was fine, but I had pretty good road rash on my leg, hip and arm. I was shaken, but hoped that I just gotten any race day crashes out of my system. The CTS folks helped clean me up and dressed me up with second skin and lots of cheese cloth bandaging.

The race started clean and fast early Saturday morning. I was excited to finally get going and not too worried that I wasn’t anywhere near the rest of the pro women. Passing the spot where I crashed the day before and heading down the pavement, my back and hip started to seize up. I quickly realized I must have crashed harder than I thought. About fifteen miles into the race, my goal of a podium finish vanished and I wondered if I could even finish. For the next 25 miles my emotions ran the entire spectrum from total depression to absolute determination.

When I got to the Twin Lakes aid station I got off my bike to stretch my back. My support crew, Rob Russell and Scott Leonard, saw the pain I was in and asked if I was going to continue. Thinking of them spending their day watching after me, I decided I needed to go every inch I possibly could. Racing can be selfish but I knew in the long run I would feel terrible if my support had devoted their day to me and I gave up.

My back didn’t feel much better going up or down the Columbine climb, and I once again considered dropping from the race at Twin Lakes. This time though, Ian, Axel and Juniper were there waiting and cheering for me. I stopped quickly to give them hugs and kisses and that gave the strength to ride the next 40 miles.

My back started to feel a little better from that point and I focused on a negative split for the race. I found myself riding next to Elden Nelson, aka the world-famous Fat Cyclist, whose blog I’ve enjoyed for years now. Elden is an inspiration and I was psyched to be riding with him.

With a few miles to go, I found a smile for the camera

The rest of the race is kind of a blur, but I do vividly remember my friend Alissa, who ran beside me on some of the final pavement miles and helped me find the motivation to finish.

My final time was 8:19. Overall, it was one of the toughest races I can remember and I’m still disappointed about the way it turned out, but I’m proud of the fact that I finished. A big congrats goes to Rebecca Rusch, who broke her own record in the race and won her third straight Leadville victory. My longtime friend Gretchen Reeves had an awesome race and finished in second. Pua Mata suffered mechanicals and came in third, while Jenny Smith finished her first 100 miler in an impressive fourth place. Legendary olympian, Tammy Jaques came in fifth, and then Annie Gonzalez, who just turned 50 years old and got her first pro license came in sixth. I finished in seventh, proud to race with such an inspirational, strong group of ladies.

Now, I’ve got to get packing for my trip to Rhode Island. Hopefully, my back feels better by next Saturday when I’m racing the Mt. Washington Hill Climb. 4,000 feet of climbing in less than eight miles. Gulp.

Sonya Looney 2nd, Sari, Sonya Bugbee 3rd

With about a month until the Leadville 100, I raced the Breck 68 yesterday as a training race. I opted not to race the Breck 100 as the time on the bike was more similar to Leadville in the 68 than it was in the 100. I hadn’t raced any of the races in this event before and was looking forward to the great singletrack that I had heard reviews of from many friends.

The Breck 68 consists of two separate laps which are laps 2 and 3 of the 100. I was very familiar with the trails of my first loop and rode well from the start. Sonya Looney and I separated from the other women and I was able to pull away a little while passing many of the men that had started ahead of us in the 68 as well as many of the 100 riders. I concentrated on drinking fluid and eating enough calories to make sure I would not bonk during the second half of the race.

As I came through the start/finish area finishing lap 1, my legs felt great but my stomach was starting to get irritated. I figured I had not eaten or drank enough so I took in another Honey Stinger bar and Nuun hoping it would soon pass. Grinding up the Indiana climb, I kept my momentum going forward despite my stomach getting worse. Knowing Sonya Looney, Jen Tilley and Sonya Bugbee were coming for me, I pushed through the pain as each bump I hit on the descent off Boreas Pass hurt like nothing I had felt before.

My legs felt great climbing back up Boreas Pass but I was not racing anymore. At that point I was simply riding as fast as I possibly could hoping I could hold my position for the last 10 or so miles. With a short detour on the descent to verify a course marking, I limped into the finish line in 6 hours and 48 minutes only 17 seconds before Sonya Looney. Thankfully Sonya had also taken the same detour and was never able to see me as she surely would have been able to catch me at that point as she was getting stronger throughout the race. Results here (I’m not sure why I’m in the age group category and not pro but…).

I have no idea what caused my stomach issues as I ate and drank the same things I always do in a race – Honey Stinger chews and bars with water and Nuun. This was exactly what I needed as a tune-up for Leadville. Thanks to Carmichael Training and Lindsay Hyman my legs were ready and felt great. I’m looking forward to the Steamboat Stinger next weekend in hopes of getting past my stomach issues and having my legs feel as well as they did yesterday.

With early reports of temps barely above 1 degree, and  30mph winds on the top of A-Basin, I opted for my ‘baggie’ gear. My skin suit does not have any wind protection so I threw on my Patagonia Knifeblade jacket made from Polartec PowerShield Pro and stretch woven pants, knowing I would be much more protected and happier.

As we started up the first climb, I felt the normal burn of skimo racing. I pulled my skins and started down the first descent when I caught up to Bryan Wickenhauser. Wick’s race was done almost as fast as it had started because of a broken buckle. I was thankful for how well my La Sportiva Stratos boots have held up all season.

With the next woman, Stevie Kremer, just a minute or so behind, I continued to push myself up the next climb and down into Montezuma Bowl. It appeared that I had opened up a bit of a gap towards the top of the final climb, so I slowed a little to cover my face from the winds. I looked back as I dropped into the final descent, I saw Stevie just behind and realized I better keep moving.

I crossed the line as the first woman feeling relieved to be done racing for a few weeks. Had it not been for the $500 cash prize, I’m not sure I had enough motivation to continue pushing the pace for the almost two hours of racing. My teammate Max Taam pulled off the win for the men with Mike Kloser in second and Marshall Thompson in third.

I want to thank La Sportiva for their super light boots and skis and support for the season. And none of this would have happened it if weren’t for all the work of Pete Swenson, COSMIC organizer and the man responsible for getting most of us involved with skimo racing.

As it continues to snow into May, I think I have hung up my skis until the fall but I know many of you will continue to bag peaks and enjoy some amazing spring skiing. Either way, make sure to get out and enjoy something in the mountains and sun.

Finally, thanks to Kevin Krill of Crested Butte Photography for pictures from all the races. Pictures from A-Basin here. Results here.

With a short skin and ski to the start as a warm-up I said good morning to Jan as the race started right at 6am. After an hour and 20 minutes of climbing we reached Peak 9 for the first time in 4th place overall. Despite being warm for 7am in ‘Breckenfridge’, the wind was howling and we were pelted with granular snow on the descent. Jan and I quickly mastered the teamwork of the transition with him arriving a few seconds in front of me and helping with my skins. We climbed a steep boot pack and then hiked a wind scoured grassy and rocky ridge back to Peak 9. With the bare ground it felt as if we were racing in Europe.

Jan and I battled with the team of Chris Kroger/Scott Simmons for 3rd place overall as the teams of Max Taam/Pete Gaston and Bryan Wickenhauser/Mike Kloser had opened up a gap on us. As we topped out on another boot pack we skinned towards the top of Peak 8 with a tailwind blowing us right up the ridge. The wind was blowing us over as we tried to pull our skins so we dropped into Whale’s Tale in an attempt for some reprieve.

Scott and Chris passed us on the descent and left for the final climb a few seconds in front of us. I fell off of Chris, Scott and Jan by about a minute which gave Chris and Scott 3rd place overall. My legs were fried so we took our time on the last descent and finished in a time of 3 hours 55 minutes 7 seconds. Good enough for 1st place in the coed division and 4th overall. Despite being a fairly short race, I don’t think I took in enough liquid or food which was probably why my legs were so tired by the end. Throughout the race I only ate 1-1/2 packets of Honey Stinger Chews and 1 Honey Stinger Gel as well as about 16 oz. of water with Nuun.

My Honey Stinger teammate Max Taam and my Grand Traverse partner Pete Gaston took the overall win from Bryan Wickenhauser and Mike Kloser. Wick broke his ski behind his binding on the first descent and toughed it out for second place. Very impressive.

Sari & Jan relaxing post race

Race organizer Pete Swenson changed the course up a bit from the inaugural race last year and was thinking the winners would come in at around 5 hours. I’m not sure why we were so much faster but it probably had something to do with the great conditions, snow and volunteers. With no wrong turns made and volunteers giving beta on what to expect next, the race was superbly organized. Thanks to all the volunteers especially the ones I know personally – Pete Swenson, Monique Merrill, Sebastien Sxay and his girlfriend Anne and Jason McGowin.

Five Peaks results are here.

My Garmin info here. I’m not sure why it shows we had 20 minutes of stopped time. Our total transition time equaled about 5 – 8 minutes.

Great photos from Kevin Krill at Crested Butte Photography here.

Pete Gaston & I happy to be home in Aspen

The EMGT podium is an elite boy’s club. A quick look at the results from the past ten years reveals many of the same names; Mike Kloser, Pat O’Neill, Jimmy Faust, Bryan Wickenhauser and Pierre Wille to name a few. I’m proud to say that this weekend not one, but two women’s names will be added to that list.

I’ll spare you the 40-mile race blow-by-blow but here’s a quick recap. It snowed all day Friday before the midnight start in Crested Butte so fresh snow on the course was a major factor throughout the race. My partner Pete Gaston, a 24-year-old Aspen young gun who works as a guide for Aspen Expeditions, and I were with a group of about 20 teams in the lead pack for the first 15 miles until the Friends Hut. From there, the field quickly thinned out until we found ourselves climbing up to Taylor Pass with just Ethan Passant and Travis Scheefer, Teague Holmes and Brad LaRochelle.

Breaking trail along Richmond Ridge

For the next 15 miles, our group took turns breaking trail through some pretty deep snow and I took a bunch of long pulls out in front. On a few occasions I even had to guilt the boys to take their fair turns. When we left the Barnard Hut as a group of six, I knew that the next coed team of Stevie Kremer and Marshall Thompson were only a few minutes back. Despite being pretty worked, I continued to push the pace in hopes of holding them off. With only few miles left to skin before the final descent down Aspen Mountain, one of my skins kept falling off. As I dug in my pack for a fresh skin, Stevie and Marshall passed me. We gave it everything we had left but Pete and I could not close the gap. We finished 50 seconds behind Stevie and Marshall and two and a half minutes behind Ethan and Travis as the third place overall team and the second place coed team.

I can’t help but wonder if I hadn’t broken trail for so long if I would have been a little stronger at the finish, but no matter what I’m pleased with my performance and  I’m proud that both Stevie and I broke the gender barrier at the EGMT.

The Aspen Times wrote a nice recap of the race here.

The gear spread pre-race

A quick note about my gear…there’s probably no greater test of backcountry gear than the EMGT. Overall, my set-up performed beautifully, but there were a couple of standouts. First of all, I wore an awesome new jacket from Patagonia called the Knifeblade. It’s a minimalistic, anorak-style jacket made from Polartec Power Shield Pro – essentially a lightweight pullover softshell. While I watched almost everyone in the race shed layers on the climbs and then layer up for the descents, I never took the Knifeblade off. It kept me warm and completely dry while it snowed for the first few hours of the race, but breathed well enough so I didn’t overheat once the sun finally came out. Full disclosure – I’m on the Polartec Athlete Advisory Board – but this truly was the best aerobic outerlayer I’ve ever tried.

Another truly impressive bit of gear for this race were my gloves. My friend Doug Heinrich, the glove product director at Black Diamond, sent me a pair of Impulse gloves to try and they were awesome. I wore them the entire race and my hands never got too hot nor cold.

Last but not least, my boots and skis from La Sportiva continued to kick ass. Over 38 miles of racing for 9+ hours and I only had one little blister on my pinky toe.

Here are some more photos from the race (a couple borrowed graciously from Mike Trecker – thanks for cheering us on up there, Mike).  Thanks for reading!

Travis Scheefer & Ethan Passant congratulate each other on their win

Marshall towing Stevie a mile or so before they passed us

The best way to end a race is with Ian and the kids at the finish line

Here’s my GPS data from the course (I couldn’t get Garmin Connect to work so I had to use Ian’s Strava account).