One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the biggest challenge in endurance racing is proper nutrition. In my younger, dumber days I once tried to ride 24 Hours in the Sage solo, subsisting on little more than Twizzlers and Coke (I ended up doubled over in the fetal position after about 12 hours). More often than not, it’s stomach issues that sideline endurance racers before their legs give up.
As Ian and my friends in Carbondale will tell you (because I’ve been complaining non-stop) I’ve been dealing with an ongoing intestinal issue for almost a month now. I’ll spare you the gory details, but let’s just say I haven’t been able to eat much and I’ve spent a lot of time in the bathroom. I went to a specialist last week for blood work and I have a colonoscopy scheduled this week—yippee!
So this is the perfect time for me to do a 12 hour mountain bike race, right?!
I’ve raced the 12 Hours of Snowmass twice before on a three-person team and this year I decided to try it solo—my stomach be damned. Just over a week before the race I went gluten-free, mostly as an experiment. Little by little I started to feel better all week. I spent Thursday prepping a bunch of gluten-free race food: Allen Lim’s rice cakes and Heather Irmiger’s scones. I hoped those, along with Honey Stinger chews and new Stinger organic gels would get me through the race (sadly I couldn’t eat the Stinger Waffles).
Fast forward to lap 10, hour 11 of the race on Saturday. After over 20,000 feet of climbing followed by a whole bunch of punishing (but really fun) descending, I still felt great. Ok, sure my legs were tired, my back hurt a bit, my arms were exhausted, etc., but my stomach felt just fine. Gluten-free? SOLD.
Axel and Ian on pit crew duty
Rob Russell gets me going out of the transition area
The 12 Hours of Snowmass course is almost entirely singletrack with just over 2,000 feet of climbing each lap – brutal but fun!
I finished the race with 10 laps, three laps ahead of the next woman and in fifth place overall. Most of all, I’m proud of the fact that my laps times were pretty consistent. The legendary Tinker Juarez won the men’s race with 11 laps. Full results here.’
Big thanks to Joel Mishke who hooked me up with a rental bike for the race, Scott Leonard for loaning me some wheels, Rob Russell for helping me with support and kid wrangling, and of course Nat Ross for organizing another awesome race in Snowmass. This post’s sponsor shout-out goes to Westone. I wore their UM1 earbuds for the entire 11+ hours I was racing and they never got uncomfortable and kept me rocking the whole time.
Also, congrats to my Honey Stinger teammate Max Taam, who along with John Gaston and Keegen Swirbul, kicked ass to with the three man race.
Congrats on another podium, Sari! While I can’t relate to the level of your accomplishments, I can sympathize with the stomach distress during endurance training. I went through a very similar situation last year before Ironman Lake Placid. After much testing and experimenting, turns out I have a gluten sensitivity and am allergic to casein in milk. I was literally making myself sick by carbing up with regular pasta and downing greek yogurt and dairy-based protein smoothies. Since becoming g- and dairy-free, the tummy issues have disappeared and my energy has greatly increased. I rely on Stinger and Clif Shot gels, Lara bars and rice cakes with PB for training and racing, but REALLY miss those Stinger waffles! Dang those are awesome. Maybe you can put in a word over there to start working on a gluten-free version…. ! Being a g-free endurance athlete definitely provides more challenges, but the alternative isn’t an option anymore. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully the more rock star athletes like you that give it attention, the more options we’ll have!
Congrats Sari! I didn’t want to join in what seemed to be the “gluten-free trend” but since I was desperate I did it as well and it’s amazing the difference. Being on the Honey Stinger Hive I am also sad I can’t consume the waffles but I am thankful for their chews and gels (maybe we can persuade them to do a GF waffle in the future). Love hearing your racing stories and have been a fan for a while!