Finishing the first of many ascents. Photo credit: Jeremy Swanson
Lyndsay and I celebrate at the finish of the Power of Four
Lyndsay Meyer and I have been looking forward to racing the Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race together for months now. Both of our partners last year ended up on IVs, one in the hospital and one at ski patrol. Although we both finished unranked without our teammates, this year we planned to complete the course together and hoped to finish strong in the women’s division.
We decided to use a bungee cord tow system from the start, ensuring that we would stay close together. Racing in pairs can be difficult when teammates have different strengths, so a bungee gives a big advantage.
I’ll spare you all the gory details of the race, but suffice it to say, climbing over 11,700 vertical feet over 26 miles is no easy task. Lyndsay and I worked well together – I paced on the uphills and she led the way on the downs. We both got pretty darn cold climbing up Highlands Bowl, where it was blowing over 60mph but we kept all our skin covered and thankfully avoided the nasty frostbite that a lot of teams suffered.
In the end, we finished in second place in the women’s division, with a time of 6 hours 28 minutes, behind the super strong women’s team of Stevie Kremer and Gemma Arro Ribot.
Apparently, the promise of a home remodeling project is good motivation for me to race hard. After a lot of hand-wringing last week about the Winter Teva Mountain Games (WTMG), my husband Ian promised that if I raced and won, we could get the new shower we desperately need in our bathroom. The prospect of new tile kept me going all weekend.
Of course, I’m kidding (kind of). The inaugural WTMG turned out to be a terrific event in its first year and I had three days of good, clean, fun racing.
Like the summer Teva Mountain Games, the WTMG featured an Ultimate Mountain Challenge (UMC) competition, including three separate races over three days: a 10K Nordic race, a ski mountaineering race and a vertical ascent. I’ve won the summer UMC once and placed second twice, so I was excited and more than a little anxious to try the first winter UMC.
On Friday morning I lined up at the start line of the Nordic race with one Olympian and one National Champion, both of whom were also racing the UMC with me. I knew Rebecca Dussault from Gunnison, who raced at the 2006 Torino Olympics, would beat me by anywhere from five to ten minutes. The same went for Morgan Smyth from SLC. My plan was simply to minimize my losses. Thankfully, my longtime friend Stephen White is a Toko rep and he hooked me up with a super fast wax the night before.
Thirty minutes later; mission accomplished. Rebecca won the race overall for the women, taking home a nice check. I was just about five minutes behind her. Janelle Smiley was just a few seconds behind me. I was hoping and planning that Saturday would be my day to really win the UMC. (Vail Daily Nordic race recap here).
The SkiMo race start
With 8,000 feet of climbing over 20 miles to Blue Sky Basin and back, we all were expecting the ski mountaineering race on Saturday to take at least five hours. I knew that it would be my opportunity to put some time into the pro Nordic skiers, and hopefully add to my minimal lead over Janelle. I started the race at a pace I thought I could maintain for 5+ hours. Janelle, who typically goes out fast, stuck to my tails like glue. We quickly built a solid lead over the Nordic girls and were within the top 15 men. Janelle stuck right behind me until the last ascent and descent, when she started to fall back by just a few minutes. I finished the race in 4:17 beating Janelle by four and half minutes. Stevie Kremer came in third. Rebecca had a tough race with major blisters from her boots and finished over 40 minutes back. (Vail Daily SkiMo race recap here, Denver Post recap here)
Me and Janelle at Belle’s Camp in Blue Sky Basin, about halfway through the SkiMo race
Slightly cheesy, staged photo of Janelle and I at the SkiMo finish
Team La Sportiva represent!
On Sunday, at the Vail Uphill, my plan was simply to stick with Janelle. I had some time to give but I certainly couldn’t walk it in. Stevie, in running shoes, crushed the 2-mile, 2,200 foot ascent in 38:15. Janelle kept up a great pace and finished in second place at 40:05 racing in her La Sportiva boots and skis. I finished 24 seconds behind her on my matching Sportiva gear for third place, but more importantly, I preserved my overall lead in the UMC.
When the weekend was all said and done, I won almost $3K at the Winter Teva Mountain Games for the UMC victory, the skimo top step, and third place in the Uphill race. It was a great payday for an awesome weekend of racing, and it should buy us a nice, new bathroom shower. I’m calling the contractor tomorrow morning…
Special thanks to my sponsors La Sportiva for providing me awesomely fast and light RSR skis and bindings, as well as my sexy carbon Stratos boots, to Polartec for keeping me warm and dry with baselayers all weekend, and to Honey Stinger for fueling me with chews and waffles in every race. I certainly would not have been prepared to race without the stellar coaching of Lindsay Hyman at CTS. Also thanks to all my Vail friends for cheering me on and an extra special shout out to Dee and Farnham, who housed me and the family in Vail…we couldn’t have done it without you. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to my parents for helping with the kids and getting them to Vail to enjoy the event.
Ian & Sari Anderson 2nd, Zack & Caitlyn Vestal 1st, Linda & Jake Wells 3rd
Racing with Ian is not something I get to do very often since normally one of us is on the sidelines hanging with the kids. The Honey Stinger Steamboat Stinger gave us the chance to race as a duo coed team. Originally we thought we would do the hand-off of the kids when coming through the lap and trading off but thankfully my mom came into town and was able to watch the kids. I don’t think the kid hand-off would have slowed us much but it made it much easier for Ian to warm up for the second lap without having to tow the Chariot and worry about snacks and naps.
It was decided that I would go first which I was excited about as I am not good with waiting around to race. After a quick warm up, I jumped on the line to start two minutes behind the open men. Our group caught the back half of the open men within a few minutes and I wished I had warmed up more and gone out harder to have gotten in front of more people. But I can only learn from my mistake so I sat in a long line of people all wishing they were up a few places and I passed on the short road sections when I could.
As I descended down to the backside of the course, things opened much more and I was able to pass a bunch of racers on the road before jumping back onto singletrack for the remainder of the race. I was fortunate enough to be able to climb the next four miles with Honey Stinger owner, Bill Gamber, who knew the course well.
I crested the final long climb finally starting to feel ready to race and finished much stronger than I had started and raring to go. Oh well, I hope that means I will be getting faster as the Leadville 100 miles pile up. I handed off to Ian knowing I had a few minutes lead over Caitlyn Vestal but many minutes behind Jake Wells. We would have no idea which couple would win until the finish line.
Zack Vestal came across looking as if he was out for a Sunday stroll with Ian just 24 seconds behind him working hard to sneak up on Zack. Linda Wells finished just a few minutes back making the top three in the coed duo race super close. We had a great day and were happy with our finish. The inaugural Steamboat Stinger went off ridiculously well thanks to Len Zanni, Colin Osborn, Nate Bird and their entire team of volunteers. The 95% singletrack course is on the top of my list and should be for you next year as well.
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.
Coloradans are notorious for being schizophrenic about their sports in the spring, and I guess I’m no exception. This month I completed my own version of a triathlon – racing on skis, trails and then my mountain bike. Three weeks ago, I finished on the podium at the Five Peaks SkiMo race, winning the coed division. Two weeks ago I placed 2nd in the Desert Rats 25 mile trail race. This past weekend, at the urging of my coach, I signed up last minute for the VooDoo Fire 70-mile mountain bike race in Pueblo. Of course, Ian immediately saw an opportunity for me to podium in three different sports in three consecutive weekends. I wasn’t so sure since I had only been on my mountain bike once this year.blank
Axel getting his mommy fix before the start
I dragged the whole family to Pueblo and even subjected our friend Scott to the five-plus hour drive with screaming kids and all. Excited to be out of the car, Scott and I enjoyed a quick recon on part of the course on Friday afternoon while Ian pulled the kids through Lake Pueblo State Park in the Chariot.
The race started early on Saturday morning with a neutral start, a short paved climb and then on to the singletrack. We were fairly backed up for the first 16 miles or so because the course was 90% singletrack. Once things opened up a little, I was feeling good and riding well. I came through the first lap about 12 minutes behind the lead men and at the neutral feed zone Ian handed off food and water, while Juniper rang her cowbell and Axel bounced in excitement. I had no idea where the next woman was so I continued to push the pace.
Scott game face
I passed lots of guys on the side of the trail with flats and mechanicals, so I tried to race smart and only passed where I could see I wouldn’t hit a cactus or pick up a bunch of goatheads. When I came back through the finish area to start my third lap, Ian Squirt lubed my chain and let me know I had at least 20 minutes on second place. I continued to ride hard as I felt great and knew there was still a lot of potential for flats. Plus this was a “let’s see where we’re at and what we need to work on for Leadville” race, so the only way to do that was to race against myself.
Sari game face - the SmartWool arm warmers are great, BTW
With just a few miles left, I saw our friend Scott a hundred meters in front of me. As I got closer, hoping to beat him to the line, he realized it was me and threw the throttle down to hold me off by 4 seconds. We finished in 5 hours 14 minutes, Scott in 14th and me in 16th overall. A great day of racing for both of us.
A quick note on gear. I wore the Osprey Verve hydration pack with Nuun tablets in the bladder and I was really happy with my decision for this race. The singletrack was really winding and there were not a lot of opportunities to grab a water bottle . The Osprey pack was light , convenient and kept me hydrated for the whole race. I dumped Honey Stinger chews into my jersey pocket so I could eat quickly and easily as well. All in all, it was a great system for a longer race but I will probably use it in shorter races as well.
And totally off subject, the Outside Magazine piece is now online if you missed it on the newsstand. Check it out here.
Finishing the first of many ascents. Photo credit: Jeremy Swanson
Lyndsay and I celebrate at the finish of the Power of Four
Overall winners John and Pete Gaston. They beat Bryan Wickenhauser and Brian Smith by just two seconds. Read more here.
A look of disbelief from Pete Gaston after hitting 60mph to pass the “Brians” just before the finish line.
John and Pete. I raced the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse with Pete last year.
Wick and Smithy
Gemma and Stevie celebrate their hard-earned win.
Jack and Jari at the finish – winners in the coed division
Brian Edimiston and Lindsay Plant – second in the coed division
