Teva Mountain Games, The Original Growler, and More!
Posted on 06/10/09 9:19 AM| by Kraig
The last few weeks have brought some fun early summer racing to Team Salomon/Crested Butte, and we have a bit more in store before the big one of the summer…PQ, of course!
Mountain biking legend (he’s beaten Lance and Floyd at the Leadville Trail 100) and Gunnison, CO local Dave Weins puts on a great mountain bike race each year called The Original Growler. The Full Growler is composed of two laps of 99% singletrack totaling 64 miles; the Half is 32 miles. The rough-and-tumble course winds in and out of endless sage, steep little climbs, and hairy descents. In fact, one descent about five minutes into the race was so hairy that I crashed hard and bent my front wheel. After deciding that the wheel worked just well enough to continue, I moved on until a broken chain about a mile from the end of the first lap forced a bit of running with the bike. Thank goodness for Dan, a mechanic with Mavic, who fixed the chain and lent a wheel, allowing me to complete a second lap! Dan also saved me at 24 Hours of Moab two years ago—what a guy.
With the Growler good and done (sometimes you’ve got to be happy just to make it through!), I set my sights on the Ultimate Mountain Challenge at the Teva Mountain Games, a solo competition in which one’s times for a paddling race, mountain biking race, trail running race, and road biking race carried out over two days are added up.
Sunday: James, from Team GoLite, and I got in a good five hours of mountain biking and hiking. We visited Golden Gate Canyon State Park, one of the Front Range’s hidden treasures. The trails are numerous and the map-reading is excellent. Plus, you can easily get there by road or mountain bike from Golden.
Monday: Ran for about an hour and went for a nice hike.
Tuesday: Ran for an hour in the morning. In the afternoon, Brooks Beal, also from Team GoLite, and I headed to the whitewater park in Clear Creek. After days of rain, the river was raging! The big holes had become almost non-existent due to the high water level, but some of the small ones had become killers. We figured anything we faced out there would be tougher than the course at the Teva Games in Vail, and, thankfully, we were right!
Wednesday: Got back on the bike for an hour tempo ride up Mount Falcon after an easy ride with one of my students from Denver Academy High School.
Thursday: Day off! No training at all, and a nice mental break.
Friday: Drove to Vail early in the morning and paddled Saturday’s kayak course, a 20-minute rush down chilly Gore Creek from East Vail to Central Vail. We also pre-rode one lap of the mountain bike course, which consisted of four seven-mile laps zig-zagging the ski hills. Friday night included an excellent pre-race dinner at Dan Weiland’s (Team Nike/Beaver Creek captain) house.
Saturday: Day One of the Teva Mountain Games. In the paddling race in the morning, none of the contenders had any significant issues, and time differences were negligible. We competed in the Pro division at the mountain biking race, and with a few Olympians and National Champions, the pace was crazy from the start! Of the multisport competitors, Josiah Middaugh crushed us all, with Travis Scheefer of Crested Butte, myself, and Mike Kloser minutes behind. After one day, the overall title was well within Josiah’s reach if he could remain consistent on Day Two. We finished the day with an excellent BBQ at Josiah’s house—tasty! Jari competed at an Xterra in Idaho today, putting in a strong finish!
Sunday: Day Two of the Teva Mountain Games. The 10k trail running race was a tough course, with the winner, running legend Matt Carpenter, taking over 45 minutes. Josiah ran very well and extended his lead, and I was able to put some time on Scheefer and Kloser…but not enough to take it easy during the afternoon road biking race! The road race consisted of a time trial from Central Vail up Vail Pass. Josiah crushed it again, extending his overall lead and earning the victory in the Ultimate Mountain Challenge. He’s clearly fit and ready for the Xterra season! Scheefer put in a strong effort to gain back a bit of time on me from the run, but I was able to hold on to second place overall. Travis Scheefer was third, Mike Kloser (still incredibly strong and fast in short races like this) fourth. The Teva Mountain Games is an excellent event every year, and I highly recommend attendance by any outdoor aficionado.
Tip of the Week: I recently began using a cycling map board made by Nordenmark (www.nordenmark.com), and it’s an excellent product. As you know, the Scandinavians are into navigation, and they don’t mess around when making map boards and other orienteering paraphernalia. Nordenmark’s map board is sturdy and well-made; it will not rattle to pieces. Vibration is non-existent, even when riding at high speeds on rough terrain. The two-piece design that allows the board–but not the mounting piece–to come off the handlebars for transport is crucial in avoiding loss of precious time in transition areas. I super glued a small compass on top of the map board, which is very helpful in orienting the map and tracking progress as you pedal.
Up Next: I’m off on a fly fishing and paddling trip on the Green River with my best buds from high school before heading north to the Best of the West AR in Canada, where I’ll compete with Greg, Denise, and Bob from the elite Canadian team that competed last year at PQ. Team Salomon/Crested Butte will get together in Gunnison in July for a comprehensive team training camp to prepare for PQ.
Happy Training,
Travis Macy
