Monday, May 19, 2014

Iron Will 50K - Race Report

Iron Will - “The Abram” 50k
Camp Williams (Riverton, UT)
May 17, 2014
Steve Warner

Camp Williams is a National Guard training site near Salt Lake City. For the first time, they opened the military base to the general public for a mountain bike race. It was actually part of their “Iron Will” event that included running and biking events. The mountain biking events consisted of “The Sherman”, a 25 km loop, or “The Abram”, a 50 km (32 miles) adventure that covered much of the Camp. I opted for the 50 km race for two reasons (1) I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see the military base and (2) I wanted a longer, more physical challenge than the 10-15 mile races I typically do. Well, I got exactly what I asked for.

I'll start with the good first:
        The venue was great. The views and location were amazing. The weather was perfect too.
        The Utah National Guard did a fantastic job of organizing the event, setting up and staffing aid stations, and marking the course.
        Riding through training grounds on the base, including the Afghan Village, the Sniper Range, the POW site, the Machine Gun Range, etc.
        Dropping 2000 feet in the last 5-6 miles of the race.
        Apache helicopters buzzing the tower throughout the race.
        I finished and can feel good about accomplishing something hard.
        I crossed the 30,000 feet mark of climbing, meaning I have climbed the equivalent of Mt. Everest in the past two months.

The not so good, but also not terribly bad:
        Not being fully trained for a race of this distance (32.2 miles) and time (3 hr. 18 min.). I placed 101 out of a total of 162 riders or 40 out of 63 in my age group. There were more than a dozen riders that were out for more than 5 hours, so I guess I wasn’t the only one suffering.
        Over 4300 feet of vertical climbing—including two “hike-a-bike” sections that did everyone in.
        Had to bunny hop two snakes stretched out on the course.
        Battling headache, cramps, fatigue, and downright depletion during the last few climbs of the race.
        Rear shock lockout not working and having to deal with the bouncing of rhythmic pedaling on the climbs.



Overall, it was a great experience and an adventure that pushed me near my physical limit. Special thanks to Serfas (tires and shorts), GU (Roctane), Stan’s (sealant), and ProGold (chain lube).

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