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).