The San Ysidro Dirty Century was my first race this year,
and a unique event. The SYDC is mostly a gravel race with a “short” section of
singletrack. Historically the course has started and finished from a brewery in
Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Due to land access issues there were some last minute
course changes. Much respect to Lenny Goodell – the event organizer – for pulling
together a great backup plan. In reality, this was probably a better route.
(Here’s the route on Garmin) Previously the full version of the course was 123
miles, but the revision reduced that to 98. However, this placed the
singletrack at the very end of the course – a devious sting in the tail. Hoping
to bring the Mosaic I asked Lenny if this singletrack was CX bike friendly. Here’s
his response:
Hey
Shane, this is from Chris Hereford who always does SYDC on SS CX. Also he is a
very good technical ride, so he may have a different view of White Mesa on CX
than others…
“CX
bike is the only way for SYDC. The singletrack isn’t severe enough for an MTB.
Just my opinion, after five years on a cx bike on the course. And this has all
been on a SSCX bike with 42×18. Suspension isn’t necessary for the long day,
but many enjoy the comfort of an mtb. Yes, it is mostly dirt road, with occasional
sand pits, and that’s when I’ll have to walk sometimes.”
That sounded positive to me. The videos and photos I had
seen of the White Mesa trails seemed to confirm that it was mostly flowy mellow
trail with just a few rocks tossed in.
Ok, so how did it go?
The day dawned bright, crystal clear and 50 degrees at 7am. After
some rushed preparation – my phone/alarm decided to crap out – I was ready to
go. The check in and line-up was pretty informal. Lenny called the start and we
were off. The lead pack blasted ahead pretty quickly. I managed to keep up for
the first 7 miles or so, even leading for a brief ½ mile. This group was going
really fast (around 18mph) and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep this pace all
day. I fell slightly back just before we turned right on Pipeline Road. This
was also the point where we faced a bit of a headwind and I was really wishing
to be in the paceline to draft. Alas, this was not to be and facing the
headwind alone I fell farther and farther behind. The group was still in sight
however until I made a wrong turn.
Lenny starting us off. |
Horse play on Pipeline Road. |
A very generous soul was kind enough to drop water and
whatever else we wanted about the 18 mile mark in the course – a point where we
turn right, make a big loop and reconnect at about 65 miles in. The drop ended up being closer to the 15 mile
mark at a different intersection where we were to turn left. Something felt off
but a local I was riding with assured me we were to go straight. Then the
Garmin told me I was off route. There were not a lot of tire marks but I did
see one rider ahead and three others joining us behind. I asked one who also
assured me we were on route. Things didn’t seem right by the mileage when I
checked the cue sheet. After asking about the Ridge Road intersection I
confirmed that we were indeed off route about 3 miles. I told this to the
others around me. They elected to continue on, which would have reduced the
distance by ~5 miles, while I turned back to get on the official route and add
6.
Back on the official route and trusting the course in the
Garmin all pressure was now off. I was previously struggling in my attempt to
keep up with the lead group, but with the added 6 miles and whatever distance
they covered I was likely at least 12 miles behind and completely unable to
catch up.
Ridge Road |
Had I stayed with the shorter course I would have missed
ridge road, which was a fantastic a scenic stretch I’m glad I didn’t miss. I
took it super easy and rode a couple of very mellow miles chatting with another
rider, Charlie, before opening it up and going at my own pace. This big loop of
the course wraps around Cabazon Peak.
Cabazon |
After a brief 4 mile paved section I was
on the North side of the peak and passed a large group who I later learned had
also gotten off route. One rider from this group, Billy, caught up to me and we
ended up riding and chatting for most of the rest of the route. I made the
decision after my “bonus” miles that I would take the time to be a be a bit
more social rather than simply try to keep my own pace the entire ride. I
probably could have finished faster had I gone at my own pace the entire time,
but I would not have had the same experience. The people I met on the SYDC made
the experience special for me at least as much as the fantastic weather and the
amazing views.
Billy on the drop bar Niner. I was coveting that fork on the singletrack. |
Billy was on a single speed, drop bar, 29er with skinny
tires. I’d often move ahead on many descents and Billy would catch up later. While
I can often keep up on the flats, Billy and many other experienced riders
always jet past me on the hills. With only 18 months of riding under my belt
and only 4 months of actual training it’s becoming rather obvious where I need
to focus my training efforts in the future.
For now and the rest of this season I need to focus on my endurance, but
hill climbing will be the training menu for next year.
Billy and I finished rounding Cabezon and returned to the drop.
After a quick refill, we headed down the last 15 miles before the singletrack. I
went off on my own from here at my own pace. I had played tag with a woman on a
full sus 29er for the last hour or so. I called tag when I caught here again
and sped past down the road. Near our last turn at the natural gas compressor
station I met Todd and his squeaky wheel. Todd had kept up with the lead group
till a broken spoke and a wounded wheel led his tubeless setup to fail. As luck
would have it his spare tube had a broken valve and Todd was forced to hike till
another CX bike caught up with a spare tube. He and I rode into the White Mesa
Trailhead where he split off to finish and I elected for more punishment. Todd
had kindly offered a place to stay in Santa Fe for the night, but losing his
number and my dead phone nixed this option.
I rolled into White Mesa at just under 6 hours and around 90
miles. Expecting the last 15 miles to be fun and mellow I figured one water
bottle to be enough (big mistake). I wasn’t on the trail for more than 2 miles
before I had slowed to a crawl. I was pretty obvious even in this early part of
the trail, that while you could ride these trails on a CX bike, it was far from
a wise decision. (From what I can tell I was the only fool to ride it on a
rigid CX bike this year.) After this first two miles I heard a fast rider come
from behind and yell “Tag!” I knew I wouldn’t see her again. Billy caught up
shortly after that and we both endured the remaining miles together. Billy had
ridden this trail system at least twice before and his wayfinding experience
was extremely helpful. White Mesa has a fantastic map at the trailhead and
promises numbered intersections with maps at the junctions. Well, some of the
junctions were numbered and had those maps, but others were vague. We finished
off the route and rolled into the finish together – not DFL. Ironically the
first 90 miles took 6 hours while the last 15 took 3.
A true ridge route |
Just some of the exposure. |
Yup, we came down that amazing trail on the ridge. |
The trails at White Mesa are amazing. They really
differentiate this route from all other grinders that I know of. The views and
exposure are fantastic and scenic, but there are quite a few steep ascents and
descents, a lot of rocks, a bit of sand, and the sections which could have been
smooth had dried to cement like hardness with many dips and potholes. This was
beating me up for the entire 15 miles. It was easy to enjoy the views, but
honestly it was hard to enjoy the actual ride on this bike. I’m glad I did it,
but wish I had the right bike. (FWIW a hard tail 29er would be perfect for the
full ride – I just don’t have one. I have a double squish, but thought that
would be overkill on the road. Any time I lost there I would have easily made
up on the singletrack.) There’s a reason the vast majority of folks were on
mountain bikes. I realized that Chris Hereford (the guy quoted above) really is
a complete bad ass.
Climb-a-bike. It's not just a steep gully. The rock Billy is standing on requires some scrambling just to get up on. |
Billy is about 200' below me on that sandy, steep trail. |
At the finish I connected with a couple of other Colorado
riders Aaron and Phil. I had filled a growler at Oakshire with their Overcast Espresso Stout (my personal favorite) before I left Oregon. I had been looking for an occasion to open this thing and I was certain this was near the end of the shelf life. I can't really drink more than 2 oz of beer after a long ride, so sharing this at the end of SYDC seems like a good choice. Sadly, some combination of the extra time in the bottle or the extra heat in the back of the car meant that the beer had turned. A quick sip confirmed that. I went to dinner with Aaron and Phile where we replenished some lost salts with the salty rim of a margarita. After breakfast at the Bad Ass Coffee Co we both headed for home, but coincidentally reconnected in Trinidad, CO where I had stopped for
lunch.
The cage for this bird is about 15' tall. |
There are many great old buildings in Trinidad, but many appear abandoned. |
Lessons learned:
- If you don't put sun screen high enough on your forehead you get little triangle tan lines.
- Sun sleeves work fantastic, but slide down in the back sometimes leaving an exposed strip (yup got a burn there too.)
- Some really cool people do these rides.
- The route loaded in the Garmin is sometimes more accurate that advice from locals.
- Don't bring a butter knife to a sword fight.
- Dark beer lasts a while in a growler, but not six months.
The AntiEpic is in two weeks. I know the roads there so I’m
safe on the Mosaic. I’m hoping to pull off a White Rim trip in another two
weeks after that and call it a training ride, but on the 29er.