This past weekend, I had the opportunity to ride in an event that I’ve wanted to do for some time. It’s called the Skull Valley Challenge and it made for a great excuse to get in some training and ride a great route with some friends.
The ride starts out at the Town Square in Prescott, AZ, just like one of my favorite events, the Whiskey Off-Road mountain bike race. It’s about 52 miles and 3900 feet of climbing and most of that is on the climb back out of Skull Valley. Checkout my Strava for the ride.
If I do Gran-Fondo-style events, I typically have one strategy: STAY OUT OF TROUBLE. And that means being at the front, or being at the back. The last one of these I did, Danny Eaton and I did it as a base ride and we were the last out of the start chute. Well, I haven’t been riding much, which I have zero problem with since it’s the result of the birth of our daughter, Ellie, who is so awesome and amazing and beautiful and I just showed how much of a dad-dork I am. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t be with the front group for too long probably, and then I’d be in no-man’s land where I’d rather not be.
But in talking to one of our good friends, Helen, who’s an MMC rider and just moved to Prescott and was also doing the ride, I discovered another objective: get her to the finish line a lot faster than last time. So we devised a plan where we would ride together and I would work for her and give her a safe wheel to draft until the last climb. After driving that climb in my car earlier in the year, I knew I had to hit that one hard. I’m not a climber and I’m in no shape to be setting any records, but I love to climb and I wanted to give that one a go.
I drove up the day before and checked out Helen’s new digs and then she, our buddy Tyler and I headed into town for our packets and some food. And beer. We went to some deli/liquor store (for dinner??) that had the most unreal beer selection. After some great pizza, uber dark/smooth beer (it’s not a race!) and super conversation, we headed home for sleep. Before bed, I enjoyed showing Helen and Tyler the proper way to pin on a race number and it brought back some fond memories.
Up early on ride day, we went through that pre-ride/race ritual of breakfast, making bottles, prepping ride food, kitting up and checking and double-checking. There’s something about that time that gets the juices flowing. We headed to the Square and it was buzzing with riders spinning, chatting, laughing. We hooked up with some more MMC peeps and some folks I don’t get to see very often, which made me feel like I’d been doing this sport a lot longer than I have, which was nice.
The rollout was neutral, north out of town, and like I said, the first 2/3rds of the ride were to work for Helen and keep her as safe as possible. So I was avoiding getting into big groups and drafting people I didn’t know. I WAS the draft, which was fine by me. The climb out of Prescott was super nice and I have to tip my hat to the weather up there… unbelievable. The sun gave you that warm-blanket feel and each shadow was just a little bit chilly. It was perfect, without a cloud in the sky.
We crested the climb and it was time to enjoy the long descent into the valley below. It wasn’t at all technical and it was just steep enough to keep me spun on a 53×11, so I just tucked in and relaxed, periodically checking on Helen’s whereabouts and she was always right there. Before the valley floor there are some fun rollers that, on aggregate, are still descending, and we started seeing the same people over and over again. Traffic was light to non-existent, so I kept us out of the shoulder for most of that and avoided the yo-yoing of the other riders.
We hit the valley proper and as we caught more riders, the uneven tempo of most of the other riders prompted Tyler and me to head to the front and control the pace. Helen stayed tucked into the first 5-7 wheels and everything was nice and smooth and seemed safe. As we were approaching Kirkland Junction, I think, there were some fun left-right-left esses and, being on the front, I wanted to check on my people. When I looked back, there must have been 50 riders on my wheel. I chuckled and kept pedaling and it felt good to stretch the legs just a little. That climb out of Skull Valley was going to hurt; I was going to make sure of that.
I had Tyler take a turn on the front and we immediately hit a slight rise in the road. I felt like we may have going a bit hard, but figured the group, in the draft, would be fine. When we caught some MMC folks up ahead I then looked back and saw no one. Oops. I sat up for a bit and we regrouped and both Helen and I needed to pee. Almost nothing worse that riding a bike and needing to pee so we pulled over for a nature break. Better, we reconnected with Tyler and his buddy, Peter, who had spun around to ride with us.
As we turned toward Prescott and started up the very slight grade leading to the climb, it wasn’t hard to take in the beauty of that area. And there were wildflowers all over. Clearly, they had a good monsoon season up there. Helen was low on energy and I knew it was approaching time for us to part ways, so I encouraged her to eat. I would soon realize I should take my own advice.
A few miles on, I saw the road steepening, so I encouraged Helen one last time, gathered Tyler and Peter and we set off. Ramping up the power, I instantly felt the intensity of the sun. Peter unzipped his jersey and I did the same. Having never ridden with Peter and only a few times with Tyler, I didn’t know if we would stay together but I told them to go ahead if they wanted. Climbs are what create separation usually; you’re going slower so the draft is less beneficial and each rider’s power-to-weight ratio becomes evident more than on flat roads.
As it turned out, we were all pretty compatible and we each shared time on the front as we passed rider after rider, encouraging them along the way. This climb has several false summits and intermediate downhill sections for slight recovery and fun turns. It became evident that I had not eaten enough, and I could feel the twinges of a bonk coming on. The benefit of having raced and ridden hard a lot is that I can sense this coming on before it’s too late. And I know the cure: CRAM CALORIES. So with each mini-crest, I slammed food in my mouth so I could chew and choke it down each time the road shallowed. I never got to feeling great, but I kept the wolves at bay and had decent energy for the rest of the day.
I certainly felt better than the guy we came up on who was laid out on the tarmac, getting massaged by his buddy. We almost stopped until we heard him saying he was fine, just cramping a lot. It was right after that when we lost Tyler, I think. Peter came around me and said we dumped Tyler back there and yep, he was gone. He’s a tall guy and I was impressed he climbed as well as he did, but I was going to press on and he wouldn’t have had it any other way. He rode well and kept us in sight on the switchbacks the whole time, as Peter and I traded off pace-making.
As we crested at over 6000′, I wondered how Helen was doing. She’d been pretty amped up to do well. I guess she had ridden the route a few weeks prior and had not felt well and she wanted to improve on that. I kept good thought for her and pushed myself a tad on the descent. Peter was turning out to be a great riding partner. Bike riding is funny like that. You can start the day with someone you’ve never met, push each other a bit, look out for one another and suffer some together and you’ll gain insight into their character. Having ridden with Helen, Tyler and Peter that day, I was riding on a mini-high knowing I spent my time with fun, quality people.
At the finish, the conversations and camaraderie and the salt on our faces meant it had been a good day for everyone. Helen rolled in and told a tale of pushing through serious muscle cramps and a bit of an emotional roller coaster. That can happen when you push yourself and how you handle it matters. It can affect the rest of your ride/race of course, but more important, it can affect the way you look at yourself. For me, keeping my head in the game and finishing tough rides and races when I didn’t feel well, improved my self image a lot, something I struggled with growing up. As Helen spoke about that big climb, she beamed and I could tell she was proud of how she did. We were proud of her, too. The icing on the cake was that she beat her time on that course by 45 minutes!
After the ride, we headed to the Hungry Monk for some grub and beers. Pretty standard for post-ride action, whether it’s mountain or road. It was made even better because we were hanging with some old friends and some new friends and we all wore pretty big smiles.
I have my doubts about who has the inclination to read about us going out and riding our bikes, but that’s what we do at MMC. I was encouraged to start, so I hope you’ve enjoyed my little story. If you get the chance to ride the Skull Valley Challenge, jump at it. Prescott is a cool town and the ride is a blast. Even better, chances are that you’ll make a few new friends, too.
Until next time,
Brent