Pre-Tuscobia 160!

Tomorrow marks the first winter ultra of the season – theTuscobia 160 - and also the first of the Order of the Hrimthurs. I’ll be working hard to make sure I finish all three of the races in the Order so that I can hopefully enter the realm of the frost giants! What is the Order of the Hrimthurs? It’s a winter triple crown series, for racers who have completed the Tuscobia 160, Arrowhead 135, and the Actif Epica. I’m a sucker for series. There’s a camaraderie that comes with seeing and racing with the same group of people at each race. With my focus on winter ultras, I will admit I’ve missed seeing my 45nrth teammates. I hope I get to race with them soon. In the meantime, it makes me happy with the group of friends that I’ve made through ultras and I am excited to spend more time with these folks this winter.

FOLLOW OUR BLUE DOTS HERE: http://trackleaders.com/tuscobia18

I’m also super stoked that Salsa is a sponsor of the Tuscobia 160! The first time I raced Tuscobia I was on my Beargrease, and while I was planning on racing Tuscobia on my Mukluk, there have been some changes to the Salsa Beargrease that make me want to test it out – rear rack compatible being one of them? Yes, please! Salsa knows their stuff with fat bikes and I trust so much in my bike. Knowing that Dan gave my bike a race day tune and knowing that I’ve got the Salsa folks cheering behind me will mentally make it a much better race for me. Trusting in your bike and your gear takes a lot of worrying out of it. My friend Leah Gruhn pointed out that the women's course record at the Tuscobia 160 is 21 hours and 52 minutes. My goal for every ultra is always to finish with a smile. This other goal seems achievable this year... maybe. If not by me, maybe another strong woman this year (psst LEAH!) Fingers crossed!

Joining the Order of the Hrimthurs means joining a group of winter ultra legends, many of them people I’ve met and seen the last few years through these races. They know their stuff. Taking up three ultras in a winter series is rough, but I think Tuscobia will be the hardest mentally, because it is so redundantly straight, and because it beat me up so bad the first go around. I also feel like I haven’t had a good solid long push on my Beargrease loaded up, and there’s always that moment before a race where I feel under-trained and wish I had gone on a few more long rides. There’s never enough rides! I am also hearing other racers talk about needing studs for the course, as it rained pretty steadily yesterday and with suddenly cold temperatures there’s most likely more ice on the course than snow. I am banking a lot on my experience this time around and I am looking forward to the adventure.

Tuscobia was the first winter ultra I ever did, and I finished the 150 mile race a little over 25 hours (it’s now a 160 mile race!) I made a lot of mistakes and I learned a lot from them. Making mistakes and learning, changing how you pack things, working on what to wear, and dialing in nutrition – it’s a work in process with every ultra and if you aren’t making mistakes you aren’t learning. At least that’s what I tell myself. 😉 I was in a dark place near the end of the Tuscobia 150, the miles ticked away slowly and my lack of upper body work meant I was too fatigued to be able to steer the bike with one hand, so any time I wanted to eat or drink I had to come to a complete stop. I was too tired to unclip my boots from my bike and fell over every time I wanted to grab a drink. I was a sorry mess. I think I finished the Tuscobia just by sheer luck. After crossing the finish line I had vertigo and couldn’t sleep and Dan and I began the drive back to Michigan… then we flipped the mini-van on some ice. It’s funny to me that I kept racing winter ultras after this experience, because the Tuscobia trail chewed me up and spit me out! It took months to recover my upper body (thank you Train out Pain!), we had to scrap the mini-van up in the UP and catch a ride home (thank you again Scotty P and Rick!), and I was mentally so fuzzy for weeks afterwards. I am really excited to go back and to fight those demons. I’m looking forward to 10 additional miles and to see how this race has grown. The year I went, I was one of three women. This year, there’s four of us. I want us all to finish! I’m really excited to gauge how I’ve grown as a cyclist and to see what I’ve learned these past couple of years. I’m also very excited to be carpooling to the race with my GRBC teammate, Johnny D and his buddy TJ!

The temperature forces me to be more strategic about my gear, keeping water from freezing, and what I’m wearing. Sometimes the moisture in the air and the cold temperature creates a hard-packed, super fat bike highway, and everything is firm and fast rolling. The sun will come out and warm up just a few degrees, and suddenly, you’re pushing through mashed potatoes. I love the variety of the trail and it makes me feel more alive when I’m navigating through different conditions. Sometimes you must be patient and soft pedal through the snow when it’s mushy, or you have to stop to put more air in your tires when it firms up. It isn’t all about hammering on the pedals and riding fast through a course – it’s learning your environment and adjusting your set up to ride better through it. I feel out of practice in terms of the temperatures but I am hoping everything comes back to me within the first few miles of the course.

The biggest decision I’ll be making this weekend is what tire option to run. With the Salsa Mukluk and the new Salsa Beargrease in my line up, I have a set up for any type of winter riding: fast and hard-packed, slow and sloggy, carrying minimal gear, carrying everything but the kitchen sink, icy conditions, somewhat icy conditions, no-snow-conditions. I’m really happy that the new Beargrease has the same rear spacing as the Mukluk, so I can have additional wheelsets set up for what I want to do to easily swap. Many times I’ve brought a spare wheelset with me to a race so I can choose the perfect tire night before the race. The weather changes so quickly that it’s hard to make the call from home. This time, I didn’t bring a spare wheelset. I am doing my best to wave off the uncertainty of choosing the wrong tire, but am also hoping that following my instincts works!

Photo shared on the Tuscobia page Thursday night.

I’m picking the 27.5x4 45nrth Vanhelgas for Tuscobia because the course is very straight and relatively flat. I am hoping that if there is mushy snow, I can cut through it with the aggressive knobs on the Vanhelga. The Vanhelga tires are also has triple-siped shoulder knobs for better traction on ice. It’s an all-rounder favorite tire of mine and I have a hunch it’ll do just fine. Ideally, a firm course would call for fast-rolling action and the larger diameter of the 27.5’s will roll easier for me over the duration of the trail. With no big technical sections or big downhills, I don’t feel like I need the better handling of the 26” fat. (Although, if the snow is mushy, all of the ruts will make it technical – that’s the risk you take!) Plus, the Beargrease is the newest fat bike to my stable. I haven’t had a chance to ride it in snow a whole lot but I love how fast it naturally rides. It fits me well. The new frame allows me to put a rear rack on it and it’s got fork mounts. It’s shiny and I’m excited to race it! My Mukluk is set up to carry larger loads and to be a workhorse – my multi-day rig. The plan is to ride Tuscobia straight through. At the risk of making a mistake and choosing the wrong set up, I am looking forward to experimenting and to trying something new. I’ll let you know how it goes. 😉

As for nutrition for Tuscobia, I think this is the first time I’ve ever had it dialed. We made Christmas Tamale’s at Dan’s sister’s house and I have a large stockload of tempeh and habanero cheese tamales. It’s taken all of my mental prowess not to eat them all before this weekend. I literally just paused from writing this to go snag a tamale. YAS!

Good luck to everyone racing!

Food pile, counting calories. Still lacking some items. And those TAMALES.