Bailey Hundo

2011 Bailey Hundo went off this past saturday.  An amazing race that supports some great causes in Colorado.  I want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who donated on my behalf, raised over $300 for the charities!

I arrived in the little mountain town of Bailey in time for the packet pickup/racer meeting and was able to catch up and hang out with one of my athletes who was also participating.  Got the down low on the course and headed over to the campground to set up shop.  Camping was basically out in the middle of a field at the top of the mountain.  But it was pretty scenic and thankfully quiet.  Set up shop, downed some food and shut down for the night.

Never actually slept a wink, but that’s not unusual for me when having to get up that early.  Decided against the sleeping pills as I didn’t want to wake up groggy.  Usually wake up frustrated as I didn’t sleep, but refused to let it bother me.  Not sure if it was the fact that it was 33 degrees in the morning or I was just focused that I forgot about not sleeping and was ready to rip.  Thankfully my athlete and her husband were gracious enough to give me a ride down to the start line.  4 miles downhill in 33 degrees was not looking very exciting and even in the 5 minutes I rolled around at the start, I was freezing.

We rolled off the start with around 8 miles of dirt road with a few stout climbs before we hit the singletrack.  I stayed near the front and within my comfort zone on the first few climbs, just trying to warm my hands up.  Up and down a few times and then on one of the descents, hear the god-awful noise of a bike hitting the deck and a body sliding.  Caught a glimpse of green and black and realized it was Jeff Kerkove (click the link if you want to see the carnage).  The group kept rolling up the climb and onto one of the longer climbs and the front group started to splinter.  I was giving chase from the 3rd group in the road, the 3 of us were working together to catch the 2nd group of 5 about 30 seconds up and the front group (guessing 8-10) had rolled off.  I knew that if I didn’t make it to the 2nd group before the singletrack I likely would be stuck in dire straits for most of the day.  As we crested the top of the climb, I dispatched my 2 riders and bridged across to the 2nd group and was able to get in the mix as we headed into the singletrack.

Into the Singletrack (photo Jeff Kerkove)

Rolling into the singletrack was blazingly fast.  It was super fun and flowing trails, super dry and sandy.  Swapped around positions with a few riders here and there depending on who missed a line or crashed.  Was feeling great on the bike, kept on top of my fueling and drinking as much as I could.  My hands finally warmed up about 5 miles into the singletrack.  The first few miles with cold hands were tough, was super sluggish with shifting and braking.  Things moved around and rolled through the first few checkpoints quickly.  Jeff Kerkove came flying by in the singletrack with a look of anger and some adrenaline flowing and could tell he was on a mission to get back up to the front.

We kept rolling on the trails, in and out of the burn zones, rolling up and down the trails.  I was literally just having so much fun.  Feeling great, was jumping off of things and working the trail like it was a pump track to get that free speed.  Rolled out onto the doubletrack dirt road before we hit the Colorado trail, dug into my pockets and at as much as I could before we headed into the singletrack again.  I was in a group of 3 with Jorge Espinoza and Mike Hogan as we hit the long climbs and I let them roll ahead as I was playing conservative on the steep long slogs.  I could see them flickering ahead in the woods every now and then.

I was just watching the clock, hoping to hit the 50 mile mark in sub 4 hours.  My race goal was sub 8 and I knew if I was close to that could pull it out.  I rolled past the 50 mile mark around 3:50 and was super stoked and caught some major adrenaline knowing I could meet my goal. As we rolled out of the woods and into the burn zone again, I could see Mike in the distance and was able to catch him before the long descent into aid station #6.

One of the many burn zones (photo Jeff Kerkove)

Hit aid station #6 and didn’t need anything in my drop bag, I just took off my arm/knee warmers and rolled out.  Had plenty of food in my pockets and was feeling great and ready to rock and roll.  Mike passed me as I was changing, but I hooked up with Nate Brown in the feed zone.  We decided to roll out on the dirt and pavement and just work together.  Best move of the race.  We drilled it on the slight incline and into the headwind along the Platte River.  Just flew along at 20+ mph.  Caught Mike, but he ended up dropping off and we kept rolling.  Caught and dropped a single-speeder and just kept working.  I was doing my best to give what I could, but Nate was riding super strong on the road and I stayed tucked in as much as I could.  As we neared the long open dirt road sections, I was starting to hit a rough patch.  I told Nate to go on ahead and I would see him at the finish line.

Nate rolled up the climb and got about 500 meters ahead and something clicked over, I just started feeling really great.  Rolled up past Nate and kept charging, saw another rider and rolled past him.  The legs were feeling super and the adrenaline was flowing.  Saw Mr. Kerkove and rolled past him asking how the leg was as I could see the bloody remnants from the crash.  I rolled over the top and just kept pushing it with everything.  As the road kept getting steeper I felt like I kept getting faster going upwards.  I was finally moving forward instead of backwards at the end of the race.  Focus was there and I just kept pushing it.  I caught a Honey Stinger Rider on the next climb and kept pushing past and down the dirt road descent.  Then the nastiest part of the race, we had a gate crossing of stagnant Bison poo and no way around it.  Had to go right through it and was just covered in dirty black sludge.  Could barely even read the garmin after wiping it off a few times.

Was now within the 15 miles to go.  Random spectator told me another rider was only a few minutes up.  I continued to push it with everything on the climbs and just kept working.  Caught another Honey Stinger rider and rolled past him on the climbs and kept working hard. 10 miles to go caught the last feed zone, got a heed and kept pushing it and back onto the start road we were on.  Random rider in reverse direction yelled out I was in 10th.  10th?  Holy crap how did I get up here, I also noticed the miles were ticking away and was going to blow away my goal of 8 hours and was know shooting  for sub 7:30.  Kept pushing it hard and the last few rollers were brutal.  The legs were now starting to catch up and ache.  The sun was baking me on the exposed dirt roads, but I just kept pushing and staying as focused as I could.  I finally breached what I though was the final climb, only to drop down and realize I was at the base of 1 more monster.  Looking up, I saw 2 riders ahead.  Was there enough time to catch them?  Did I have it in the tank?

I surged for a few seconds, but knew it was futile they had rounded the corner to start the descent and I still had a little bit to go.  I stayed on point but no longer giving such a hard chase.  Just wanted to get down the final descent without crashing or flatting.  Was easier said than done as it was just a loose 4 wheel trail with no real lines.  Almost went down at full speed, but kept it under control and rolled into the finish line at 7:21 in 10th place!!

Hundo Finish (credit MtbRaceNews)

Super ecstatic to have had a great ride and just having really put out a great effort.  The winner Colin Cares of Kenda had rolled in at 6:42 and 2nd place was Brian Alders at 7:02.  Just a great day on the bike and hoping for a few more results that will match this effort!

Looking forward to heading home this coming weekend, seeing some friends, family, new family and riding some old trails!