My 2013 MTB Race Season
Author: Sarah Pittiglio
Training and Putting the Pieces Together
At the beginning of 2012 I was still searching for a new sport. I’d been a part of a team sports my entire life, but had been diagnosed with three bulging disc in my neck that made most of the sports I loved impossible to participate in at a competitive level. Thankfully, I could still mountain bike and I loved the physical and technical challenges it provided.
Although I’d mountain biked occasionally and even done some races over the years, I had always considered it just a fun way to cross train. My first two races in 2012 weren’t an auspicious start. I lost both races and both left me in the fetal position, shaking from low blood sugar and covered in goosebumps from the onset of heat stroke. I had no idea how to race. High schoolers were beating me up climbs! It was humiliating, but it was also perfect - easy is boring!
Clearly, I had a lot to learn. I’d always been a sprinter and knew nothing about pacing. I’d always had a coach that told me when to start, when to stop and my job was just to run at full throttle in between. I knew nothing about training, especially on a bike. I knew nothing about feeding myself, especially while staying upright on a bike.
Enter Nicole. I met Nicole through work and she is pretty much my cycling angel. Her advice, and the stuff I’ve read, have taught me everything I know about how to put a whole race together successfully. Nicole and I have been fortunate enough to build up an awesome posse of kick-ass mountain biking women through connections at our local climbing gym and Mike’s Bikes. I was ecstatic to finally have a pseudo coach and a pseudo team. Now I just needed to set some goals.
At some point in November of 2012, I decided peaking for Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals on July 6th, 2013 in Sun Valley, ID was my goal for the season. The race was likely going to be 60 miles with 6k of climbing. It was, of course, a terrible idea. I am not an endurance athlete by any means. All of my life I’ve been the sprinter on whatever team I was on. But Nicole was going to the race and it would give me an excuse to visit my Stepmom, who lives in Sun valley. Ah yes, peer pressure, a looming challenge and getting to see family – it was the perfect recipe for Sarah-crack.
I began following Nicole on long rides. Sarah-crack is an extremely painful, yet dangerously addictive drug. At first I would bonk after 2 hours, then 3, 4, 5. Finally, in March of 2013 I was able to do a 6 hour ride and still recall my name and birth date at the end. I also did several races between March and June and learned incredibly important lessons at each one.
Thanks to the CCCX races I’d done, I was painfully aware that I was not a good climber. As a result, I started seeking out the biggest hills I could find in northern CA. During the downhill race at Sea Otter, in April 2013, I realized that I could get down pretty much any technical section if I just got my weight back, let go of the brakes and giggled to myself on the way down. At the Bogg’s 8 hr race I committed to pacing myself and found out that I had enough endurance to race for up to seven hours. At a 50 mile mountain bike race in Mendocino, I finally nailed down how to feed myself during a long race. I wasn’t winning every race, but I was almost always podiuming and the confidence going into nationals was good fuel.
Rebecca Rusch’s Gold Rusch Tour
During the week leading up to Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals, I participated in Rebecca Rusch’s Gold Rusch Tour events that she hosted in Sun Valley, ID. It included pre-riding the course, two local stoker rides, tips/advice from Rebecca, a yoga class, and a fun short track race through downtown Ketchum. I can’t say enough good things about Rebecca. Not only is she an inspiring athlete, who is constantly breaking records and crushing the competition on her bike, she is also an incredibly caring person who does more than people realize to promote women’s cycling. For a professional athlete, she is incredibly personable and quickly responds to emails from fans with questions and even helped me clean up some wounds I had after the Tahoe Trails 100 race. All of the events she puts on during her Tour are free and I learned great riding and racing tips at each event. At her Sea Otter Women’s Lounge event she brought together a whole panel of professional female cyclists from multiple cycling disciplines so that participants could ask them questions about training and racing.
The fact that Rebecca’s events bring together professional and recreational female cyclist from all over the country may seem like a minor point, or just an opportunity for some girls to have a good time, but it is much more than that. At her clinics, it was inspiring to see that women who had never ridden mountain bikes before could be coached into successfully racing in a mountain bike race in less than a week. I had fully expected to see tears and terrible crashes from two road bikers who had never been on a mountain bike before, but thankfully this was not the case. Good coaching and encouragement go a long way and these two women finished the nationals mountain bike race, even podiuming in their age group! Now that I’ve seen how others encourage athletic women to get on mountain bikes, I’m inspired to do the same here in California. I also made valuable connections with other recreational cyclist that have started cycling teams in other areas of the country and much of what I learned is being put to good use in the creation of the Mountain Miss Fits Cycling Club. Bringing people together is clearly the catalyst we need to stimulate growth in women’s cycling and I’m so grateful to Rebecca and all of her sponsors for all that they do.
Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals, July 2013, Sun Valley ID
The course for nationals ended up being two 20 mile laps, each with an 8 mile, 2k’ climb and a 12 mile descent. The lap was a mix of fire road and single track, though none of it was especially technical except for some loose, tight switchback turns. However, at the end of each lap you had the option of a steep rocking descent or a few more turns down a single-track trail. The A-line bypass saved about 30-45 seconds per lap.
The race started with an awkward parade route that involved a few traffic jams and many of us running with our bikes up a loose section of fire road. Once we got on the bike path that lead to the first climb, I found someone to draft off of. Once we started climbing, Nicole and the other strong climbers slowly pulled away. I knew that climbing still wasn’t my strength and if I was going to finish the race, I had to maintain a reasonable pace. I lost a bit of time on the downhill portion of the first lap, when I dropped my chain while switching gears. The chain drop cost me a position but I was able to make it up by taking the A-line at the end of the first lap. I felt good at the end of the first lap and waved off my friend Cathy who was at the ready with a second Camelback.
Half way up the second climb, I could see two riders in front of me. I realized that the end of the race was basically at the top of this 2k climb, so I opened the throttle and pushed harder than my body wanted to. I was able to pass two riders on the climb and came up behind a third. At this point we were only half way up the climb, I was in a lot of pain and I deeply regretted not replacing my Camelback because I was out of water and the sun was beating down on the exposed trail we were on. As the rider in front of me signaled that I could pass her on the narrow single track, I wasn’t even sure my body could muster the strength and agility to do it without tumbling down the drop-off to my left, but I used everything I had to get past her and finished the climb ahead of her. I almost cried with delight at the top of the second climb when I saw an aid station worker holding out a water bottle in my direction. They originally said the aid stations would be neutral but maybe they knew there would be idiots like me out there.
I dropped my chain again during the descent on the second lap, but thankfully nobody passed me as I slapped it back on. I had been nervous about whether I would have enough grip strength and balance to hold onto the bars for the A-line bypass at the end of the race. I also wasn’t sure if risking a crash 200 feet from the finish line was worth the 30 second gain I would get from taking the bypass, but I had no idea how far back my competitors were and decided to go for it. At the top of the rocky bypass, I gripped the bars, shook out my arms, got my weight back, pointed the bike down the best line and hoped for the best. Whooosh, clunkclunkclunk zzzzzz, ahhhh, I’d made it and DAMN, that’s a fun descent!
I finished 5th out of 12 riders. I was hoping to get on the podium, not just beside it but I was still incredibly happy, especially since Nicole had gotten first in our age group! It’d been an exhilarating race, an awesome week of riding in Sun Valley with amazing women and the best year, filled with tons of fun training rides. Can’t wait for next year!
Training and Putting the Pieces Together
At the beginning of 2012 I was still searching for a new sport. I’d been a part of a team sports my entire life, but had been diagnosed with three bulging disc in my neck that made most of the sports I loved impossible to participate in at a competitive level. Thankfully, I could still mountain bike and I loved the physical and technical challenges it provided.
Although I’d mountain biked occasionally and even done some races over the years, I had always considered it just a fun way to cross train. My first two races in 2012 weren’t an auspicious start. I lost both races and both left me in the fetal position, shaking from low blood sugar and covered in goosebumps from the onset of heat stroke. I had no idea how to race. High schoolers were beating me up climbs! It was humiliating, but it was also perfect - easy is boring!
Clearly, I had a lot to learn. I’d always been a sprinter and knew nothing about pacing. I’d always had a coach that told me when to start, when to stop and my job was just to run at full throttle in between. I knew nothing about training, especially on a bike. I knew nothing about feeding myself, especially while staying upright on a bike.
Enter Nicole. I met Nicole through work and she is pretty much my cycling angel. Her advice, and the stuff I’ve read, have taught me everything I know about how to put a whole race together successfully. Nicole and I have been fortunate enough to build up an awesome posse of kick-ass mountain biking women through connections at our local climbing gym and Mike’s Bikes. I was ecstatic to finally have a pseudo coach and a pseudo team. Now I just needed to set some goals.
At some point in November of 2012, I decided peaking for Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals on July 6th, 2013 in Sun Valley, ID was my goal for the season. The race was likely going to be 60 miles with 6k of climbing. It was, of course, a terrible idea. I am not an endurance athlete by any means. All of my life I’ve been the sprinter on whatever team I was on. But Nicole was going to the race and it would give me an excuse to visit my Stepmom, who lives in Sun valley. Ah yes, peer pressure, a looming challenge and getting to see family – it was the perfect recipe for Sarah-crack.
I began following Nicole on long rides. Sarah-crack is an extremely painful, yet dangerously addictive drug. At first I would bonk after 2 hours, then 3, 4, 5. Finally, in March of 2013 I was able to do a 6 hour ride and still recall my name and birth date at the end. I also did several races between March and June and learned incredibly important lessons at each one.
Thanks to the CCCX races I’d done, I was painfully aware that I was not a good climber. As a result, I started seeking out the biggest hills I could find in northern CA. During the downhill race at Sea Otter, in April 2013, I realized that I could get down pretty much any technical section if I just got my weight back, let go of the brakes and giggled to myself on the way down. At the Bogg’s 8 hr race I committed to pacing myself and found out that I had enough endurance to race for up to seven hours. At a 50 mile mountain bike race in Mendocino, I finally nailed down how to feed myself during a long race. I wasn’t winning every race, but I was almost always podiuming and the confidence going into nationals was good fuel.
Rebecca Rusch’s Gold Rusch Tour
During the week leading up to Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals, I participated in Rebecca Rusch’s Gold Rusch Tour events that she hosted in Sun Valley, ID. It included pre-riding the course, two local stoker rides, tips/advice from Rebecca, a yoga class, and a fun short track race through downtown Ketchum. I can’t say enough good things about Rebecca. Not only is she an inspiring athlete, who is constantly breaking records and crushing the competition on her bike, she is also an incredibly caring person who does more than people realize to promote women’s cycling. For a professional athlete, she is incredibly personable and quickly responds to emails from fans with questions and even helped me clean up some wounds I had after the Tahoe Trails 100 race. All of the events she puts on during her Tour are free and I learned great riding and racing tips at each event. At her Sea Otter Women’s Lounge event she brought together a whole panel of professional female cyclists from multiple cycling disciplines so that participants could ask them questions about training and racing.
The fact that Rebecca’s events bring together professional and recreational female cyclist from all over the country may seem like a minor point, or just an opportunity for some girls to have a good time, but it is much more than that. At her clinics, it was inspiring to see that women who had never ridden mountain bikes before could be coached into successfully racing in a mountain bike race in less than a week. I had fully expected to see tears and terrible crashes from two road bikers who had never been on a mountain bike before, but thankfully this was not the case. Good coaching and encouragement go a long way and these two women finished the nationals mountain bike race, even podiuming in their age group! Now that I’ve seen how others encourage athletic women to get on mountain bikes, I’m inspired to do the same here in California. I also made valuable connections with other recreational cyclist that have started cycling teams in other areas of the country and much of what I learned is being put to good use in the creation of the Mountain Miss Fits Cycling Club. Bringing people together is clearly the catalyst we need to stimulate growth in women’s cycling and I’m so grateful to Rebecca and all of her sponsors for all that they do.
Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals, July 2013, Sun Valley ID
The course for nationals ended up being two 20 mile laps, each with an 8 mile, 2k’ climb and a 12 mile descent. The lap was a mix of fire road and single track, though none of it was especially technical except for some loose, tight switchback turns. However, at the end of each lap you had the option of a steep rocking descent or a few more turns down a single-track trail. The A-line bypass saved about 30-45 seconds per lap.
The race started with an awkward parade route that involved a few traffic jams and many of us running with our bikes up a loose section of fire road. Once we got on the bike path that lead to the first climb, I found someone to draft off of. Once we started climbing, Nicole and the other strong climbers slowly pulled away. I knew that climbing still wasn’t my strength and if I was going to finish the race, I had to maintain a reasonable pace. I lost a bit of time on the downhill portion of the first lap, when I dropped my chain while switching gears. The chain drop cost me a position but I was able to make it up by taking the A-line at the end of the first lap. I felt good at the end of the first lap and waved off my friend Cathy who was at the ready with a second Camelback.
Half way up the second climb, I could see two riders in front of me. I realized that the end of the race was basically at the top of this 2k climb, so I opened the throttle and pushed harder than my body wanted to. I was able to pass two riders on the climb and came up behind a third. At this point we were only half way up the climb, I was in a lot of pain and I deeply regretted not replacing my Camelback because I was out of water and the sun was beating down on the exposed trail we were on. As the rider in front of me signaled that I could pass her on the narrow single track, I wasn’t even sure my body could muster the strength and agility to do it without tumbling down the drop-off to my left, but I used everything I had to get past her and finished the climb ahead of her. I almost cried with delight at the top of the second climb when I saw an aid station worker holding out a water bottle in my direction. They originally said the aid stations would be neutral but maybe they knew there would be idiots like me out there.
I dropped my chain again during the descent on the second lap, but thankfully nobody passed me as I slapped it back on. I had been nervous about whether I would have enough grip strength and balance to hold onto the bars for the A-line bypass at the end of the race. I also wasn’t sure if risking a crash 200 feet from the finish line was worth the 30 second gain I would get from taking the bypass, but I had no idea how far back my competitors were and decided to go for it. At the top of the rocky bypass, I gripped the bars, shook out my arms, got my weight back, pointed the bike down the best line and hoped for the best. Whooosh, clunkclunkclunk zzzzzz, ahhhh, I’d made it and DAMN, that’s a fun descent!
I finished 5th out of 12 riders. I was hoping to get on the podium, not just beside it but I was still incredibly happy, especially since Nicole had gotten first in our age group! It’d been an exhilarating race, an awesome week of riding in Sun Valley with amazing women and the best year, filled with tons of fun training rides. Can’t wait for next year!