Jennifer Hibbitts's Page

The Tahoe Trail 100K MTB Race is held at Northstar Resort and is part of the annual Leadville Race Series. Its a qualifier race for the Leadville 100 Mile MTB Race in Leadville CO in August. I did this race for the first time in 2015, so this year was my second time at this rodeo. The course is approx 31 miles of mostly fire road, 6,200 - 7,200' elevation. For the 100K version of the race, 2 laps. 

I had pre-ridden 1 lap of the course on 2 separate days over the July 4th weekend, so I was feeling pretty confident about my pacing and knowing the course going into the race. In 2015, my stomach really gave me trouble in the second lap. I was hoping to avoid stomach issues this year. Feeling I've sorted out my fueling and pacing. I did the race in 7 hours in 2015. I was hoping to finish in under 6:45 this year. 

Race day weather was slated to be sunny and in the high 70s...not bad. I was solo for this race, so packed a 'drop bag' I would access at mile 32, with my spare Camelback filled w water and a bottle of Perpetuem mixed just to my liking (800 calories). Also had pump, spare tire, a few bars and gels, just in case. 

Race start was 7am. Leadville hero Dave Weins and Levi Leipheimer were part the hundreds of racers on the start line, along w lots of other tough, fast riders. You are supposed to self-seed yourself in the line up... I headed to the middle - rear of the pack so as not to get caught up in the adrenaline rush at the start...Its a long day to ride 62 miles at elevation. No need to go hard off the start...there's plenty of time to suffer. 

But, its hard not to push it off the start. Fresh legs, friends, excitement and good moods all around. The start of the race climbs up the Northstar access road on pavement, through Northstar Village and then on up dirt switchbacks and onto fire road. Approx 1,000' of climbing out of the gate. I settled into a pace to keep my heart rate under 160 BPM. Its also hard to keep HR low at elevation and keep up a pace. Amazing how fast my HR jumps up from just a small effort!

I finished the first lap feeling good, but surprised my time was 3:20 - longer than I'd hoped. Id have to keep up pretty much the same pace to finish the race in under my goal of 6:45. Starting up the climb out of Northstar for the second lap, my legs definitely didnt have as much gas as on Lap 1! Lap 2 was real tough. Tired legs, stomach started to turn nauseous around mile 45. I had been planning to turn myself inside out the last 10 miles of the course and 'leave nothing out there'. But the last 10 miles I had no gas...I faded and just couldnt make it go. I was so bummed. Kept going. Every second counts. Buy ended up getting passed by 3 women in my age group the last 5 mile climb back into Northstar. UGH ugh ugh. Just keep it moving I told myself. I finished w time of 6:55..yea under 7 hours. 

I think I went out too hard at the start and ended up burning too many matches on the front end. It was fun to finish and have a lot of friends there and compare notes about the race. Im already signed up for Leadville 2016. I did get a 'gold coin' in the raffle after the race for entry to Leadville 2017. Let the sufferfest continue!

Next race- Leadville 2016! Stay tuned race fans!

- jen