Motherlode Epic 2017

[Mark Gibson]

This was the 1st running of the MLE, a 32 mile point-to-point stage race, split into 4 segments of approx 8 miles each, in the Folsom/Granite Bay area east of Sacramento, and organised by local pro Clint Classen, with the backing of Santa Cruz Bikes.  This race was definitely "epic" although, for me, more of an epic fail.

Having sustained an injury in the days leading up to the Downieville Classic the first weekend in August, I had missed that race, as well as Annadel on the following weekend.  These were the two races which I had been focused on and looking forward to the most, so was extremely disappointed to have missed these highlights of the race calendar. However, once recovered from the injury, and desperate to use some of that late season fitness I had built up, I made a last minute decision to enter this one.  Although registration had closed I was lucky enough to secure a transfer from another racer who had to pull out.  I had no chance to pre-ride any of the stages, and was not familiar with the area, so would be racing blind which would make for some excitement.

For the 1st stage, there was a mass start, although broken down into groups of several categories at a time, with a total of around 4 waves.  There was a double track for the 1st half a mile or so before beginning a few miles of flowy singletrack, and so avoiding any bottlenecks at the start of the singletrack would be important.  I started in the 2nd wave, took a small lead going into the singletrack, but then soon caught up with the stragglers at the back of the 1st wave, allowing those behind me to catch right back up again.  Passing was challenging, but I slowly made my way through the pack as best I could, getting held up by lack of passing space, as well as reluctance by some to let another rider get through.  This was by far the most hilly stage, with there being 3 fairly long climbs, for a total of around 1400' of climbing.  The last mile or so was a long fireroad climb up a consistent grade, before pitching up to a steeper hilltop finish.  By the time I started the climb I was leading the group that I had started with, and tried to put the hammer down on the climb to open up a bigger gap on anyone behind me.  I got to the top with a 2m 15s lead at that point, and sitting in 3rd place overall behind local pros Cody Schwartz and Ron Shevock.

After a chance to rehydrate and refuel, stage 2 began with a short ridgeline traverse, before a long descent off the ridge, some on fireroad, and some on singletrack.  This time, there was no mass start, with racers going off in 1min intervals.  I set out feeling pretty good, but not being familiar with the course, inevitably ended up overshooting some tight loose corners.  I passed several other racers, and thought I was doing OK.  After the initial long descent, there was a rolling traverse along some singletrack, and then a fairly long climb up some switchbacks.  It was right before this climb that my race began to fall apart. 

First, right before the climb, my dropper post broke, and became stuck almost all the way down.  Having no idea how long the climb would be I just decided to carry on rather than stopping to fix it.  This meant climbing either seated in way too low of a position to climb efficiently, or climb standing up which I find expends a lot more energy.  After suffering up what seemed like a never ending climb, I crested the hill, breathed a sigh of relief, and set off on a long downhill which I knew would take me all the way to the finish of stage 2 where I could try to fix the dropper without losing time on the stage.  However, with about a mile to go, the rear tire flatted.  Another decision to make - stop and fix it and lose a bunch of time, or ride it out.  I just kept on riding.  With the back end fishtailing all over the place, I made it down.  I somehow also won this stage in my category by over a minute, and again had finished 3rd overall on the stage behind Ron and Cody.  However, this was as good as it would get this day.

I put a Dyna Plug in the rear, and used a CO2.  Luckily, there was a support tent and the excellent mechanic there was able to put in a new dropper cable and get the post fixed.  I then set off on stage 3, a rolling stage, with some quite rocky technical sections, sharp ups and downs, but no sustained climbing or descending.  The stage would traverse along Folsom lake which would mercifully provide some relief from the 90*+ temps.  It reminded me a little of some sections of the SoNoMas race, with the constant up and down nature of the terrain, only much hotter.  A couple miles in, the rear was slowly going flat again, and there was actually another small hole in the tire.  I used another plug, and another CO2 canister.  I got going again, but after another couple miles the other tire flatted.  I put a tube in and used a 3rd CO2.  With a mile or so to go, the rear was still losing air, and with no more CO2, I had to keep riding and drag myself to the finish.  I eventually got there, and borrowed a pump from another rider, putting enough air in the tire to ride the short distance to a very cool transfer, where riders put their bikes on a pontoon boat before then hopping on to a speedboat for a very fast trip across the Lake to stage 4.  

The tire was flat again by the time I got across the lake, but the other rider was kind enough to offer that I take the pump to use during stage 4.  This stage was more of the same rolling terrain, but getting close to Granite Bay the trails were sandy, with some rocks, but mostly smooth granite.  Stage 4 was basically me getting as far as I could before hopping off the bike every 5 minutes to pump more air in.  At some point, exhausted, and mentally deflated, I took a wrong turn and rode about a mile before realizing my mistake.  I made my way back to the course, and not long after I saw the finish line and rode my way in to enjoy the post-ride beer and pizza, just glad to be done.

Overall it was quite an experience with a comical number of mechanical issues derailing things for me after what was a good start.  I'll be back next year to try and set things straight!