I participated in Moab Rocks at the beginning of April. This is a well-run event in an amazing place. It's my favorite race for sure. The race consists of 3 stages, Porcupine Rim, Moab Brands, and Mag 7 stages. Each stage is around 30 miles of racing, all of them contain technical terrain.
I managed to wrangle a couple of racers to pre-ride mag7 with a drop with me (Thanks Harvey and Lloyd!) on Friday. This was a great warmup. My training seemed effective since the climb out on poison spider felt pretty easy. This was a great way to get re-familiarized with the terrain and do a gut check on my Maxxis Aspen/Forekaster tire setup. I love this setup, good control for the turns up front with lower rolling resistance out back. I PR'd some downhills so I felt ready.
Saturday's stage starts with a brutal 3500 feet of climbing up a long paved and dirt road before dipping off to finish the 1/2 enchilada with Porcupine Rim. I put in a great effort on the climb but failed to fuel effectively. Our race team uses EFS Endurance mix in the bottle and supplements the liquid fuel with Jelly Belly and Honey Stinger snacks. I just didn't get them in, so I cramped hard on "the snotch" losing my computer whilst sliding down the slab. I recovered for what felt like an hour, remounted and carried on. I only noticed the empty computer mount 10 minutes later after I caught my breath. Luckily someone returned my old-reliable Garmin 530 later that evening. Finished 23/71 AG.
I recovered and regrouped on Sunday, determined to do a better job on fueling. Moab Brands was a new stage for me since I didn't race last year, so I was riding the course blind. No bother, the hills were rolling and the terrain was techy so I was in the zone. Fueling was effective, I was able to put down power late in the stage on the bike-path climb-out and made a sprint finish to gain 18th on the stage.
It's not unusual for me to feel better as a stage race progresses, especially in relation to other riders. Monday's stage is my favorite, incorporating a long climb with a long technical decent with a decent climb near the end and a dirt road sprint to the finish. I managed to fuel effectively again on the stage, mostly passing folks on the climb before getting caught by only a couple of riders on the technical descent. I had a few folks following me since I have ridden the trail before. I washed out once on the soft-over hard but hopped up quick and kept moving. I worked with another rider to get through the soft sand, refueled and rode up the hill before taking off on my solo effort to finish ahead in 18th again.
This race was a huge step forward for me. I moved from top 60th percentile to top 30th. My bike performed well, but not perfectly. Two weeks later I found out why my shifting had been dodgy when my chain finally gave way... Otherwise, I really enjoy my silent Onyx Hubs paired with the berd spokes and Forge + Bond Rims. The lightness of the spokes makes up for the beefy, silent hubs, and the wheels are holding their own even though I abuse them. My bike is about 1lb lighter with some of the changes over2 years ago, shigura brakes are a powerful, light option and the one up V3 seat dropper has been light and reliable. It's great having a gap in racing this one since it's difficult to train for over the winter and fun to see improvement. If Moab Rocks is any indicator, this year is shaping up to be one with many successes!
-chris