Race Report - so I got talked into Elkhorn..

The Elkhorn stage race is an annual event out of Baker City, OR. It's 4 stages over 3 days and they don't give any preferential treatment to the women or the newbies. We did all of the same stages and distances as the men and our crit was even a little longer than the men's 4/5's! It was quite a race - it was long, it was hot. I'm glad I did it though. Women's particpation isn't high enough to have separate fields, but they did score the 3/4's and 1/2's separately. Hopefully there will continue to be a women's field in the future.

Stage 1 - 75 mile road race
We started out at 2 in the afternoon with a mixed field of all of the women. The first 30 or so miles we all stayed together. There was a long section of newly laid chip seal - translate it was pretty much a gravel road, just a little more compact so everyone was being careful. When we hit the first small climb I dropped off of the back by a just a bit but was able to
chase back on without too much difficulty. A few miles before the first
significant climb (there were 2 on this day) some of the cat 1's turned on the gas and rode hard. I stayed with the pack until the climb started then pretty quickly lost contact. I rode with another woman for a while, until she dropped me on a descent, but caught and passed one other on the second climb, about 5 miles from the finish. I finished 11th in the Cat3/4 field (out of 20) for the day.

Stage 2 - ITT - lesson learned
So I thought I was really really tired and was wondering if I was even going to
be able to do the 4th stage or not. Well, it turned out that somewhere in between taking the bike off of the trainer and getting to the start line my rear wheel's quick release had been completely opened and I was dragging the rear wheel the whole way! Really, I'm happy that if I had to
make a beginner mistake like that it happened at this time. Even thought I lost
a lot of time only 2 people jumped ahead of me in the GC - and one would have anyway. She had a mechanical early in the first day, othewise would have finished ahead of me, and was likely to make up all of that time in the 4th stage anyway, so no skin off my nose as it were.

Stage 3 - the Crit
Not too much to report here - crits are fast and hard even if you are racing in
your own category, so being in a completely combined field it was even faster and harder. I stayed with the group for a few laps, but wasn't overly comfortable in any case, this being only the 3rd crit I've done and it being quite a bit faster than the other two. The organizer decided to not pull lapped riders! He thought it was unfair to not let us lower cat's race -
we kind of thought it was a bit cruel. We had to stay in and it was even longer than the cat 4/5 men's race! I ended up off the back working with two other cat 4's so we survived, but we did get lapped.

Stage 4 - 100 mile road race
by this point the women's field had lost a lot of riders. The 3/4's alone lost 5
or 6 - which means we lost at least a quarter of our field! This stage started out pretty much the same as the first one. Everyone stayed together and worked together for the first part of the race. This day had 4 significant climbs, with a total of a little over 7,000 feet of climbing, so it was not an easy day by any means and no one was going to push it too early. Even
so, the first significant climb was only 25 miles in. I was really hoping to stay with the group at least over the first one, but it was not to be. I stayed on for about 1/2 of the climb, but by the time I was able to get over the top they were gone, not to be seen again until the finish
line. The idea of 75 miles alone was fairly unappetising so I was happy to see
another cat 4 that I know from the local races catch up to me on the flat after the first descent. We worked together the rest of the way and stayed together until about 5k to go (1/2 way up the final climb). I was pretty baked (did I mention it was near 90 degrees outside) so I dropped back and finished about a minute or two behind her. In the end it was good enough to move
back up to 11th again in the GC so I'm not at all disappointed. I really wasn't
sure how this was going to go. I've certainly never raced that far before, and even though I've ridden that far, its just not the same. Not being able to stop, rest, stretch, eat, really takes a toll. I managed to take in enough to get me though - mostly Gu, Cytomax and Nuun for electrolytes and was very careful to drink more than normal since it was so hot. I went though about 5.5 bottles, which is a lot for me. I was pretty sore Sunday night- feet and butt especialy, legs and arms too, but was feeling fine today and even went out on a nice recovery ride when we got home.

The low turn out for women - 20 for the 3/4 field and even fewer for the 1/2's- has the organiser questioning whether or not there will be a women's field next year, so if there is I hope that some of you who race might consider it. (there were more than a few up from California this year!). I won't kid you about it being easy, but it is survivable and you know what they say - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! (and gives you lots of really funky tan lines.....)

Wow well done. That is a lot of hard riding you should be very proud of yourself. I cant imagine riding 100 miles without stopping:eek: . YOU ROCK.:)

Great report, but I'm tired now just after reading it.

Hey there, Eden. Great report! :)

The race sounds fun and hard alike. Maybe in a couple years I can make it up there....not until the kids are a little older. I can't be gone from them that long at this point. I love Oregon, so it would be easy to be tempted enough to actually do it.

Hopefully they can keep the race on the womens' calendar. We really need races like that to help our segment of the sport grow.

~BikeMomma

Eden,
I volunteer for the Elkhorn Classic and I love it and look forward to that weekend every year. This race is such a classic race for all levels! I usually drive lead car, sometimes do support. I felt the women were pretty conservative this year compared to the previous year.
Last year, I saw three women, all cat 1-2, I believe, sprint up Dooley Mtn. since I was the lead car. I cried with tears because they were so strong! They rode with huge hearts! One rider had a flat about 3 miles from the finish (for those of you who don't know, the finish of the 100 mile race is at the summit of a mountain!). I radioed support immediately, they got the wheel changed and she CAUGHT UP with the other two women before the end of the race. The vertical is 6% all the way. I was proud of her for the fight she showed. She took third but only seconds from the lead. What a come-back!
For your group this year, I watched a rider breakaway on the first big hill and no one caught her after that.
But for all of you women....I can't find the words to describe how impressive you all are, riding those two long races, doing the TT and then the scary crit. All of you earn trophies in my mind.
And I will talk to the organizer about keeping womens cats in this race. He should not drop it!

I look forward to 2007 and I will cheer you on! Good luck in your rides.

Pat

I can't thank you and all of the other volunteers enough - the support was excellent. Even off the back I often had a support car around asking if I needed water and if everthing was OK.
I sure hope that there is a women's field next year. We don't get too many opportunities to do races like this one, so it would be ashame if it went away. I'm sure it sounds pretty darn scary to a lot of beginners like me (I am a cat 4, this is my first year racing and I definitely did have doubts about it - especially since I knew I wouldn't have any team mates around) to not only have to race with the big girls, but to just do that kind of distance. Our longest local race to date has been 48 miles, but they are usually only 24 - 36 for us. I've had a lot of positive feed back from the team about going though, so I'm hoping that next year we might have some more representation. Good job all of you!