RPI Stage Race Report
The Queen’s Stage Race is made up of three timed races over four days, covering 196 miles and 12,600’ of climbing. Rebecca and team have been running the stage race for the last 5 years and the entire event for the last 9 and definitely have this event well organized. And let me also say that Rebecca is doing it right. She’s a pro athlete who’s turned her passion for riding and racing into a community of inclusiveness and belonging centered on the bike. We need more Rebeccas in the world these days.
I was picked to fill a vacancy about 5 weeks before the start of the race. I had originally considered doing just the 100 mi Baked Potato race but was happy to get the chance to do the full stage race.
Honestly, I was a bit intimidated by the event and knew I had to start training if I was going to survive the four days. I searched the web and voila! I found a training plan for Steamboat Gravel and adapted it to my timing. Basically it had me do a few long tempo intervals mid week and really long rides on the weekends with a day off on Fridays and Mondays. In retrospect, it was a good plan. I needed the long slower rides to build my endurance and the intervals to up my game on race pace. And like many of my riding buddíes, I needed to take the rest days.
This race, like many multi day events, is a lot about logistics and anticipating what you’re going to need and when. I spent a lot of time working through logistics beyond just the trip to Idaho from the DC area And it made a difference. I did in retrospect need to do more route study before each stage. That will be clear later.
Travel: I flew from DC to Boise (pronounced “boy-see” apparently) on Wednesday, picked up a rental car, and drove 2.5 hours to Ketchum where I had an Airbnb apartment reserved for the event. This worked out really well overall. It was nice having a kitchen and a place to stay just a short bike ride to town. They have really great paved bike trails in town so it's easy to get around without a car, but I r one for the airport trip.
Stage 1: Galena & Harriman Trail Adventure Day
Rebecca calls this stage the adventure stage. Adventure is right. The route is essentially a MTB race on gravel bikes as it hits about 15 miles of Galena single track before you hit the traditional gravel route.
The morning of the race the temp was 33 degrees at the start. I had just left 85 plus degrees at nearly sea level and here I was at 7500’ and near freezing. I was a bit out of my element. Everyone promised we would warm up quickly with the first climb out of the Galena Lodge. They were right, sort of. It was cold.
I was able to start near the front third of the pack of nearly 250+ racers that morning. At the horn we all eagerly started the climb and the field split up pretty fast when the dirt road steepened and narrowed to single track. I was really happy to have my 10-50 cassette as the climb turned very steep very fast and the roots and rocks were no joke. I was able to pass several people on the climb and had a blast on the flowy and technical trail for the next several miles. The terrain was a mixed single track and dirt road connecting sections. I felt pretty good despite the racing heart rate from the altitude change and pushed pretty hard to keep my speed up. I passed several people with flats and other mechanicals along the route and bombed down the last descent with a smile on my face as we left the single track.
At the pre-race meeting, Rebecca warned us of a creek crossing post single track that could be waist deep. I was not excited about it and knew it was coming up. When I approached the creek, I started to walk the edges and then resigned myself to wet shoes and socks and just picked up my bike and trudged across the VERY cold creek to the other side.
The water was only thigh high on me. A few racers tried to ride it, one fell over, completely soaked head to toe, another tried to run it and tripped on something Nader the water and met the same fate, soaked head to toe. Rebecca was there to cheer us on and we did the classic COVID fist bump as I went by, thanking her for an amazing course. I spoke too soon.
I'd been riding pretty hard the last 16 miles. I had 27 mi to go, knowing it was downhill gravel to a turn around and then back the same route to the finish. My plan was to find a fast wheel and hang on for the downhill section, recover a bit, and be ready for the climb back up to the finish. I felt good, nutrition was going well and my legs were feeling pretty good. I found the wheel I was looking for and the yellow jersey clad dude and I ripped our way down towards the turn around point. The pro racers were well ahead of us and after a few miles, I saw them heading back up the course and started counting how many racers were ahead of us. By my count, I was sitting about 39 or 40 overall with just 13 miles to go. A pretty good place, I thought. As we hit the turn around and were heading back up the hill, we started catching and passing riders. Now we were down to 35th place or so. Great! Then it went south, on my next turn to pull I had no energy in my legs, my kidneys were getting sore (a sure sign of overdoing it), the gravel was thick in many places and was sucking the energy from my wheels.
To make matters worse my stomach was progressively feeling queasy and I couldn't eat anything. I fell off the back of the yellow dude’s wheel and another rider we had picked up along the way. I was alone and not feeling great. Sigh. The last 4 miles was a series of short, steep stairsteps making the situation more challenging. I was able to pass one rider only to be passed by him moments later as I tried to recover from my surge. I knew I was getting close to the finish when I heard the music in the distance. About a 100 feet from the finish line another racer surged and passed me....nothing like getting kicked when you're down.
I finished, but I was light headed and weary. I ended up 42nd out of 220 (32/144 men’s) racers that day. I finished the singletrack section in 23rd overall and lost a bunch of time on the gravel section. But no time to dwell on that, I had to get cleaned up, recover, and prepare for the next day's stage.
Stage 2: Dollarhide Summit Time Trial
I was able to recover decently from the beat down I took on Stage 1. I actually did better than I thought I would considering the altitude, cold temps, and the quality of racers in the event (7 pro and at least 15 other Cat 1 or Cat 2 racers).
Stage 2 was completely different from Stage 1. We would start in Ketchum on a neutral roll out for 20 miles to the TT start point, do the TT, and ride back into town. For your time to count you needed to ride there and back. We left town at 8:00 am and rode up Warm Springs road about 2/3rds the way up Dollarhide summit. The ride was mellow but the gravel had a lot of washboard sections and more cars than I would've liked.
The idea was we ride to the start of the TT segment and wait our turn with riders going off at 15 second intervals. It was well organized and the line flowed smoothly. I arrived in the front third of the group and didn't have to wait long. I had just enough time to eat and drink a bit and take off extra layers as the sun was coming over the mountain ridge by this time.
While I was waiting in line I was going over my plan in my head. It was a 4.5 mi segment with 1800’ of climbing at 6% grade. My goal was to get to the top in 30 min. The fastest time on Strava was just over 21 min (by a pro racer). I would need to maintain about 300 watts for 30 min. I didn't know if I had it in me, but I was going to try. I started off pretty well, felt strong overall and was passing a few riders within a minute or two. As I entered the first switchback, I realized I was going too hard too soon and the gravel road was more technical than I expected, forcing me to surge my power much more than I would've liked. But I kept going, pressing hard into the pedals. Another challenge, at least mentally, was I didn't have a good time reference. I hadn't reset my garmin at the start point and my heart rate monitor wasn't working, showing a heart rate of just 89 bpm when I knew it was upwards of 160. All this made it harder to gauge my effort compared to the remaining distance so I just settled into a pace that I thought I could sustain.
I was only passed by 1 racer the entire time. As I got near the top the pro riders (who started first) were making their way back down the mountain, cheering on those of us still in the pain cave. At 1 Km to go I surged, since I had nothing to lose. I pressed harder into the pedals and made my way to the last switch back to the sound of the music and the annoncer cheering on the riders. I pushed hard all the way across the finish line, short of breath with tired legs but relieved to be done.
I hung out at the top for a bit cooling off, talking to other riders and cheering on those in their final push to the top. I zipped up my vest and bombed my way back down the mountain. I linked up with a few riders from Knoxville and we rode the gravel road back to town taking turns pulling on the front. It was a nice steady pace and we covered the 20 miles in no time. Along the way we passed Frenchman's Hot Springs with a line of bikes lined up along the road and 20 riders soaking in the hot springs. Ahhh that looked delightful. I’d have to come back later.
I finished 46th out of 144 men’s riders with a time of 31:27, moving me down to 44th in the GC. Not what I hoped for. In retrospect, I should have prepared better for the TT stage. Next time.
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