The Whiskey 50 has a special place in my heart, partially because of how it crushed me the first year I did it. The first year I showed up to the Whiskey 50 was in 2018. I thought I was going to take the course by storm, instead it chewed me up and spit me out. I finished 17^th. 

Now, Whiskey 50 is a week every year where I celebrate progress. I’ve moved up from 17^th to multiple podium finishes at this event and, what once was the longest race I’ve ever done is now one of the shorter races of the season. I firmly believe in the importance of celebrating progress and every year with the return to this race I’m reminded of how far I’ve come and ground myself in gratitude for where I am. 

Fat Tire Crit

The Friday night crit is the hallmark of an Epic Rides event. The Whiskey 50 crit in particular is one of the hardest races of the year. It’s basically 13x up and down a 45 second climb with fans leaning out into the road yelling at you to go just a little bit faster. 

It’s short enough that the race is basically all out from the gun, but it’s hard enough that any mismanagement of your cards and you’ll suffer for it both physically and in the results list. 

Just a couple laps into the race, Alexis attacked and Savilia followed. I should have responded, but it was so early that I thought they were just chasing a prime and would sit up a lap later. I was wrong and it left me chasing at the front of my group for the next several laps. 

I emptied myself trying to close down the gap and eventually resided to sitting up and sitting in my group to try to secure the best possible finish within the chase pack. Unfortunately, a poorly time wind gust within the group caused an overlap of wheels and left me dragging my foot on the group to avoid crashing. Now I was on the back foot as I chance back to the group just in time to suffer the blows of attack after attack in the final laps. I finished up 7^th and certainly pushed hard enough, finding myself in the alley afterwards trying not to ‘toss my cookies’ all over the pavement. 

What’s so crazy about this event is how hard the athletes will push themselves in this ‘fun’ event and I think it’s largely due to the fans. The town of Prescott comes out in full force to heckle up and cheer us up the climb. I think even if you wanted to ‘take it easy’ to ‘save it for Sunday’ even the most disciplined rider would have a hard time not leaving it all out there just because of the energy from the spectators!

Backcountry Race

In Sunday’s backcountry race the start is always a beautiful crescendo to the ultimate attack for the singletrack. The roll out begins with smiles, cheers, and chatting as we roll out of town and slowly but surely the smiles turn to grimaces and the conversations turn to heavy breathing as we all fight for position into the trail.

I entered in 2^nd in a group of 4^th and settled into the pace on the day. We all stayed together for about 45 minutes until the trail started to turn upwards and small gaps started to open. I found myself taking up the end of our group, but not at all discouraged by the gaps. I focused up and descended back into position. Right as we exited the singletrack descent I was back on the wheels of the leaders. 

I yo-yo’d a little bit and found myself just 15-20 seconds off the back of the 2 leaders as we climbed up the biggest climb of the day. A headwind made me envy (what looked like) the leaders’ ability to work together as I chased all alone. 

I cracked just 10 minutes from the top of the climb as my legs began to seize and the road magically appeared to get steeper. The gap in front of me suddenly seemed much bigger and the 4^th place rider was now hot on my heels, actually over taking me just before the singletrack. 

I had a choice in that moment. I could give in to the pain and the momentary weakness or I could reset and readjust. Thanks to the work with Enso Mental Performance, I was able to adjust my focus to the things that mattered. I increased my cadence, I consumed with carbs, and I charged ahead. I overtook the woman in front of me and returned into my 3^rd place position. 

I rode the final 15 minutes like it was the sprint to the finish. Every time I lost focus I would say out loud, “And I’m back” and I recommitted to the task at hand. 

I charged back into downtown Prescott in 3^rd place and enjoyed and savored every moment of crossing that finish line as I high fived the spectators all the way down the finish chute.