December 19, 2011
“What does XXC mean to you?” As endurance athletes, it seems like we are asked this question quite often. It’s a very valid and sometimes hard-to-answer question.
My version of the answer goes something like this…
It was Monday night as I strode through the nearby state park and the temperature was hanging around -2 degrees F. It was my first cross country ski of the season. The debuts of past ski seasons were a little clumsy, filled with bad turns out of the tracks, poor technique and tired hips and arms. Not this year. This was a graceful, moonlit glide session of classic cross country skiing and it didn’t matter that it wasn’t a hardpacked, groomed track – the snow here on the Front Range near Denver is neither heaping nor long-lived, leaving very few days of skiing close to home. I’m not sure what it is about skiing that affects me the way it does, but within 15 minutes my mind began to wander about the past weekend.
Two days earlier, I was 40 miles northeast of Phoenix Arizona in the middle of the 21,099 acre McDowell Mountain Regional Park, which lies within the Sonoran Desert. The Sonoran Desert is one of the four North American deserts. Covering 100,000 square miles over southeastern California, most of the Baja California Peninsula, the islands of the Gulf of California, much of the Mexican state of Sonora, and the southern half of Arizona, this is the desert you dream of – towering saguaro cacti, as well as various shorter cacti covered in multicolored spines. Apparently, the Sonoran Desert differs from the other three North American Deserts because it has mild winters with most of the area rarely experiencing frost. Mild, that is, until this past weekend.
It was a 14 hour drive from Denver to the race. To ease both the mental and monetary burden, I headed down with fellow XXC Magazine supporter Jonathan Davis and his son, Tanner, who were also set to race. We left Wednesday night, which was earlier than planned, to escape the approaching winter storm that was bearing down on the Front Range. Beating it by hours, we only experienced strong winds on the backside of the low pressure system. Potential disaster number one was averted.
Other than the winds, most of the Wednesday night drive was uneventful. Well, it was until we made the decision to skip a gas stop at Walsenburg Colorado, figuring that we weren’t too far from civilization and other gas stations. The next stop was Aguilar Colorado – not exactly a bustling city. We followed the gas station signs foolishly into a barren city center. After wasting our dwindling gas fumes, we stopped at an open, though totally empty, bar to ask where we could refuel soon. My heart quickly sank. “Either back in Walsenburg or up in Trinidad (the next town),” the old, dirty bartender mumbled. “Great, just awesome,” I thought to myself. We were 20 miles from the next gas station with the gas gauge reading exactly one mile left until the car was angrily sputtering on the freeway. By the time we got to the on ramp, the gauge read zero miles remaining. With some downhill neutral coasting and semi drafting, we rolled down the Trinidad off ramp with gas station in view. I’m still not sure how we made it. Disaster number two averted.
We slept Wednesday night in Jonathan’s custom bikemobile Ford Transit at a rest stop in nowhere New Mexico, resting up for the nine hours of driving on Thursday. The drive on Thursday went smoothly, until we hit the mountains (hills compared to the Colorado Rockies) of Arizona. Mountains of Arizona? Yes, mountains… and trees, cold temperatures, and snow! Snow! It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s near a desert or north in Montana, at 7,500 feet above sea level it snows, and, in some cases, it snows enough to shut down roads. As we rolled into the central mountains, we came to a line of stopped vehicles. A forest service ranger was driving up and down the line of cars letting us know the status. They had closed a stretch of the road to clear the snow and clean up a crashed semi and RV. It wasn’t bad – only one hour of staring at snow in Arizona. It could have been much worse. Disaster number three averted.
“It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s near a desert or north in Montana,
at 7,500 feet above sea level it snows, and, in some cases,
it snows enough to shut down roads.”
We arrived at the McDowell Regional Mountain Park Thursday night and hit the hay early. Friday morning we set up on the course, prepped our bikes and gear, and headed out for a pre-ride.
The race, Dawn to Dusk, is named for the actual start and end of the race. The start was at 7:13 and racers were allowed out on their last lap if they came in before 4:50 – dawn to dusk. DCB Adventures put on a well organized, fun, and great race overall.
The course followed the Pemberton Trail, a 15.5 mile loop of speed. Out of the chute, there was a shorter section of winding, smooth singletrack, which slowly led into a gravel service road “climb.” By “climb,” I mean a small grade, big ring push for 20 minutes that sneaks up on you after a few laps. After “climbing,” there was a transition section that featured a little of everything – short ups, rocky ups and downs, and some ripping fast wide singletrack. That section led into two or three miles of singletrack that was ridden at speeds between 20-25 miles per hour, even late in the race. The lap finished off with a short trudge through a desert wash and some fun swoopy doubletrack. All big ring, all fast, all awesome.
There were a total of 94 solo racers that toed the line – 59 geared men, 21 singlespeed men, 12 geared females, and two singlespeed females. The race of the day played out in the men’s geared division. Jonathan Davis took the lead in lap five and didn’t look back en route to his 157.5 miles in 10 hours 14 minutes – a full 10 laps. Meanwhile, Arizona local Brian Bennett steadily moved his way up through the top five to finish 2nd. Jeffrey Frost took the 3rd place spot in lap six when then 2nd place racer Eric Marcotte had a slow lap and slipped to 4th behind Bennett and Frost. Ryan Geiger slipped back to 5th after racing in the top three for the first few laps. In the men’s singlespeed race, the 2010 2nd place finisher, Jim Koziol, led from start to finish, ripping through his nine laps and 142 miles in 9 hours and 51 minutes. Robert Laroche wrapped up nine laps in 10 hours and 22 minutes for 2nd place and Tim Bolton had a solid 3rd place finish. In the women’s geared division, Katie Ellis rode an impressive eight laps in 9 hours and 32 minutes to take the win. Pam Houle rode a strong eight laps to secure 2nd place from beginning to end. Laura Nagy rode to a 3rd place with seven laps. Tanner Davis finished up with three laps – not too shabby for an 11 year old. For detailed lap times and full team results, check out the DCB website.
“XXC to me is endurance, adventure, riding with freezing hands, riding among cacti in December, going with the ebbs and flows of the journey and sharing those experiences with other like-minded souls.”
The most interesting part of the race was the weather. It warmed up a little after a dreary, misting start at about 40 degrees F, but barely reached 50 by the time the sun appeared – briefly – during midday. As the afternoon wore on, the skies opened up and the temperatures dropped. In the middle of the warmest desert in North America, racers were greeted with pouring rain, sleet and (maybe) 40 degree F temperatures. Over the last three hours the competitors bundled up with all the layers they had and winter gloves while sloshing through puddles and cold mud. One last disaster… fail. However, despite the fact we were all frozen, it was clear by all the white smiles amidst the mud that it was a successful day in the saddle.
Back in the state park, I approached the car and realized that it was probably -5 degrees F and my first cross country ski session of the year was done. I was lost in my thoughts, the moonlight and snow almost the entire workout. An hour and a half of striding and I realized why I’ve followed XXC Magazine since its beginning. XXC to me is endurance, adventure, riding with freezing hands, riding among cacti in December, going with the ebbs and flows of the journey and sharing those experiences with other like-minded souls.
Photo Credits
Title photo: Ben Welnak
Dawn To Dusk Race Venue: facebook.com/DCBAdventures
Ben Welnak of Twenty 2 Cycles: Karen Butler Davis, 7directions.smugmug.com
Trek Store Boulder’s Jonathan Davis: Karen Butler Davis, 7directions.smugmug.com
Don’t forget about The World 24 Hour Mountain Bike Championships return to Canmore, Alberta on September 13 – 17, 2012. You can check out all the info by clicking 
Training For a Frozen Epic
The cockpit can get crowded quickly when loading a fat bike.
Head out immediately after a fresh snow to get some quality pushing practice
By cutting a hole for my mouth, I can easily eat and drink while the 
