Holy moly. This sugarloaf race was def way harder than the Burke race. on a scale of the EWS races I've done, I'd say this one falls right below the Val di Fassa race in terms of difficulty- and I mean, at least in Italy there were sections of trail that were fun on all the stages in different spots, sugarloaf didn't have a lot of "good" sections - there was so much ski slope filler, and just a few short bits at the bottom of the mountain that were actually 'fun' to ride - at which point your arms are so shot from ping-ponging through the top of the mountain you just want the stage to end already, and some space to think about your life choices. LOL.
So yes, the trails HAD dried a bit compared to the pre-ride, however, between the pre-riding and amateur race, ALL of the dirt had been pushed off the actual trail for the top half of the mountain and what was left was just loose baby head rocks that were coated in a thin layer of slick mud, and a web of super slipppy roots. And that includes ALL of the available 'off the main trail' lines - basically no actual dirt between the tape. occasionally there was a turn built up, but often those led RIGHT to a tree or a sniper root. I've never seen anything like it.
For Saturday, I enjoyed the pre-ride of the pro stage, but it was way slicker in the race run, and I bobbled / clipped out & dabbed multiple times. Wasn't a huge disaster, but it wasn't pretty.
Saturday night we had some great news in that a storm was predicted to hit around 3pm, so they dropped one of the pedal transfers for a lift transfer (wahoo!) and dropped the Tech zone break (which was scheduled for AFTER stage 5 - which i don't get - the transfer times are tight, if you need time to actually fix something, - wouldn't the middle of the race make more sense? Maybe there's a reason it's so late in the day, but I don't know what that reason would be.)
Sunday started off with 2 absolutely miserable stages - stage 2 was of medium length, but had zero fun sections. It was just super slippery gnar for every woods section and a few open ski slope turns. I crashed twice on it - lost my front wheel on a rooty steep chute and took a tree to the face - how my chin got scraped up with my full face on is a mystery, but i did knock myself a little silly, so who really knows what happened. I didn't actually come off the bike, so it wasn't a huge loss of time there, and i got my composure back and charged on. I passed Pat, got through a popular crash spot where he was filming and tried to give it some gas and immediately got slapped down (just out of view of Pat's camera 🙂 ) pretty hard - i landed on my back, so it took some maneuvering to get rolling again.
Stage 3 was the long-brutal stage, 2493ft of descending. Not to mention a miserable hike-a-bike up to the top. I did pedal way more than most up the transfer and a photographer was cheering me on, so hopefully there are some epic pics out there. The view from the top was pretty awesome. I knew this would be a real challenge for my forarms/grip/hands so I was focused on trying to find spotsto flex them & release my grip. I was good for about half the stage -- the top half went as well as could be asked for, it's some dry rock gardens at the top into loose baby-head ski slope turns, into the woods is initially flatter pine forest trails - plenty of roots but not terrible. then it gets steep, i skittered down a few rock chutes, had some dabs, it didn't feel fast, but it was at least mostly rolling or skidding in the right direction. there's a flat sprint in the middle of the stage where I carefully put some hard pedal strokes down while trying to totally let go of the bars to rest my hands. That helped for the next tree section, but my hands stopped responding to my brain's instructions somewhere in there, and it got ugly so I slowed way down. The girl behind me caught and passed me. i sat on her wheel while trying to find spots to release my grip and get control of my hands back. We dropped down another steep chute and she went down in the middle of the trail, i just barely got off that line and into a really dicey line around her.
It flattens out a bit towards the bottom of the stage and there are a lot more open & straight-ish ski slope sections so I was able to stay ahead and work my hands a bit, but the water bars - those freaking water bars - absolute death traps that you have to lift your front wheel over (zero strength to do that at this point) or take the front end hit - like doing explosive clap pushups in reverse - or risk losing the front end of the bike or being bucked off the bike. I mean, it's like, finally some speed! and while you're enjoying that speed now, how about a nice punch to the face every 10 seconds? (ok punch to the shoulders, but you get the idea, it just starts feeling good, and you get walloped over and over again)
We had to pedal up to stage 4, and that was a doozy of a climb. Not as long as the burke climb, but similar misery with the added bonus of being completely in blaring sun. I thought I had heat stroke when i got to the top - I was so nauseous. There was a water station so I was able to pour water over my head and down my back which helped a lot.
Stage 4, I actually enjoyed this one. it was short and sweet with a few berms mixed into the gnar.
Stage 5 - right off the lift, this one had some steep gnarly bits and I had a crash at some point, but it's all a blur at the moment.
Stage 6 - the elation of the day being almost over is washing over us - my group of masters women have really great attitudes - we don't let the mood get too 'serious' or miserable and are constantly cheering each other on. Nothing was starker than the lineup of under 21 men ready to drop into stage 6 - absolute silence, - just misery and frowns plastered on everyone's face when our group of women rolls in, laughing, telling jokes, poking fun at the trail conditions & all the seriousness of these kids until they start to smile & laugh too, plus we hoot an hollar for each woman as she drops in. It's a really awesome vibe.
Anyways, it's finally time to drop into stage 6, and I'm super glad the day is almost over. My shoulders, arms and hands are just exhausted. I drop into the gnar and blow through smooth enough to get some confidence. I'm stoked it's not as slippery as the day before and the ruts have some support. things are going well until i get out onto the open ski slope, one in particular has had all the dirt pushed off and it's all baby heads through the turn. ugh.. a rock gives away under my front wheel and I slide out w my back wheel dropping off the turn and under the tape & i get tangled. UGH. I untangle myself and get on the bike absolutely laughing at myself and try to enjoy the rest of the stage - which had some actually fun bits. lololo.
and that's it' - a sloppy, messy end to the EWS season for me. but at least it was a lot of fun.
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