Among the five of you, what was the spread of carry vs push?
In fairness, I took off in wave 2 because I knew my sea level lungs would struggle, they did. Everyone is wave 2 pushed their bike that I could see.
Fast forward, after the first aid station at mile 7.5 the altitude sickness set in for me. Bummer. Couldnāt keep anything down and the headache an dizziness hit hard. The first 10 miles is a 2000ā climb. Itās brutal for a sea level, flat lander. I quickly found out I had not business out there but the shakeout ride the day before felt okay overall.
I will say the course is beautiful. Iām not saying I wouldnāt sign up again. Perhaps next time Iāll get there a week ahead of time rather than race on day 3 at altitude.
I will say, I donāt know how anyone can ride a hard tail on this course. Itās more technical than I expected.
I saw one person on a gravel bike and two people on singespeeds, all of which are pretty far from ideal.
It definitely is not 100%. Iām a forester and I shoot grades for roads all day. 100% is incredibly steep, on a soil surface itās almost impossible to walk up without using your hands. For a bit more context, if you ski or snowboard, very very few runs are this steep.
Thereās a common misconception or idea that if itās steep itās 100%. In my experience, around 60% is where I start using trees and putting my hands down to climb up. I was working all day on a 65% slope the other day and it was an absolute nightmare!
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The videos you see on YouTube donāt do the steepness of this hill justice. You have to see it to believe it. Iām not sure what percent it is but it feels like a 45 degree angle and pushing a bike up is brutal.