GRRRRR…Gunnison Growler 2013

2013 Original Half-Growler Mountain Bike Race Report

By
Scotty Mac

4:54:13.

I remember glancing at my watch and seeing that time staring back at me.  I was fighting to maintain a semblance of forward momentum on The Ridge, the final climb of the day.  I was not close to the summit by any stretch of the imagination, and still had a descent still coming before crossing the finish line.  I knew my goal of a sub-5 hour finish had vanished in the listless breeze hovering over the Hartman Rocks trail network, located in Gunnison, Colorado.  The realization of that truth hurt, but there was nothing for it, no
time to dwell.  I pushed my bike onward, the grade too steep for my dead-shot legs, and hoped I could still make it in close to my goal.

It’s the hardest race I’ve ever done, and if you read the above paragraph expecting the rest of this report to be a morose affair, I would understand why you’d think that.  But don’t get it twisted: I loved it then, when I was in it, and I love it now.

T.I.G.  This is Gunnison Growler 2013.  Let’s walk it back.

0:00:00

I’m not much of a firearms person, so even though I knew there was a shotgun blast
coming to signal the start, the roar of the scattergun and the resultant, concussive chest-slap still startled me.  I imagine that it was probably worse for the racers in the front of the peloton, but since I had made the misguided naïve noble decision to roll this race on a single speed, I had planted myself in the back, determined to stay out of everyone’s way.  Within minutes, the neutral roll-out had ramped up to such a pace that I and a few others were unceremoniously spat out the back as two large groups formed with us trailers making a spread out, crooked tail.‘Man, I can’t wait until we hit the dirt,’ I thought as I waited for my kneecaps to explode at a 130-ish rpm cadence.

So, yeah, then we hit the dirt.  And ran into a wall.  It wasn’t really a wall, technically, because it wasn’t perfectly vertical, but that fire road climb wasn’t far off.  It’s called Kill Hill.  Is that messed up or what?  ‘Kill’ is the first ‘stick it to ya’ of the Growler, and we were only 300 yards off the pavement.  I alternated between ‘guh’ and ‘blarg’ noises as I cranked and creaked up the hill.  Ascent Cycling riders were eleven-strong in the pack that day, and we had Clay, Tanya, and my daughter Maggie cheering for us along the side of the
climb.  I can’t tell you how much of a pick-me-up that was, especially as I was off the bike and pushing for the first of many times over the course of the race.

1:12:03
(or thereabouts)

The Sea of Sage descent is best done with gears because it’s a bit pedaly in places, but regardless, it’s a ripper of a good time.The track bends and dips, forcing you to take a good line to make maximum progress.  Provided you did though, you were cruisin’.  It was the
first wide-open descent of the day, as a rock problem had halted the flow down the opener, giving some people fits.  There were quite a few rock problems throughout the day.

No Time-Hack Because This Was a Thing All Day

Let’s have a little chat about the climbing.  There is 4,400’ of gain on the 32 mile Growler lap which, on balance, isn’t that much for a race of this distance.  What makes the race’s founder, Dave Wiens, so diabolical in his course layout is how the climbing comes at you.
A steep pitch here, a steady-state grind there, and all of a sudden your legs are telling you sternly to knock it off.  Like any other reasonably silly mountain biker, you ignore them.  Now your legs are pleading at you, keening desperate, sickly-sweet nothings like “Hey fella, just take this climb off, all’s we’re askin’.  We’ll totally make it up to you.”  Meanwhile, you’re pedaling everywhere and like the song says, you can’t get no relief.  It’s that kind of course, folks.  There are enough dips, turns and climbs that by the end, and maybe most especially if you’re the dolt on the green-bedecked Kona Unit single speed, you’re listening.  Hike-a-bike.  T.I.G.

Oh hey, you know what?  There are rocks all over the course!  It’s like ol’ Wiensy (or
whatever his friends call him) decided he wanted to put the experience solidly in the mountain biker realm or something.  I never did crash on course, but those rocks beat me up all the same.  They rob you of momentum, force you off the good line, and as you tire, they seem to consume the whole trail.  You embrace it, because, well, you paid to play right?  Too late to turn back now.

5:18:07

It’s all downhill from here.  Thankfully.  The final hit of adrenaline is brought to you courtesy of Collarbone.  A steep and massively-bermed bobsled run of a trail, you can’t help but smile, your turns truly earned.  If I was of a cynical bent, I might say that this trail was purposefully built to make a rider’s final memory of the grueling ordeal a good one, hence said rider would be more likely to sign up to ride it again.  But I’m not, so I won’t.

5:20:00

And that was where it ended for me, +20 minutes on my goal.  I’m okay with that, since the course was as challenging as it was billed.  We all rode well.  Nick Starkey cracked the top 50 finishers.  Lane Sherman was in the top 100.  Justine Gehrett took an hour off her 2012 time.  Pat Cross, after a “you shoulda been there, man!” crash resulting in not having his top or bottom rear cog available for shifting duty the rest of the race, pulled a 3 hour and
40 minute lap.  On returning to the fantastic Gunnison KOA campground, showers were had, stories were told, libations were poured, and fires were lit.  It was that type of easy, familial atmosphere our group relishes.

We went to a party, and a mountain bike race came about.

T.I.G.

Mac Out