Did anybody here do it today? Interested to hear peoples thoughts on how it compares to a HIM. I though it was absolute agony.
Absolute agony is right. I DNF’ed after two laps. The blistering heat and those killer climbs were too much for me today. I’ll be back next year to try the real course. It sounds much better. No half IM compares.
Seriously? Riding in Stewart is agony?? It’s been a coupla years now since I rode there, but, I don’t recall anything all that hard, or steep.
Granted it was pretty f’n hot today and all, but, I just can’t see how it coulda been that bad. Do tell.
For my $, the Williams Lake Classic (RIP) that used to happen every October (thanks to Tim Quilty) was by far the hardest and most technical mtb race in the area.
Among the highlights of that race were: riding thru the cave, illuminated by jack-o-lanterns, and Pete’s Wicked Trail, which had a case of Pete’s Wicked Ale (back when it was GOOD, before they sold out to f’n Miller) for you to grab a cold one if you were off the back. Awesomeness.
Agreed, Stewart is normally easy riding. I rode the course a few years back and it was all fast flat single track with a few short steep sections. Great stuff.
This year, because of the rain, they ran the course as 4x10 mile loops aways to the north of the regular stuff. Apparently the normal routes were too caked in with mud and puddles. Well mud and puddles don’t linger on slopes, which pretty much explained how they managed to run a relatively dry course.
Fuuuuuu…
My legs cramped after mile 23 and only got back to normal(ish) by mile 28. Repeat for last lap. Agony. I was in good company as well. I’d love to know how many DNF’s there were…
Blistering heat was a big factor. My strategy of only drinking the 3l in my camelback and the odd cupfull at the adi stations derailed BADLY when at the 2nd lap, I had nailed the lot. By the end of the race I was hanging round the halfway station like it was my local bar. Harriman Half was like kindergarten by comparison. I’m sticking to easy stuff like long course triathlons:0)
See you next year!
Well maybe at 59 the years are catching up to me but that was only my second DNF in very close to thirty years of endurance racing. And the other one ended in an ambulance ride followed by knee surgery. The big difference here is that in triathlon you usually don’t get that wasted feeling until you are on the run and you can walk run or just walk. On the DH40 course yesterday it got dangerous, I went down hard one time crashing my head into a tree. One nasty downhill that I have ridden in the past, I walked on my second lap because I just didn’t trust myself by then. I tried to get myself back together at the aid station before lap three, but finally had to admit that it was time to go have some barbecued chicken in the shade.
Yiiikes, that’s sounds totally epic, and not really in the good way either.
I’d heard about this event before, but like with nearly everything else, I forgot about it until it was too late. This year, that was obviously a blessing, and not in disguise either!
Did anybody here do it today? Interested to hear peoples thoughts on how it compares to a HIM. I though it was absolute agony.
A friend of mine won it ($200 prize). He is fit but I didn’t think anything amazing. Is it a hard race?
Sounds like you made a good choice. A second DNF to an ambulance it not a career high. Besides, getting in at a sensible time, you’d have gotten some of the pasta salad and a cold suds. They’d run out by the time I got home and I got three of those half chickens down my neck before I decided I’d better take it easy.
He won it this year? Hats off. That dude is an animal.