It was another epic race at the 2012 Bailey Hundo with some
tough competition in the singlespeed category.
I beat my previous years’ time at 100 miles in 7:47. After starting back in fifth, then moving to
2nd with 1st in my sites for quite some time I ended up finished
4th. This year I chose to use
a front suspension fork which made the awesome singletrack exponentially more
enjoyable. I ran 32x19 gearing on a 29r
with Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires front and rear. This course is awesome! Epic singletrack!
Bailey Hundo website: http://www.bailey100.com/
Race day started with a 4:45 alarm, quick breakfast, suiting
up then riding about 15 minutes to the race staging area in downtown Bailey
from the new riverside camping area by the finish line. Everyone lined up, talked a little about past
races and then with the sound of a shotgun blast we all took off immediately climbing
up pavement. The start has some pretty
good climbs with a few descents and overall is not too bad on the singlespeed.
When I got on the Colorado Trail singletrack I thought I was
probably in 4th place after trying to keep track of all my competitors
during the road section. I felt good and
the singletrack was really fast and fun.
I caught up and passed 3rd and 2nd about 20 miles
into the race. Shortly after I got a glimpse
of Jeffrey Carter who was in 1st.
Last year I passed him which started a dueling match for the following
80 miles so this time I thought I would just hang back and keep him in my
sites. I was feeling really good at that
point and thought I could have passed him but I ended up stalking him for the
next 30 miles. On a few climbs he
started to pull away but I could still see glimpses of him by the time we got
to road section at about 60 miles.
The road section is brutal on a singlespeed. When racers with gears passed me they were
flying and out of site in no time.
On the road section I must have slowed down, or everyone
around me sped up. At the start of the
Stony Pass climb Jeffrey was nowhere in sight and another singlepeeder Jason
Hilgers passed me toward the bottom of the climb which moved me to 3rd. My stomach started bothering me around the
bottom of the climb as well and progressively got worse as I climbed. I suspected that I might be slowing down a
bit.
Stony pass is kind of a weird climb. After two years riding it now I’m still not
sure of where the actual top of the official pass is. The first climb resembles more like what I’m
used to seeing where you obviously top out then start descending but that is
just a small portion of the climb. It’s
a little deceiving because there are no trees as a result of the fire but it
gives a feel like your above timberline and you definitely go over what feels
like a pass and not a false summit. But
after dropping I made a turn on another road where there was an aid station and
started another significant climb. When
looking ahead on this climb there is nothing but a big mountain in front of me. After climbing for quite a while I turned
right on another road and shortly after started descending again but it was not
an obvious pass I had gone over. At this
point it still looked like there was a mountain in front of me and another
climb started but it was a much easier grade.
At this point it’s like slowly having your teeth pulled. After climbing for a significant amount of
time the road topped out and there was an aid station there. Finally there was a big downhill and it felt
great.
I could see the clouds moving in and was hoping to miss a
storm since it was less than 10 miles to the finish. It kept getting darker and darker and after
passing Wellington Lake with less than 5 miles left it started to
sprinkle. Then is started to dump rain. Then I was getting soaked by the dumping rain
and the water all over the road.
Suddenly Jody Elovitz showed up on a singlespeed and passed
me. I kept him in my sites but just
could catch him. I was soaked, cold and
riding as fast as I could suspecting Jody had just bumped me off the podium. I rolled into the finish about a minute
behind Jody to end up 4th place.
Great race!
I congratulated Jeffrey and Jody on their ride at the finish
and we swapped some race stories then I went and got a full dish of free food
and a beer. It’s a great setup at the
finish with a band right next to the scenic river adjacent to the designated
camping area.
Great job on the win Jeffrey Carter 1st, Jason
Hilgers 2nd, Jody Elovitz 3rd and Andrew Carney 5th!
