Whiskey Off-Road 50 Recap

The Whiskey 50 put on by Epic Rides has been one event on my list this year I've been looking forward to since I signed up.  Mainly because the race is hosted in Prescott, AZ which happens to be the neighboring city to where my Mom and brother along with his wife live.  2011 would mark the 8th running of the Whiskey Off-Road and I can't believe I just found out about this event last year.  I usually make a trip out to Prescott Valley 3-4 times a year to hit up the many miles of great trails.  I was able to preview the entire Whiskey 50 course last summer so I knew what to expect coming into this year.

Driving was a little tough at times.  Photo by Steph.



The weekend started off on a Thursday morning for me along with James, JD, and Steph.  We all met up at James' pad to load the Highlander for the 6 hour journey to PV.  When we got into town we decided it would be best to pre-ride the 25 miler course of the Whiskey.  I was the only one of the group that was somewhat familiar with the route and I was glad to get another preview of what was to come a couple days before the race.  For dinner we went to the Raven Cafe in Whiskey Row.  This place was definitely cool with lots of great beers to choose from along with great food.  I highly recommend a stop to this place if you are ever in the area.  My mom was gracious enough to allow myself and my friends stay at her place for the weekend.  She is such a wonderful host and we all appreciated her awesome act of kindness.  It really made the weekend that much better.

This fireroad would suck come race day...Photo by Steph.

Pulled Pork Sandwich and sweet potato fries....yum!

Friday we were able to kill some time by picking packets up and hitting the theater's up to see Fast Five.  I know it probably sounds cheezy to most, but honestly...this was probably the best of the sequels to the Fast and Furious brand.  Highly entertaining for sure with hunks like Vin Diesel and The Rock so the ladies (Steph) and sometimes dudes (JD) can appreciate it.  ;-)

Steph gets overly excited for horse statues.

James, myself, and JD enjoying the sites.  Photo by Steph.

Occifer Bang Bang (JD)



Race day started early morning on Saturday.  Race start was at 7:30am and I loathe early wake up calls.  It was quite brisk in the early morning while getting prepped waiting for the glorious orange ball in the sky to begin the warming process.  We probably took more time than we needed to before heading to the start line on Whiskey Road.  I wish I had a picture of the start because I've never seen so many mountain bikers line-up all at once.  Apparently there was around 500-600 racers at the start.  It was quite cool yet pretty sucky cause I was NO-where near the front.  I knew I would have to work pretty hard early on to get somewhat near the front group once the race would begin.  The sound of a shotgun blast would signal the start of the race and off we went...wait...not just yet...why am I not moving?  Oh yeah, since I was so far back...I had to wait about 30 seconds before things started going.  The atmosphere was awesome with families and people cheering on the racers.  Something that lacks out here in the local SoCal racing scene.  I knew I had about 6 miles of paved road to try and catch the police escort group up ahead.  It put in some good efforts and really didn't feel like I was tapping into all my resources, but I think the elevation of 6000+ ft was playing tricks with me while watching my heart rate.  I eventually was able to catch on to the tail end of the front group just before hitting the sick singletrack.  I felt pretty held up at times from this point until getting to the fireroad ~8 miles later.  There were lots of water bars to scale going up and going down.  Some riders were more timid than others, which made it hard to get around those riders.  That's all just part of it though.

Once to Skull Valley, I knew the hardest part was ahead.  A twelve mile climb to the summit before the 10 mile descent back to Whiskey Row.  I had no idea where I was currently placed, but it didn't really matter to me.  My focus was to finish the race under 4 hours, but secretly hoping for something in the 3:30 hour range.  The climb started out well, but then I hit that 2 hour window where things always start to get tough.  The climb would get steeper as well to add more salt to the wound.  Steph told me I was top 20 as I saw her coming down the dreaded Skull Valley climb getting ready for her own world of pain.  I worked with other riders here and there, but pretty much was on my own for the majority of the climb.  I was able to make a couple of passes before the summit and finally get a sigh of relief before the fun descent down the mountain.  The best part of the race was making that final right turn onto Whiskey Row and seeing all the people plus my family cheering me on.  They've never seen me race before so they were just as excited to see me as I was to see them.  It was really cool and motivating to push that much harder for the line.  Once the results were in, I finished 12th out of 232 for the Open class with a finishing time of 3:48:30.  I know I could have done better, but I'm really happy with my results.  I hope to better my time at this race next year depending on the schedule.

My lovely mom and I post race.  Where would I be without here? Photo by Andrea.

James kicked ass finishing 16th and only 5 mins behind me!  My pupils learn fast.

"Everyone's Hometown"  I own this shit. ;-)

In retrospect, this was really a fantastic event that was well organized with something to do for the whole family.  Don't hesitate to put this one on your to do list.  It is worth it.  Oh yeah, the swag bags were the biggest I've ever gotten at an event.  Lots of cool stuff for sure.