Molly Cameron, racing on a beach in Japan.

Molly Cameron, racing on a beach in Japan.

These welds are just flawless. Firefly is at the top of their game.

These welds are just flawless. Firefly is at the top of their game.

Beautiful Ti belt-driven bike from Paul Budnitz of Kidrobot fame.

Beautiful Ti belt-driven bike from Paul Budnitz of Kidrobot fame.

Race Report: Original Growler

I’d heard good things about the riding in Hartman Rocks for several years, but I’d never made the trip. And after talking to a few riding buddies about the Growler, it sounded like the perfect excuse to head down to Gunnison and see what Hartman was all about.

Sunday morning we gathered in downtown Gunnison for the start and I was thankful for the neutral rollout back to Hartman. I chatted up with a few folks before the road turned vertical, but then the race was on and I scrambled to reach the singletrack in a decent position. As we entered Josho’s the first time, I latched onto the wheel of last year’s women’s winner, Melissa Thomas, and her singlespeed teammate, Brae Patten and hoped for the best. Things slowly stretched out and I settled into a good rhythm.

Looking at my Garmin, I was well ahead of my 6:45 goal, but I was feeling strong and wasn’t too worried about blowing up. Then, as I rounded a corner in the Enchanted Forest, I hit the deck without warning.

It was one of those ass-over-teakettle falls — one minute I was cruising along, picking lines, the next I was tearing cactus needles out of my backside. Both arms were bleeding, as was my right knee, but the most painful was my right hip. After shaking off the pain and making sure my bike was in working order, I remounted and continued. At this point, I was pretty shaken and started taking the technical parts more cautiously. And with each steep hill, I could feel my legs starting to cramp a bit. Nothing bad at first, but eventually they gave way to full-on spasms and I had to hop off my bike to break the contractions several times. More precious minutes lost.

I was relieved to reach the start/finish area so I could hit the pause button for a few minutes. I grabbed more water, energy drink, some Clif Bloks, and some honey and chatted with my teammate Brandon. Sitting there, I debated about continuing, deciding in the end to ride The Notch and Rattlesnake before throwing in the towel.

It wasn’t long afterward that I met up with another singlespeeder who was going roughly the same pace. Ryan and I took turns on the various singletrack sections and the more we rode together, the better I felt. My legs came around with about 15 miles to go, the cramping all but gone. Gradually, we picked off some of the riders that had passed us earlier in the race, the field thinned out now that the Half Growler folks had all finished. Some other riders were gaining, though, and on the final climbs on and around The Ridge, I inched away from Ryan and headed out on my own. A few miles from the finish, I was passed by one final singlespeeder (full-suspension, no less) but hung in the top 10 to finish in 8th. Final time, 6:36 and change.

Big ups to Dave Wiens and all the folks that made the Original Growler a success. Hoping to be back next year for another try — well worth the trip to Gunnison!