This is a very preliminary “race report”, because to be honest, I’ve been pretty darn swamped between work, travel, recovery, and ramping my training back up since crossing the finish line, and I haven’t had a chance to type up my typical novella of a race report yet!
This was the first “official” race under Team Tracy ATX p/b ChampSys, and I can’t even begin to explain how incredibly special it was to race in a kit that I designed, engulfed by the puzzle piece and math symbol artwork that symbolize so much of the hard work and planning that goes into an Ultra Race, as well as by the logos of my sponsors, who support me through thick and thin, and help make chasing this crazy dream of mine a reality. The ChampSys Kits were AH-MAZING, and kept me cool and comfy under the blazing sun mid-day, and toasty warm on mountain descents overnight 🙂
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The Reader’s Digest Version:
Race Across OR was hands down the most difficult Ultra Distance Road TT that I have raced to date. There were a few reasons for this
- It was my first direct follow/leapfrog Ultra Race, rather than a “loop” format with a pit, so there was a lot of learning to be done despite lots and lots of research and planning by my crew and I
- In addition to being 502.4 miles long, it also included over 39,500 feet of elevation gain. . that’s WAY more than I have ever climbed in a single ride in my life
- In part because of the significant amount of climbing, and in part because I’d been neglecting my core and stabilizing muscle work, my pedal stroke got off about 300 miles into the race, as my primary muscles fatigued, and I started relying on muscles that I wasn’t used to using. This resulted in some SEVERE knee pain that I had to push through to the best of my ability over the final 200 miles. . and more time off the bike to let my knee calm down than I would have liked after the race was over 😢
I had set some lofty goals going into this race, and I missed several of them, but accomplished the biggie – I won the 500 Mile Women’s US National TT Championship (and was 2nd place overall behind the formidable Shane Trotter!)
I learned a LOT from some of the mistakes that I made during this first non-looped Ultra though, and am looking forward to implementing those lessons in my race plan and execution at Silver State 508 in September!
I can’t end this Reader’s Digest of a post without thanking ChampSys, VanDoIt, BiSaddle, Atom Composites, M3GA Coaching, Traughber Nutrition, Ikor, CORE, CarboRocket, and Nuun Hyration for their unbelievable support. More later on how products and services from each of these companies/businesses played an integral role in my successful completion of this grueling National Championship race!
“Ultra Beef”. .
If you missed the “Ultra Beef” between Shane Trotter and I leading into RAO. . .well . . . you missed out. . .LOL, but you can catch up by checking out the highlight reel linked here
Shane won “The Beef” this go-round, but we’ll have a rematch at The 508 in September 😈
Jamie and I (and Scooby! 🐕🦺) did a bit of a post-race rundown on IG Live, and also answered a TON of questions about Ultra Racing in General, and you can check it out here:
You can also check my Live Interview by Race Director George Thomas just after crossing the finish line here 🎤: