The Maah Daah Hey Buck50 as they call it. 150 miles of singletrack. Point to point. It’s the Raddest Race in the Baddest Place. OK I said that after the 100, but it’s true. The point to point 150 is a relatively new event I believe only a couple of years old. After doing the 100 I was hooked. Everything about LAND “Legendary Adventures / Badlands ND) is incredible. I’d highly suggest browsing their site at experienceland.org. Race director Nick Ybarra has essentially dedicated his lift to this trail and all things associated. It’s incredible.
I wasn’t real sure on this one. I knew 150 miles of single track pushing 20,000’ of climb would almost certainly be my longest day on the bike on a good day and by far the longest on a mediocre day. The course is hard. So hard as you may recall this might be the first place I say isn’t for everyone. It’s very hard with elevation. You are very exposed. The weather is unpredictable. I always say the harder the better, but I ride my bike a ton which helps make “hard” a bit more manageable. There’s no hiding here. It’s you and the trail…and the cow crap / etc. Pretty sweet! I saw the fastest time to date was mid 17’s and I figured a good day for me might be 15. Maybe.
Due to the times, the course and widely variable weather Nick chose to offer this event over a time window. Essentially from dawn Saturday to dusk the following Thursday. During that time, riders could start and finish the 150 solo or as other multi-day options. I believe Nick intends to keep it that way going forward and of course add a 300 mile out and back option! He camped at the CCC campground (finish line) for that duration. Therefore, he was able to be there for all finishers. Pretty cool. The opportunity to ride solo eliminated some challenges but created others. I’m a grinder. I can go solo no problem and TT is cool with me. Therefore, the reduced stress of tactics in a group were a positive. We wend HARD during the 100 early. That made the last bit of the 100 very hard as the tank was empty. When I get in these “all day” TT type races or workouts I feel I get stronger as the day goes assuming I’m smart with pacing / fueling. The obvious drawback to this style of event is it’s you and only you. Alone. A long and lonely day. That’s where the brilliant support of Chris Wiswell comes in.
Knowing all things would be hard for this one we did quite a bit of homework. I knew the last 100 miles of the course from the 100. Chris did a ton of course and support research and developed a perfect plan for seeing me as much as possible and keeping my spirits high and calories fed. Somehow this was a perfect partnership. This wasn’t just my day. It became our day. Chris’s incredible preparation and support was a critical portion of the result. A result I will say was my best day.
Chris and I left NR 9AM Sunday morning with a plan to ride Monday. That was due to schedules and weather. The weather wasn’t great, but it wasn’t wet. Cold and windy was the forecast. We also found out the day before that the course record was destroyed by almost 4 hours in the mid 13’s by Kelly Magelky. That was a bit mentally taxing for me. I figured 15 would be a great day for me, but I also didn’t think anyone could put more than 30 minutes into me on that course. Most of that 30 minutes is lost due to lack of skills and nerve in the tech sections and descents. So the goal became to first enjoy the day and experience. Chris and I came up with a strict agreement that if I was way off the 13:39 benchmark that we’d pull the plug on “full gas” and enjoy the day. Whatever that meant. Afterall, I had promised Chris after supporting me on a day like today I’d Sherpa him up any mountain climb in the west for his first beyond category attempt. Therefore, we had Glacier and Going to the Sun road on our minds. I know right?
The alarm was set for 2:50 AM. What I don’t think we realized at that time is that by choosing Glacier we’d essentially be non-stop from that 2:50 AM rise to 9AM 2 days later arriving back home. Yep. 72 hours, 2752 miles, and a 150-mile bike race and beyond category climb. Ouch, but it was worth it. 100%.
Chris had us very organized that morning, so I woke up and threw my borrowed bike Candy (from Thomas) in the truck. Breakfast was the usual oats and eggs laced with maple syrup. I had my 2 cups of Bell Lap Coffee, and the new CBD. I have a routine. Don’t mess with it. Those 2 cups of coffee help my pre-race hydration so I’m well ahead of the game before the start. We hit the road with a goal leave from the trail head of 4:30. Carey Lowery who I’d met at Marji last fall during the race was leaving at 4AM and as far as we knew was the only other on the trail that day.
We arrived to an empty trail head. No formal start time so no stress. I packed up a flask full of Pure Fuel, a few bars, 1 bottle (it was 35 degrees and all grams matter) and bundled up. We were required to shoot video proof of our start with a cell phone time stamp and contact Nick. Then I was off pedaling to the darkness. So much beauty in that sky! It was the easiest and most stress-free race start of my career. Leave time 4:33 AM.
I knew the trail to Medora was better and more improved according to Nick but was not aware that about 40 of the 50 miles back toward town were graveled. A beautiful maybe 24” wide ribbon of nice gravel that was mostly glass smooth. I almost took the lock out off Thomas’s bike for the race, but I bet I used it 100 times or more during the race. Lock it for all but descending those first 50 miles. So awesome. The only drawback of the gravel is the traction is not great for speed. Yes, it’s great for smooth riding, but the gravel isn’t as cohesive as dirt or the Badlands soil. Therefore, corning in the dark is sketchy. I had a big yard sale crash just before town after daylight. Nutrition spread everywhere, but no major injury. The bike got loose on a fast descent, and I saved it right into the only tree leaning over the trail for ½ mile. Go figure. But that first section was great. So much less wear and tear due smooth. Physically I wasn’t into it and like usual I spent those first several hours fighting to get the engine running. Thankfully, I was smart enough to wear leg warmers, an insulated jacket (so not aero) and insulated 4NRTH gloves. Those gloves were the best kit decision I made all day as the valley’s were froze solid. I wasn’t. No DAMn repeat of endless suffering in the cold thankfully!
I did have one unfortunate navigation issue at mile 13 where I couldn’t find a hairpin turn on a big butte. I stood there for 2 minutes or more standing, then walking over the tops then standing. I couldn’t find the trail as the buttes are hard dirt which means no tracks to follow. Finally, I noticed the MDH sign reflector directly behind me through the hairpin. Crazy. But those 2 minutes I stood admiring nature and darkness. Beautiful.
I saw Chris a few times during those first several hours. Due to cold, I didn’t need fluid, but he kept swapping bars and syrup. It was like a bottomless glass all day. I never got close to empty on fuel. I believe the total for Clif Bars and Maple Syrup on the day was 10 bars, 20 ounces of syrup. 1 peanut butter sandwich, ½ slice of meat lovers pizza with an hour or so to go…mmmmm. Maybe 3-4 total bottles of liquid all day which made it hard to get enough caffeine (PerformX). Chris hopped me up with a couple of caffeinated gels. Seeing Chris more often than I thought would happen was great. I never really got lonely. Remember those gates I talked about from MDH 100? Well, I think we went through about 50 of them this time. I’d stop, throw gate up, go before the gate hit me coming back down. I had a system and I think each gate costs me about 10 seconds assuming flat ground. Chris held a couple open for me. Those were also great pee opportunities.
That darn creek though. Remember that one I went over the bars into the mud during the 100? I rode through it this time as it was dryer. Trouble is the creek bed was “peanut butter” slop and caked the tires with mud and rocks. I rode off and punctured my rear Thunder Burt ½ mile later! You want to talk about luck? I could see Chris at a road crossing when I punctured. I yelled to him and we messed around with it at the truck debating a wheel swap (we had my Top Fuel and wheels) and then I decided it sealed well enough and I rode away with it still hissing another mile or so. Talk about rolling the dice, but after that mile of hissing we never addressed it the rest of the day. It just worked so I kept going.
Getting north of the freeway and well back onto the Maah Daah Hey 100 trail I knew it was going to be harder. We were now getting back on the big boy trail. No more smooth gravel and harder climbs. Quite frankly a lot harder. I’d take Amber on that first 50 miles. She’d kill me if I took her on the last 100! But as the temps warmed so did the engine. As always, I seemed to get stronger and stronger. 1 potential drawback is I wasn’t running a power meter. All I could see all day was my heart rate consistently in the 140’s and many times much higher. With peak in the 180 range and a super long day looming 140’s was absolutely a full gas pacing effort I thought. But I kept going. Fueling, hydrating now, and just feeling strong. Like the 100 lots of cattle. If you yell at them real loud, they get off the trail every time. Lots of mule deer, but no bucks. I saw turkeys and antelope as well.
What I wasn’t aware of was how well I was doing. I could see my overall time. It seemed to me the math was pointing to a much slower time than 13:39 with even that original 15-hour goal being a stretch. Chris, however, was aware and I was not privy to the fact that he could see the sign in times at each required checkpoint and he could see Kelly’s times between each checkpoint. I was very competitive or even ahead at one spot. Between Chris having time intervals and my good spirits we kept pushing and doing NASCAR pitstops. I’d literally turn and pee while Chris stuffed my pockets. TMI? Sorry, but that’s long course racing. At least I wasn’t peeing on the fly like I sometimes do! Besides the stop to deal with the puncture our efficiency was incredible. My head stayed fun and positive almost all day.
And speaking of Chris as support he had fun of his own. I knew there was a water crossing he’d be driving my truck through. No biggy. But I didn’t know he had to forge the Little Missouri River with my truck! The only bad part of that? He washed all the several week-old red dirt from Cuyuna. Darn, it Amber wanted that red dirt on the truck and will not wash it off her bike!
The course is so hard. So hard. I kept telling Chris the last 100 would be hardest. He could see the elevation map and had done lots of research, but the map on paper does not equal the actual difficulty encountered on about 3-4 climbs north of the freeway. I believe the first was about mile 75 just after an official checkpoint. Chris met me there riding the Top Fuel. It’s a short stick into and out of a trailhead and then a monster steep climb up a butte. I had a 50t Eagle gear and couldn’t ride it. I couldn’t ride it because it was too hard. It was long, steep, and technical hair pins and I didn’t want to fall off the cliff. Chris caught me on camera there. I’m the little orange dot in the next pic. I believe when I got to the top I had gone 0.3 miles since leaving Chris. I swear it took 5 minutes. Nothing like walking with your bike and watching the heart rate in the 150 range! And there was one much worse at mile 143. 300’ vertical hike a bike. This one was loose and steep. Nothing to do here but walk. So. Hard. My gosh. The good thing about the course is there is not a lot of gnarly stuff to damage bike or tires. Unless you crash like me. I believe Candy survived MDH 150 without a single scratch.
