Whiskey 50

I plan to do it but haven’t signed up yet. Spence Basin is one of my all time favorite places to ride. I’ll definitely be on a hardtail in that area.

Only you know if you can take the pounding of a hardtail over 50 miles. I can't.

I just registered for the 30 proof, will be my first time doing the Whiskey. I ride Spence enough to occasionally hold the local legend on some segments, but not fast enough to hold more than a couple top 10 spots. I LOVE it though, wish the race course would hit Little Italy (down, not up). My tire setup has been Recon 2.6 front (the light 120 tpi one) and Aspen 2.4 rear. I ride the prior gen Specialized Epic suspended . Seems like a lot of the climbing for the 30 miler is on roads. The question for myself is how much water to carry. I guess that'll mostly depend on how hot it gets by the end of April. 30 miles is above my average 10-25 mile ride, so I'll have to start working on some saddle time, but I'm excited for it.

mark674 said:

I just registered for the 30 proof, will be my first time doing the Whiskey. I ride Spence enough to occasionally hold the local legend on some segments, but not fast enough to hold more than a couple top 10 spots. I LOVE it though, wish the race course would hit Little Italy (down, not up). My tire setup has been Recon 2.6 front (the light 120 tpi one) and Aspen 2.4 rear. I ride the prior gen Specialized Epic suspended . Seems like a lot of the climbing for the 30 miler is on roads. The question for myself is how much water to carry. I guess that'll mostly depend on how hot it gets by the end of April. 30 miles is above my average 10-25 mile ride, so I'll have to start working on some saddle time, but I'm excited for it.

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I raced the 50 in 2019. I used two bottles and filled them at the aid stations. Takes very little time to do this and certainly beats racing with a bag.

I have done it a few times in the past and signed up again this year. I will be going with a short travel bike (SB100) but if you are concerned about time/placing - your hard tail will be much better due to the long fireroad grind. Way more time to be made there than lost on the descents. I am in it for fun, and will even do the extra miles of singletrack if they are offered again.

I have done the 50 three times, but only finished my first attempt. I DNF'd in the snowstorm year (2015?) and then again in 2019 as I trained about 5 minutes for the race and missed the time cut off at about mile 35.

First two attempts were on 29 hardtail and the third attempt was on a 27.5+ hardtail with 3" tires. Don't recommend that at all, but you probably already knew that and I had to try.....

Not sure about this year.

tjkm said:

I DNF'd in the snowstorm year

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I was there that year, it was brutal, but I stuck it out and finished. My toes were semi numb for a month afterwards. First time ever that being a bit "thicker" that most XC riders has ever benefited me

Well done kirkB. My 155 lb ass was frozen !

I was stuck in the conga line and just soaked to the skin and barely moving and got cold to the point hypothermia was going to be on the menu. I forget where, but made a left and ended up on pavement and rode with about a dozen others back to the start/finish. I think I ended up riding about 15 miles total?

I had a lot of trouble getting my car key from my pack and unlocking my car, my hands were that cold and could not get dry clothes on quick enough.

I did stick around to see some of the first finishers and recall one guy in a regular 'summer kit' and wondering how the hell he did not die out there.

Hell of a day.

I pray for a snowstorm. I wouldn't have faired well when I lived there, but now that I know exactly how to handle those conditions, it would be huge advantage to me It's when it's even 80 degrees or more that I suffer. I was the last to get any water at the final aid station the last time, a least for a while. And I dunked myself in the creek. And someone was nice enough to dunk me with cold water on one of the final climbs. I needed all of that.

Can't wait for Bacon and Whiskey shots after Cramp Hill - its been a couple years for me, and I am excited to get back out there (recent trips to AZ have all been Sedona)

The email that came out today mentioned an 'improved' trail 48. Are any of you familiar with that? Before that email, I was 100% sure I was taking Moby Hill based on race reports.

djr21589 said:

The email that came out today mentioned an 'improved' trail 48. Are any of you familiar with that? Before that email, I was 100% sure I was taking Moby Hill based on race reports.

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First I've heard. I loved the Tr 48 challenge over the years. It was always a big wake-up call and where skills mattered just as much as endurance. But the back-ups were bad. Prescott has done a ton of work on trails and I'd imagine they rerouted around all the steps and made bench-cuts. Trail 40 and a few others also got some similar recent treatment with removal of the waterbars.

Going WAY back, there was a cardiac-hill that was the usual way to get on 48 from the road, it was an absolute blow-up grade. Then they put in the long singletrack approach that still had a few bottlenecks for the less-skilled, but at least it wasn't the straight up thing. You can still see it if you know where to look. Not that I want that back, I don't, but it will be interesting to have 48 back.

I've registered 3 times, but I'm hoping that this'll be the first time I actually show up. Probably the first marathon event I've done since 2018.

bikeranzin said:

I've registered 3 times, but I'm hoping that this'll be the first time I actually show up. Probably the first marathon event I've done since 2018.

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It’s been a challenge trying to figure out nutrition for this. I’m used to 90 min races.

djr21589 said:

It’s been a challenge trying to figure out nutrition for this. I’m used to 90 min races.

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I'm going either 2 bottles of Skratch Superfuel, or Tailwind's variant that is doing the same thing. I'm expecting a time of somewhere between 3:30 and 3:45 which informs my nutrition. I'll probably have a Maurten CAF 100 or two with me just in case.

Edit: I'm basing this off the 2019 amateur times, and where I tend to place relative to some people I recognize. I'm a bit confused why the pro times are seemingly slow relative to the amateurs that year, so it's very possible that I stand to be humbled on my actual day!

bikeranzin said:

I'm going either 2 bottles of Skratch Superfuel, or Tailwind's variant that is doing the same thing. I'm expecting a time of somewhere between 3:30 and 3:45 which informs my nutrition. I'll probably have a Maurten CAF 100 or two with me just in case.

Edit: I'm basing this off the 2019 amateur times, and where I tend to place relative to some people I recognize. I'm a bit confused why the pro times are seemingly slow relative to the amateurs that year, so it's very possible that I stand to be humbled on my actual day!

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you may actually win it!
I can’t do the superfuel, it’s too rich for me. But I also have been having a hard time eating every 20-30 minutes. I tried the liquid IV and I don’t think I can do that either. Haha! Untapped has been great for carbs for me.

The Adventure Stache with Keegan talking about 24HOP was interesting. Granted, wayyyyyyy longer, but still interesting to hear about his fueling. One point he was having chicken (or maybe vegetable) broth. Maybe I’ll bring one bottle of ramen

djr21589 said:

you may actually win it!

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Ha, I wish, but super unlikely. I just hope I'm somewhere near the front.

djr21589 said:

Keegan talking about 24HOP was interesting.

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That dude's about as gritty as they come. If eating liver midway through an XCO was shown to have performance benefits, I bet he'd be doing it. I'm really pulling for him to get a stage win (if not better) at the Cape Epic going on right now.

Are the aid stations well stocked enough that you can quick fill up a bottle and be on your way, or do you usually have to wait a bit in line? My preference would be bottles, but I don’t want to be hanging out at each aid station for a couple minutes.

djr21589 said:

Are the aid stations well stocked enough that you can quick fill up a bottle and be on your way, or do you usually have to wait a bit in line? My preference would be bottles, but I don’t want to be hanging out at each aid station for a couple minutes.

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I've never had to wait in line...but they did run out of water last time, haha.