Race Report: Tahoe Trail 100
Date: July 20th, 2024
AVRT racers: Rachel Hwang, Katarina Zgraja, Kelly Brennan, and Riley Chapman.
Top Result: 8/38 women. 1/9 in the 20-29F group.
Course: 61 miles, 7500ft. 2 laps of dirt roads and single track around Northstar Resort. The start is fast, hard, and uphill. It’s very easy to go too hard for the first lap of this course. There are a couple of punchy short climbs. The final climb of the course is a 3 mile, 2000ft climb.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11938263322
Nutrition: 1st lap: 2L pack of 200g superfuel + 1 bottle of water. 2nd lap: 2 bottles of too strong superfuel.
Riley and I arrived at the start just as the national anthem was playing, with no time for a proper warm-up - That’s when you know you’re cutting it a bit too close! We managed to sneak in from the side, but our positioning wasn’t ideal.
The day before had been an adventure in itself. We endured 111-degree heat in Central California without air conditioning, dealt with car software issues, and at one point crawled along a two-lane section of I-80 at 20 mph - the semis were passing us! We had left the Bay early to make it to the Friday night packet pick-up, but with all the delays, it took us 6.5 hours to reach Truckee, and we missed the packet pick-up window. Our main goal was for Riley to perform well enough to secure a spot at Leadville, as I was already registered. However, after such a long day, we adjusted our expectations to simply finishing the race and hoping Riley might get lucky in the lottery for a Leadville spot. In this race, you either earn a spot by being one of the top riders in your age group or by having your number drawn in a lottery.
With no warm-up, I decided to use the start of the race as my warm-up, maintaining a Zone 2 to Zone 3 pace up the first climb. At the first pinch point - a steep, sandy hill-, I practiced patience and slow-pedaled praying the person in front of me would stay on their bike. I witnesses many people trying to pass too eagerly here, only force themselves off the bike, slowing everyone else down. After clearing this, I continued climbing at a steady tempo pace.
As the course descended and transitioned into a long, mostly flat single-track section, I found myself pedaling at about 100 watts, stuck behind lines of riders. I used these calmer moments to eat and drink, then surged at appropriate times to pass groups of 5-10 riders. Throughout the lap, I kept an altitude-adjusted Zone 2 pace on the flats and Zone 3 on the climbs. By the time I finished the first lap, I realized my water bottle cage had rattled loose and was about to fall off!
At the drop bag station, I ditched my hydration pack and picked up two water bottles, taking a moment to fix the loose cage. When I started riding again, I took a sip from one of my bottles and I nearly choked – it was way too concentrated! Determined to stick to my pacing strategy for the second lap, I started passing other women. On the long single-track section, I caught up with Rachel, and we rode together for a bit.
In the last 10 miles, I found myself riding with a fast woman on a hardtail. She climbed so quickly, and I wondered how I would manage to beat her. By this point, my overly concentrated bottle was undrinkable, so I made a quick stop at an aid station. A volunteer refilled my bottle with a pitcher of water, and I raced to catch up to the hardtail lady again. I passed her on a long descent, and by the time I looked back, she was nowhere in sight. I kept pushing, knowing the hardest part of the course – a 3-mile, 2,000-foot climb – was ahead, and I was determined not to get passed. As I powered up and over, my feet were aching from the heat and tight shoes, but I pushed through, descending straight to the finish, just 3 minutes behind Riley, who had bonked a little on the second lap.
After the race, we went swimming at the Truckee river to wash off and change clothes. We came back to the post-race celebration for Riley to participate in the Leadville lottery and he won a spot!!
Race Recommendations:
Try not to overextend too much in the first lap because most riders bonk on the second lap.
While it’s possible to do this course on a hardtail, most hardtail riders were too worn out by the second lap. The course was pretty rough this year.
The aid stations have pitchers of water. These pitchers and the volunteers are super fast at refilling bottles! Stopping for a refill has never negatively affected my race (and has always helped me!).
Bring a swimsuit and change of clothes to hangout for the post-race celebration.
Remember your drop-bag! We almost forgot ours!