July 2020 I was mountain biking Armstrong Trail in Park City, Utah, just past the mid-mountain intersection when I found I was talking out loud to myself, “Wow this place is beautiful.”
Bikes and trails are two of my favorite things and Park City with over 450 miles of trails makes for an epic playground. On any given 10-mile ride you may find yourself cutting through deep green forests, emerging against red rock, dodging cacti on high-desert sand, or winding back through endless aspen groves.
The marquee event for mountain bikes and trail lovers in Park City is Point 2 Point, a 75-mile, single-track mountain bike race with ~11k feet of vertical gain, hosted each year in September. There are no casual entrants and over a dinner with a decidedly casual group of Park City Mountain Bike friends we all agreed to sign-up. Clearly, a ‘great’ starter race. Registration opens up in February, and the 400+ slots sell out in 5 minutes. You’re left with 8 months to prepare.
This will be broken into 3 sections - goal setting, training, and a full race report.
Goal Setting
It had been 10 years since I had set a meaningful fitness goal. After a few marathons right after college I stayed fit with a mix of running and yoga but 3 years ago I grabbed a Santa Cruz 5010 mountain bike and fell in love with the trails.
I set 3 goals after the ill-advised sign-up in the winter of 2023:
Finish the race. Every year 20-30% of people who enter the race drop out or don’t make the cut-off. Getting to the timed cut-off point at Park City Mountain at over 50 miles is a massive accomplishment in and of itself.
Finish in under 10 hours - this is an average pace of 7.7MPH
Finish in under 9 hours - this is an average pace of 8.6MPH
Training
Cheers to training partners like Brandon, Alec, Scott, Benjy, Jeremy, Nate, Noe, Jeff, Seavron, Andy, Cory, Matt, Jason, and many others who have hit the trails over the years. I feel lucky to have incredible friends to spend hours on the trails with. A lot of topics are covered in a 5-hour training session and you quickly move to the next level of friendship. One of my favorite works of art is a 10 minute video that shows how strangers are more open to quality conversations when working out. “The Runners” captures impromptu conversations on a snowy morning in East London’s Victoria Park - one of my favorite 10k loops in the world. Mid workout people are vulnerable, honest, empathetic, and more human. I’m thankful for the friends I’ve made on the trails in Park City.
I set a fairly arbitrary goal of completing 80 training rides prior to the race. The thinking was that by the time the snow melted this would be 3-4 days a week and the effort and distance would continue to ramp as the fitness level increased.
Park City had record snowfall for the 22-23 season. 900+ inches at Alta, nearly 700 inches at Park City Mountain and it meant that trails stayed covered for an extra month.
Training Block 1 - Training kicked off in earnest in mid-May with some mountain bike time on the roads and eventually time on trails as the trails firmed up. May to July represented the first significant training block and then I spent the month of July in London. I had established a reasonable base in the first block of training and block two I traded the mountain bike for the spin/cycle gym in London.
Training Block 2 - The time in a city without a bike turned out to be a massive win. Gretchen talked me into joining Digme, a cycling gym around the corner from the apartment in the Barbican. The effort required for a 45-90 min session sweating in a London basement looks a little different than a 3-hour flow ride in the trails. I did 30 days of riding in the gym, missing only 1 or 2 days. These gyms track everything from Watts to mileage and I saw massive improvements in the month. The speed work had me feeling way stronger as I left the world of spinning to head back outside onto a real bike.
I couldn’t leave Europe without one real effort outside so I talked my brother into joining me in Munich for a last-minute Munich, Germany -> Lake Garda Italy 4-day tour on a mix of gravel and pavement. We pedaled between 50-95 miles a day with some really hard efforts and enjoyed the best of Germany, Italy & Northern Italy. Northern Italy was a particular delight. We enjoyed the best of Italian food & espresso, with German Beer still making its way across the border and incredible infrastructure cutting through some beautiful mountains.
Along the Isar River in Munich, Germany - the start
Lake Garda, Italy the destination
On our way to dinner at Sprechenstein in Campo di Trens, Italy.
Training Block 3 - was the final Park City training push from early August until September 2nd. I ramped to a 55-mile day with nearly 9k feet of vertical gain and explored most of the segments of the P2P race to get a feel for the course.
Much to the dismay of other friends who are properly geared out, I run a minimal data stack on my bike, meaning I just carry a phone w/Strava tracking pace and miles. No power meter to speak of, but I’m starting to get the appeal. A new set-up may appear for future races. On August 23rd I hit 80 rides and I leaned on ChatGPT (Generative AI tool) to plan my final pre-week build. It suggested an abbreviated long ride, some easy efforts a day of harder intervals and a rest day before the race on Saturday. Friends who pay for training say it did a pretty good job of outlining the final week :)
Race Report
September 2nd also happened to be my 38th birthday. I feel fortunate to feel healthier and stronger than I ever have in my life. Park City seems to keep people young. The weather leading up to the race included a warning issued from the race organizers that it may be a very cold and very wet. An emergency pre-race video mtg was conducted suggesting Rain jackets and leg/arm warmers. Lightning protocol was reviewed - get very far away from your bike and crouch in a field….
Ultimately, we couldn’t have been luckier on the day of the actual event. Instead of cold and rain we ended up with temperatures fluctuating between low 50s and mid 60s overcast and cool - perfect weather for an endurance race. The day before saw significant rain so the trails were solid, no dust in the air and the warmers and rain jackets stayed at home.
Crew on race day AM - Nate, Jeremy, Brandon, Me, Noe, Scott.
Gear - I’ve ridden the last 3 years on an all-round Santa Cruz 5010 with flat pedals and about a month before the race a surprise upgrade from Gretchen resulted in me switching over to a Santa Cruz Blur and I made the move to a clipless pedal system. My times on training rides immediately improved. The bike is smooth, fast and efficient. You give up some travel on the suspension and lose some grip on the tires but with 29” wheels you roll so much faster and over 75 miles it made a massive difference.
The switch to clipless pedals proved challenging. After not crashing my bike for 2 years of riding I fell 5 times in the first week. Now 3 weeks out from the race I was pretty bruised and bloodied. Hips, knees and elbows avoided serious damage, but I was starting to feel a little timid. I switched out my CrankBro pedals finding that they have an easier release clip which reduces the angle you need to pop out, and that made life a bit easier.
The set-up for race day was a Santa Cruz Blur, clipless shoes, CrankBro Candy pedals with a low angle release clip. I chose to go with bike tights, a short-sleeved jersey, a breath right strip, some biking gloves, a helmet, and no shorts or jacket. Really cutting weight :) I had a small repair kit strapped to the back of my seat and two water bottle holders on the bike. It was minimal gear - not even a watch or computer to track speed and progress.
Fuel - Prepping for the race I got into a decent rhythm of taking down dense bars during rides to keep energy up, but really didn’t want to carry those for the race. There are 3 dedicated aid stations on the ride and I decided that if I switched to SIS Gels and a super dense homemade rice bar I could survive off of fuel coming out of the back of my jersey and the 2- water bottles on my bike. The rice bar addition was a real win. I googled, “What are the Tour de France guys eating during their rides”? Turns out they’ve largely shifted away from the pasta dinner in favor of rice-heavy dinners and an easy-to-digest rice bar for race day made of rice, cream cheese, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and a touch of cinnamon and salt. The thing is dense, easy to take down, and a nice pairing with the SIS Gels that fueled the ride.
All in on race day I ate a very large homemade rice bar, 8 SIS Gels, two energy bars, a last minute cookie from an aid station, 5 bites of a mini chicken burrito, 1 bottle of Nuun electrolyte drink and probably 6 full bottles of water. Pre-race, a simple meal of rice, chicken, and some greens. Breakfast was a bowl of rice and a peanut butter bagel.
The race starts in a number of different waves. Pro Men, Pro Women, Open Division, those that expect to finish in under 8 hours, under 9 hours, under 10 hours and finally everyone else. I made the call to start in the back of the sub 9-hour group and was lucky to have made the choice.
Over the next 75 miles, you climb and descend Round Valley, Deer Valley, Park City Mountain, Canyons Mountain, and the Olympic Park with plenty of flowy single-track in-between.
The first section starts on 2+ miles of paved bike path a deceptive start at 25+MPH winding for position before hitting the first gravel road that immediately spits you out into the first dirt single-track. You’ve got 73 more miles to go, with minimal passing zones, endless climbing and some reasonably technical sections along the way. The first 10 miles cover Round Valley, an exposed area popular in Park City, really more of a high desert feel compared to the heavily wooded trails where I spend most of my time along the mountains. It was a nice start to the race, not super technical and I exited the first 10 miles cutting under Kearns Blvd before hitting the rail trail and ascending up Skid Row to tackle some of the tighter trails that lead to Deer Valley Resort.
Skid Row to Lost Prospector are some of the trails I learned to ride on in Park City three years ago. Beautiful, tight trails, socked into the trees. I found at this point that I was stuck in a pack and things were too tight to pass anyone for the next 7-8 miles. This resulted in some slow climbing. I got new water bottles and some solid fan support at the road crossing near Solamere before heading into Deer Valley.
I was feeling strong at Aid Station 1 and starting to realize I had more to give as we entered some of the climbs at Park City Mountain. I had restocked on gels, had 2 full water bottles, and started to push a bit on the ascents. I ended up in a bit of a cadence where I would pass folks on long ascents only to be passed by the same riders on the technical descents. Still not super confident with the clip-ins I got some great photos from camera man along the way - this is not proper technique :) it’s not advised that you clip out on every downhill switchback…. See the photo below.
I had taken my first spill of the race descending CMG where I misjudged a line and veered into some thick grass before going over the handlebars into a soft landing zone. It was a wake-up call to stay careful and healthy for the miles that remained.
I was out of water and fuel by the time I hit aid station 2 at the base of Park City Mountain Resort. I was feeling a little loopy, but knew it was from misjudging caloric intake for the second phase of the race. At the second aid station, you’re > 50 miles along and it was into our back yard starting with a climb of Armstrong Trail leading to mid-mountain trail and Canyons Resort before the final section in the Olympic Park. Refueled with a half of a chicken burrito, loaded back up on gels and exited the station feeling strong. I pushed on the ascent here and loved being back in my backyard of Armstrong to Mid-Mountain.
I continued to feel strong on the final third and was really hammering by the time I hit the top of the Olympic Park for the final descent on Iron Bill. I had my second and worst fall of the race at this point. Exiting Moose Puddle Trail there was a very sandy zone before the pavement at the top of the Olympic Park Bobsled zone. I came into the sand fast and laid the bike down. I popped up ok, but found that the chain had jammed in the derailer and I started pushing on it to try to free it up. I spent probably 3 minutes before it finally came unstuck. My mechanic skills are largely non-existent and I was thankful my pleading with it finally resulted in a freed chain for the final descent to the finish line. I felt super fortunate to have no real mechanical challenges throughout the ride.
I finished the technical Iron Bill descent and saw my first clock/timer of the day as the finish line came into sight - 8:35. I was pumped. Finished the race in 8 hours 35 minutes and 48 seconds, good for 90th place at an average pace of 9MPH. The winner? A cool 6 hours and 9 minutes averaging 12.5MPH. The pros are insane.
What a race. What a community. What a town. This was a fun one!