The Park City Point to Point is an American classic mountain bike race held in Park City Utah. Every year it sells out all of its 400 spots in near hours for good reason. It has been on the hit list for ages but this year I made sure it happened. At 120 km, 3100 m of vert, and 95% singletrack it is one of a kind and a true point to point race covering some of the best riding Utah has to offer.
Blowing a seal on my shock the day before we were to leave the high altitudes of Breckenridge Colorado, meant staying another day to find the seals we needed then the crew at Avalanche Sports worked late Thursday night to get the Hei Hei back up to race speed. Heading out Friday morning, Usha and I banged off the 7 hour drive, pre rode the last descent of the course, registered, then checked in with our homestay, Dahn Pahrs and his wife Jennifer. Dinner, bike checks, filling bottles, getting invaluable advice from our local friends, and then it was off to bed for an early 5 am wakeup call.
Saturday morning Jennifer dropped us off at race start around 6:30 am before heading off to feed zone #3 @ km 90 to help all 3 of us out.
6:50 am the start gun went off and it was full gas from the gun as we ripped down a rolling bike path before hitting the first flowing single track in Round valley. The early morning oatmeal was half way up my throat but I managed to keep it down, the legs were struggling with the high intensity, probably from the over influx of oxygen at 2000 meters after living above 3k for the last 3 weeks. 6 riders broke away, lead out by local Zach Calton who would go on to win the race in record time, breaking his own course record by 10 minutes. I’d chase hard in 7th but was having a bit of a time riding the trails blind, trying to catch all the corners at such high speed. Blowing one corner I quickly slammed on the brakes, backtracked and got going again on the right track, only to have some young chirpy rider in 8th catch up and start wining about something. I mumbled to him I’d wait at the finish line, just needed an eta when he might arrive then restarted the chase of the lead 6.
Eventually I’d catch up to local ripper John Wessling in 5th. We would have a great time riding together for most of the next 6 hours. He would essentially lead all the descents, knowing the trails and having some great skills, while I would hammer the climbs but was certainly a bit of a lost Canuck out there not knowing the course which was pretty essential given all the high speed blind corners and constant intersections. Luckily the course was very well marked but at high speeds it still took a lot to stay on track! What an amazing plethora of single track that have in Park City. We raced on 75 miles of the apparent 400+ miles of it.
Most the racers had feed zone support throughout the course, but some of us out of towners used the drop bag service where we could leave our bottles and nutrition in a bag, and the race would transport it out to 1 of two feed zones. There was a bit of confusion about whether the first aid bag was at Mile 25 or 35. I looked at Mile 25 but it was hard to see anything with all the spectators so just assumed it was at mile 35. Unfortunately this was a mistake and I would end up out of water and nutrition for about 20 miles, needing to stop at a neutral aid later for some water which saved the day.
Heading into feed zone #3, I’d take my time as Jennifer was there with all the bottles of F2C Nutrition and I needed to consume a lot to get back on track. Now in 7th, I’d have to put in a hard last few hours to catch back up a few positions. It seemed the higher we rode on the course the better the system ran, likely from all the 3000 M + riding in Colorado recently. I’d pass Andrew Conover, who was a great competitor all day, he would give notice John was a minute further ahead. It was a bit sketchy going race pace on the open trails with a lot of local hikers and bikers also using the same trail system. What nearly ended in catastrophe was when a young Bambi jumped out of the woods in the middle of a very fast winding descent, I’d slam on my brakes missing her by about 15 inches. This only revved the adrenaline up further and soon I’d see John just up ahead in 4th. He would head into the long 20 minute descent into the finish with a 30 second gap. He had been destroying me on all the descents all day, but this one I knew ok from pre riding once and we would both set top 10 strava times with him in 19:29 and myself 19:34. In the end I’d grab the final wide angled podium spot in 5th, 35 seconds back of him. Great riding John!
Usha, also on board a KONA Hei Hei , would complete her longest race ever in a solid 10th overall on the woman’s side.
Park City Point to Point certainly didn’t disappoint. What really made the weekend was staying with Dahn and Jennifer. Getting to stay with locals is always so much better then a hotel, and they were some of the best hosts I’ve ever had a at race. For that reason alone we will likely be trying to fit the P2P on the schedule again for next year, especially now that we know the course!
Saturday evening Dahn and Jen would take us out for Margaritas and Mexican food, then Sunday we’d all ride into the Park City street market for lunch before taking one of the plethora of bike paths back. Park City is quite the little tourist hub. Sunday afternoon Usha and I would load up the van to head over to her friends Julie’s place in Moab for a few days of oxygen rich desert riding. We will enjoy the influx of O2 to help rest up a bit before heading back to the high altitudes of Colorado for the Vapor Trail 125 this weekend in the Rockies.
Over and out from Utah.
Thank you Jace Stout for all the Photos!