Guest Blog: Hotter N’ Hell Race Recap
Julie Engler, Wee-Chi-Tah Race Winner!
Maybe it’s beginner’s luck, but I didn’t anticipate winning my first trail race! It was the Wee-Chi-Tah MTB race in Wichita Falls, TX, as part of the Hotter ‘n Hell weekend. I’m a novice – Cat 3 – and while it wasn’t my first race, it was definitely my first trail race.
I signed up for it knowing I had to get some of those jitters out of the way if there’s any hope of competing at the Austin Rattler in November. My goal is to qualify for Leadville. I know I have a lot of work to do, but I find this kind of stuff fun, so I’m stoked to be on this journey. And, well – it all officially started on Friday!
The course was just over 12 miles and incredibly smooth by Austin standards. (That whole “if you can ride here you can ride anywhere” thing we all have on repeat.) I did a pre-ride on Thursday night to see what I was getting myself into, and I came away from that with a lot of confidence for the next morning. The dirt was smooth with minimal roots. The course was well marked and made sense. The features were even pretty cool to experience, especially coming from someone who mostly rides unmarked, confusing and raw trails in South Austin.
There were just over 200 people who signed up for this race in Cat 3, which blew my mind! On race day, we all gathered in this big ag barn, getting called up by age group and sent down the chute toward the starting line. There were about 10 women in our little group, so it was good competition. The unfortunate part is that we were behind pretty much all of the men, even the group they called the Clydesdales, so being at the back of the train of that many people was a little frustrating. (One woman I talked to said it’s always like that, unfortunately, and you just have to get used to it.)
Before I left for the weekend, I asked around for some advice for my first race, and one of the things that really stuck out to me was getting a good start so you aren’t stuck behind a bunch of slow people on the singletrack parts that are tough to pass on. I took that to heart and hammered it right out of the gate. I even got the QOM for the day (across all cats) for the race start. It makes me laugh thinking about it, but it did work!
The first section was some winding singletrack with lots of sand. To keep up my confidence on the sharp turns in the loose dirt, I found myself putting a foot out to catch when my tire slipped. I have not always been the fastest on turns, but this really helped me to move a little faster. I know I’ll eventually get better, and I did take the turns a lot faster than I ever have, so it’s part of the process – I’m going with that. (I still ride on flats.)
After that, it opened up into a long straightaway, which was great for passing a lot of slower riders in front of me. This is where it really started to back up. I still had a lot of energy here and really hammered it. Since I’m new to mountain bike but not riding, I do know that one of my strengths is the ability to lay down some watts, so I used that to my advantage in these straightaway sections.
Then it was back on the trail, the second section of the trail system, which started with a steep descent through a creek crossing and back up a steep and what had become muddy climb (with 100+ riders hitting it before me). I had no trouble with the hill the night before, but the slick mud messed me up – I had to hop off the bike near the top when I started slipping.
The next 6 or so miles were hero dirt, though. Smooth, sticky and hella fun to cruise through! I really found my stride through here. I still had trouble with the bottleneck, but a majority of the riders I passed were very accommodating in trying to find the best spots to help me get around. I’ve been accused of being too nice :) so I really tried my best to be assertive when letting the other riders know that they need to move the heck out of the way!
The features in section 2 included some punchy little hills, a few bridges, lots of winding trail with dozens of tree gates, and one enormous bridge called the Highway to Heaven that took you up over 10’ in the air and was over 200’ long. It was really fun to ride – I debated not taking it during the race to be safe, but I did, and I even managed to pass another rider on the ground while up there. (I almost fell off, too, but we won’t dwell on that, haha!)
Back to the straightaway for the third section and back over the creek. The way back had some rocks that kept slipping to a minimum. I was grateful for that. My legs were extremely tired by this point. I was definitely starting to hit a wall. I kept looking at my watch to see how far I had left to go, and I hoped I had enough left in the tank to make it. There was a relatively short singletrack section on the way back in that we didn’t hit on the way out. It was about a mile or so of winding turns through trees. Once that cleared out, it was pretty smooth and straight. I tried to put in as much power as I could once again, but I was riding a fine line. I knew I was slowing down, but didn’t want to get passed in the last couple of miles, so I just tried as hard as I could.
The last challenge was a little rock garden descent they called Face Plant Alley. Like its name suggests, a lot of people crashed here. They even set up a tent and had an announcer/photographer there to catch the action. On the pre-ride, I found the best line through here, so I wasn’t worried at all. But on race day, the person in front of me rode down the same line and then stopped right at the bottom! Who does that!? I was really frustrated because I almost crashed right into him. Even the announcer called it out by saying, “Um, excuse me sir, but this young lady behind you would like you to move the hell out of the way.” It made me laugh, anyway.
A half a mile to the finish line, and I just drained whatever I had left in my legs. Back through the barn and to the finish line! There was a small little crowd, and it felt really good to finish knowing I had given it everything I could.
I can’t wait to race again, but I definitely need to work on fueling. I usually do Tailwind in my CamelBak, and I don’t know why I didn’t put any in there for the race. What a silly mistake. I thought eating some sugar before the start would help, but I burn through it fast when I open the throttle, so I guess I need more. I’ll make sure to do that next time, especially for the Rattler. You won’t be able to get away with bad fueling on a 6+ hour race.
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I won’t spend too much time talking about the Hotter ‘n Hell 100 century ride, but it was another ride I was proud of. My goal was to finish in under 6, with a stretch goal of 5 hours. There were thousands and thousands of riders there – it was incredible! I lined up near the front so I didn’t get stuck behind the sea of riders. I loaded up the CamelBak with extra scoops of Tailwind and hoped that I could make it most of the way through without needing to stop. I had a good collection of gels in my jersey and tried to eat one every 45 minutes or so, along with staying on top of hydration and electrolytes.
I’ve never done this ride, but like the name suggests, I knew it was going to heat up fast, so I went out strong and focused on finding good drafts to spare energy while maintaining a good pace. I latched on to several strong trains and avoided the early rest stops that were full of people. It was crazy to look at my watch and see that I had finished the first third in just over an hour. We were flying! I kept putting extra effort into holding a good wheel and being a good wheel, which can be tough. It requires a lot of concentration and can mean some surges when you don’t really feel like it. But it really paid off through the wind. That heat came on strong, though, and through mile 64-ish, I just couldn’t hang with the group anymore. I slowed down, focused on drinking extra water, and gave myself a little break.
The ride has was they call “Hell’s Gate” at the 60-ish mark, which is where they start to turn people away from the 100 mile route and send them down one that ends up being about 75. It’s for safety of the riders depending on the conditions. This closes around 12:30 when everything is fine, but they closed it early at 11:30 this year because of the heat index. The closure didn’t affect me, because I was there long before the cutoff, but I could definitely feel the toll the heat was taking on us all. I wasn’t surprised to discover they made the call for an early cutoff long after I had finished.
I loaded up on electrolytes at the rest stop, and rode an easy few miles afterward to give my body time to digest some calories and process some of the water. I had trouble eating and my stomach was getting crampy. It wasn’t a good feeling. I knew that I could limp to the end like this, but I was really hoping to level out because 30 miles is a lot to ride feeling like trash.
I stopped at the next rest stop again, and by this time, I was starting to feel better. I threw some ice in my jersey and sports bra (I was running around saying ice boobies feel so nice – things get a little weird after 75 miles). I was ready to finish this! I found a good train to take me to mile 85, but when they surged up a hill, I decided just to go at my own pace. The heat was hitting hard, and I didn’t want to cramp up. So I just kept pedaling.
At mile 97, I was joined by another rider who was struggling just as hard, and we kept each other company to the finish line. We made jokes, and bitched about how much everything hurt, and complained about the hills, and wondered when the hell the ride was going to be over (100.8 miles, ugh!) …
We finally rode through the finish line together, and it felt glorious just to be done. My watch said 5:10, which I was extremely proud of. Strava has my moving time at 4:59 and some change, and once I saw that, I just couldn’t believe it. I was 4th in my age group and 214th overall (out of 1,976 total 100-mile finishers). In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t count (races are won by total time, not moving time), but I truly felt like I had hit a goal I never thought possible, the 5-hour century!
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This next week will be recovery until it’s not. I signed up for my first crit race on Thursday at Driveway! Come out to the races and cheer us ladies on. We need extra support to bring more attention to women’s racing.
I can’t wait to race trail again, though. Thanks for reading!
