Iturbide,MX MTB marathon

The first race of the Mexican National MTB Marathon series took place in the small town of Iturbide,MX. Iturbide is nestled in these incredible mountains and is at approx. 4500ft in elevation.

We busted in to town a couple hours early. The streets were still calm at this time.In the next hour or so, this view was packed with cars lining the streets. That in the background are steps.... a whole lot of them. I'm glad the race started in the other direction.

Besides the people and organizers being fantastic hosts, this little fella was equally as friendly, and he loved the Pop tarts I was munching on too.

This was the start/finish area being set up. We basically ran right through the middle of town with everyone out to cheer us on as we raced by. This view was a bit more pleasant than the at finish time, but more on that later.

This was the view from the start.In the next couple of hours the streets were filled with fans and about 400 racers flying through town on our way to future punishment. We basically took off up this and proceeded to take the first left out of town and BAM, the climbing began. Hearts rates soared as did the gradient for about 1/4 mile or so. This was good though. It stretched the field out before we got to the descent on the other side . I managed to catch on with the first group for a while, but that pace was more than I wanted to keep, so I caught on with a group of about 4 of us and rode our own pace. At this point, I'm riding in the top 10.

The race was on all jeep roads, but it didn't take away from the difficulty or beauty of the event. We rode through small villages, who were also out to cheer us on as we raced through. Believe it or not, I actually reflected a bit as to how my bike probably cost me more than these people made in a year. They were very enthusiastic though, and I made sure to give a quick wave and smile as I went past them.

Even though we started at 4500ft and went to a low point of 3000 ft, it was anything but one big descent. We did our share of short grinding climbs, fast rut filled descents and a crap load of stream crossing. At some times we were riding down the creek beds, water and all. Most guys were riding hard tails, but having the fully let me blow through these rocky sections and create a gap on the group. I'm guessing I'm in about 8th or so.

Then I hear the "whooshing" sound you hate to hear coming from my front tire. I kept riding hoping my tubeless secret sauce will seal whatever the problem is. NO LUCK. I finally stopped and to my dismay the cut was in the sidewall. I had decided to race without carrying an extra tube, so that wasn't an option. I opted to put more air in and hope for a miracle. I rode for another mile or so and had to stop again. Multiple riders went by, I asked for an extra tube, no one was willing to sacrifice their position to help. I took off my front wheel and opened up the tire to try and seal the gash( I'll post a pic later). I basically stuck a small stick in and broke it off enough so it would roll. One rider did toss me his Stans No Flat and it actually sealed! (I later made sure to thank the guy for his kindness).

So now I was off. I lost about 10 minutes so far messing with the puncture, and now I was on a mission. For the next 1/2 hour or so I was riding on adrenaline, just trying to make up time. We were only about 15 miles in at this point, so I had a chance to make up good chunks of time, and we still had the last major climb of the day still to come.

Once we hit the climb( approx. 6 mile at 2500ft elevation gain) I could start to hear the rumblings of thunder in the distance, the area we were heading to. I continued to pick off guys on the climb, setting a steady pace. Halfway up it started to rain. At first it was welcomed, surely it would be easier to do this portion with cooler weather. Then it got downright wet. I was basically riding up the road as water was running down . Soaked to the bone, zipping my jersey back up to conserve body heat and shedding the glasses that had become a bitch to see through, I hit the last 1/2 mile and unfortunately the steepest of this section. There was a point that walking up would have been much less painful, but a bike is meant to ride not push up, so ride I did as others dismounted and hoofed it.

Cresting the summit, I took one last gel (Clif 2x espresso) and motored on. Then my tire went flat again. The stick I had forced in the gash was gone. I found another to fill the hole, but I was out of CO2, so I ran (yeah, I know a bike is meant to be ridden, but I had no choice). After a mile or so, I bummed some air from a guy and was off again. I was back to the adrenalin filled sensation I had earlier, but with only 5 miles to the finish, I just wanted to finish strong. There was no way to run down any more riders at that point.

The descent back into town was fast and wet. Still raining fairly strong, the water was running down the streets once we hit Iturbide. I finished up in 4:51 for 49 miles. My Garmin showed 4:34 . So I basically lost 17 minutes messing with mechanicals. I finished 1st in 30-39 Expert and 14th overall. Those 17 minutes would have put me back in the top 10.......damn it! Oh, and elevation gain for the race? A total of nearly 6300 ft. It was definitely a tough day in the saddle.

The Visenka kit looking mighty wet and haggard post race, and it was still raining.

My trusty steed was nails. Post race she actually didn't look too bad. All the water through the streets washed off most of the mud.