BaseCamp 2022 member Nicole Gunton shared her experience at the Moab Rocks mountain bike stage race.
Day one: Loooong gravel road to the top of porcupine rim, a little more climbing on single track with some nice punchy rock features then into the good stuff big chunky rocks, drops, ledges and just a tiny bit of flow. In true TransRockies style, super technical and loads of fun!
Day two: More singletrack at Klondike Bluffs and less road, yes!!! Not quite as tech, but still big tech all over the place; big step ups, skinny trail along cliff edges a little flow and lots of rock, slick rock, chucky rock and rock rolls. My legs were pretty tired and the downhill muscles of my quads were super sore (haven't downhilled that amount since last summer) so every step up or punchy/steep climb hurt pretty bad, but I figured the pace was good as long as the hurt was there. It should hurt when you race right???
Day three: Moderate (5 mile) gravel climb up to the singletrack for a total of 14 miles to the "top" of more steps and slick rock up the mountain, then fun downhill with climbing all the way down. Yes, climbing all the way down, no rest but still so fun and challenging. The Elevated Legs session I did the night previous really helped with the soreness, but it still hurt plenty.
Each day I climbed up one spot in the GC, still middle of the pack for my age group, but I'm okay with that this early in the season.
This was a great race. Super challenging with all the reward of fun singletrack. If you have a chance to do one of the TransRockies mountain bike events, you will not be disappointed.
My 26 inch wheels did just fine, my 3 x 10 drivetrain shifted beautifully! No mechanicals, no crashes, middle of the pack finish and I really couldn’t ask for a better 3 days of racing.
