Alyssa's story: MDH Buck-Fifty
BaseCamp athlete Alyssa Biel shared her experience at the MDH Buck-Fifty bike race in North Dakota.
I set my sights on finally finishing the MDH150 after 2 failed attempts in the prior 2 years, and can happily say I DID IT!
The MDH150 is a bit different than most races since it's an on your own event, not a mass start event on a set day with others around. You have to be motivated beyond just doing the riding, you have to be motivated to figure out all the logistics of getting yourself (and your support driver, if not going fully self-supported) all the way out there, thru the obstacles, and across the finish line. It'll more likely than not just be you, some cattle, probably some wildlife, and maybe an occasional other human. And there's certainly not going to be any sort of party at the finish line, unless you organized one yourself ahead of time.
You can do it all in one go, or break it up into a few days while you camp along the course. With either option you can ride fully self-supported (pre-cache water and go bike packing for multi-day attempts), or have a support driver. I am not overly fond of riding in the dark, especially in remote places, and where terrain can be a bit nerve-wracking at points, like on the edge of erodible bluffs, so I opted for multi-day. The trail is a phenomenal example of rugged singletrack, fast and flowy, but you need to stay on your toes. The views are incredible, and really enhance the experience of riding out there.
Going into this the third time I felt the most prepared both physically and mentally. I had my new-to-me camper to be better rested and able to cook nutritious meals to keep my energy and spirits up while tackling a challenging experience. As Tim would say, control the controllables. I also had my BaseCamp coach, Lorri Lown, graciously traveling all the way to North Dakota with me to be my support driver during the race.
I made a pace strategy to break the course into 4 days, that way if I was feeling good and the riding was going well we would be prepared to get this finished in 4 days, instead of the 5 day strategy I had in my back pocket from prior years. As I started riding on day 1 of my race it was very clear to me I would have no problems with the mileages involved in tackling the race in 4 days, so I rode with those goals and stopping points in mind. I was able to hit my goal stopping points on race days 1 & 2 without any issue. It turned out that physically I probably could have planned a 3 day race pace and been in good shape. It was great, and reassuring, knowing my fitness and recovery were so solid.
On race day 3 I had to meet my fear: the creek crossing right after crossing the Little Missouri River for the second time. The morning riding went well, a bit cloudy and rain was starting to sprinkle at times. At the last checkpoint before the river and creek crossing I grabbed my crocs and a trekking pole Lorri brought and headed out. I asked Lorri to stay at that checkpoint until I pinged her from my GPS letting her know if I had made it across the creek. The river crossing went great, I pedaled my muddy Croced feet to the subsequent creek and after some trekking pole prodding in the muddy water realized I could not overcome my fear of walking into upper-thigh-deep water that I couldn't see into, but could see the noses of several large turtles sticking out of nearby. The water was high enough I would have had to hold my bike above my head, meaning I couldn't even use a trekking pole to keep my balance while I tried to move my feet in the muddy bottom.
I pinged Lorri I was going to finish the race, but I was going to finish it by riding about 5 extra bonus miles just to keep from getting into that damn creek. This meant riding back up to her at the last checkpoint, then making the long drive around to the next checkpoint, since we could not ford the river while towing my camper. From the next checkpoint I would ride the course backwards to the muddy creek I was too scared to put my body into, then turn around and continue the correct direction. I figured what was 5 extra miles when I'm already riding 150?
We drove into and through some heavy rain getting around to that next checkpoint on race day 3. Much of the MDH trail is bentonitic clay soils, when it gets rained on the best way I can describe it is if you tried to ride on a giant path of peanut butter. It sticks to everything, quickly seizing up you wheels in your frame, and if you are able to move (via bike or foot) you slide around everywhere, even with knobby tires or cleated shoes. Usually if it rains you need a day without rain for it to dry before you can ride again. The next day was a zero miles ridden day, letting the trail dry out, contemplating the extra miles I was going to have to get in on race day 4, since I hadn't made it to my end of race day 3 goal point (on top of the 3 bonus miles I had left to ride).
Race day 4, after the zero mile day, I had my fingers crossed the breeze would continue to do some work getting things dried out enough to ride. I got on my bike and went back down to the muddy creek of doom, dipped my front wheel like I had on the other bank, and turned around to start riding the correct direction towards the finish line. Early that morning the trail was throwing me some difficulties, since it hadn't all managed to get dried out enough to avoid the peanut butter issue yet. When I met Lorri at my next checkpoint I had already employed the rubbing mud off with a stick and/or having to walk the bike for a mile or 2 of trail, and my spirits were a little down. I continued on and thankfully the sun came out a bit more and the breeze helped get things more dried out so I didn't encounter any more bad trail conditions.
As I ticked off the miles, enjoying the scenery just as much as ever, it started to sink in that I was going to get this race done. All my training had paid off, the 2 prior failed attempts had paid off, I had lessons learned from them that allowed me to get this race finished, finally, this time around.
Once again, shout out to my amazing BaseCamp coach, Lorri Lown. I couldn't have checked this one off my bucket list without Lorri coming out to ND to be my support driver and towing my little camper across the Badlands while I got to enjoy the singletrack!
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