Big Bend 50; y’all are crazy

As an endurance cyclist who lives a fairly active and healthy lifestyle, I have many friends who are runners.  Some of them even compete in ultra-marathons.  While they are a deranged group of athletes for sure, I admire them greatly for their dedication and perseverance.  But since I don’t run, I rarely take the opportunity to watch those hardy souls out on course.  That changed yesterday.

Sunday, January 18th, was the Big Bend 50 running race, held in the Big Bend Ranch State Park.  While the Big Bend Ultra has been successfully ran in the National Park for several years, the burly, remote terrain of the State Park would really test these hard-core runners.  Along with the 50 mile course, a 30km and a 10km race challenged over 200 participants.  The event was a grand success and everyone involved–runners, volunteers, organizers and others–had a wonderful time under stellar conditions.  Along with Mike[whose 11yr old son, Caelan, won the 10km, under 19yrs men’s race], Tim and Charlie, I volunteered as bicycle patrol on the two most inaccessible sections of the 50mile course; aka. Captain Safety on Wheels.

Saturday afternoon, following the volunteer/incident command briefing, Crystal and I rode an hour into the Park where our gear was trucked out to the Buena Suerte Mine camp site.  Despite getting a puncture that needed to be plugged, we enjoyed a leisurely late afternoon spin.  At camp that night about ten of us–Park employees, HAM radio operators, race organizers, aid station volunteers and bike patrol riders–packed, checked and triple-checked our plans and equipment for the following day’s adventure.  Soon after dinner I was in bed and asleep by 9:30pm.  At 4:30am we rose, ate breakfast and were on the bikes at 6:10am.

The 50mile race began at 5:30am and we had to get ourselves to the Madrid/Chorro Canyon section ahead of the racers.  With our lights leading the way, we four rode up Freson Creek under the dark night sky; it was spectacular, a fun little adventure.  As the sun began to rise I was in position by 7:30am.  Six minutes later the first two runners approached with four more within a minute.  Those first two guys would eventually finish first and second overall; Jesse Rickert winning at 7:55hrs. As my friend Melissa easily predicted, Meghan Hicks was not far behind them.  As she breezed past, I said hi and mentioned Melissa’s name.  She was happy to say hello and shake hands as she soared up that loose, steep, technical, rocky climb with impressive ease.  She would finish in first place, 51 minutes ahead of her nearest female competitor in a time of 9:46hrs.

By 10:30am I had seen all the runners go by including a few who would soon abandon or get pulled at the Charlie Aid Station.  I then rode to the Golf Aid Station where I would remain the rest of that sunny day.  Arriving at 11:15am, I missed the first two guys by just 10mins but, by our 5pm cut-off, all the remaining runners had come through, although two runners did not continue.  At 5:15pm I rolled out and joined Mike to sweep the second single-track section of the day to the Bravo Aid Station.

By that point, runners had climbed about 3,000′ of elevation and were now making their way back down-canyon, including the awful La Posta hill.  While some were hurting–and certainly some more than others–they pushed through the pain, ready for more.  You see, crazy I tell you!  But as they suffered they still enjoyed themselves.  I could only respect their passion and dedication that much more.

At the end of the day everyone had a good time, there were only a few very minor injuries and people were eager to come back and run/race in the State Park again.  Personally, I had a fun time helping out while meeting many new people.  I even got to explore a section of trail I’d never seen before.  Most of all, I gained a heightened respect for Joe, Kat, Melissa, Rickie and so many more friends who are willing to run mile after mile, hour after hour.  Hats off to you all….but you ain’t gettin’ me off my bike!