Tim Sullivan 2018 Austin Rattler 100K MTB and 66K Trail Run Race Report - Same Weekend
As these races were just for "fun" I wasn't planning on writing a race report for them. They were just for "fun" because I am NOT a mountain bike rider or an ultra runner. Before these races, I had never participated in a group MTB ride much less a MTB race. I had also never done an ultra race. I did these races to see how I would do and see how my fitness was doing. I was very happy with the outcomes and learned a bunch from them.
The majority of my bike training was on Zwift. Lots of Zwift races and lots of TSS. I did do some hard MTB trails near me, but less than 10 hours total. My run training generally followed the out season running with some longer runs thrown in. I am also on a running streak near 200 days. My endurance has really improved over the last year.
The weather was good for both races. Generally, about 60-80 degrees mostly overcast and shade.
I also did both of these races by RPE. I did not have a bike computer and I rarely looked at my watch. I think it was successful for me.
My nutrition plan is also simple. I drink to thirst and eat when hungry. This seems to work well for me as I don't ever "forget" to eat or drink like some I know 
I also seem to consume the proper amount of calories per hour when I look back at what I had and how much I consumed.
Also, I'm sure I didn't put a lot of stuff in here, so ask away if you have questions.
The Races
The Austin Rattler MTB is a
Leadville 100MTB qualifier as well as a chance for people to move up in
starting coral positions. As such, this race usually draws 500 or more
riders from around the country as well as some international
participants. Even if you don't qualify by your result to get into Leadville
this race offers a bunch of lottery entries.
The Austin Rattler Run is also a
Leadville 100 Trail Run qualifier. This race is much smaller than the MTB race
and usually has 70-80 runners doing the 66K run. This year, they said the
course was shortened by 1.5 miles/loop (2 loops) to get rid of a VERY muddy
section. I was super excited not to have to run that section they closed
off as you will see pictures when I discuss the MTB. If you don't qualify
for Leadville based on your results, the Austin Rattler also gives a bunch of
lottery chances to get into Leadville.
The King & Queen of the Rocky Hill Ranch Race is a race that registers you for both the MTB and the Run.
This year there were 12 people that entered both races. I was one of
them. I figured if you haven't done either event you might as well do
both. It seems like only 4-6 finish both each year. I figured if
you are going to put yourself out there, you might as well go all in J
Results
Austin Rattler MTB - 7:02 - 220/258 overall - 44/54 in my age group
(50-59). Yes, this doesn't appear to be very good, but I was very happy to
even finish this race and make the cutoff times. There were 442 riders that
started the race and 184 that did not even finish! Over a 40% DNF rate.
So, in my head if I factor those riders in I finished in the middle of the
pack.
Austin Rattler Run - 6:15 - 32/81 - 2nd in my age group. Qualified for
Leadville 100 Trail Run. I was very surprised I was able to run so well after
such a hard MTB the day before.
King & Queen of the Rocky
Hill Ranch Race - 2nd Overall - Wow!
MTB Race Report
The race is located a little over an hour away from my house
and about 30 miles to the east of Austin. The MTB started at 8AM and I
arrived at the course at about 6:30AM the day of the race. I had coffee,
yogurt, oatmeal and some Gatorade for breakfast.
The weather was really nice for the race and ranged between
55-75 or so. Three days before the race, however, was another story. We
received about 4-5 inches of rain in a few hour period which made many parts of
the course VERY muddy. The parts that were muddy are normally the really
fast sections of the course.
The start of this race is fairly low key. I lined up in the
starting corral probably about half way or a little more back. I wasn't too
concerned where I started as I had no idea what to expect. I rode a Trek Stache
9 which is not a race MTB. It is more of a hybrid fatty bike that has 29x3
tires on it. It's only about 24lbs so it’s not a beast and it rides well.
After the singing of the National Anthem the race started
with the sound of an air horn and we were off. The first lap (of three)
takes a slightly different route than the next two laps and follows a road
instead of single track to help disperse the riders. I felt good at the start,
and just rode behind the riders in front of me. If riders in front were too
slow, I found a spot to pass them and then tried to get directly behind one of
the other riders. The first part of the course was not muddy and I didn't know
what was coming because the only time I had been on this course is when I ran a
loop of it when it was very dry.
As the race continued we hit our first section of mud. Since
I have never ridden a MTB in mud (seriously) I had no idea what to expect. The
first section of mud wasn't so bad. I just kept a good cadence and I made it
through without getting off my bike. Many people got off their bikes and had to
walk through. I think my fatty tires helped me. After going through a
section of mud the course returns to some flat easy single track that was
quick, but then the mud came again and it was worse and long. While I made it
through part of the mud, I didn't make it through the entire section. I can't
remember if I fell in the mud (a low speed fall) or if I just got off my bike.
I had about 3-4 low speed falls in the mud. Here is a couple pictures of
the mud which was about mid-calf depth.
While some of that looks rideable, it wasn't unless you were
super experienced. I heard that the top riders even walked portions of these
sections. The mud got tougher to go through each loop. Not only because I was
probably more tired, but the mud seemed to get "stickier" as more and
more bikes went through it.
After these long mud section, you start riding single track
through trees. There are also some creeks during the ride that you cross
before these mud sections and when in the single track. I was happy with my
riding through the single track and avoided the trees .
When I got done with the first 33K lap, I was surprised that
it took about 2 hours. I was guessing that the laps would take me about 1:30
but I hadn't factored in the mud. I was a little muddy after the first
loop
The second loop was harder than the first as the mud seemed
worse. It took about 2:20. I had run out of Gatorade in my backpack so I
stopped and ate some PBJ sandwiches and filled my backpack hydration pack with
coke.
I was not excited to start
the third loop. I would have been very happy to stop at this point. I
still felt ok, but I was just getting tired of either having to walk through
mud, or being jarred by the constant pounding you take when riding a MTB.
The third lap was much less crowded than the first two laps
and I found that not near as many riders were around me. I was happy with my
progress so I just kept pedaling. At mile 50 in one of the up and down
sections, I got a little stupid and went really fast to the bottom of the hill.
I was thinking that I would hit the water/mud and then just slow down and I
would pedal through the rest of it before continuing on. That was a
mistake. I hit the mud and went flying off my bike and embedded my right
shoulder into the mud. My first thought was !!!!!! oh no, I hope I'm OK.
All I could think about was the horror stories of broken bones that occur when
flying off the bike.
It seemed to take a couple of minutes for me to bet my shoulder out of the mud (It probably wasn't that long). When I got my shoulder out of the mud and sat up, I noticed that my right arm hurt but that it still had some movement. At that point, I thought that something wasn't quite alright with my arm. At that time, I moved my right arm a couple of inches and I noticed a "pop" and my arm seemed to move about a half an inch. Surprisingly, my arm felt ok at this point and I had full range of motion, just a little tender. I started to walk my bike through the mud and I was a little "off" so I just stopped and kneeled for about a minute. I think this is where my HR shot up to 194 briefly. After this rest, I felt good so I started riding again. To make things worse, I realized that the air had come out of my back tire! so I had to stop and assess. Instead of taking off my tire, I tried to just fill up my tire with some C02. It worked!!! but I didn't know for how long. At the last aid station, I used a pump to add air to my back tire. I had no problems with it the last 7 miles. I was, however, more careful going through the single track. I was very happy to make it to the finish and get my finisher's medal.
After the ride, I hung out for a while and had a beer and got
some food. I then drove home and got some dinner and then went bed
knowing that I had an early run start of 6AM. I was NOT looking forward
to the run due to the extremely muddy conditions. I was really thinking that
the run that was coming up would be way worse than the MTB and would take me
about 9 hours.
Oh, I did have to go run a
little after this race to keep my run streak alive J I’m
about 200 days straight running now.
Austin Rattler Run
When I woke up in the morning, I was surprised that I wasn’t
sore from the bike. I credit my crazy
Zwift riding for this. I had a team
member to pick up near downtown Austin for the run before I headed out to the
ranch. It turns out @steve boer came in from New York to run 40
miles for his 40th birthday which was just a couple days earlier
than the race. After having coffee, and
oatmeal, I went to pick up Steve at about 3:45AM. After picking up Steve, we drove to the ranch
where the race was. I did stop at an unbelievable gas stop called “Bucky’s” to
get some yogurt and coffee before the race.
This gas station is crazy. It does not allow big trucks, has probably a
100 gas pumps, and is huge. It’s big draw is that it has 50 bathrooms for both
females and males and it is always spotless.
This place is about 15 minutes from the race. We got to the ranch at about 5AM and I got
Steve to put some KT tape to stabilize my shoulder some during the run. It wasn’t
hurting but I wanted a little extra help.
After putting on my headlamp, I walked over to near the starting line to hang out. I also took a picture with Steve. I have actually seen a picture now with Steve smiling (this isn’t one of them J)
The race started promptly at 6AM after the singing of the National Anthem. I did not have any expectations for this run except wanting to finish so I started off near the back as we headed out onto a single track in the dark. As I have never done an ultra-race, I was very happy that everyone (at least the ones I saw) were very relaxed and didn’t seem to be in a hurry. I just hung out in this line of runners as we moved through the single track with our lights glowing.
At about 7AM, it was light and we didn’t need the headlamps any more. I was still running very easy as I knew I had a long time to go. For the next hour or so, I ran with a couple of people and we just talked as we kept running. I ran completely by feel, and walked the uphill portions of the course. We were only on the first of two loops so I didn’t want to die later. My longest training runs were a 20 miler one day and about 16 a couple days later. During the first loop my goal was to keep a steady pace and work, but not kill myself. I did try to have more speed on the downhills but was cautious as it was muddy still.
As we were running, I was dreading the “mud” portions that I encountered on the MTB the day before. While there was still mud, luckily it wasn’t near as bad during the run. I was so relieved. I was also super happy they shortened the course to remove the 1.5 miles of super bad mud.
We did still have the creek crossings, but they felt great. The water was cool and clear. I knelt down in the water to cool off.
When we moved into the back half of the course after about 10 miles we hit the single track in the woods. There are lots of switch backs in this last half with a few more creek crossings. I was with only a few people at this point as a bunch of the runners I was with slowed down and a few sped up. I came through the first loop at about 3 hours. I was happy with that time. A minute or so before I came to the end of the first lap the 33K run started so now there was another group of runners on the course.
Instead of rushing onto the next lap, I stopped at the aid station and ate some PBJ sandwiches and poured four cokes into the bladder of my back pack. This worked well on the MTB, so I went with the same plan on the run. The aid station people did laugh about this J During each loop, I had a gel and one of those gu waffles which I enjoyed.
After a couple minutes, I was off running again. My plan for the second loop was to maintain my same pacing and increase my level of effort as the race went on. As I started the second loop it was nice to see where I was running and I thought I had a good pace going. About a mile or two into the second loop, a runner I was following on the first loop caught up to me and we ran together. We talked and kept working together for probably 10 miles of the second loop. I really thought I was going faster than the first loop (I wasn’t but I wasn’t much slower). As we were running, we passed a bunch of people from both the 33K run and the 66K run. One 66K runner passed us during that time. I was surprised both in that he passed us but also that he wasn’t looking too great at that point. I was thinking I would probably see him again later. During this time, we walked the uphill sections and ran the other parts. At about mile 26, I was thinking that Bart (the guy I was running with) would take off and leave me, but it turns out I ended up leaving him.
When we hit the single track and I knew that there was only about 9 miles left, I decided to really start pushing and surprisingly enough, I was able to keep pushing till the end. I ran the downhills hard and instead of walking all the uphill, I did a combination walk/run. I passed a bunch of runners during this time. I still hadn’t caught the guy who passed me but I could see him during various switch backs. He looked stronger at this point. When I came up to the last aid station, I saw probably about 6-8 people getting stuff. I just kept going as I had my backpack full of liquid and a couple gels. That is the point where I passed the guy who had passed me. From this point on, I just ran as hard as I could (well not that hard but hard J) so that no one would catch me. I did not want someone to work harder than me during the last 4-5 miles. I did still walk some of the uphill sections during this time. I also started to notice that my legs were near “cramping” on a few of the portions where I ran hard.
Near the end of the loops you have a good visual and I didn’t see anyone near me, so I just kept running as I didn’t need a sprint to beat anyone J. As I came through the line, they announced my name and I got the title “King” as I had completed both the MTB and the run. I was very happy with my run and effort.
For the next hour or two, I just hung out and talked with people that had finished. I also had a beer and got some lunch. There were lots of people who had run or attempted Leadville as well as lots of other big races. As I was sitting at a table, I heard my name called over the speaker and found out that I had gotten 2nd place in my age group so I walked up and got my trophy, my picture taken on the podium, and a gold coin for entry into the Leadville 100 Trail Run! Wow, I was really excited and couldn’t believe it. I had ridden my MTB for 7 hard hours the day before and was still able to put together a quality run at a distance I had never done (much less on the very uneven footing of these trails). I also learned that I had finished 2nd in the King and Queen race. I’m not sure how many that did both even finished the bike. I hung out some more after this and then saw @steve boer come in from the run. It was great to see him finish and even hang around to see if he could get a lotter spot in Leadville. I was now off for a five hour total drive to get my kids from Houston and then back to my house in Austin.
I really enjoyed these races. The run more than the MTB. While I enjoyed the MTB, I just don’t see myself ever “racing” these as I think I would kill myself J I will probably do some more MTB races, but I will be happy with middle of the pack performance and not try to push sections that have the highest injury risk. I really enjoyed the run. Where else can you run relatively slowly, walk portions of the run, have time to take pictures, and still perform well J I am also happy to report that my shoulder injury was a shoulder subluxation and seems to be healing well. I will get it stronger and hopefully it won’t limit me for too long. My legs are also feeling good a few days after the running.
It’s official. I signed up for Leadville 2019
Final Thoughts
I am going to start doing some more ultra's. Probably not really long ones until Leadville. I really enjoyed it.
Comments
You are an inspiration to me. I admire your work ethic and overall approach to training and life.
Congratulations on your promotion from Mayor to King!
Oh... Who would forget to eat?
Thanks for sharing!
The results are phenomenal and show what a good attitude and consistent hard training does for preparation on these things. You did a great job of honoring your training self last weekend!
if you need crew for the LV 100, keep me in mind. I have no intention of ever completing that (he says now) but I know i want to go back and experience the MTB race again.
And signed up for the LT100 run?!? That's just insane!!!
for some reason, your report reminds me of a line in the Johnny Cash song, "A Boy Named Sue"..."in the blood and the mud and the beer"
This year it's the USAT off-road Nationals!
First, MTBing is a totally different animal than road biking, much more technical. Having a strong finish off 10 hours of MTBing and training primarily on Zwift is amazing. To put it in perspective, one of the guys I did the Leadman competition with last year and who completed the Leadman DNFed at Rattler. He's a bad mofo.
Second, getting a gold coin to Leadville on your first ultra is bananas!
Third, the dude who came in first in the Rattler King is Marvin Sandoval. He's one the Leadman and is on the podium every year. He did some coaching for me last year for my Leadville adventures. The dude is made of steel. You came in second to him!
I need to go back to Leadville for some unfinished business, so maybe I'll join you next year...
@Gabe Peterson thanks for the nice comments and info about some of the racers. I knew there were some super talented racers at the Rattler and was super excited to perform as well as I did. I still can't believe how many perople DNFed. I didn't get a chance to meet Marvin Sandoval but I think he wins the Rattler every year! Maybe I can make it a closer race next year
I think the part that helped me the most was that I came into the weekend of racing with really good fitness for me. My bike CTL was a little over 100 and my run CTL was near 60. I was also on a run streak of near 200 days which I have really benefited from. Zwift also really helped me embrace the suck for as long as that MTB ended up taking while not leaving me in shambles for the run the next day. The crazy part is that I thought the run was easier than the bike. For someone more experienced in MTB like you, I could see that lots of hard Zwifting would be beneficial for not only road biking but also MTB and run.
Having time to reflect a little since the race, I've determined that I need to be more smart about the risks I take on the MTB. The time I would have saved by going as fast as I did on a downhill was not enough to justify the risk. I'm sure the more technical the course, the more those options are presented.
It would be awesome for you to go to Leadville next year @Gabe Peterson. @tim cronk and others like @Peter Noyes, @Francis Picard, @Brian Hagan seem open to the idea as well. It would be cool to have a contingent racing Leadville 100. From the runners that have done it, and not completed it, they still say its a great race and can't wait to go back.
Seriously impressed by your performance and commitment this early in the year. You never know your limits until you attempt to exceed them and you haven't exceeded them yet!
Thanks the the comment on the beard @Trish Marshall
@JeremyBehler - After that long 7 hr biking with a high HR, I was curious about what was going to happen on the run. It's curious that you have noticed benefits from hard biking before the Ragnar. It seems very counter intuitive. I think the changes in pace for the trail run were beneficial as compared to just trying to maintain a constant running speed throughout the race. I am convinced that my crazy biking before all this helped me tremendously as I didn't feel like I was dying near the end of either the bike or run. I also probably started off a little more slowly in the ultra than I normally would in a marathon after an IM. The thing that most surprised me was my ability to really increase my HR the last 10 miles. Did you notice that you had a better ability to keep your effort higher or HR up during the Ragnar?