Day 4 – “Rest” Day
Stage 4: Camp Hale to Red Cliff
Distance: 14 miles, 1734 feet
Climbing: 3009 feet
Our planned “rest” day started perfectly and appropriately – Aviva had her first good sleep of the race. Perhaps that explains what was to come …
With only two miles of relatively flat before a four mile, 3000′ climb, followed by an eight mile descent, stage 4 had the makings of a good day to rest and take stock before the two monster days to come. There would be little pounding on the flat, we could hike the climb and then just roll the descent, conserving for the next two stages. Everything went to plan … except we incongrusously went relatively fast. We still can’t figure it, but we’ll take it.
The climb was unremarkable though incredibly steep. We used our barely-remembered ski-walking technique from our individual days dryland training for cross-country skiing in our youth (we both raced XC and biathlon and have realized we were likely at the same races fifteen years ago, though of course we weren’t to meet for another ten), and motored up the climb, keeping our heartrates low. Apparently climbing is a strength for Team Atehena, because we found ourselves in the company of teams typically many miles up the road. It was a great feeling, especially as a number of these folks are absolutely stellar personalities. Sharing the abuse of the (seemingly) near-vertical pitches certainly dulled the pain. Over the crest and onto a sub-alpine plateau, we found ourselves confronted with the Gore Range to our right and views to a still-distant Vail village to the left. It was absolutely stunning, and our legs seemed to benefit – we rolled along at our best pace of the four stages, event though we were up near 11,000′. At one point, I looked to my right at Aviva and saw something I hadn’t yet seen in her, and certainly hadn’t expected – she had the bit in her teeth. “Vives,” I reminded, “rest day, right?” She had seen a couple of teams up the trail and, feeling her oats, was ready to push ahead. She took the point though, and we ramped back to all-day pace. Nonetheless, on the long descent we again found ourselves making up ground, with no intention of doing so. It seems Team Atehena also goes downhill not half bad (now if we could just figure out the flats!). Truth be told, the terrain was much like that back home at Thetis and Mt. Work, so were were in our element, especially when the trail became submerged. While others tip-toed through the creek/trail, we barrelled through, numerous Victoria winters having diminished our slippery-rock risk aversion. As some have already commented, it paid off, and we found ourselves crossing the line in sixth place in our division (keeping in mind that a couple of teams nearer the lead have imploded along the way, making our ascent a little less miraculous). We were pretty chuffed, especially given we were in conserve mode all day. It worked wonders for both of our confidence, a good thing going into stage 6, a 36 km grunt over Vail Pass - a day that would have us climbing nearly 50% more than our previous high days.
