Red Bull Wulong Mountain Quest
A Clash of Worlds at China’s Wulong Mountain Quest
Travis Macy - Team OutThere USA / 21.09.2011
Our four-person, coed team, OutThere USA, would be the only one to represent the US, and, as an all-Colorado team, we hoped to use training at altitude in the hills to our advantage. Mountain biking aficionado Gretchen Reeves, fresh off an awesome second place finish at the Leadville 100 MTB, headed up our contingency. Gretchen is a great person and strong competitor, and I have always enjoyed racing with her.
Jay Henry, who's also a world-class mountain biker of local fame, would be our team engine. Watching him on the bike during this race was truly inspiring--and instructional. Jay is incredibly down-to-earth and approachable, and we have quickly become natural buds. Mike Kloser of Vail added an intangible level of experience, racing savvy, and positive momentum. Yes, he still maintains that his racing status is "retired," but we figured he'd make a darn good fill-in for the final spot. I hoped merely to keep up and stay out of the way!
A whirlwind of travel followed by quick catch-ups with friends from around the world on the bus and at the hotel brought us to the opening ceremony and Prologue in Fairy Town. According to Jay, this growing resort town "Wasn't even here five years ago!" The crowd, performances, kids, and festivities made us feel like we were in the Olympics.
The Prologue itself was a quick effort consisting of a two-kilometer, uphill run, 400 meters of carrying one teammate in a traditional bamboo chair (imagine a princess being carried in a Disney movie), four kilometers of "biathlon" that allows two bikes on course for the whole team, 12 kilometers of mountain biking, and a final dash to the finish. Lucky to survive a pile-up at the starting gun, we got off to a good start on the run. Gretchen is a small woman, but Mike,Jay, and I are MUCH smaller than most of the big fellas in the race, and we lost a few places on the chariot carry.
As it turned out, special "adventure challenges" like this would be our weakest segments of the race! In the biathlon, taking turns of two people running about 500 meters while the others bike ahead, leave the bikes on the ground, and take off running themselves, we maintained a good position before hopping right onto our bikes with running shoes. We chased Team Champion Systems-APA, the top Kiwi team of legends Richard and Elina Ussher, Nathan Fa'avae, and Trevor Voyce.
Placing remained consistent for the remainder of the 43-minute sprint, and we finished second on the day. Prize money for stages and the overall ranking keeps the heat on at all times in Wulong, and you've always got to be ready to go hard!
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