DNF’d at 54, 6hr 30min. Crashed at mile 10 on the downhill double track right before we came back to Quinn’s junction. Guy in front of me dropped his GU so he stopped in the track to pick it up. I went OTB and buried my stem into my thigh. I could spin the pedals pretty well but any steep areas were really painful. I was really feeling it in my shoulders and arms too. I am near Tahoe so I haven’t been able to ride outside for months with all the smoke, all trainer. Cant wait for 2022 to get that course checked off. More long rides, narrower bars, more electrolyte water and less drink mix. It was great seeing those few tricky parts of the course to know where they are for next year.
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I did it!!! 7:10 to Aid Staion #2 (PC mile 54) and 11:30 to finish. Section 1 was good for me and I arrived at Silver Lake within 10 minutes of my ETA, but my power was Tempo so probably a bit too ‘hot’ out of the gate. Section 2 provided some more challenges. I think I went out from the aid station too hot (set PR on MM-TBB). Later, I overheated on the way up to Steps and had to take a break, then felt like I pulled a muscle (not a cramp) on Keystone but was able to stretch it out. I grabbed all my “just in case” caffeine at the second aid stop and headed up. I managed to climb ‘The Suck’ with my ultra-low gearing. The Armstrong climb, which is typically 40 minutes for me at a modest pace, was over an hour. Coming down Iron Mountain I had to stop on the descent as I could not feel my hands or arms, my breathing was racing even though heart rate was moderate, and my mind just basically could not deal with another inch of that descent. After 15 minutes of pondering my life decisions, I slowly rolled down to the Oasis (last aid station). The guys there were great (music, food, drinks, chairs in the shade). I only stayed for a few minutes, but it helped my mood to just talk to someone and know that there were just 10 miles left. Reaching the final Mid Mountain dirt road climb was exhilarating as I knew that was the last major climbing hurdle (Olympic isn’t that bad). Conditions were perfect for the MM-Ambush descent and I was smiling all the way down. The last bit (Moose Puddle - Iron Bill) was very challenging at that point.
As @ckcbmrice said, I feel like I could have used more water and electrolytes. I didn’t bonk, but I clearly wasn’t hydrated enough at the finish and it took a couple days to ‘top up.’
I’m happy with my pre-race plan. A hydration pack is critical. Even a lot of the fast dudes had packs. The 28T chainring with 51T cassette gave me (with my 3w/kg) the gearing I needed to climb up to Johns, manage most of Steps, climb Thaynes, and even climb The Suck. Stronger riders than me were walking those sections. I used fairly fresh Ardent Race tires and had no issues. I had tested an Icon and found it didn’t work for me in the dry and loose stuff. My friend raced an Icon in the rear and wasn’t pleased with it. Part of me wonders if it would be better to just go full trail with something like a Recon, but I personally would not use anything ‘faster’ than the Ardent Race. Aspens/Icons just aren’t the right choice for this (for most).
AQI reduced opportunities to ride outside. Clearly, this race takes more than just legs and lungs. I had two friends also finish. One crashed on Johns and separated his shoulder but still fought to finish in 10 hours… then went to the hospital. The other one finished in 12:10. When he tried 5 years ago, they transported him to the ER from The Oasis.
Anyway, I got my “I did it” belt. I feel like it should be more like a WWE championship belt, but I’ll take it. 
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Was pretty happy with my setup, was running Rekon Race in back and Aspen in front and switched from 34 to 32 in the front, 10-52 in the back and never ran out of gears.
Only thing I would change is working brakes - I had a bike shop bleed my brakes the day before, but the rotor was rubbing against the housing (not the pad, the actual housing of the pads). When trying to fix this by resetting the pistons I think I messed up and it spilled some brake fluid at the levers. Felt very weak, but still breaking a little so I thought I’m fine.
Started in the 9+h group because I wasn’t looking for a stressful day, but didn’t take long until we rolled up to the next group and it was just a huge conga line without much passing opportunities. Was happy to take it easy in the beginning and only started really overtaking it on the climb up to Aid 1. After that found another guy who was going a similar tempo, so we stayed together for a long time and overtook people one after another. After Aid 2 (around 6:20), I was hoping for a sub 9, so pushed hard up Spiro to go for it.
The rear brakes had been an issue all day - first few descents I could get some stopping power by pumping the brakes a few times. On a long fireroad descent which got scary fast, they stopped working for the most part, but all of a sudden after that were like new - a lot of stopping power, no fussing, so I had a great time descending into Aid 2. How fun was it to have a berm/jump line in the middle of this race? Damn!
At the top of Spiro, I noticed how they didn’t work at all anymore and together with the hard effort that broke me and I gave up on the 9h. Kept pedaling, going fast on downhills were I could see far, but spent some time at the Oasis (what a great group of people) and then probably set the slowest time down the final downhill. I pulled over whenever I heard someone behind me, and in general was very slow - off camber, rocky switchbacks are just not fun without a rear brake. 
Got in under 9:50, but despite the partially very frustrating experience, this is a great race! I loved the trails in Park City (managed to preride most of the course earlier in the week) and with a working break would’ve had an even greater day.
Props to everyone who finished, this was definitely a hard one, especially with the heat later in the day!
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Finished in 11 hours on the dot. Had a lot of issues getting my HR under control for the entire race I was in z2 power but 165+ HR with 180 max. Went from expecting sub 9 hours to just having a fun bike ride. During all of the downhill I notice I was getting beat up real bad and figured it was just due to a long day. Got home and realized my front fork was stuck, thanks to the bike shop who serviced it when they were supposed to send my rear shock in to specialized. Looking forward to doing this again next year because this was a fun ride.
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Seems like a common thread here is thinking it will take “x hours” and then coming in well behind target. My 2 friends and I missed by 40-90 minutes. Sounds similar for @trailhead and @IamLeven. Like Mike Tyson said “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
@IamLeven - Your issue with HR is similar to what I had with breathing. In training, you expect certain correlations between power, heart rate, and respiratory rate. When you see big changes from normal (low power, high HR or moderate HR, high respiratory rate), it’s confusing and concerning.
I feel fortunate I didn’t have any significate mechanicals like brakes or shock. My dropper wouldn’t work in the cold, so I rode Round Valley high post, but that’s not bad. I was able to get it going again once we got down to the DV tennis courts.
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I had a similar issue at Wasatch 50 where my HR just didn’t go down despite what power I was doing. I’ve been trying to figure what’s been causing this issue cause it only happens doing marathon racing and from the beginning. During round valley I was well below the power I was expecting to do since it was so backed up but it didn’t seem to matter.
The other thought is maybe elevation since I spent all of August at sea level.
This was all on me. I am really sorry about that. Totally in my own world when i stopped and didn’t get my bike off to the side. Especially sorry to hear it cost you your finish. I told you I owe you a beer. Sounds like I owe you a few.
I missed the turn onto CMG and went half a mile down the single track. realized my mistake and backtracked thinking I wouldn’t make the cutoff. Got to the bottom with a few minutes to spare and self-selected out. I didn’t want to ride anymore.
I have regrets.
Definitely don’t worry about it. Out of all of the things that went wrong in the prep or the days leading up to it, the crash is about 10th on that list.
All of my other spring/summer rides got cancelled for COVID or fires. Not being able to ride outside due the smoke and not being able get some long rides was a much bigger impact to my performance. Had a flat tire on our car in Elko that took 4 hours to fix and didn’t get into Park City until 11 on Friday night. Put on some Recon Race that I hadn’t been able to test and they had way to much air. The list goes on.
We can meet up at the finish line next year and laugh about it.
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Anyone doing PCP2P this year?
I’m not racing but might be in town for that weekend if plans workout.
I was supposed to race but tore my PCL. Always next year. Good luck to everyone and can’t wait to hear the race reports
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I am going back to try and get some redemption. Made it to the 55mi rest stop. We havent had the fires on the west coast this year so the training has been pretty good. Feeling pretty confident to finish this year. Assuming no crashes again. 
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@ckcbmrice You survived Johns and Steps last year, so you have seen the worst of it. This year’s course has some major changes in the middle segment. Fat Lip won’t be fun at that point of the race, but 9k trail to the second aid station will be nice.
I’ll have to give it a try with the new layout in the future, but have other plans this season.
Hey I just bought an entry. I’ve done this race before but I was in better shape so this year I’m just trying to survive…
Last time I did this race it was several years ago and the tires and tech have changed. Park City’s rocky sections and shale gardens, and super long high speed descents haven’t changed. Any recommendations on tires considering some of the new tires out there? I was thinking Maxxis Ikon 2.35" or the Rekon Race 2.35" tires.
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I did 55 miles of it last year on Recon Race front and rear. They were fine but I did change to an Ardent front and Recon race rear, both in 2.4. There were a couple of sections that I felt a grippier tire would be beneficial and made the change. I personally would not run an Icon in the P2P. As noted earlier in the thread there is a podcast from the director that is a good listen and recommends against the Icon also.
I also messed up by not changing out the tires early enough and getting some testing done. I was running too much pressure and felt like I was riding a pogo stick. Took about 25 miles and a lot of scary downhill to figure it out.
Good Luck
There was some discussion above about the podcast where Jay said Maxxis Aspens wouldn’t be good but I didn’t know anyone recommended against the Ikon which is a pretty popular XC tire… The regular Rekon seems like a lot of tire for all that climbing but it would sure be great downhill… but thanks any tips are appreciated.
I rode it with 2.4 Aspens last year. I appreciated the super low rolling resistance and had enough time on them beforehand, on the course, that I didn’t feel sketchy. If you’re accustomed to riding them I think they are fine and lots of people ride them for the P2P. I’d sya whatever XC tire you are used to will be fine. That being said there will be a fair amount of loose kitty litter out there from all the rain this year, but also probably a lot of hardpack good dirt. So, I wouldn’t try something new unless you are able to go demo it on the course, especially the first third and the final 20 miles or so. I will either go Aspenx2 or Aspen/Rekon Race rear/front this year.
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@3Fingerbrown My $0.02 - The fastest guys will be on Aspens, but that’s an aggressive choice. I did the race last year on Ardent Race front and rear. Rekon Race would be good too. If you want more confidence on the looser stuff, regular Rekon or some other trail tire will also work. I’ll add that I find the Ikon to be surprisingly bad around PC (having ridden thousands of miles on PC trails and hundreds of those on an Ikon). As a rear tire, it just skids everytime you reach for the brake lever. It should be a good choice on paper, but it doesn’t work as well as its Rekon Race/Ardent Race XC siblings.
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What widths would you suggest? I was thinking of 2.4WT Rekon Race front and 2.35 rear. 26 ID wheels, 120mm bike…
That should be fine. Whatever you are used to running width-wise, but something in that mid-width range is good. I think I ran 2.35 F/R last year.
Been riding in PC for the last week. Not surprising, the trails are dry and dusty with plenty of kitty litter and some moon dust in spots.
Using Ground Control 29 x 2.35 which are working well everywhere on my Evo.
Need to wipe and lubricate the chain every ride as it’s dusty.