Angel Fire World Cup
Angel Fire, NM
June 16-19 th, 2005

It’s been a long time since there was a World Cup in the US. The last one was in Napa, CA. I had originally said I was going to skip Angel Fire. Not having done any of the World Cups this year, I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having to start in the back row. But the opportunity to do a good hard race against the top Europeans was too much to pass up. So I decided to go.

Angel Fire, NM is an easy 3 1/2hr drive from Colorado Springs. It is a small undeveloped ski resort, about thirty minutes from Taos. We arrived late Friday afternoon. Being an undeveloped resort, the hotel we stayed in was a throwback to the 1970’s. It had everything we needed as far as beds, towels, TV, phone, and a kitchen. All of that, however, was about twenty years old and covered with coffee and cigarette stains, broken light bulbs, missing batteries, and of course the complimentary shag carpet. It was lovely. For only two nights it wasn’t bad.

Saturday morning my teammate Katerina and I rode a lap of the course. I was pretty tired from a hard week of training so we went slow. The course was typical for a ski area venue. All it consisted of was one big leg breaking climb followed by one big arm breaking descent. And all above 8500 ft. Ouch! The climbs were mostly on ski area access roads with a bit of single track thrown in towards the top. They had us cross an old lava field full of huge boulders and rocks. This obviously unrideable section made for a leg burning hike a bike. The descent was all singletrack. Lots of tight turns, quick transitions, off camber sections, and deep ruts with roots and rocks thrown in for some added excitement. The descents are always hard in World Cup races, but this one was especially challenging because it was so long. After twenty minutes of linked recoveries the course spit you out onto another fire road. It was a steep downhill to the finish line. And then up the hill to do it all again. After riding one lap, we decided to take the chairlift to the top and then ride just the downhill portion of our course. It’s an added bonus when you can ride the downhill without having to do all the work to get up there.

Sunday morning was clear and warm. Our race started at 11am. Because of the small field, I was called up 19 th. I was the last one to squeeze into the second row. Perfect! We had a short start loop that was brutally painful. Straight up the ski slope for 100 meters, then a quick left turn down a fast descent and then back through the start/finish line. Then it was up the hill for the first of three painful laps.

Gunn Rita Dahle and the Canadian Marie Helen Premont quickly disappeared up the road, never to be seen again until the finish. The two of them have been battling all summer with each of them taking a couple World Cup wins. As I watched my heart rate climb up towards 180 I couldn’t believe that riders from sea level could go that fast at 8500ft. Maybe they would blow up! Maybe when the sun freezes over.

For the first time in months I had great legs. They were fresh and strong and I knew during my warm-up that I was going to have a good day. After the start I deliberately held back and tried to keep from going out too hard. The funny thing with altitude is that if you go too hard and push your body beyond it’s normal limits, you can never recover. At sea level you can usually survive such an effort, but not at 8500ft. Most riders get swept up in the excitement of the “big race” and go out way too hard. If you can be patient, you will eventually pull them back. After the first twenty minutes I was barely in the top ten. Not good for the psyche, but luckily things always change. As we settled into the first lap, I started to pass those riders that had gone out too hard. By the start of the second lap I was in 6 th place, right behind my teammate Shonny Vanlandingham. The coveted podium only goes five deep so I knew that I had to pass one more rider to achieve my goal for the weekend.

I rode with Shonny the entire second lap and we caught and passed Mary McConnelog. That was a good feeling! At the start of the third lap I was comfortably in fifth place, Shonny was 15 seconds ahead of me in 4 th and there was a good gap back to Mary. But as I said earlier, things always change. As we raced up the hill for the last time I could see that Mary was slowly closing the gap. I was still riding well but I could tell that my legs were maxed out and there was no way I was going to be able to convince them to go any faster. I knew that if I could get into the descent ahead of her then I would be ok. The descent was so tight and narrow that there wasn’t any room to pass. Good for me, bad for her.

I made it to the top of the climb at least 30 seconds ahead of Mary. Now for the long descent. It was all I could do to hang on to the handlebars and keep myself from ending up wrapped around a tree or upside down in the bushes. Going down a technical descent at the end of a two hour effort is amazingly difficult. Your whole body is exhausted and you can hardly see straight. It can be agonizing. And then knowing that someone is chasing you makes the situation even more stressful. I made it through 3⁄4 of the descent before I heard Mary behind me. All of a sudden she was only a switchback behind. Aaagh! The last five minutes of the descent were never ending. And she was getting closer! I finally made it onto the fire road and roared down across the finish line, probably going over 30mph. Mary finished five seconds behind me. Whew! Closer than I like, but I’ll take it. I finished in 5 th and made the podium of my last World Cup ever!

The podium was bittersweet knowing that this was the last time I’d ever be up there. I cried after it was over. Couldn’t help it. Too many emotions. This retirement thing is going to be one of the hardest things I’ll do in my life.

After a wonderful shower and a yummy lunch I drove home with my friend Patrice from Colorado Springs. She surprised me and showed up an hour before the race started with a big sign that said “Dunlap Rocks”. She’s my superfan! We had a great drive back. Kind of strange to drive home from a World Cup. I’m so used to packing into all hours of the night and then catching the sunrise flight from Europe back home. Not this time!

Now we’re off to Sand Point, Idaho for our next Norba National at the Schweitzer ski area. More altitude. Should be a great weekend!

Until then...
Alison