When I first moved to Elko, I immediately noticed the potential for a fantastic duathlon from town, connecting the urban center with the most prominent peak in the mountain backdrop: Ruby Dome. Due to a busy summer, I am not in very good shape, but wanted to establish the route and a baseline time for others to hopefully repeat.
Additionally, as it's mid October, the season is coming to a close and with storms forecasted for the following week, I knew that this weekend may be the last opportunity for an effort at the linkup. Even on the day, storms were projected for the evening and there was light rain in the morning before I began. The storms rolling in caused very unfortunate wind conditions on the bike. Also with scattered rain and T-storms in the forecast, I basically packed a full UTMB pack which definitely weighed me down.
I started just before 8:30AM from The Star Hotel restaurant and proceeded down the course to the first climb of the day over Elko Summit. Mild headwind on the climb and energy at the start of the day meant I pushed the watts a bit harder than I would have hoped for. At the top of the climb I could see the rain moving east off of the mountains and the sun starting to poke through. This positive weather change was starkly contrasted with the strong headwind on the descent off of the summit. The flat(ish) section of the bike was uneventful except the annoying gusty wind making it hard to stay in the aerobars. After navigating the two gates to enter the dirt section, I found myself again pushing pretty heavy watts just to stay upright and moving forward on the steep, gravel grade. My average power was 233W (quite high for me) and I hoped it wouldn’t affect the rest of the effort.
I ended up locking my bike to a covered picnic table at the TH as the bad weather meant the trail was virtually empty. T2 went smoothly and it was nice to be able to sit down easily to change shoes.
I headed up the trail having done the climb just 2 weeks earlier, fairly confident of the routefinding but definitely feeling the bike in my legs. The first 2 miles went pretty smooth and I was able to run the majority. Mile 3 gets steeper and more talus-y as you get close to the lake. My split to Griswold lake was about 59:37 (Cole’s ascent only FKT split is 45mins to the lake). I was moving well but the heavy pack, poor shape, and bike definitely held me back from Cole’s time. I was able to run a bit on the flat by the lake again before having to hike the switchbacks up to the final plateau. A few running steps before I was on the steepest section up to the saddle. The numerous late season cairns were actually helpful in keeping me on track up the steep section. Here I realized I could be sub 2 on the ascent for sure so I pushed through the upper saddle and reached the summit in 1:51:01 (ascent FKT is 1:28). I spent no time at the top and started moving my way down the steep technical sections. I was moving well and recovering aerobically. After the lake I was able to continue to increase speed. About 2 miles from the TH, I realized I was going to be close to sub 3 on the trail run section so I started to push. With about 1.5 to go, I twisted my ankle bad enough that I felt my ankle bone hit the trail. I decided to just try to run through it and slow down. Luckily it never became more than a nuisance. Carefully increased my pace and just barely snuck under 3 hours on the split.
I was really feeling it at this point so T2 was a bit slow but I eventually got back on the saddle.
The first part of the ride was really bumpy. I did not realize how washboarded the roads were until I got going on them. Dropped a trail shoe, and had to help someone with the gate which lost me probably 5 mins total. Finally back on the pavement, I got a great tail wind and cruised to the next intersection, where I turned into another cross headwind. The wind had actually changed while I was on the mountain and I had another less than fun ride back to town. I hit a wall hard on the way up the backside of the summit, the last climb of the day. I could hardly keep the power above 180. I barely got to the top and just had to coast for a bit before I could start peddling again. The downhill was very much needed and recouped just enough energy for me to get over the railroad bridge and back to The Star. I averaged 166W on the way back. BIG bonk. Total time 6:08:54.
My wife had the idea of unofficially making this a “triathlon” by finishing with the staple dish from The Star, a 12oz steak sandwich, so of course I had to order one. The service was incredibly fast but my stomach wasn’t. The last betafuel didn’t go down very well, and the steak sandwich didn’t do much better. I made sure to eat one serving of all the appropriate Basque side dishes (cabbage soup, bread, salad, beans) and the entire 12oz steak sandwich (with garlic) but left a lot of the fries. There is much room for improvement here for anyone who dares to try!
Great day overall. Hoping others will follow and do this route, there are many areas for improvement!
Bike 1: 1:40:48
T1: 1:45:17 (4:29)
Run: 4:44:39 (2:59:22)
T2: 4:51:48 (7:09)
Bike 2: 6:08:54 (1:17:05)
{Star order in: 6:17:00 (08:00)}
{Apps arrived: 6:21:00 (04:00)}
{Apps done (one serving per app) + sandwich arrived: 6:31:00 (10:00)}
{Sandwich finished: 7:21:00 (50:00)}
{unofficial “triathlon” times rounded to the nearest minute off of pictures of my watch}