With my August race in Colorado having slipped off my calendar, I looked for one more race to do this year. It’s already been a great year of riding with Special Blend Gravel Camp being the perfect preparation for the Gorge Gravel Grinder, and then also Cranbrook Gravel Grind. I was hungry for just one more.
I’d heard good things about The Last Best Ride so when I was able to get a spot at the sold out event with All Bodies on Bikes, I grabbed the opportunity. Whitefish, Montana is 1200km from home but I have a friend who lives there, so was going to work a visit into the trip as well.
The Last Best Ride is a low key, volunteer run race that raises funds to send young women facing financial challenges to college. The heart behind the race is founder, Jess Cerra, who started the scholarship after she had to seek financial support from her community to attend college. The race is so well supported by the entire town and has a great community feel to it.
On the Friday night there was a welcome event at a local pub. These meet and greets are always a good opportunity to meet race friends, old and new. Such a delight to be in Whitefish, Montana – a pretty obscure location in my sheltered little world – and see familiar faces. On the Saturday there are a number of shakeout rides to choose from, depending on how fast you want to go. I swept the All Bodies on Bikes ride led by Marley Blonsky. It’s a great way to preview some of the course, and a good opportunity to get rid of some of the nerves and ride with some other people. Shakeout rides are a common thing, but at The Last Best Ride, the shakeout ride ended at a personal residence where brunch was served. What? Oh yes, this race is full of magic.
Sunday was race day. A beautiful day with clear skies. Smoke from wild fires have plagued this race in the past, but we lucked out with perfect conditions and great weather. The first 10 or so miles of the course was familiar from the previous days shakeout ride. That little bit of familiarity is nice and eases you into the race more comfortably. There was a well stocked aid station, and after a quick top up on hydration, I kept going. The next leg of the course was a continuation of the climb, but through some beautiful forested trails along a river. Then we climbed up along a ridge with beautiful mountain views.
Just when you think the the climbing will never end, it ends. You loop back through the aid station again and then head over to the next climb. Some walking was definitely required when the grades hit 11% on the way to the next aid station, located at the base of the local ski hill, called Big Mountain. Yes, that’s actually what it’s called. Too late in the day, too hot and just too damned tired by then to find the big effort.
But after that aid station, it’s (almost) all down hill. Some fun singletrack descending through beautiful terrain, mixed in with the double track. The wildflowers were out, but I’m too slow to take the time to futz around taking pictures on course. I just turned the bike down the hill and kept going. Eventually the trail turned to pavement and the fast descending continued. Back in town, there was one more rolling climb and then some loopy looping to get to the finish downtown.
At the finish line, Jess was handing out finisher medals with crew on hand to pass you a cold, wet towel and a cold drink. Both of those were very much appreciated after almost 80km and 1,200m of climbing.
There was a couple riding more or less the space pace as I was for the second half of the course. They’d be ahead of me and then I’d pass for a bit – usually on the descents, before they’d pass me again on the next climb. It was nice to go back and forth like this riding with other people and not just being dropped off the back. When I saw them after the finish line, I thanked them for the company. It helps so much to see someone ahead of you that you want to keep in sight, even if you can’t catch them, it keeps you focused. Riding alone can sometimes get demoralising late in the day when your spirits start to flag.
Our race packets had a lunch ticket, beer tickets (useless to me because beer is yukky) and the best part of all, and ice-cream ticket!! From now on, I’m only doing races where brunch is served after the shakeout ride, and then ice-cream after the race. Another much appreciated touch was having buckets of ice cold drinks around the finish area for those of us not wanting a beer.
I loved everything about this race – well maybe not that climb up Big Mountain – and am already planning to come back next year.