Place: Holiday Valley Ski Resort, Ellicottville, NY
Event: 6 Hours of Power 6 hour race
6 Hours of Power (6HOP) is a race we have always been intrigued about. Joël and I have always heard good things about it and decided to make the journey to New York for the race. We decided to make a weekend trip out of the race; the Ellicottville area touts a artisan shopping area and many eateries so we figured it would make for a good mini-break weekend trip.
Visiting the town of Ellicottville definitely was worth the extra time. Many small eateries and cafes, a winery and brewery, and eccletic shops. It was a relaxing town to walk around in, do some window shopping, and enjoy some of the local food and beverages. Camping was available at the race site, so it was an easy decision as to where to stay for the night. We picked a level spot for the van, filled food and water bowls for Cliff, and settled in for the night.
Race morning we made breakfast, set-up our pit spot, walked Cliff and were then ready to race. This was a lap race; so a pit area was needed to to place bottles and nutrition. There were a few places along the course where water was being handed out but no actual aid-stations supplying food or bike support. This is the way lap races work, racers go around and around passing their pit multiple times during the day.
The course, which was different than what it had been other years due to a new race director, utilized the ski slopes at the resort. Thus, it pretty much went up the mountain, wove across the top, then back down the mountain. It started with a gravel climb and then a small amount of single track to the top, a few miles of twisty and rooty single track along the top, then then new flow trail to the bottom. The flow trail is in the process of being built, so unfortunately it was not much of a flow trail. It was still rough and bumpy, and not all of the corners were bermed. Thus, not too much speed could be gotten, too bad. Course marking was a bit lacking, both Joël and I took wrong turns at one point (which is unusual for us).Just two weeks after a 24 hour race, Joël and I thought we were well recovered. But, it seems that we were not. I just couldn't get going, the race turned into a six hour training race. Joël had a great first few hours, but then just ran out of energy. Despite feeling a little "blah", we both still put in enough effort for good race results. I was 2nd overall female and 1st in my age group. Joël was 4th overall male and 2nd in his age group.
The trip to Ellicottville made for a nice weekend away. The race was well run, fun, and had good prizes. A huge meal of pasta and salad was available to all competitors post race. However, the course was a little disappointing. The new course did not live up to what we had heard about this race; it was unrewarding and lackluster. A race that we would still recommend to others and it was great to experience the race and surrounding town, but not one we would rave about.
-Jess and Joël