Into the Deep End and Back Again: A Cautionary Tale
The 2021 Utah Mixed Epic, official description: “A self-supported bikepacking adventure snaking through Utah’s alpine and desert regions. With plenty of high altitude climbing and long stretches without services. Favoring unpaved surfaces, be prepared for everything from smooth gravel roads to technical, rocky passages.” In the heart of the sleeping city, the chill of fall made itself comfortable in the still dark sky. I grinned ear to ear about starting my first-ever bikepacking event, the Utah Mixed Epic, a 960-mile, self-supported, mixed-surface route meandering from Salt Lake City, Utah to Moab. Poor thing, she had no idea what was coming.
Katie’s Utah Mixed Epic
This fall, Katie set out on Tim Tait’s notoriously difficult Utah Mixed Epic (UME), a bikepacking race from Moab, traversing three mountain ranges connected with remote desert. During the 638 miles of the UME, Katie discovered her recovery-first approach to her bikepacking season helped her to be successful in this race and allowed her to push her limits when her competitive spark lit up during the final push. Read more about Katie’s race and watch her video with footage from the ride.
