2020 Drift 100: Event Recap

Words by Jefe Branham (@jwookstar), Photos by Jefe Branham, Kaitie Mansell, and Austin Hansen.

The Drift 100 popped into my awareness right around the first of this year. At that time I was lamenting the fact that I’d missed out on any winter ultras this season, and specifically any ITI qualifier, prolonging my longtime dream of racing the Iditarod Trail Invitational in Alaska. Money was kind of tight and traveling with a 10-month-old baby isn’t always easy or smart in the dead of winter, so everything was shelved for a bit. Once news of this new event (and it being an ITI qualifier) came into my life, things went into motion fairly fast. I found some support, I convinced my family to get behind this, we made the reservations, and I started “training.”

Riding in the winter is a challenge. Conditions are extremely variable, temperatures often very unfriendly, and the days are short, and cold. Really cold. Add in having a full time job and an infant, and regular training is far away from reality. Still, I rode as much as I could, whenever I could. More often than not, that meant early mornings before the family was up, or after dinner. Sometimes both. That meant lots of night riding in the harsh dark of Gunnison winter. While I missed the sun, I love the beginning and ending of the day, and having the coldest of the cold to try out gear, test myself, and dial in systems was a huge bonus. Still, things went off the rails, because life happens, and weather, family, and sickness all threw wrenches into the plan.

Somehow the three of us and all our stuff managed to leave Gunnison for Pinedale, Wyoming, on Thursday, March 12th. America was still plugging away, Gunnison was as normal as can be. There were whispers of change and fear, but there was nothing tangible and I tried my best to put them aside and focus on surviving the 102 upcoming miles. That was not easy. I was beginning to think and feel like things might get crazy, that this trip was a bad idea, and I started to have twitches of guilt. My family means more to me than anything, and there in Pinedale, nine hours from our house, with lockdowns starting to happen in our hometown, I was really wondering if I should have kept myself and my family home.

The start of the Drift 100 was at 9:00 AM on Friday the 13th. Yeah, I know! The thoughts about the state of the world never left my head for the next 17 hours and 47 minutes. Sure, I battled other thoughts, I had some great epiphanies, I marveled at the tremendous landscape, but I never relaxed. I was never fully there in those gorgeous mountains.

Still, I raced. There was a major storm in the forecast and I wanted to beat it if I could. Right after the start I went to the front and pulled as hard as I could on the firm, fast groomed snow. I kept on the gas all the way to the first aid station. Shortly thereafter the conditions degraded and I was soon walking more than riding. That was when Pete, on skate skis, caught and passed me! We went back and forth for the next 30 or so miles. Pete was smooth, efficient, and it wasn’t until mile 55 or so that I managed to pull ahead and stay there. I dug pretty deep to keep those pedals spinning, especially near the end on the rolling downhill that felt like slow, sticky Velcro. I screamed at myself, screamed at the sky as I tried to keep the power on, but felt it sucked away by the weight of my tired legs and the never ending false descent. Yet all things come to an end and soon I was there among the cheers of the finish and into the warm loving arms of my family!

Congrats to all of the participants at this year’s Drift 100. For more information on the event, head over to TheDrift100.com, and find the 2020 standings here.

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