She traditionally uses early-season, mountain-running tests to gauge her fitness. And others have poured over those performances to speculate about her possibilities in the state's most prestigious mountain race.
Yet Bourgeois was a no-show one month ago at the uphill-only Government Peak Climb, the race near Hatcher Pass where she finished third in 2007.
Ditto two weeks ago at the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb, an uphill-only race on Bird Ridge she had won each of the previous four years.
But as Bourgeois prepares her attempt to win Mount Marathon a fifth straight time when the 81st edition of the race unfolds Friday in her hometown, she said there was nothing clandestine about her absences.
No mind games aimed at fellow competitors.
No stealth mission to hide her hand.
No grand plan.
"I'm not meaning to be a mystery woman,'' Bourgeois said with a laugh last week. "I was just not quite into getting into race mode. I just felt like saving myself for Mount Marathon.
"In hindsight, I was more of a mess not racing Bird Ridge. That was a tough day -- I'm just used to being on Bird Ridge. I'm just weird. I'm just a tripper sometimes.''
And she's also the prohibitive favorite to again win the race up and down the daunting slopes of the 3,022-foot peak that overlooks Resurrection Bay and annually lures thousands of spectators on race day.
After all, Bourgeois' average margin of victory the last four years is 4 minutes, 26 seconds.
A fifth straight victory would give Bourgeois, 32, the second-longest streak of consecutive wins in women's race history. Nine-time champion Nina Kemppel, the former Olympic nordic skier, won eight straight times from 1996-2003. Bourgeois' streak began the next year.
Though Bourgeois hasn't raced this season, she said her training has progressed nicely.
"I think I'm in at least the same shape as last year,'' she said. "I'm maybe just hoping to pull something new out, dig deeper.''
In an interview with Coast Magazine for its Mount Marathon race guide, Bourgeois said her two biggest goals are going after Nancy Pease's course record (50:30 in 1990) and trying to break the 12-minute barrier on the downhill.
"I'm like, 'Why not just say it?' " Bourgeois said. "I'm fine with it. I have a pure reason -- it's for my own self. I'd like to be part of Alaska history. That makes my heart hum.''
Bourgeois' best time on Mount Marathon is 51:44 (2005), the fifth-fastest all-time, and the 52:21 she clocked last year ranks No. 7 all-time. She marvels at the record time of Pease, who won the race six times.
"I swear the timing system in 1990 was broken,'' Bourgeois cracked. "I don't know how she did that.''
Last year, Bourgeois blazed the downhill in 12:28, 96 seconds faster than any other woman. That time was so blistering only 12 men beat it.
Whether top women contenders like Nicole DeYong, Holly Brooks, Teresa Brady and Aubrey Smith can even stick close to Bourgeois on the uphill is a question mark. Bourgeois last year reached the peak in 39:53, 57 seconds ahead of DeYong and 3:02 ahead of Kikkan Randall.
Randall, 25, the Olympic nordic skier from Anchorage, is a three-time senior runner-up who finished third last year. Even though she's training well, Randall won't race Friday. The three-time junior champion was hospitalized earlier this year with blood clots in her left leg, and doctors advised her to skip this year's race.
DeYong, 25, last year finished second in a personal-best 57:13. The longtime Anchorage resident and former UAA nordic skier now lives in Idaho as a member of the Sun Valley Olympic Development Team. She only recently decided to fly home for the race.
DeYong suffered from Achilles tendinitis in the spring. She feels better now, she said, but won't go into the race with any expectations, the same philosophy she successfully employed last year.
"I just have to go into it with the same mind-set,'' DeYong said. "I'll just see how it goes.''
Brooks, 26, is the wild card. She won this season's races up Government Peak and Bird Ridge. But she is a Mount Marathon rookie, and that race on dirt, shale, scree and occasional snow rewards experience and course knowledge. Also, Brooks suffers from a chronic knee injury, so her ability to run downhill fast is unknown.
"This is all kind of a big experiment,'' Brooks said. "It's hard because I don't want to train too much on the downhill because of my knee, but you have to do some training so you don't make a big mistake and get hurt.
"I don't really have a whole lot of expectations going into it because it is my first year and I don't know what kind of shape other people are in. There are tons of unknowns.''
Smith, 28, the former Seward resident who still holds the girls record for the junior race halfway up the mountain and back, last year finished fifth. She only got into the 2007 race by paying $400 at the annual bib auction the night before the race.
"She's tenacious,'' Bourgeois said. "She's as strong as I am. And when she puts her mind to something, she does it.''
Even so, Smith said she has been training moderately -- a weekly track workout and weekend hiking -- while spending the summer working a landscaping job in Anchorage. That, and a desire to simply enjoy Mount Marathon, have tempered her expectations.
"I'm totally retired from racing,'' Smith said with a laugh. "I'll be really happy if I'm in the top 20. I do it for fun now. I kind of got burned out on racing, so I just do things now that are fun, and Mount Marathon is fun.''
Brady, 46, last year finished fourth and set the 40-49 age-group record with her 58:42.
Bourgeois said she's excited to have a new face like Brooks in the mix.
"I'm glad another woman is stepping up,'' Bourgeois said. "I'm curious what the competition will be like. Last year with Nicole, boom, I came out of the trees at halfway and she wasn't too far behind me.
"If someone can come close to me going up, I'm interested to see what that will do.''
Of course, anyone near Bourgeois at the peak, where runners circle Summit Rock, will have to match her on the downhill. That's no easy feat.
"She just blazes down,'' DeYong said. "It's incredible how fast she goes downhill. She's got that mountain down.''
And that's why Bourgeois remains the favorite.
"Holly's been doing awesome, but I'd be surprised if anyone beat Cedar,'' Smith said. "She's a mountain goat."
Find Doyle Woody's blog online at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
By the numbers
Top 10 All-Time Fastest Women's Times
Racer Time Year Place
1) Nancy Pease 50:30 1990 1st
2) Carmen Young 50:54 1986 1st
3) Nancy Pease 51:13 1989 1st
4) Nancy Pease 51:41 1992 1st
5) Cedar Bourgeois 51:44 2005 1st
6) Carmen Young 52:15 1987 1st
7) Cedar Bourgeois 52:21 2007 1st
8) Cedar Bourgeois 52:33 2006 1st
9) Carmen Young 52:59 1990 2nd
10) Nancy Pease 53:06 1991 1st
2007 Women's Race Stats
Top 5 Overall
1) Cedar Bourgeois, 52:21
2) Nicole DeYong, 57:13
3) Kikkan Randall, 57:34
4) Teresa Brady, 58:42
5) Aubrey Smith, 59:41
Top 5 Fastest Uphill Times
1) Cedar Bourgeois, 39:53
2) Nicole DeYong, 40:50
3) Kikkan Randall 42:55
4) Teresa Brady, 43:07
5) Jennifer Campbell, 44:13
Top 5 Fastest Downhill Times
1) Cedar Bourgeois, 12:28
2) Aubrey Smith, 13:54
3) Kikkan Randall, 14:39
4) Karol Fink, 14:54
5) Leah Besh, 15:07
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.