After stopping to pick up some groceries and supplies Richard and I got on I-10 a little after noon on Friday. We were at Flat Rock Ranch by 3:30. The drive isn't really that bad, and the new sections of 75 mph on I-10 helped speed things along. We set up camp at the best spot on the ranch, on the edge of the campground, right by the creek and just across from the start line.
 |
| Campsite. |
We went out for a quick pre-ride to spin our legs, and to give Richard an idea of what kind of terrain to expect and at least see the first few miles of the course. We rode some of both the Upper and Lower loops.
After the ride, we went back and cooked a spaghetti dinner. We built a fire and got registered, then hung around the fire for a while before going to bed.
 |
| Cool iPhone fire picture. |
Saturday morning was a bit chaotic. The race started at 9 and I'd planned to get up at 6. I figured it'd be light by then so I could get up and start making breakfast. I kept waking up but it was never really light, so I'd just roll over. I finally checked my clock to find it was a little after 7. We were camped behind a big hill keeping us out of the sunshine, go figure. It was super cold and felt like it kept getting colder until the sun came all the way over the hill and into our campsite a bit. We cooked eggs, sausage and pancakes for breakfast. Then I mixed my bottles and got the bike ready. I finished kitting up at about 8:55 and went over to the start line and picked a midpack starting position. The starter was giving the last minute instructions and suddenly I realized I'd left my sunglasses in the car. I never ride without them and certainly didn't want to for 5 hours with all the sunshine so I dropped my bike and sprinted the 50 yards back to the car, dug them out of my bag and sprinted back. Less than a minute later we were off. The start was a long gravel road uphill, and after the sprinting to the car and no warmup my stomach immediately went into rebellion and I felt like I might vomit for about the first 20-30 minutes. I was taking it pretty easily, and was in a long line of riders so we had to nearly stop for every technical feature but I still felt bad. Eventually my stomach calmed down and the race strung out a bit so I could find some rhythm. Through the first half lap I just stayed steady and made a few passes on riders that'd started harder than me. I didn't stop at the feedzone and went straight out for the 2nd half lap. I got caught by the leaders of the half marathon somewhere early on this loop, and was still mixing it up with a few full marathon racers. I made a couple more passes towards the end of the lap and stopped at the feedzone. On the first full lap I'd ridden everything on the course except for the tops of Pipeline Climb and Mt. Park, which are very, very rocky climbing sections with some pretty sizeable ledges thrown in for good measure. I've ridden them both before, but didn't want to try too hard this day and waste too much energy. I stripped off my warmers, changed bottles and rolled back out for my 2nd lap.
I was feeling the effort from the first lap, and got hung up going up a big rock ledge a few miles in. I couldn't unclip and fell a few feet down off the ledge, but just had a few cuts, nothing serious luckily I didn't land on any large/sharp rocks. I tried to stay steady this lap and just ride efficiently. I made a few of the hard climbs again, but a few I had to walk this time. About halfway through the first half of the lap a woman I'd caught and passed earlier caught back up to me on a big climb. The rest of the loop was mostly flowy downhill so I stayed with her easily back to the feedzone. I needed to stop and get a new bottle but she went on so I lost her there. She turned out to be the Women's Open winner. At least I can almost compete with the ladies. Early in the last loop I was with a guy I'd been going back and forth with for a while, and I was feeling pretty done so I let him go. I'd see him every once in a while but it seemed like nothing was changing between us, besides I was just trying to keep the cranks turning up the big climb. I felt like I was just surviving and he got out of sight. With 4 or 5 miles to go I got passed by a guy I hadn't been seeing before. He was riding an Epic 29er and I was quite jealous but I decided I would try to show him what the hardtail could do. I got back on his wheel and passed him when he bobbled a ledge around a blind corner. I started gapping him and didn't see him again. Then I saw the guy I'd let go at the beginning of the loop. I decided to try to chase him down, and started making up ground. I was in the fast section of the trail, and was pushing XC race pace now, after 5 hours of suffering, I just kept telling myself he's right there, he's right there. I caught him, rested on his wheel for a minute, then made the pass in the next open section. I dropped the hammer again and quickly dropped him. I stayed on the gas all the way to the finish and surged strong to the line. I think I put about 30 seconds on him in those last few minutes so that was nice.
Key takeaway from the weekend is that I have a lot of work to do before Ouachita Challenge, both on my fitness and on my nutrition. My intake was 2.5 bottles of HEED, 1.5 2-hour bottles of Perpetuem, and a couple of Shot Bloks. But the good news is I got a bunch more miles in my legs and proved that I can ride for at least 5 hours, even if the last 2 aren't so great. I feel like I paced pretty well early, ignoring the fact that I was getting smoked and just riding my own pace, ignoring the race for the most part. This was critical to not ride above my limits and make the rest of the race even worse.
Now I gotta keep doing work to prep for Ouachita, this will be the last week/weekend of trying to just get miles, next week I'll be starting up some intervals.
I was feeling the effort from the first lap, and got hung up going up a big rock ledge a few miles in. I couldn't unclip and fell a few feet down off the ledge, but just had a few cuts, nothing serious luckily I didn't land on any large/sharp rocks. I tried to stay steady this lap and just ride efficiently. I made a few of the hard climbs again, but a few I had to walk this time. About halfway through the first half of the lap a woman I'd caught and passed earlier caught back up to me on a big climb. The rest of the loop was mostly flowy downhill so I stayed with her easily back to the feedzone. I needed to stop and get a new bottle but she went on so I lost her there. She turned out to be the Women's Open winner. At least I can almost compete with the ladies. Early in the last loop I was with a guy I'd been going back and forth with for a while, and I was feeling pretty done so I let him go. I'd see him every once in a while but it seemed like nothing was changing between us, besides I was just trying to keep the cranks turning up the big climb. I felt like I was just surviving and he got out of sight. With 4 or 5 miles to go I got passed by a guy I hadn't been seeing before. He was riding an Epic 29er and I was quite jealous but I decided I would try to show him what the hardtail could do. I got back on his wheel and passed him when he bobbled a ledge around a blind corner. I started gapping him and didn't see him again. Then I saw the guy I'd let go at the beginning of the loop. I decided to try to chase him down, and started making up ground. I was in the fast section of the trail, and was pushing XC race pace now, after 5 hours of suffering, I just kept telling myself he's right there, he's right there. I caught him, rested on his wheel for a minute, then made the pass in the next open section. I dropped the hammer again and quickly dropped him. I stayed on the gas all the way to the finish and surged strong to the line. I think I put about 30 seconds on him in those last few minutes so that was nice.
Key takeaway from the weekend is that I have a lot of work to do before Ouachita Challenge, both on my fitness and on my nutrition. My intake was 2.5 bottles of HEED, 1.5 2-hour bottles of Perpetuem, and a couple of Shot Bloks. But the good news is I got a bunch more miles in my legs and proved that I can ride for at least 5 hours, even if the last 2 aren't so great. I feel like I paced pretty well early, ignoring the fact that I was getting smoked and just riding my own pace, ignoring the race for the most part. This was critical to not ride above my limits and make the rest of the race even worse.
Now I gotta keep doing work to prep for Ouachita, this will be the last week/weekend of trying to just get miles, next week I'll be starting up some intervals.
No comments:
Post a Comment