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2018 racing stories

Old 08-27-18, 06:54 AM
  #601  
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Sometimes it pays to just show up.

I raced our regional track track championship this weekend. Turnout overall was great, but most of the riders were from out of town. There were only a handful of locals who were eligible for the regional championship.

Despite performances that were far from
my best - The race fell in a down part of my training plan - I still claimed two medals; a gold and a silver.

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Old 08-30-18, 02:48 PM
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Form is coming back, won another training crit last night. 20 miles ride to the race, 20 mile race, then 20 miles back. It was a good day (and night).

Went otf on the first lap with one guy, then another bridged up. We got a nice gap early, kept it, stayed away. One guy dropped out, so then it was just the two of us for the last few miles but we kept motoring.

I was confident I could beat my break partner, but respected him too much to "gift" the W to him; instead I just made it really hard on myself to win. Jumped him going in to one to go (2 mile laps) at the top of the hill, but he caught back up with about a mile to go. Took it in the end.

It doesn't count for much - barely even bragging rights - but I'll take it!

Hoping to win a real race this weekend. The chances for a real win this season are dwindling quickly..
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Old 08-31-18, 06:35 AM
  #603  
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Originally Posted by mattm
It doesn't count for much - barely even bragging rights - but I'll take it!
A win is a win. Unless you were sandbagging in a lower field or the other guy really wasn't really trying, then it counts.
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Old 09-01-18, 07:17 PM
  #604  
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@mattm Props on the win. I really liked the training routine. Ride to the race, race and ride back home.
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Old 09-02-18, 11:55 AM
  #605  
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Did the final Red Kite p1/2 crit yesterday. 23 in the field, I had a few teammates. A local sprinter was there, so the plan was to make him work hard, basically. Our sprinter was marked by the other sprinter there, which we used to our advantage.

After the first initial attack that was brought back in the first five minutes, I attacked from the back of the group and quickly got a gap, joined by 3 or 4 guys including @Ygduf. There were 3 guys from Mikes Devo team, two from Sun Power, and a few random dudes, then me & @Ygduf.

We worked well together, with a few exceptions. I had to "coach" some of the guys in the group not to sprint for primes (just crappy wine anyway), and got yelled at for not working enough in the group lol. I think that was because @Ygduf was sitting on and they thought it was me. I retorted "MAN I STARTED THIS ****ING BREAK, THIS IS MY BREAK, I'M WORKING TO MAKE IT STICK DAMMIT!!" That rant was followed up with a more measured/lower-volume line about how I am working and I want this break to stick, so let's keep working together.

But it really pissed me off that I was doing a ton of work in the break, never skipping a pull, and still got yelled at!

With 20 mins to go we lapped what was left of the field, which I wanted since I had more strong teammates there that could help with a leadout. Once we lapped things were relatively calm, no big attacks from the lappers. I made a mental note of the #'s of the Mikes guys, in case they tried to get away again.

Coming in to the final lap I was getting a leadout from two of our strongest guys, including our top sprinter. They did pretty well, but there were guys who had gotten lapped that decided to try and sprint anyway and got in the way.. the leadout wasn't quite fast enough (didn't come over the top of everyone else), so we came in to the last corner wide and took a weird line.. I had a clear shot at the line and did a good 245m sprint, but the line was 250m away..

I could tell nobody around me was coming up, but someone on the far side of the road came from behind and snuck through for the win.. I got 2nd.

Heartbreaking.

Adding insult to injury, the guy who won didn't work as much as everyone else in the break, sat on a bunch. To his credit, that's probably why he won! There's no prize for doing a ton of work in a break.. all that matters is who crossed the line first.

I know I shouldn't complain about getting 2nd, but when you're that close to 1st and have a team working for you, it's painful.
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Old 09-04-18, 09:58 AM
  #606  
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Ugh, sorry to hear about that @mattm. This sport rewards hard work in training, but being lazy in races wins the race!
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Old 09-04-18, 04:28 PM
  #607  
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Finished 10th on GC at the Green Mountain Stage Race in the 2's. Pretty decent, though I am positive I could've done better; even pacing the ITT less conservatively would probably have bumped me up to 8th overall. Ultimately it was nice to feel normal again, up until pretty recently the season had been handicapped by the terrible winter and spring I had.

Teammate took 4th overall and earned his cat 1, other teammate came within 2 points of holding the green jersey. Teammate in the p/1 field took 4th overall. We're in high spirits, was a good weekend!
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Old 09-04-18, 09:54 PM
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@thekillerpenguin Welcome back. Great team results!
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Old 09-09-18, 03:39 PM
  #609  
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Sept 2018 Piru 20K ITT, Women's Open, 1st of 2, off PB time by 7 seconds

Very pleasantly surprised that my TT today went well, given this has been the Summer of MTB for me and I haven't spent the kind of time on the TT bike that I normally do. My last race was early June and immediately after, I went a did an aerotest session at the velodrome in Carson. From that, we set a new, more aggressive position on the TT bike and today was my first race in the new position. I wasn't expecting much, because I've done tons of zone 2/3 hours this summer on the MTB but not much threshold work on the TT bike. It was also forecast to be hot and I'm pretty awful in heat. Oh yeah and we went out to a local tasting room last night and I did not exactly confine myself to one glass of wine as planned. Oy.

I thought about skipping the race but it really needed to be done, just needed some info about where I am right now TT-wise and we both (husband aka soigneur and I) needed to get back in the groove as far as logistics go. So off to the race we went.

My general game plan was to manage heat (ice sock, cold towel, ice water, helmet in cooler etc) and ride RPE vs any kind of power or HR target. It was 7ish degrees cooler than forecast, Lucky break. Course conditions were also fast between the warm temps and the slight tailwind going out/slightly downhill and the even more slight headwind coming back/slightly up hill. I had a number of lapses- brought my boa-closure slow shoes instead of lace-closure fast shoes, missed my clip in at the standing (rather than usual held) start, slow turn (out of practice), wet skin suit from warm up (so number needed a few pins and one rear corner still was flapping during the race). And weird thing is I went over some rough terrain and the tail of my helmet knocked into a ice cube in the ice sock on my back- made this loud CRACK! noise and my initial thought I kid you not was that I'd been shot in the head which caused me to stop pedaling for a moment until it happened again and I realized it was the ice and that I had not been shot. Lol carry on with the bike race.

Outbound, I glanced at my computer a few times, mostly to verify what I was feeling RPE vs power and HR. Going into this TT with so little threshold work, I figured my limiter was going to be on the aerobic side, so I mostly raced based on resp rate/quality. Coming up the last hill a mile from the finish, I could see my 30 sec woman and was pretty sure I was gonna nick her. Tried to pour it on, but that hill always gets me. I am a slow learner I guess, just now realizing on that course for me, the race needs to be won before the last hill, I will always be at a pretty maxed out HRwise at the top of the hill and pouring on in the last half mile is just not realistic.

But, I won by 10 seconds. Was 7 seconds off a PB for the course, which given all the glitches is something of a triumph. And did it on 5 watts less power than previously for the same time on the same course in similar conditions. Based on HR, I somewhat under-rode it and NP was 1 watt off where we have my FTP set right now. Conclusions: new position is more aero in real life (not just on the track) and despite spending 3 months sort-of away from the TT bike, my FTP in aero position is probably a little higher than it was when I was peaked out last season. Good news all around, this is a positive place to be sitting 3 weeks before my new race season starts.

And the best part? I got to see @Cleave.
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Old 09-09-18, 07:03 PM
  #610  
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Fiesta Island Time Trail 20K 2 person team event. I raced with my wife as a partner and we were 3 of 5 in the open division and 1 of 3 for male / female teams.

Volunteers make these events happen and thanks to @TMonk and @wktmeow for getting up early and helping out at the race.

Photo by @TMonk



We had a 7:01 start time with temps in the high 60s, 100% humidity and some fog. The visibility and road conditions were good. 20k on Fiesta Island is 3 laps so one gets to practice the course with each lap and we train on this course all the time so we know it very well. The race promoter San Diego Bicycle Club does an excellent job running the event and the road is closed to traffic.

Even though we arrived an hour ahead of our start time, by the time we got our number, pinned on number and organized bike stuff, we ended up only getting about 10 minutes of warmup. We had a good start with my wife leading out. The race and the exchanges went according to plan. Even though we have raced the tandem as a team, this was our first team time trial on TT bikes. I thought the execution was very good and we may do the next one as a team.
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Old 09-09-18, 07:56 PM
  #611  
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LoToJa. 11th out of 20 in the p123 field. (202 mile road race, 7000ft of evelation in three climbs). 9 hours chip time.

Woof. What a race. Went in on good fitness and freshness with a general game plan for myself and the team. Unfortunately everything that was predicted (thanks to some great advice from friends) came true. One of my teammates went in the early break. I'm talking like 10 minutes in. It was still extremely dark and we kinda missed who went up the road with him. To our team's mistake it incldued two of the best climbers in Utah, and he is a bigger guy. Long story short, we rode really slow and no one could organize anything. The break went out to 15+ minutes then we got the word the break was down to three and I knew my teammate had been dropped over the first climb. At that point the break has 19 minutes. First climb was hard, but nothing that would destroy me. Easy, fast descent then into the feedzone. Missed my crew with my bag so I was on only the extra food/gels I started with and no water. And 40+ miles to the next aid station. Luckily teammates were able to share and I had over hydrated up to that point.

Second climb came and I knew it was the break point of the race for myself and pretty much everyone. The group you came over the top of this one with was the group you'd probably finish with. Teammate that had originally been in the break was setting pace and was really hurting so I went to the front to help. This lead to me setting pace up the second climb until he told me it was enough. Came off the front and another team ramped the pace a bit and I held well until about 500m to go when the gap really opened up and I was at my limit. Damn. Only redeeming factor here is I got to paceline through the valley and 3rd "climb" with Robbie Ventura (we started with M45+ group as well).

From the top of that tthird climb until the the end of the race was all fast tailwind. Like ripping tailwind. It's no wonder the course record was absolutely shattered and contributes to the impossibility of catching that break. I jumped on the back of the masters 35+ group and basically just chatted with people for the last 70 miles to get to the finish since my race was over. Didn't miss anymore feeds etc.

Overall an awesome experience, a really weird race and a good end to my season. I was hesitant to race in the p123 cat for this race but I'm really glad I did. The tactics and games played are fun and I seem to have the fitness to ride properly in a group like this now. This may not have been a "result" but I'm glad I did it. Type 2 fun and all that. I also got to experience racing with the team I'll 99% racing with locally next year. Fun guys to race withh and savvy racers, just seems that next year we pay more attention to what's going on and don't put all our chips on one guy in a long-bomb breakaway. Live and learn.

taking a break from bike training for a few weeks here. Gym, some running, maybe a cx race or two. Occasional HIIT something maybe. But after 9 hours in the saddle in one day and how long I've been focused this year, I'm looking forward to the mental break.
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Old 09-10-18, 08:00 AM
  #612  
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@heathpack Welcome back to TTs. Glad the mountain biking is additive to your racing.
@Ttoc6 Tough race but it sounded epic.
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Old 09-10-18, 08:17 AM
  #613  
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@hermes way to go with the win. TTTs seem pretty interesting to me, never done one though

Nice on the epic ride @Ttoc6. That’s pretty intense stuff. Impressive.
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Old 09-10-18, 10:02 AM
  #614  
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Originally Posted by Ttoc6
LoToJa. 11th out of 20 in the p123 field. (202 mile road race, 7000ft of evelation in three climbs). 9 hours chip time.

Woof. What a race. Went in on good fitness and freshness with a general game plan for myself and the team. Unfortunately everything that was predicted (thanks to some great advice from friends) came true. One of my teammates went in the early break. I'm talking like 10 minutes in. It was still extremely dark and we kinda missed who went up the road with him. To our team's mistake it incldued two of the best climbers in Utah, and he is a bigger guy. Long story short, we rode really slow and no one could organize anything. The break went out to 15+ minutes then we got the word the break was down to three and I knew my teammate had been dropped over the first climb. At that point the break has 19 minutes. First climb was hard, but nothing that would destroy me. Easy, fast descent then into the feedzone. Missed my crew with my bag so I was on only the extra food/gels I started with and no water. And 40+ miles to the next aid station. Luckily teammates were able to share and I had over hydrated up to that point.

Second climb came and I knew it was the break point of the race for myself and pretty much everyone. The group you came over the top of this one with was the group you'd probably finish with. Teammate that had originally been in the break was setting pace and was really hurting so I went to the front to help. This lead to me setting pace up the second climb until he told me it was enough. Came off the front and another team ramped the pace a bit and I held well until about 500m to go when the gap really opened up and I was at my limit. Damn. Only redeeming factor here is I got to paceline through the valley and 3rd "climb" with Robbie Ventura (we started with M45+ group as well).

From the top of that tthird climb until the the end of the race was all fast tailwind. Like ripping tailwind. It's no wonder the course record was absolutely shattered and contributes to the impossibility of catching that break. I jumped on the back of the masters 35+ group and basically just chatted with people for the last 70 miles to get to the finish since my race was over. Didn't miss anymore feeds etc.

Overall an awesome experience, a really weird race and a good end to my season. I was hesitant to race in the p123 cat for this race but I'm really glad I did. The tactics and games played are fun and I seem to have the fitness to ride properly in a group like this now. This may not have been a "result" but I'm glad I did it. Type 2 fun and all that. I also got to experience racing with the team I'll 99% racing with locally next year. Fun guys to race withh and savvy racers, just seems that next year we pay more attention to what's going on and don't put all our chips on one guy in a long-bomb breakaway. Live and learn.

taking a break from bike training for a few weeks here. Gym, some running, maybe a cx race or two. Occasional HIIT something maybe. But after 9 hours in the saddle in one day and how long I've been focused this year, I'm looking forward to the mental break.
Nice work!

A teammate of mine took 2nd overall. He was in that break that rolled from the gun, from what he told us his rear shifter cable snapped at mile 80 and he did the rest of the race with 2 gears. Dude is a genuine freak of nature.
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Old 09-10-18, 06:50 PM
  #615  
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Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin
Nice work!

A teammate of mine took 2nd overall. He was in that break that rolled from the gun, from what he told us his rear shifter cable snapped at mile 80 and he did the rest of the race with 2 gears. Dude is a genuine freak of nature.
thanks for tthe love, y'all.

What an animal. There is a pretty hard climb after mile 80 still. But once you get over those I think you'd be fine as long as you had your fast gear. Tell him congrats on a great ride. That course record there is going to stand for a long time, I'd bet.
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Old 09-10-18, 10:36 PM
  #616  
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Originally Posted by Ttoc6
One of my teammates went in the early break. I'm talking like 10 minutes in. It was still extremely dark and we kinda missed who went up the road with him. To our team's mistake it incldued two of the best climbers in Utah, and he is a bigger guy.

I know that's his plan (and is his plan every year), but I don't understand why he wouldn't shut it down based on who he's with. He's basically giving those guys a turbo boost to the climbs. The idea is for him to sneak away from the best climbers.




Originally Posted by Ttoc6
Missed my crew with my bag so I was on only the extra food/gels I started with and no water. And 40+ miles to the next aid station. Luckily teammates were able to share and I had over hydrated up to that point.

Damn. Nightmare. Did you go with that service to do your feeds or did you find a friend to do it?


Originally Posted by Ttoc6

Second climb came and I knew it was the break point of the race for myself and pretty much everyone. The group you came over the top of this one with was the group you'd probably finish with.

Depending on that race scenario that climb (Geneva) can be so chill you don't even notice or super surgey. It's really the 3rd climb (KOM/Salt River) that is decisive. People who don't make it over there sometimes make it back to the lead group but rarely have the juice left to contend for the win.




Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin

A teammate of mine took 2nd overall. He was in that break that rolled from the gun, from what he told us his rear shifter cable snapped at mile 80 and he did the rest of the race with 2 gears. Dude is a genuine freak of nature.

Now that is amazing.


Originally Posted by Ttoc6

What an animal. There is a pretty hard climb after mile 80 still. But once you get over those I think you'd be fine as long as you had your fast gear.

Man....there are so many rollers and you're so deep in the race that I'd say it's a MAJOR thing to deal with just 2 gears. There are a few climbs that seem minor but wouldn't be when you just have those 2 choices.


I know--that's my home terrain.




Originally Posted by Ttoc6

Tell him congrats on a great ride. That course record there is going to stand for a long time, I'd bet.

3 things have to come together for a day like that:

* A group of talented/strong riders

* A race scenario for them to work together with minimal BS

* Incredibly favorable weather (mostly wind, but also warm temps at the start and relatively cool throughout). A good friend of mine has done the race 20 times (won his field the last 2 years... was solo for 190 miles) and said it was the most amazing conditions that one could ask for. I have to take his word for it--I was out of town.


Glad you did it! DIdn't @revchuck race, too?
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Old 09-11-18, 09:51 AM
  #617  
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My teammate bro keeps posting photos from your area @tetonrider and it's beaaauuuutiful! I'd never leave.
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Old 09-11-18, 12:37 PM
  #618  
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Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin
My teammate bro keeps posting photos from your area @tetonrider and it's beaaauuuutiful! I'd never leave.
you know me for how many years and follow me on social media and it takes your buddy posting for you to realize that????!!!!

many people have come here "just for a visit" only to find themselves here 10 years later.
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Old 09-11-18, 12:39 PM
  #619  
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Dude I think the same thing whenever you post pictures! You don't get that sort of dramatic wide open stuff in the north east.
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Old 09-11-18, 08:04 PM
  #620  
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Originally Posted by tetonrider
Damn. Nightmare. Did you go with that service to do your feeds or did you find a friend to do it?
I used some friends. There was just some miscommunication regarding where to be in the feedzone so I didn't even see them. + there was like amillion people there to feed a group of like 30.



Originally Posted by tetonrider
Depending on that race scenario that climb (Geneva) can be so chill you don't even notice or super surgey. It's really the 3rd climb (KOM/Salt River) that is decisive. People who don't make it over there sometimes make it back to the lead group but rarely have the juice left to contend for the win.
I got it wrong. I got dropped on the 3rd climb. When I wrote this I hadn't really looked at the track yet. Second climb was so chill I didn't even know it was the second climb tbh. As you had mentioned. I got dropped there and my race was done.



Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin
My teammate bro keeps posting photos from your area @tetonrider and it's beaaauuuutiful! I'd never leave.
Jackson (and the whole Teton region) is quite literally my favorite place I've ever been to. I knew that from the moment I drove into town the day I was moving out here to Utah. I have reaffirmed that a few times since then visiting friends (@tetonrider, as well as the guys who supported me that have a ranch on the Idaho side). The natural beauty and unique landscapes are something to behold. I wouldn't be lying to say that LoToJa is the prettiest race I've ever done. Deep down inside I was a little glad I got to soak in the terrain over those last 60 miles riding in to town rather than being focused on the wheel in front of me. If it weren't so damn expensive (or I could find a job doing what I do in the valley) I'd live there in a heart beat. [I did see a house for sale in Alpine.. 150k for ~1500 sq ft... I'll start saving my money.]
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Old 09-11-18, 10:40 PM
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Last crit race of the season. Wasn't going to do it. But then I found out Vegan Cyclist would be racing in it. So I decided to give it a go. Started raining at the start and got worse from there. Soon blown out the back because of my caution. I'm just too old to want to take any risk in the rain. So I'm kind of disappointed. FWIW, Vegan got 14th. Got to say him to him.
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Old 09-11-18, 11:23 PM
  #622  
tetonrider
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Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin
Dude I think the same thing whenever you post pictures! You don't get that sort of dramatic wide open stuff in the north east.
i know... was just teasing. be happy to ride with you here sometime.

Originally Posted by Ttoc6
I used some friends. There was just some miscommunication regarding where to be in the feedzone so I didn't even see them. + there was like amillion people there to feed a group of like 30.
yeah--so you were in the first/fastest race group on the road and the first to hit the feed zones. it's annoying that someone supporting a cat 5 rider (nothing wrong with the 5s, just that they start later and are generally slower) shows up to the FZ early with a FAMILY (literally!) and then clogs the zone 30-60' before their rider will arrive.

over time you and your support figure out a system that works. handling racer support is a big task and take skill in this event.


[QUOTE=Ttoc6;20560419
I got it wrong. I got dropped on the 3rd climb. When I wrote this I hadn't really looked at the track yet. Second climb was so chill I didn't even know it was the second climb tbh. As you had mentioned. I got dropped there and my race was done.
[/quote]
Ah, OK... so exactly what we discussed pre-race. That 2nd climb can actually be REALLY tough, but most years I've rolled over it without even noticing.



The problem is living in Alpine winds up feeling a world away from here. Also, working in your field is over-rated. ;-)

Not that I'm an enabler...
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Old 09-12-18, 10:56 AM
  #623  
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Went to watch the Red Bull Bay Climb next to my apartment. Race 3 blocks uphill. I wasn't gonna try cuz it was full, I haven't trained in almost 2 months, and reg was closed and racing had started. But my friends peer pressured me into registering anyway.

Got 5th of 8 in my heat, didn't go on to the next round. But somehow I was as fast as last year despite my not having done any training in 2 months.
Lungs hurt for the next 30 minutes lol.
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Old 09-13-18, 05:57 AM
  #624  
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DIdn't @revchuck race, too?
I did the sportive rather than the race, didn't want my first 200+ mile ride at altitude to be a race. I'm late posting due to travel and work. I tried to post Monday night when I got home - actually, it was about 1:30 Tuesday morning - and it was so incoherent and so hard to write I just deleted it.

I was in the geezer squad (M60+/65+). We started out at a decent pace with about 32 people in the paceline. As so often happens, fewer than half of us pulled, but we still made it to Preston in about 1:30. The paceline disintegrated there as some guys stopped at the feedzone and others (like me) didn't. From there to the top of Emigration there was no cohesion, I just rode my pace and surprisingly passed a s**tload of people. Partway up that climb a couple of guys touched wheels and went down; I was about four wheels back and managed to avoid the pileup. I passed the second feedzone and hit the third one at Montpelier, reloaded and kept going. As @Ttoc6 noted, the second climb was NBD. The third one was another case of riding my pace and passing people, though nowhere near as many as before. The sun finally came out on the way up that climb, the local folks were hurting due to the relatively high humidity but to me, it was just like home. I reloaded at that feedzone and started the descent and karma hit me - it started raining, not the warm Louisiana rain I'm used to but rather a cold-ass mountain rain while doing 43-44 mph. It was a mite brisk.

From there to Afton I felt great. My coach was at the feedzone there and I told her that while I got my food and drink. I got into what I thought was a decent paceline and was cruising, worked my way to the front, took my pull and came off to drift back about ten people when I found that we had dropped most of the paceline and it was just me a couple of young guys. I stayed with them for a while and then drifted off.

That's when the "don't want nuttin' sweet" thing hit me. The last thing I wanted was more sports drink - but I drank it anyway - and more Clif bar, which I didn't touch. I quickly went from feeling pretty good to feeling pretty lousy. My legs were okay; my stomach, not so much. I hit the feedzone at Alpine and my coach took one look at me and knew what was going on. She had made a turkey and cheese sandwich and I ate half and filled my bottles with water. I stopped in the porta-potty and didn't want to get up, lost at least ten minutes there. Got back on the road and the sandwich and water started to take effect and pulled me out of that tailspin. Riding along the Snake River with a strong tailwind didn't hurt, either. I stopped at the last feedzone for more water and brought it on in. I actually felt better at the end than at the 150 mile point.

I ended up 5/22 finishers (10 DNS/DNF) with a chip time of 12:05, with about 55 minutes of that stopped at feedzones. My time would've put me 10/13 in the M65+ race (the guy who won the M65+ race did it in 9:46!). Had I not had that ten-minute bad spell I would've moved up a couple of places. I'm...satisfied with that, at least for a first try. It took this sea-level flatlander a lot of work to get to that level. I started this thinking that it would be a one-and-done thing, now I'm thinking about how I could shave time off.
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Old 09-13-18, 08:23 AM
  #625  
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@revchuck Amazing event. Congrats on the finish. Shave more time off next year...priceless.

Last edited by Hermes; 09-14-18 at 08:23 AM.
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