More traction and the Cache Valley Century...............
Donations
Friday was quite a day (please read the post for 24 August). Literally all day blog traffic and donations. Honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time. With things getting close, I always start to get a little edgy -almost unbearable. I'm honored to be associated with so many people that have become part of the Porpoise.
Paige, Larry, and Heather; Thank you so much for hopping onboard. It is your type of support that I know will win the day and you are making a difference.
Eric; You are a stud - and I really mean it. Add to this the absolute inspiration of your crew, Yana, Elke, Anda and of course Christa. You are the sunlight of our valley.
My sister and her husband; Always in the right place at the right time, and longtime supporters of HHH.
Like it or not, you are all part of the Porpoise, and you are making a difference. Thank you so much.
Cach Valley Century - The assessment
This ride is one I look forward to every year. It is a charity ride, put on by Common Grounds Outdoors. They use it to help those with disabilities enjoy the out of doors, that they wouldn't otherwise. The ride started at 08:00 with a handful of riders that are an absolute inspiration. They struggle to move their bike and.or whatever they had, to roll off the line and led the event. It really puts things into a perspective that drives home the point: We fight for those that otherwise cannot for themselves.
There is always a mix of riders, but there are a lot of good riders there getting a last-minute tune-up for Lotoja. For me, it is about the only time I get to ride off other people's wheels - a key to Lotoja. You simply can't ride 200 miles without catching groups. Add to that the pace of some of these guys. it can get pretty fast - something I really need to work on. The Ride starts in Richmond, Utah and heads up into Idaho before it swings back to Utah. The key for me was to hit a specific bike time, knowing I may have to wait for groups. Right off the bat, I was delayed for the start by about 10 minutes waiting for a guy that asked me to hold his bike. This meant I had to "swim" through several groups of less experienced riders to find a good group riding to Preston, Idaho. At Preston, I had to circle for a few minutes to catch a big group leaving town. I'd say maybe 20+ fast and hard riders led us to the valley west of Dayton, Idaho. On what is supposed to be the fasted descent of the ride, I-DOT had a bridge under construction with two remote traffic signals. I swear, it was right out of "Blazing Saddles" (something about going back for dimes). The following climb up to Dayton was my first critical mistake. I faded on the second crest and let the main group get ahead. Thinking I could catch them, I burned it hard but only put myself under duress. I figured I'd catch them at Cornish -which I did. For whatever reason, most of that group stopped at Cornish, while I was able to hook on to an okay group heading to Trenton. By the Newton-Trenton hill, I dropped all of these guys as they simply couldn't handle the extended climb. They all passed me when I made an unscheduled stop in Newton to pay some respects in passing. Still, the long grade up to Newton dam made them pretty easy picking and I got past most of those guys. Heading toward Clarkston, I had to gas it to catch come way fast guys, that really put the hurt on me. Again, at Clarkston, everybody was waiting around. I saw two guys heading out and figured I could snag them until the next best thing rolled long. That went way longer than I had expected, and it turned out to be a couple fast riders heading toward Valley View. It was that stretch that I took a pull and dragged four of us to the intersection with a peak HR of 169 - too hard. The "hot-rods" got through the intersection before myself and one other guy, so we worked together into Mendon. At Mendon, I got off the bike and got some water. I saw a small group and a tandem heading out, so I tried to hurry and catch them - no luck. That cost me dearly, as I burned myself out sprinting when I should have waited for the next group to go. That would have been a long time as all the way toward Almaga, I didn't have a single group go by, only a couple a super fast solo's that I could only hang onto for a few minutes each. Basically, the last 25 miles was passing slower groups, with only maybe two super fast groups passing me. By that time I was cooked, but not far off my time. Aside from another bee in my jersey with less than 8 miles to go (how many stings is that this year), it was largely uneventful.
Comparing last years Garmin data to this years, I was not happy at all. Things were too similar, and last year I had two flats on that ride. Speeds, HR..........it looked too close the same.
The night before was a mess. Simply cleaning the bike turned out to be a full wheel swap, with some minor repairs. The new DT's weren't running true, so I used the noisy RXL's - again. I also noticed a few things that need to be worked on before race day. That bike has a lot of miles on it - something more than 26,000.
The task going forward
I need to focus on a race pace. Okay, I know I can't win a race on the climbs, but I need to be faster in the other areas. This weekend made it clear, I've got to pick up the pace in the areas outside of the climbs. The guys that will win this thing will ride 100% at race pace. There are places I simply will have to dig hard and not lose anymore than is neccessary. If I get cooked in the wrong places, I'll struggle - again. I'm shooting for one more long ride, with an idea for speed intervals. I only have about 7 real training days left, then it's rest up until the race.
Group Info
I received my bib/frame number with start time - 06:27. The group I'm in is about 51 guys. It's an open Masters groups, so former Pro. Cat1,2,3,4 and 5. The guy that won this group last year is back. He did it in 9:15 last year. That math is pretty simple. It's almost 22 MPH average over the entire course. That is remarkably fast. Still, the earlier start time should work to my advantage, but I'll lose sight of the leader at the turn to Strawberry. That's the reality of the situation. I'll make it work.
04:00 is gonna be early.
04:00 is gonna be early.
For now, there is a ton to do.
