Deconstructing the Race

 A success with a few things to learn

Key Stats

The big statistic was the finish. Nothing too crazy, coming in at a respectable time overall. Not my fastest, but far from my slowest. That part is in the books. A total of 10,444 feet of climbing overall, max heart-rate of 163 BPM, with an overall average of 123 BPM. I still had a hard time staying with groups and covered probably half the distance solo. I stayed on task for all the climbs, despite having one mechanical issue at KoM. Fueling was pretty simple, but effective for the day. Most likely was calorie deficient at times, but not enough to slow me down. At the finish there were no real problems, strains or injury. Just a ton of relief to have it finally in the books after two years.

Starting Line, Weather & General Conditions

Temps at the starting line were near 50°, but calm. I chose to go out with light arm-warmers and light full finger gloves. This combination turned out to be exactly correct. Dropping them both at Montpelier for a pair of riding gloves. A little breezy going into the first climb, but given the 22 miles and time, that quickly went away. No wind over the top of Strawberry, making that last 3 mile climb less of a problem. Mid 60's coming out of Montpelier, with fairly calm conditions over Geneva Summit. The wind picked up gong from Geneva to Salt River, with largely a tailwind in places. Maybe 70° climbing KoM, but clear all the way up. Cloud cover started to appear on the descent into Star Valley, with some serious cross gusting at the bridge coming off the bottom. This turned into mostly a tailwind with occasional cross gusts going all the way into Afton. This stayed the same all the way across Star Valley, until about 4 miles from Alpine where it was completely a crosswind. This gave us a pretty good tailwind going up the canyon for maybe half way. Temps stayed nice all the way in, never really getting  too warm. The occasional cloud cover was at the right places. Some stubborn wind going from Hoback to the Highway crossing, but manageable. Overall, nearly an ideal day to finish with the sunlight.

Road Hazards and Mechanical Issues

Our starting group seemed to have a hard time conveying hand signals - say for road hazards. I was about 1/3 the way back from the front for the first 30 miles. Being dark didn't help matters for the first 30 minutes, but by the time we were going through Smithfield, they were still leading us through potholes and garbage. One such pothole hit exceptionally hard, causing my tool bag to drop down from the seat rail. This affected my rear brake making me think there was a problem with the mech itself. I asked a guy in my group next to me to look at it, but he didn't know what was going on. Finally another cat rode up on me and told me what had happened, as the same had done so with his tool bag. I still wasn't sure if my brakes were okay, but it did seem to clear up before the 50+ MPH descent into Riverdale. After turning up at Riverdale, the bottom bracket started making an annoying sound. After climbing to the feed zone one mile from the top, I stopped for a about two minutes and barrowed a hex key to check my crank arms. I also resecured the tool bag and checked the rear brake mech prior to the fast descent off that mountain. The noise persisted through most of the day but didn't seem to have an effect on performance. While climbing KoM, I was on the wheel of another rider about two miles up when I walked into a rumble strip while standing up - full pressure on the brake lever hoods. That jolted the lever assembly loose and dropped it down about an inch. Once at the top, I tried pulling it back up, but obviously not well enough. For about next 80 miles I fought that stupid thing - every time I stood up to grind. By the time I was going up Snake River Canyon I was trying to adjust it before I would stand up - every single time. I made a quick stop at the final neutral feed zone and forced the assembly up just a bit higher than originally placed - which was  far better than what I'd been dealing with. All in all, the road was hard on both myself and the bike - but we made it without much problem anyway.

Fuel & Hydration

I've had a bad habit of taking way more than I ever use - carrying it all day for no reason. Leaving Logan I took two full water bottles, two Ensure Plus, a bag of fruit snacks in the right hand pocket, a banana, three gu's and two stinger waffles. I downed the banana just past Smithfield, and one gu just before Preston. I downed one Ensure Plus at the neutral at the top of  Strawberry while checking my crank arm. I rolled into Montpelier with half a bottle of Power Aide still on the bike. I downed another Ensure Plus at that feed zone, some pickle juice and some water. Took another Ensure Plus and two fresh bottles of Power Aide. Once over Geneva and on my way to Salt River, I stopped for two minutes to take on some water, down the Ensure Plus and get more pickle juice. Again at the top of Salt River (after KoM), more pickle juice, some straight Coke and filled one water bottle with electrolytes. Afton was more pickle juice, another Ensure Plus, some Power Aide and water - leaving with two full bottles of Power Aide for what would be roughly an eighty minute ride to Alpine. Alpine was the same as everywhere before - pickle juice, Ensure Plus and Power Aide and of course more Coke. The final Neutral Feed Zone 18 miles out was more pickle juice, filled one bottle with Hammer Electrolytes and a little more Coke. One handful of fruit snacks before crossing the highway and it was pushing hard to the finish. When I finished, almost all the fruit snacks, both Stinger Waffles and three gu's were still in my back pockets. Caffeine was limited to the Coke and one gu early on in the day. I had enough that I could have worked out of a "bonk" situation if needed, but not enough to slow me down. Pretty much the right stuff for the particular day.

Climbing & Setbacks

I knew going in where I'd get dropped, get hurt and get humiliated. As usual climbing was my weakness. I just can't climb fast - like at race pace. I'll get there, but I have a tendency to let off just at the top of a roller, or refuse to "blow up" to simply hang on. This goes for several of the rally fast groups coming off of Strawberry. It's too easy to go too hard and pay the price later. It's also too easy to let up and not go hard enough - a fine line on a 202 mile bike race. The key is to ride your own race - always knowing where both thresholds are. Still, on every climb I stayed diligent - never letting up. As much as I may have wanted to stop for a minute, I know that cost was too high and wasn't willing to pay that short term price for such a long term proposition. If there were any setbacks they would have been not staying on some better groups a little longer. Still.....execution was satisfactory.

Segmenting

It is very easy to let things get into ones head. Throughout the day I stayed focused on exactly the immediate task at hand. Getting to the top of next climb, getting past a long open stretch, catching a group to give me a break. At the end of the day, thinking about the last seven miles didn't creep into my head until I was across the highway and going through the rural areas of Jackson. At that, I was still focused on driving hard to the trail turnoff, then to the tunnel, after that the bridge - finally off the dirt and onto the final seven miles. From there, it was focusing on the first four miles until the "5K" sign. While hanging on the tail end of some relay guys, we started to get "barn sour" and where pushing it even harder yet. At about the "2K" sign, I could tell they were going to shake me and ride in together. By that time we can see the finish line. At the "1K" sign I had let them go, but still putting down a hard effort - alone. Focusing on the finish line, my attention was on my watch and cycle computer - capturing and freezing the final details for the day. With the exception of about eight miles out, coming off the bridge, the thought of actually pulling this off after two years had not crossed my mind - and that lasted for only a few seconds. In the end, it was a day of dozens of segments all strung together - and then it was over nearly as quickly as it had started.

Recovery

For the most part things held together pretty well. A short drive over the mountain to Driggs took whatever I may have felt for pain completely out of the picture. Not really wanting to eat, a quick shower and a run to the store (that was closed) made me feel almost normal. No aching muscles, inflamed tendons - nothing. That is until this this morning when my kidneys reminded me they had been abused. I don't sleep well in hotels to begin with, so the rest wasn't adequate. The drive home was nice, but still the kidneys reminding me they were not happy. So goes it - the price of a day riding hard and pushing an old body to some type of limits. A couple days and I'll be out on the mountain bike(s). Probably do some weight training with a recovery spin in the morning. A little more rest and some clear fluids - we'll be back to normal again in a few day, whatever normal may look like.

Going Forward

There are a lot of things to unpack from this past season - to this point anyway. Yesterday was simply a waypoint onto the next thing. There is still plenty of season to be had, as well as several "loose ends" to be resolved (more on that later). For now, it is assessing what are the costs, opportunities, assets and liabilities - against all other things of importance. Afterall, what is really important anyway? Why is it I do what I do? Who benefits? Who pays the price? There is next year and the years after that, but where is it all going? That is a lot of questions for one paragraph. Maybe I'll leave it there for now......

What is important......

This race landed on our 40th wedding anniversary. It has happened before, but this was the 40th - a pretty big deal. My better half is integral in making all of this happen. All along during the year. Putting up with my stupid stuff. Making the feed support crew thing work - everything and I mean everything. I'm darn lucky that she has stuck with me for all of these years and wouldn't be a fraction of what I have become otherwise without her there. At the end of the day she is all that matters. She has been and still is my inspiration. I'm not half as tough as she is and that is no exaggeration. In fact, when it gets hard and I think it hurts, I think about what she has been through and know what I may be experiencing is nothing in comparison. There are not words to fill the void that is the gratitude I owe to my wife.

I'll leave it at that tonight. No link. No riding hard. Time to reflect and take inventory......