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<\/p>\nLate last year, I saw an event which intrigued me – a 6 (and 12 and 24, but let’s not go there… yet) hour bike race at the Driveway – where all the big kid cyclists race every week during the summer.\u00a0 I’m not at the point where I want to start doing those type of races where you can reach out and touch 5 other people’s bikes from your saddle, plus I could NEVER make it down south by 5pm on a Thursday with work, but I’ve always wanted to check it out.<\/p>\n
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This is my first timed bike race – and something about having an HOURS cut off instead of a mileage cutoff felt like it took the pressure off.\u00a0 Yes, I had mileage goals but also if everything fell apart, I just had to ride my bike for some portion of 6 hours on a fairly flat ~1.7 mile loop.<\/p>\n
Then, the city decided they were going to repave the Driveway that weekend and they had secured Pace Bend Park instead.\u00a0 So, instead of ~20 feet of ascent in 1.7 miles, we were looking at 350 in 6.2.\u00a0 Yeah, that’s slightly different.\u00a0 The race production company gave everyone a chance to bow out for a refund, which was super awesome, but nope.\u00a0 I was in.\u00a0 I would just adjust my expectations.<\/p>\n
Last week seemed to go by in a blink, and then all of a sudden it was Friday night and after dinner, grocery shopping, and packing for the race and camping after for like 3 hours, my back was SUUUUUUUPER sore from all the STANDING.\u00a0 And still sore the next day when I woke up.\u00a0 Crap.\u00a0 Not the best way to start a race day, but after some dinking around and getting set up and the pre-race meeting and losing my gloves because Zliten stole them, we were off to the races in the 40-ish and spitting rain (and that would not change the entire time).<\/p>\n
I really don’t feel like a play by play of 14 loops would be that interesting, so here’s some observations\/learning experiences from my first endurance cycling event.<\/p>\n
1. Just because Zliten knows where something is or where it was packed does not help you when you’re half a loop displaced from each other and you can’t find your shit.\u00a0 Be self sufficient like a triathlon – if I need something I need to pack it on my own in my own stuff.<\/p>\n
2. Sometimes you have no idea what you’ll need.\u00a0 Last weekend’s 100, I had ZERO want for gels and the like, and ate predominantly solid food to fuel.\u00a0 Saturday, solid food just tasted like garbage and I ate 4 gels, 1 whole pack of blocks, most of a grapefruit, and had 3 giant strong gatorade bottles.\u00a0 I also had half an english muffin and some bites of quesidilla but both those things were just like BLECH.<\/p>\n
3. Loops are rough to judge where you are in the pack.\u00a0 I felt like I was getting passed, passing no one but maybe a few of the 24 hour zombies on their last few hours, and I was going to be dead last.\u00a0 When I checked the results, I was solidly mid-pack in the 6 hour solo female group.\u00a0 As a triathlete playing at being a cyclist for the day, I was PUMPED.\u00a0 The female leader only eeked out 4 more laps than I did.<\/p>\n
4. I have never been to a cycling event where music was allowed, and we were allowed one earbud in.\u00a0 Having that the last 3 hours really helped me a lot.\u00a0 I know I can’t use it for IM Texas, but IM Texas hopefully isn’t going to be 40 degrees, rainy, and have over 5k of climbing, so there will be tradeoffs.<\/p>\n
5. Being part of a cycling team rocks.\u00a0 Every loop, people in our tent were cheering, asking if I needed handups or anything, giving support, and generally being awesome.\u00a0 When I did stop, they helped me get in and get out quicker than I would have on my own. I only clocked 13 minutes of stops over two breaks (one to refuel, and one because my back was cramping and I needed to stretch and roll it out).\u00a0\u00a0 I was pretty impressed with that!<\/p>\n
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6. I need to give myself some credit at being able to handle my shit.\u00a0 When my back was cramping up around hour 3, I got in a pit of despair for a bit.\u00a0 How was I going to deal with this?\u00a0 How on earth could I ride 3 more hours with an effed up back when I couldn’t find my happy pills?\u00a0 I just started trying things.\u00a0 Caffeine dulls pain so I took another caff gel (this explains the crazy eyes above).\u00a0 I stopped to roll my back even if it took ~5 minutes, it made it feel better.\u00a0 Aero hurt after a while and sitting up hurt differently after a while, so I just changed my position a lot and adopted this weird half aero position going down hills.<\/p>\n
7. I will never complain about 70.3 training again.\u00a0 You mean I ONLY have to ride for 3 hours and maybe run off it for an hour as a big training day?\u00a0 That’s like… nothing.<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0 I will probably be buying the short version of my long thermal bibs even if they cost a million bucks.\u00a0 My butt was SO comfortable all day and I didn’t even have to reapply hoohah glide.\u00a0 I need these bibs in my life on days that AREN’T 40 degrees.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0 I’ll be looking for a kettlebell to buy for home or at least make sure I get to the gym once a week.\u00a0 My back was in better condition when I was doing weighted squats, throws, and deadlifts.<\/p>\n
10.\u00a0 I’m glad I have a short memory.\u00a0 At 3pm (3 hours in), I wanted to quit and never ride my bike again.\u00a0 At 8pm (post race + post ciders), I was talking about maybe considering doing the 24 hour relay next year or mayyyyybe doing a 12 hour solo with a lot of breaks and maybe bringing two bikes I could switch between.\u00a0 And if it’s at the Driveway where the elevation is flatter.\u00a0 And if it fits in my training plan for whatever I’m training for.<\/p>\n
As for my goals and how I did – when it was going to be flat, I was going to go for 100 miles.\u00a0 I figured that was doable on my TT bike.\u00a0 However, I’m not the best climber in the world, and I’m a lot more cautious in the rain, so I figured I’d get out there and see what I was riding before putting some unrealistic expectations on myself.<\/p>\n
After 2 hours, I noticed I was perfectly on pace to hit 15 loops (93 miles) if I could stop really quickly and then increase speed a little (which I tend to do at the end of rides anyway).\u00a0 However, my cramping back that caused the second stop also made me slow a little in the middle, so I had to readjust my goal to 14 laps (87 miles) and I made that with 5 minutes to spare on the race clock (5:42 of riding total).<\/p>\n
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After the race, I drank all the cider, ate hot dogs and macaroni salad, sat around a tiny fire, and had fun being outside and peeing in the woods.\u00a0 Camping in the cold, as long as you have the right clothes and blankets, is pretty a-ok.\u00a0 Of course, when we woke up in the morning, it was gorgeous, 60s, and a mix of overcast with a little sun peeking out.\u00a0 *shakes fist at universe* Ah well.\u00a0 I guess we had to REALLY earn our badass medal.<\/p>\n
I feel MUCH more confident about the ride portion of Ironman.\u00a0 I’ve now spent ~6 hours pretty much nonstop riding my TT bike.\u00a0 For two weeks in a row, I’ve put in something approaching what I expect my time on the bike will be at Texas (hoping under 7 hours depending on all the things that day).\u00a0 How am I going to run a marathon after?\u00a0 One mile at a time and I’ve got 2.5 months to figure that out.<\/p>\n