March mayhem 2017
And just like that the blissful season of XC racing in now upon us. Let us all take a moment and rejoice......then after this first race, let us all take several hours to bemoan, grieve, lament, and mourn. So march mayhem, I usually skip this race bc my training season officially starts on the first short track race...I basically do a giant block in march where I ride almost every day....Then that last weekend, whether it be blue moutain in the past, or this race, I usually skip it and rest. But with the season being more compacted this year, and the last short track being canceled, I wanted to get in a real race effort sooner.
I hadnt been to this course before, but from last years reports I know it's very flat and very fast. The average speeds from last year were absurd, like 15.5 mph average. Metric shit ton of pedaling....wide open throttle the whole time. As I discussed this race with
@jShort, I was trying to think of a race that i might have done that sounded similar, but i couldnt think of one.
After riding down with
@Kirt, we signed up met up with
@jShort and
@muddybike and headed out for a warm up lap. Ok flat is not the word for this loop... We think of Allaire as flat, but Allaire is like a tram ride to the summit of the Matterhorn compared to this place. Its FLAT. Lot of wide open single track tied together with Sandy fire roads then some new tight single track mixed in. The loop is actually really fun, but what's fun to ride and what's fun to race pro on are not always the same. And one other thing...um its hot? my gamins said 82...Where the fuck did this come from?
So I got down to the start a little late....Big group in pro, about 20 or more. I head to the back and like up 4th row with
@Joe J and
@Superfly100guy . We were a little boxed in on the start and I new on the roll out we would have to be patient to not get tangled up....However, someone bumped Joe, who then bumped Vic, who then got tangled up with me...Really nothing of note in the grand scheme of this course...But for that first minute or two the three of us scrambled to back with the group.
Im now in a spot that is dangerous...I have been here before and it can be a killer. Just about last in a line of 20 plus riding at max speed through tight single track. Dangling, hard decelerations, crazy hard accelerations....im trying to fight that yo-yo effect, but in my mind I want to be as close to an attack position as possible when we break out onto a road...My goal is to make a big jump and get up with the CCI guys if I can...In a normal race, I wait until the first climb and attack, thats not an option here. So I wait and wait and wait...And while im sitting in line with Vic and Joe, im working really hard. Finally after about 8 min or so we hit a fire road....I followed Joe around a couple of guys, now going way way into the red as I was already pretty close to red. Then you really start to notice there there will be no recovery on this loop, at all. On the next fire road segment I power past a few more guys, then vic. Joe is right ahead of me but hes slowly opening up a gap. We then power up the one climb on this loop that might be 30 feet high...its short, but its like 1st steep for maybe 30sec or so....Then you roll down and power though about 1/4mile of dead flat sandy fire road. And im on the gas hard trying to get back up to the cci guy that I can see in the distance....In my head im thinking...Well if i can get up there, I can try and settle into some kind of a pace. Then we hit the newly cut single track and im closing in on another guy in front of me. I make no effort to ease up and instead, im just trying to get past him and stay with Joe. This in hindsight is causing me to micro burst my way though for the next 5 or so minutes.....Then more fire road...I passed and just pegged it trying to get back up to Joe...Passed Szymon who was remounting....he put on a mad charge, so I hit it hard again to stay with him.
Roll though lap 1 in ~23min and notice my garmin says my lap HR 166 and my power 372w...this is garmin power with no 0's which is not something that will mean anything to anyone but me....But to me...as someone whose familiar with my own numbers....If I were playing excitebike, the screen would be blinking at me right about now telling me to stop holding the B button. This is where the first race, first whatever race of the year...you just let it fly....And I kept the B button down...I looked back at some point, vic, Jeff, few others were now out of site....But im still fighting to stay in contact with Joe. 30min and im at that point were my body is saying: WE MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM.....35min....Vic and Jeff have now caught me and dont pass, just blow by....I try and regroup but now that overheating dizzyness has crept in....I just keep pushing, but by 40min I can see that there will be no recovery and this day is now over.
I finish lap 2 in 25min and really I wanted to call it a day at this point...My back was hurting and I was pretty miserable. When you truly blow up, it really is astounding awful you feel...its like "well I could be having elective surgery night now to have a third arm grafted onto my ass....but instead im out here doing this shit" I will say though, after many years and several of these episodes I have learned that its better to suck it up, crawl around and finish the workout. So I do.....Into the 3rd lap im just hoping people I know catch me and want to talk about random stuff. All of the pro guys repass me, my back is now complete toast and im really not able to put down much if any power. I contemplated not going out for lap 4, but then i say to myself....no no no asshole...this last lap will be pure misery and you will remember it well...proceed on.
So I roll on...a big group of 19-39 guys catch me and I ride with them for a bit....Then eventually
@jShort and mancuso.....I gave them a good 5 minutes, but after that I had to let off.....I pulled over for a min and waited for
@Kirt who caught me on one of the faster fire roads....I thought I would be able to jump back up to speed with him, but wasnt happening...he soon left me....Then i just crawled the rest of the way home.
While as a whole, it was a giant mess...for me, i always feel like these are the days where you learn things...Its hard to remember feeling good, but misery is usually memorable. I mean the main thing is that its been since last june that I have done an XC race....that point at which I need to transition from full sprint to steady pace gets lost sometimes. Looking at my power curve on strava, it was my highest ever for 40min, so thats saying something....STUPID in big letters...So nutrition and rest, etc...all important, but all do nothing but tweak the meltdown time slightly when you have the throttle down too hard. That said, I ate breakfast at 7:30 and nothing else until my race minus 1 gel, then drank a bottle when pre riding....I didnt do this right given the unexpected temps. So as im coasting around on lap 4, im making mental notes. All good though, you have to have days like these from time to time....in my case they keep me focused and remind me that at this level, I cannot wing it...ever.
No joke though, that was probably one of the hardest h2h races I can remember effort wise....has to be one of the hardest course I have raced on in terms of punishing yourself. If and when i do this race again, I will definitely avoid winging it. Seems odd to say but our mooch course is a walk in the park compared to to racing that stuff.