First off... thank you to everyone for the congrats on the engagement! We're very excited to be taking this next step 
(and, no, we don't have a date set yet)
Next: MONSTER CROSS! I know you're all dying to hear about it so here it goes (i'm writing this in spurts at work so bear with me):
Short story: I DID IT! I survived the 50 miles! of course, this is how i looked walking after the race:
but, hey, i did it!
Long story: oh boy... months of thinking about this race and worrying about what to wear and what to eat and zwifting and all that stuff and we forget to set an alarm.
so the plan was to meet up with @Magic at a coffee shop near our airbnb, grab some breakfast, toss his stuff in my car and head over to the race. well... i didn't sleep well at all and crashed somewhere around 4 am and @Santapez is basically narcoleptic so neither of us woke up in time. i guess i heard my phone buzzing or something when Magic messaged me saying he and T were at the coffee shop already. at 8:38 am. mind you the race starts at 10.
we jump out of bed, have Magic order food for us, toss on some clothes and throw everything in the car as fast as we can. get over to crossroads and chow down on some bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and chug some coffee. then we toss Magic's shit in the car and race over to the race. we somehow find a parking spot without running over any racers or their bikes. we get ready as fast as we can and basically line up. i had my bag with some food in it and tossed it along the side of the route and jump in where i can because it is go time!
First lap: i try to pace myself. i did not go out as fast as i did last year. if i were only racing the 25 miles, then i'd be good with energy. i was feeling ok and could have pushed more but held back so i would have something for the second lap. i recognized stuff from last year and tried to pay attention to markers on the course... like when i hit the longer road section, that's half way thru the course. a certain water crossing was 1 mile from the finish. etc etc so i could mentally check things off on the second lap. because i rushed to the start line, i didn't get that warm up time to figure out if i wanted more air in the tires or to add or take off layers... and that cost me like ten minutes about 5.5 miles into the race. i felt like my rear tire was flat so i stopped to check on it and it was definitely too soft. so i added some air and took the opportunity to strip a little because it was way warmer than i was expecting. for the most part, lap one went well (minus the previously mentioned air/stripping stop). i made it thru the start/finish line, pulled over and got rid of the extra layers, dropped off an extra water bottle and grabbed a PB&J sandwich and some dates. i ate the dates as i slow rolled thru the parking lot/paved trail section but the PB&J was in my backpack in case of emergency.
Second lap: definitely slower than the first and i was getting sore, but i told myself that this was just about finishing. kept trying to remind myself that this isn't about podiums or anything, just pacing myself and pushing myself to do this thing. but at the beginning of the second lap, i didn't see anyone in front of me or behind me for a while... like for 3 miles or so. and that was really discouraging. like how fucking slow am i?! but eventually i did see other people off in the distance and eventually i caught up (and eventually i passed them all). i sat up and stretched in the flat sections, buckled down and pushed myself to keep going on the uphill sections and thoroughly enjoyed bombing down the downhill sections. i wound up crossing the finish line at about 4.5 hours. which is what i was hoping to do it in. i was last in the 40+ women's 50 mile cat but not last out of all the women who did the 50 miles. so that's something at least.
food: probably the biggest thing i was worried about. and totally needlessly worried i might add. so i had the breakfast sandwich and coffee in the morning rush. i ate two medjool dates at the very start and at the start of the second lap. i made sure to drink some skratch water during the race but i didn't even finish one water bottle's worth. even tho i made the PB&J sandwich, i didn't need it. and i didn't feel the need to grab any chews or cliff bars. and after the race, i wasn't really hungry at all. i didn't eat any of the after-race food, but T bought us each a biscuit so i ate that in the parking lot. we also had a side bet going that the loser would buy the others ice cream. i thought it was going to be me because i'm so slow, but unfortunately it was steve with some mechanical issues causing a DNF.
pain: so yeah... i hurt. especially when i first got off the bike. my hips especially. i'm guessing it's just because i'm not used to riding for that long of a period. my neck and shoulders really started to get sore on the second lap too. i wish i scheduled a massage for after the race honestly. but you know what was fine? my butt! yay for quality chammies!
overall: yeah... i'm glad i did it. and i'd do this or other gravel-ish races again. i think it'll be good for me to expand my riding a little. i think there's some issues with this race... like i wish there was a bigger gap in between the 50 and 25 mile starts (instead of like 5 minutes) just to space things out more. but i think this puts me in a positive start to the racing year. i'll be choosing races and events way differently than i did last year tho. i got way too burned out and just did not have fun.
(and, no, we don't have a date set yet)Next: MONSTER CROSS! I know you're all dying to hear about it so here it goes (i'm writing this in spurts at work so bear with me):
Short story: I DID IT! I survived the 50 miles! of course, this is how i looked walking after the race:
but, hey, i did it!
Long story: oh boy... months of thinking about this race and worrying about what to wear and what to eat and zwifting and all that stuff and we forget to set an alarm.
so the plan was to meet up with @Magic at a coffee shop near our airbnb, grab some breakfast, toss his stuff in my car and head over to the race. well... i didn't sleep well at all and crashed somewhere around 4 am and @Santapez is basically narcoleptic so neither of us woke up in time. i guess i heard my phone buzzing or something when Magic messaged me saying he and T were at the coffee shop already. at 8:38 am. mind you the race starts at 10.
we jump out of bed, have Magic order food for us, toss on some clothes and throw everything in the car as fast as we can. get over to crossroads and chow down on some bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and chug some coffee. then we toss Magic's shit in the car and race over to the race. we somehow find a parking spot without running over any racers or their bikes. we get ready as fast as we can and basically line up. i had my bag with some food in it and tossed it along the side of the route and jump in where i can because it is go time!
First lap: i try to pace myself. i did not go out as fast as i did last year. if i were only racing the 25 miles, then i'd be good with energy. i was feeling ok and could have pushed more but held back so i would have something for the second lap. i recognized stuff from last year and tried to pay attention to markers on the course... like when i hit the longer road section, that's half way thru the course. a certain water crossing was 1 mile from the finish. etc etc so i could mentally check things off on the second lap. because i rushed to the start line, i didn't get that warm up time to figure out if i wanted more air in the tires or to add or take off layers... and that cost me like ten minutes about 5.5 miles into the race. i felt like my rear tire was flat so i stopped to check on it and it was definitely too soft. so i added some air and took the opportunity to strip a little because it was way warmer than i was expecting. for the most part, lap one went well (minus the previously mentioned air/stripping stop). i made it thru the start/finish line, pulled over and got rid of the extra layers, dropped off an extra water bottle and grabbed a PB&J sandwich and some dates. i ate the dates as i slow rolled thru the parking lot/paved trail section but the PB&J was in my backpack in case of emergency.
Second lap: definitely slower than the first and i was getting sore, but i told myself that this was just about finishing. kept trying to remind myself that this isn't about podiums or anything, just pacing myself and pushing myself to do this thing. but at the beginning of the second lap, i didn't see anyone in front of me or behind me for a while... like for 3 miles or so. and that was really discouraging. like how fucking slow am i?! but eventually i did see other people off in the distance and eventually i caught up (and eventually i passed them all). i sat up and stretched in the flat sections, buckled down and pushed myself to keep going on the uphill sections and thoroughly enjoyed bombing down the downhill sections. i wound up crossing the finish line at about 4.5 hours. which is what i was hoping to do it in. i was last in the 40+ women's 50 mile cat but not last out of all the women who did the 50 miles. so that's something at least.
food: probably the biggest thing i was worried about. and totally needlessly worried i might add. so i had the breakfast sandwich and coffee in the morning rush. i ate two medjool dates at the very start and at the start of the second lap. i made sure to drink some skratch water during the race but i didn't even finish one water bottle's worth. even tho i made the PB&J sandwich, i didn't need it. and i didn't feel the need to grab any chews or cliff bars. and after the race, i wasn't really hungry at all. i didn't eat any of the after-race food, but T bought us each a biscuit so i ate that in the parking lot. we also had a side bet going that the loser would buy the others ice cream. i thought it was going to be me because i'm so slow, but unfortunately it was steve with some mechanical issues causing a DNF.
pain: so yeah... i hurt. especially when i first got off the bike. my hips especially. i'm guessing it's just because i'm not used to riding for that long of a period. my neck and shoulders really started to get sore on the second lap too. i wish i scheduled a massage for after the race honestly. but you know what was fine? my butt! yay for quality chammies!
overall: yeah... i'm glad i did it. and i'd do this or other gravel-ish races again. i think it'll be good for me to expand my riding a little. i think there's some issues with this race... like i wish there was a bigger gap in between the 50 and 25 mile starts (instead of like 5 minutes) just to space things out more. but i think this puts me in a positive start to the racing year. i'll be choosing races and events way differently than i did last year tho. i got way too burned out and just did not have fun.
