Thanks @Soundguy !
EWS Adventure 2022
- Thread starter muddybike
- Start date
I heard a strange public service announcement on the radio today encouraging people to not cook if they’ve been drinking- apparently drinking in the afternoon leads to people “nodding off” with the stove on and starting kitchen fires. So if you’ve already started drinking, it’s best to go eat at the pub.
Get after it next few runs. You got this!
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Minor setback. You got this, now that the pressure is off you’re going to kill it.
ok! Well that was a doozy! that was the hardest race I've ever done, full stop. My race times were quite crap, and I raced pretty poorly, but I still feel good about sticking with it and pushing far beyond what I thought possible. Stage 2` & 3 I was a hot mess. I started both off great, good sprints off the line, fast cornering, but on both I made multiple mistakes as the stage went on, foot clipping out because I bumped it along a rut, not being able to clip back in quickly, my contacts got blurry even though i was wearing glasses. Stage 3 was longer so the fatigue wore on me by the end and I was suffering with major arm pump and not able to finesse the brake levers.
I took my contacts out after stage 3 and was pretty frustrated in general. Def not riding how I know I could. And then grinding up the climb again, worrying about having enough food with me. By this time all of the women are pretty friendly with one another (we've spent 2 hours chatting on the climbs together by this point). I'm picking up all sorts of little tips - they've all done this particular EWS before - some many times - and many have done lots of EWS races. One major trick they did that I'll have to look into for the next race - rent an e-bike for the days before the race - saves your legs on the climbs and you get to ride other, similar, trails (stages are closed all week, but there were tons of other trails on the same hills) so you have a better feel for the style of terrain.
The whole experience reminds me of my first cat 1 / pro open XC race over at Taconic the mileage was so much longer than I could have imaged - when i rolled through that finish most people were gone, including the bulk of the race promoter equipment had packed up - it was literally just the timing pad left for me to cross and i was like, holy crap, how is this the expectation? and then a couple months later that distance is no big deal at all. I feel like i had that same experience right around stage 4 - things started clicking - this is the new normal. I had a decent race run - (it was also the rocky stage, so that familiarity helped too I'm sure.) I didn't make any significant mistakes, and I felt like the fatigue and burn in my quads/arms just gave in to this new normal. Finally a stage a felt good about completing.
The climb & push up to stage 5 was miserable SOOOO freaking steep, and my legs are pretty fried anyways - We were given a little more time for this transfer because of the hike-a-bike portion. everyone was suffering on that push-up. We had a solid 10 mins to rest before my start time rolled around. It's an adjustment to be forced to have start times at every single stage - i mean, on one hand it's good because you know there won't be someone from a totally different category dropping in after you, but we would get to the top typically 15mins before the stage start and I would get really cold - especially when above the tree lines on stages 2 & 3 where it was really windy. I was shivering uncontrollably up there, & huddled next to a small stone wall for some cover.
Stage 5 was a longer one. Again I felt good on the start, this one drops into the trees quickly and it's very rooty, rutted and with short steep berms. this had a few flatter sections and long dips before popping out onto a bike park bit of trail. Right before I popped out of the trees my froarms and hands completely failed me and as I tried to check my speed heading into a berm my hands simply did not respond. I came around the turn way too wide & out of control and slammed square into a tree. I didn't go down, but came to a very jarring & complete stop and had to shift my bike around to get back onto the trail. I was shook up a bit, but i was lucky i caught it entirely on the bar and not my brake lever, shoulder, or hand. I felt off and struggled with the rest of that stage.
Stage 6 was back at the race venue - it's a couple of miles of flat pedaling back from the end of stage 5. We had extra time for this transfer so after refilling my water bottle I headed up the final climb at a really easy pace. The very top of this stage is a hike-a-bike section as well, but not long compared to stage 5's transfer. There was a 15 min delay because of a crash on the course so we ended up sitting around up there for over a half-hour - and at this point in the day, it's really hard to get the legs moving again. I dropped into the stage and did what I could. I set aside the significant fatigue my legs and arms were trying to communicate and was pretty happy I rode the entire stage cleanly, I felt much smoother than I had ridden it the previous day and was surprised that I started to feel normal. I was sprinting and mashing out pedal strokes anywhere there was a spot to do so and I was completely spent heading down the final grass hill into the spectator stage. There's a VERY short runout between the finish and the stage, so you really have to brake hard and are immediately shuffled into the exit shoot. Being that gassed, having no chance to catch my breath and being swarmed by event staff - people checking my bike stickers, taking the chips off my wrists, saying things in thick accents that I could not follow, being handed a receipt, a can of beer and then shuffled through the rest of the chute.
I finished in one piece, un-injured and with the bike in one piece as well. My race times were pretty disappointing because I know I can ride much better than I did during most of the stages, but there were also some glimmers of hope - stage 4 & 6 in particular and I can build on that for the next one. I've proved to myself that I can pedal up well over 5k feet of elevation and keep on riding - it was 11.6k race + pre ride. There are a couple more EWS's I plan on doing this year. I've got a good handle on how the races are run and what is expected of me. like every goal, it' one foot in front of the other, focus on the positives, learn from the negatives and keep getting after it.
Thanks for following along!
I took my contacts out after stage 3 and was pretty frustrated in general. Def not riding how I know I could. And then grinding up the climb again, worrying about having enough food with me. By this time all of the women are pretty friendly with one another (we've spent 2 hours chatting on the climbs together by this point). I'm picking up all sorts of little tips - they've all done this particular EWS before - some many times - and many have done lots of EWS races. One major trick they did that I'll have to look into for the next race - rent an e-bike for the days before the race - saves your legs on the climbs and you get to ride other, similar, trails (stages are closed all week, but there were tons of other trails on the same hills) so you have a better feel for the style of terrain.
The whole experience reminds me of my first cat 1 / pro open XC race over at Taconic the mileage was so much longer than I could have imaged - when i rolled through that finish most people were gone, including the bulk of the race promoter equipment had packed up - it was literally just the timing pad left for me to cross and i was like, holy crap, how is this the expectation? and then a couple months later that distance is no big deal at all. I feel like i had that same experience right around stage 4 - things started clicking - this is the new normal. I had a decent race run - (it was also the rocky stage, so that familiarity helped too I'm sure.) I didn't make any significant mistakes, and I felt like the fatigue and burn in my quads/arms just gave in to this new normal. Finally a stage a felt good about completing.
The climb & push up to stage 5 was miserable SOOOO freaking steep, and my legs are pretty fried anyways - We were given a little more time for this transfer because of the hike-a-bike portion. everyone was suffering on that push-up. We had a solid 10 mins to rest before my start time rolled around. It's an adjustment to be forced to have start times at every single stage - i mean, on one hand it's good because you know there won't be someone from a totally different category dropping in after you, but we would get to the top typically 15mins before the stage start and I would get really cold - especially when above the tree lines on stages 2 & 3 where it was really windy. I was shivering uncontrollably up there, & huddled next to a small stone wall for some cover.
Stage 5 was a longer one. Again I felt good on the start, this one drops into the trees quickly and it's very rooty, rutted and with short steep berms. this had a few flatter sections and long dips before popping out onto a bike park bit of trail. Right before I popped out of the trees my froarms and hands completely failed me and as I tried to check my speed heading into a berm my hands simply did not respond. I came around the turn way too wide & out of control and slammed square into a tree. I didn't go down, but came to a very jarring & complete stop and had to shift my bike around to get back onto the trail. I was shook up a bit, but i was lucky i caught it entirely on the bar and not my brake lever, shoulder, or hand. I felt off and struggled with the rest of that stage.
Stage 6 was back at the race venue - it's a couple of miles of flat pedaling back from the end of stage 5. We had extra time for this transfer so after refilling my water bottle I headed up the final climb at a really easy pace. The very top of this stage is a hike-a-bike section as well, but not long compared to stage 5's transfer. There was a 15 min delay because of a crash on the course so we ended up sitting around up there for over a half-hour - and at this point in the day, it's really hard to get the legs moving again. I dropped into the stage and did what I could. I set aside the significant fatigue my legs and arms were trying to communicate and was pretty happy I rode the entire stage cleanly, I felt much smoother than I had ridden it the previous day and was surprised that I started to feel normal. I was sprinting and mashing out pedal strokes anywhere there was a spot to do so and I was completely spent heading down the final grass hill into the spectator stage. There's a VERY short runout between the finish and the stage, so you really have to brake hard and are immediately shuffled into the exit shoot. Being that gassed, having no chance to catch my breath and being swarmed by event staff - people checking my bike stickers, taking the chips off my wrists, saying things in thick accents that I could not follow, being handed a receipt, a can of beer and then shuffled through the rest of the chute.
I finished in one piece, un-injured and with the bike in one piece as well. My race times were pretty disappointing because I know I can ride much better than I did during most of the stages, but there were also some glimmers of hope - stage 4 & 6 in particular and I can build on that for the next one. I've proved to myself that I can pedal up well over 5k feet of elevation and keep on riding - it was 11.6k race + pre ride. There are a couple more EWS's I plan on doing this year. I've got a good handle on how the races are run and what is expected of me. like every goal, it' one foot in front of the other, focus on the positives, learn from the negatives and keep getting after it.
Thanks for following along!
After the race I hung out for a bit watching the other races come through the red bull ramp to the finish. IT's pretty cool because they have a big screen tv showing the racer on different parts of the stage. Totally weird to think I was feature on there during my run. I grabbed some food, drank my hard-earned exit chute beer, ran into Aidan from Laurel Bike Club in CT who i race with his teammate at US enduros/XC races and then i had to get back to the hotel to perform my supervised covid test for the flight home (via zoom), pack my bike into the bike bag and get all of my crap stuffed into my suitcase. I didn't sleep well at all. got up at 4am and headed to the airport. Although I was there 2.5 hours before the flight, i did not get to the check-in counter before check-in closed - (and it wasnt' even a long line, but it literally did not move) They called me out of line to check-in, and took my checked bags, but I had a sneaking suspicion my bike wouldn't make it. When i arrived at newark (after connecting at Heathrow in London - which was a much smoother process than the incoming trip) i got an email saying one of my bags didn't make it onto the lonon - newark flight and was scheduled to arrive later in the day. later in teh day came and went and I've received no updates. So now i'm on call with the airlines trying to track it down.
The second stage is over by the food area with live music.
Waiting at the top of stage 6. Still smiling despite being totally wrecked.
next level food truck food after that race... possibly the most delicious brisket and chips on the face of the planet. And the beer was good too.
I didn't take my hotel elevator until now. Floor zero made me laugh.
i must have smashed my nail at some point. I don't recall when this happened, but it started to really swell after dinner and I had to take matters into my own hands & drain it:
Being a sunday night, there weren't a lot of stores open, and the ones that were open had a strict, no selling anything that could be fashioned into a weapon (or so the store clerk told me), so these items were the sharpest items i could find to poke a hole in my nail and drain some of that blood out. Which, apparently i didn't make big enough, because although a lot of blood came out and I had some initial relief, it refilled and was super swollen by the morning. Once I got home I put another, bigger hole in my nail and it's been considerably less painful.
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Well congrats to you for even under taking this! You picked a hell of an effort for your first race of the year hahaha
As an example....My race at Glen park was ~12 miles and 2200 ft of climbing on sunday. Kris had to do almost 30 miles and 6000+ ft of climbing. Big difference. And of course the downhills were far more gnarly than Glen park on its worst day. Since ill be doing the Burke EWS in July, you really made me rethink what this whole "day" of racing is going to be like...and it certainly doesnt sound easy.
Ok, probably a good time to ask @serviceguy how one says: "where do I rent an e-bike" in Italian
As an example....My race at Glen park was ~12 miles and 2200 ft of climbing on sunday. Kris had to do almost 30 miles and 6000+ ft of climbing. Big difference. And of course the downhills were far more gnarly than Glen park on its worst day. Since ill be doing the Burke EWS in July, you really made me rethink what this whole "day" of racing is going to be like...and it certainly doesnt sound easy.
Ok, probably a good time to ask @serviceguy how one says: "where do I rent an e-bike" in Italian
Is this a qualifier or an actual EWS stop?
no its a real EWS....im racing the 100 class...which means im doing the same course as Kris (I think) but I only need a credit card to qualify.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Easy...dove posso noleggiare un'e-bike ?Well congrats to you for even under taking this! You picked a hell of an effort for your first race of the year hahaha
As an example....My race at Glen park was ~12 miles and 2200 ft of climbing on sunday. Kris had to do almost 30 miles and 6000+ ft of climbing. Big difference. And of course the downhills were far more gnarly than Glen park on its worst day. Since ill be doing the Burke EWS in July, you really made me rethink what this whole "day" of racing is going to be like...and it certainly doesnt sound easy.
Ok, probably a good time to ask @serviceguy how one says: "where do I rent an e-bike" in Italian
@muddybike are you going to race EWS in Val di Fassa? That's not too far ahead. Lots of good food to try over there. Some highlights:
- Speck
- Canaderli (Knoedel in German or bread dumpligs)
- Capriolo (roe deer)
- Polenta
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Indeed I am going to try! I am also registered for the burke & sugarloaf ones.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
See updated post for specific references...just don't go for pizza, please, not in that region (unless referred to a certified pizza place).
Fantastic job @muddybike, as always,
and thanks for bringing us along on your journey.
It is so impressive to watch you tackle bigger and better goals
all with such a positive attitude and spirit.
You rock!
and thanks for bringing us along on your journey.
It is so impressive to watch you tackle bigger and better goals
all with such a positive attitude and spirit.
You rock!
You forgot buying an ebike, don't think I didn't notice 🤣