Riding by the Numbers

[Dave Taylor]

Lap 3

This was was run solid, course was even dryer once I got out. I had a better understanding of lines and made of more conscious effort to put my tires on that 2-3” of trail that had positive camber on the corners and avoid the tree roots and slick stuff. I hit the punchy climbs hard. Back 1/3 dried out significantly had berms built up so I maintained more momentum through this sector.

I found a good pace, which was key at Cathedral Pines. Here you’re constantly on the gas, there are not rest periods, its like a road ride. Maybe its also like CX? But I don’t race CX, wouldn't know. This course had some elevation in the form of punchy climbs. But these punchy climbs had no downhill after to stop pedaling and coast to recover. It’s a punchy climb that tapers off back into a flat, so you’re still on the gas. My legs were bitching a bit but I keep digging. Mentally I told myself it’s just 45 min, it’ll be over before you know it. This helped to dig deep and lay down smooth power.

Lap 3 was fun too! I think it’s important to have fun during races, having fun puts the mind into a mode of relaxation, and when you’re relaxed is when you’ll ride your best. Doing two wheel slides in corners and getting away with it is fun. With the slick corners in certain areas, it was pretty easy to go about doing this. I can’t think of a better way to go about learning bike control. I did a Scandinavian flick into a left right transition turn, felt pro AF haha.

Finished lap 4 strong with a few tiny mistakes. Ran my fastest lap of the day, at 46:35. After crossing start finish I send Iggy off and tail him for a bit with an update on how trails are shaping up and how I am doing.

Lap 4

Course was same conditions as lap 3, my goal was to run even faster and see If I could break into the 45’s. But the legs already had 24 miles and 2.4 hours of ride time in. The fight for a faster time would also be a fight against fatigue. They posted up a team time update after Iggy’s 2nd outing and I saw we were 3ish off of 2nd place, so maybe if I throw down a good one we can slot into 2nd?

I went full tilt this one, it was painful on some of those hills. I kept digging and pushed through to the finish. Ran corners hard and had some moments where I wondered if the bike would stick? Finished lap clean with minor mistakes on some corners that maybe took away a second or two. Unfortunately, I didn’t break my lap 3 time, I was back into the 47’s with a 47:10. I was gassed after this one. People talk to you and you’re semi delirious after! All I wanted to do was get some dry clothing on and warm up. Random person gave me a beer and it was delicious.

Due to time constraints I hit to pack up my car and make my way out not soon after finishing the race. It’s kind of a bummer, generally I like to hang after for awards and to chat with people. Had to get back home for dinner plans with another couple.

Some Take Aways

-Pre riding is always good, maybe if I scoped out the start more I could’ve avoided going down and pavement surfing wet leaves on race start. Maybe this would earned us a faster cumulative time overall by 3 minutes, inching us close to 2nd place? If I didn’t burn those matches lap 1…..

-You can keep going with “what ifs”, I made a few mistake this one. Learn from them.

-@pooriggy has been racing longer than you've been riding, he's a wealth of information

-Relay races are fun

-I got down to quick lap times as did @pooriggy. We hit 47’s, only other team to run faster was the 1st and 2nd place duo relay team, a few men in the Open Pro 6 hr class also hit those times.

-It's good to be mentally prepared for races. I really wasn't for this one. This can be a blessing and a curse for me. I'll have to delve into this one on another blog post at a later time. 4 years of MTB racing in late 90's early 2000's, 6 years motorcycle racing, 4 years working in professional motorsports on a team, I'm no stranger to racing, there are no pre race butteryflies or nervouses, but you have to be on point! I wasn't on this one at the start.

-Lap 3 I dropped into 46:35. This was in range of the times run 1st/2nd place team. These guys are open pro/cat1 cyclocross athletes. Like I said I never raced CX, but I’d imagine this course would favor a CX athlete. Cold, wet, miserable, slick. 1st place rider even broke at 45min time with a 44:59! This course was full gas, I felt like I could keep the power on and go through. Being close to their times makes me feel good, training is working. My focus has been on power delivery with training, this is where it counts. I think if the course had rocks and gnar that would play into my favor.

Now to lay low this week, 2 days post race my shoulder is still feeling that fall and legs the efforts put out. Plan is to take some time off of the bike and build the foundation for next season!

Great job @BrianGT3 and @pooriggy . You’re learning a lot this year. Cathedral is a tough place mentally and physically. Relay definitely let’s you focus on speed but man can this place play tricks. What I took away this year is “kill the climbs” and then “stay seated”. It definitely suits the Allairian or CX style rider. I wasn’t super fast this year but despite two horrible laps I averaged high 51 for 7 laps. Your fitness is great. Learning to race better is the best part!

 

[pooriggy]

That start sucks, its so tense trying to get into single track early. If you don't get a good start and are stuck behind 40 cat 2 mtbers its very frustrating not being able to go anywhere. That's why I always push the start off on someone else

 

[BrianGT3]

Not everyone here is a car fan, Its an older video from '12, but one of my favorites. I've actually worked on a 2013 GT3 RSR nearly identical to this one in spec. Up until 2015 I worked a few years in Professional Motorsports on a variety of Porsche GT3 Cup Cars, Cayman, Rare Race Cars etc. Crazy job with crazy hours, but a phenominal experiance.



This video/deep sound of car blasting out of corner sums up how I've been feeling lately. Had a great time at Wildcat this past weekend on the MTBNJ group ride (more on that below) Pretty happy I've been able to stay on track with my off season work. Felt great on Sunday.

Off season is going good, wouldn't say it's fun, but its more about putting the work in. Time you invest now leads to good results in the summer. Aside from working out, I've been crazy busy with work and wrapping up a solid year. Training is consisting of:

Gym
3x Week. Legs, Core, Upper Body in that order. Main objective is building strength and power. Yesterday evening I was pretty happy to break 200 with my deadlift. If you had to pick one workout to get the most out of, the deadlift would be it. Proper form is key to this one to avoid injury. Great for building leg strength, glutes, back, shoulders and core. All of those are important for riding. Spent a lot of time working on good form while building up the weight. After sunday's ride I over heard lots of people talking about their back hurting. Wildcat featured some tech, really have to utilize the core to stay stable on the rocks. Strong core, strong lower back can help mitigate the fatigue on rocks.




Riding
Lots and lots of road riding. With all of this rain we've been having mountain biking is a no go due to mud. I've been trying to get a least one ride per week lasting 2 to 2.5 hours keeping it zone II and under. At least 2 rides 1.5hrs long, and 1x ride per week with light intervals. Goal ride now is base building keeping the conditioning there. Toward the end of February and through March I'll reintroduce the intervals at a higher intensity to get the lungs back to where they need to be.

On the topic of Mountain biking, it felt great to get out this past weekend. First outing on my mountain bike in weeks, first outing back on rocks in months
Friday night I did a frozen six mile ride with two friends, Sunday MTBNJ wildcat ride. It was my first time at Wildcat and I really enjoyed it. Good mix of rocks and log overs. Despite sleeping terrible the night before due to over eating movie popcorn, I felt good once I got moving. This park featured some big climbs, along with big climbs with rocks thrown in. The trails we rode had some light rock rollers and tech with good flow. Fun downhills, some of them lasted a while. Definitely recommend going there if you haven't, maybe we'll have another group ride there?

Wildcat was a nice little preview of how off season training is progressing. Gym time & training rides are like the ingredients for cooking a meal in a crock pot. Rides during the winter are like tasting it before it's done.

With FTP testing end of 2018, interval training, and strength building in gym, long term is to generate more climbing power. It's the one major area I felt substantial improvement was needed after racing past two seasons in Cat 1. After sunday's preview I'd say we're on the right track. Whatever climbing wildcat presented, the legs were there to take it on with plenty in reserve. Few times I was on a long seated climb and had to jump out of seat to put down some extra watts. Only limitation was the lungs, heartrate jumped above 180 a few times felting behind feeding fuel to the engine, that can be fixed once I step up the interval training. So far really happy how the training is going, looking forward to good things in 2019.

 

[Dave Taylor]

Not everyone here is a car fan, Its an older video from '12, but one of my favorites. I've actually worked on a 2013 GT3 RSR nearly identical to this one in spec. Up until 2015 I worked a few years in Professional Motorsports on a variety of Porsche GT3 Cup Cars, Cayman, Rare Race Cars etc. Crazy job with crazy hours, but a phenominal experiance.



This video/deep sound of car blasting out of corner sums up how I've been feeling lately. Had a great time at Wildcat this past weekend on the MTBNJ group ride (more on that below) Pretty happy I've been able to stay on track with my off season work. Felt great on Sunday.

Off season is going good, wouldn't say it's fun, but its more about putting the work in. Time you invest now leads to good results in the summer. Aside from working out, I've been crazy busy with work and wrapping up a solid year. Training is consisting of:

Gym
3x Week. Legs, Core, Upper Body in that order. Main objective is building strength and power. Yesterday evening I was pretty happy to break 200 with my deadlift. If you had to pick one workout to get the most out of, the deadlift would be it. Proper form is key to this one to avoid injury. Great for building leg strength, glutes, back, shoulders and core. All of those are important for riding. Spent a lot of time working on good form while building up the weight. After sunday's ride I over heard lots of people talking about their back hurting. Wildcat featured some tech, really have to utilize the core to stay stable on the rocks. Strong core, strong lower back can help mitigate the fatigue on rocks.

View attachment 85573


Riding
Lots and lots of road riding. With all of this rain we've been having mountain biking is a no go due to mud. I've been trying to get a least one ride per week lasting 2 to 2.5 hours keeping it zone II and under. At least 2 rides 1.5hrs long, and 1x ride per week with light intervals. Goal ride now is base building keeping the conditioning there. Toward the end of February and through March I'll reintroduce the intervals at a higher intensity to get the lungs back to where they need to be.

On the topic of Mountain biking, it felt great to get out this past weekend. First outing on my mountain bike in weeks, first outing back on rocks in months
Friday night I did a frozen six mile ride with two friends, Sunday MTBNJ wildcat ride. It was my first time at Wildcat and I really enjoyed it. Good mix of rocks and log overs. Despite sleeping terrible the night before due to over eating movie popcorn, I felt good once I got moving. This park featured some big climbs, along with big climbs with rocks thrown in. The trails we rode had some light rock rollers and tech with good flow. Fun downhills, some of them lasted a while. Definitely recommend going there if you haven't, maybe we'll have another group ride there?

Wildcat was a nice little preview of how off season training is progressing. Gym time & training rides are like the ingredients for cooking a meal in a crock pot. Rides during the winter are like tasting it before it's done.

With FTP testing end of 2018, interval training, and strength building in gym, long term is to generate more climbing power. It's the one major area I felt substantial improvement was needed after racing past two seasons in Cat 1. After sunday's preview I'd say we're on the right track. Whatever climbing wildcat presented, the legs were there to take it on with plenty in reserve. Few times I was on a long seated climb and had to jump out of seat to put down some extra watts. Only limitation was the lungs, heartrate jumped above 180 a few times felting behind feeding fuel to the engine, that can be fixed once I step up the interval training. So far really happy how the training is going, looking forward to good things in 2019.

This is the work modt people don’t do. Excellent job. You will be strong this year.

 

[pooriggy]

Definitely recommend going there if you haven't, maybe we'll have another group ride there?

Keep training, we have to beat team Taylor at
BS50 next year.

Glad u made the ride, we almost left without you. Good seeing you.
You'll like next month's trails even better, stay tuned!

 

[BrianGT3]

Crazy how a month from now the 2019 XC race season is starting!

Do I feel ready?

Did I do enough over the winter?

Did my off season plan work?

Past few months were lots of "easy" rides in Zone I & Zone II. Base building stuff. Long rides complimented with weight training in the gym building strength and addressing imbalances. My objective going into 2019 is increased power output.

Off season training is putting trust in a plan. Its not only the rides that you're putting your trust in that Zone I/II is doing it right. Also trust in one's mindset. I find the hard thing about training for racing is the mentality that you just have to go out and crush it every time you're on the bike, even over the winter. What i've learned personally over the years through burn out and talking to a lot of experienced people, that this is the perfect formula for failure. You have to let you body heal and recover. It's about a strong foundation. Save those efforts for race season.

H2H season opener is 3/23 in South NJ & MTBNJ Short Track #1 this weekend. After H2H #1 I have a nice month recovery to take on the climbs and rocks of Ringwood and Allamuchy. My plan in March is to get back into intervals and transition into race conditioning. Step up the interval training in April. This will be needed in late April for the climbs at Allamuchy and Ringwood. H2H March Mayhem is a unique race where you''re on the gas 24/7.

To get the 2019 season set up I did my first interval of 2019 last week. Goal was 5 sets of 8 min Zone 4 <320w. 5 min breaks at zone II. Last time I did this interval workout was 11/6/18. So I had a baseline for comparison.

Objective was 310 - 320, but I had a tough time holding 300w, legs didn't want to move! My average for all 5 was holding 285w. I fell off on Interval #5. Back on November 6th 2018 my Avg for all 5 was 313w and were super consistent, so I'm averaging 29 watts under (Chart attached comparing 11/6/18 vs 2/27/19)

What I don't have on my chart is my RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion). RPE is more of a "feeling". Training Peaks has a nice feature where you can slide a bar on a scale of 1 - 10 to rate your RPE. On 11/6/18 I set mine at 6, intervals took some work but never felt as an all out effort. I was in my prime that month, the week prior I did my FTP test and hit my all time high. As of now 11/6 will be my standard to beat.

Last week, I felt around my RPE was around a 7 - 7 1/2, I was really working to hold even 300 and constantly falling short. Like I said, legs didn't want to move at that intensity. Leg didn't fell like I was lacking strength, it's more of conditioning at high intensity. Past few months has been lots of Zone II work. I've also been doing lots of cross training, swimming and running (I'm following the @pooriggy method and doing cross training). On my 5 min recoveries in between intervals I felt fine back in Zone II.

Power output being under (where it should be) is normal this time of year. High intensity efforts take time to get acclimated to. Last week my RPE felt higher, as in putting out more perceived work for the effort. One could argue because my legs weren't accustomed to intervals I am actually putting in more work irregardless of RPE. Whats super promising is that my average heartrate is 11 bpm lower which means legs are potentially working more efficiently (the goal). This is where all of the off season weight training comes in. I was struggling to pedal, but never felt winded or even struggling to breath. I think this is where the swimming and running is working for me as well. Over a month ago I did the wildcat ride, my legs felt strong, conditioning was lacking. This go round, it was the opposite. Next 1 to 2 months will be getting lungs and legs synced up.

This weekend MTBNJ is holding the first short track race of a 3 race series at Allamuchy. I've never done a short track race before and looking forward to it. I'm going to treat the short track race like interval training. Not sure what to expect, plan is to show up and race and give it 100%. Some heavy hitters are pre-reg'd, so plenty of people to bring solid competition on Sunday. This will be extra incentive to push.

I'm feeling like I did the work that was needed over the winter and substantially more than years prior. Stayed on top of getting rides in up to 3x per week, doing runs and swimming 1 to 2x per week. Weight training is going great, breaking all of my PRs from last year and I gained about 5 lbs of lean muscle. I'm where I need to be which is good. As the months go on we'll see how this works out for the longer term. If time permits I'm planning to do a recap of short track. Hopefully if the weather cooperates we can race short track #2 and #3!

Thanks for Reading

 

[pooriggy]

I'm following the @pooriggy method and doing cross training

Dude, did u get out on xc skis ???
And no mention of glycogen levels...this post is poppy cock.

 

[Dave Taylor]

Crazy how a month from now the 2019 XC race season is starting!

Do I feel ready?

Did I do enough over the winter?

Did my off season plan work?

Past few months were lots of "easy" rides in Zone I & Zone II. Base building stuff. Long rides complimented with weight training in the gym building strength and addressing imbalances. My objective going into 2019 is increased power output.

Off season training is putting trust in a plan. Its not only the rides that you're putting your trust in that Zone I/II is doing it right. Also trust in one's mindset. I find the hard thing about training for racing is the mentality that you just have to go out and crush it every time you're on the bike, even over the winter. What i've learned personally over the years through burn out and talking to a lot of experienced people, that this is the perfect formula for failure. You have to let you body heal and recover. It's about a strong foundation. Save those efforts for race season.

H2H season opener is 3/23 in South NJ & MTBNJ Short Track #1 this weekend. After H2H #1 I have a nice month recovery to take on the climbs and rocks of Ringwood and Allamuchy. My plan in March is to get back into intervals and transition into race conditioning. Step up the interval training in April. This will be needed in late April for the climbs at Allamuchy and Ringwood. H2H March Mayhem is a unique race where you''re on the gas 24/7.

To get the 2019 season set up I did my first interval of 2019 last week. Goal was 5 sets of 8 min Zone 4 <320w. 5 min breaks at zone II. Last time I did this interval workout was 11/6/18. So I had a baseline for comparison.

Objective was 310 - 320, but I had a tough time holding 300w, legs didn't want to move! My average for all 5 was holding 285w. I fell off on Interval #5. Back on November 6th 2018 my Avg for all 5 was 313w and were super consistent, so I'm averaging 29 watts under (Chart attached comparing 11/6/18 vs 2/27/19)

View attachment 88852

What I don't have on my chart is my RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion). RPE is more of a "feeling". Training Peaks has a nice feature where you can slide a bar on a scale of 1 - 10 to rate your RPE. On 11/6/18 I set mine at 6, intervals took some work but never felt as an all out effort. I was in my prime that month, the week prior I did my FTP test and hit my all time high. As of now 11/6 will be my standard to beat.

Last week, I felt around my RPE was around a 7 - 7 1/2, I was really working to hold even 300 and constantly falling short. Like I said, legs didn't want to move at that intensity. Leg didn't fell like I was lacking strength, it's more of conditioning at high intensity. Past few months has been lots of Zone II work. I've also been doing lots of cross training, swimming and running (I'm following the @pooriggy method and doing cross training). On my 5 min recoveries in between intervals I felt fine back in Zone II.

Power output being under (where it should be) is normal this time of year. High intensity efforts take time to get acclimated to. Last week my RPE felt higher, as in putting out more perceived work for the effort. One could argue because my legs weren't accustomed to intervals I am actually putting in more work irregardless of RPE. Whats super promising is that my average heartrate is 11 bpm lower which means legs are potentially working more efficiently (the goal). This is where all of the off season weight training comes in. I was struggling to pedal, but never felt winded or even struggling to breath. I think this is where the swimming and running is working for me as well. Over a month ago I did the wildcat ride, my legs felt strong, conditioning was lacking. This go round, it was the opposite. Next 1 to 2 months will be getting lungs and legs synced up.

This weekend MTBNJ is holding the first short track race of a 3 race series at Allamuchy. I've never done a short track race before and looking forward to it. I'm going to treat the short track race like interval training. Not sure what to expect, plan is to show up and race and give it 100%. Some heavy hitters are pre-reg'd, so plenty of people to bring solid competition on Sunday. This will be extra incentive to push.

I'm feeling like I did the work that was needed over the winter and substantially more than years prior. Stayed on top of getting rides in up to 3x per week, doing runs and swimming 1 to 2x per week. Weight training is going great, breaking all of my PRs from last year and I gained about 5 lbs of lean muscle. I'm where I need to be which is good. As the months go on we'll see how this works out for the longer term. If time permits I'm planning to do a recap of short track. Hopefully if the weather cooperates we can race short track #2 and #3!

Thanks for Reading

You are definitely putting in the work! One thing to note is some intensity (zone 5 power) over the offseason let’s you carry fitness over without losing too much. I did the z2 thing as well but I feel it takes too long to get to peak form afterwards. Dylan Johnson has a great series to watch on youtube. He is an NUE champ and Carmichael training coach.

Keep up the good work and let me know if you want to hit sandy hook sometime( great for doing longer intervals.

 

[BrianGT3]

I raced H2H #1 this past weekend down in Medford, NJ.

I was able to get down the park 1.5 hours ahead of race start. Which is plenty of time to get checked in, gear'd up and do a preride with Kristine & Jeremy. I last raced her 2 years ago for the first time and took 3rd place. 4 Laps on a 6.3 mile loop that is all power. This year due to the rainfall we've had there were some massive puddles and mud pits on the course too. One climb on the back 3/4 and they took out some of the fire roads from two years ago.

During warmup I was actually thinking today is going to be rough initially. Kristine was leading and going a solid pace on the trails, good for getting into race mode. Then Jeremy and I did the back 1/2. My legs felt a little tight, heartrate was high, had me a little concerened. I saw @pooriggy in parking lot and got caught up with him as we rode to start line.

Alongside the one and only @pooriggy

J and I got lined up fairly early at the front line. During the 15 minute race start wait I realized I forgot my little folding multitool. I had everything else, except the multitool. There were 5 minutes till start @ 1pm, I debated riding back to my car to get it and I made the decision not to. Figured I didn't need it because I checked my bike over night prior with a tool and verified torque on all the bolts so nothing would come loose.

Lap 1

Whistle goes off and we all clip in and accelerate. @jShort has solid starts, he goes off the line like a top fuel dragster. I get out of the seat and start pressing to close the gap and tow a couple guys by my side. We're a few seconds in accelerating up the fire raod. Jeremy sits down and locks in a pace, then some people came up on the sides and he blasted ahead opening up another big gap. Then I get out of the seat again and start cranking, it became a race for us to catch back up to Jeremy on the fire road. I keep pedaling, I'm feeling pretty awesome and legs/lungs are delivering, out power rest of the pack and lock in a place behind Jeremy and we hit the single track. I look down and see my heartrate in in low 170's after fireroad sprint, sweet! Plenty in reserve.

I stay on Jeremy's wheel, and quick look over my shoulder to see the pack slightly breaking up. We have 4 guys in tow but the rest of the field is falling behind.

We hit the first fire road and I draft J for a bit, then jump in front hoping I can tow him up the road. Soon we get passed by a rider I don't recognize and he hits the next section of single track before me. I look over my shoulder and see @jShort behind me and @taylor185 on his tail. A nice cushion of MTBNJ. I up the pace and work to hang with the guy leading. I notice his riding is a little bobbly in corners, I'm thinking he's pushing but I can hold his pace.

5 miles into this lap I have race leader 15 - 20 sec ahead and now there is a small gap opening behind me. I also see my Heartrate is pinging off low 180's, which is high. It seemed to be 180+ all of lap 1. My legs feel okay, but they are working, and 180+ is uncharted territory for endurance.

Lap Time 30:04

Lap 2

I hit my lap timer on the garmin, whoa 30 minute laps? 4 laps means this is a 2+ hour race. Slow down buddy! in 180's good chance I'll blow up 1.5 hours in, 170's I can hold easy for 2 - 2.5 hours. I try to put my pace on more of a cruise, find more efficient lines, hold speed in corners. Find what ever little recovery I can. Seems like race leader is building a gap but I'm not worried about it, 4 laps and 2+ hours of non stop pedaling. The HR seems to be coming down which can be subjective (reveiwing data post race avg hr -1 bpm!)

Muddy sections were a drain, you just gotta slog through the sections and suck it up.

My lead on 3rd and 4th is growing and losing sight of bright jerseys behind me. Maybe at this point i'm ahead 3 minutes?

Time 30:28, I was 24 seconds slower

Out of seat putting doiwn some power on an incline - Photo credit @moose35

Lap 3

Some formula as Lap 2. I'm starting to feel a little fatigued, little dehydrated but nothing major or concerning. I nestled comfortably in 2nd place. A few times during this lap I notice the bike is doing occasional misshifts or dropping to lower gear. I figured due to the thick mud we had to ride through in certain areas was adding addiotional ballast and wreaking havoc on drivetrain causing these minor shift issues. The muddy sections were getting pretty blown out. Felt like I build a massive lead this lap, I saw nobody behind me.

Simple trick I noticed while riding through mud, out of seat, smooth smooth pedaling, head up and look ahead at the dry area you want to go. Don't worry about those ruts in front of you. Somehow I forgot.

End of this lap I scoop up my extra water bottle and finish my energy gel.

Time 31:01, dropped another 30 seconds, the fatigue is kicking in.

Lap 4

The calories from energy gel are starting to burn and I feel alive again. I come out of single track after start finish with the sole objective of absolutely demolishing this lap. At this point I had no idea where race leader was, but doesn't hurt to close a gap. I hit the fire road and got into a good pace and entered the single track. With 3 prior sighting laps I have the course dialed in. I enter the second single track and go to pedal up a little climb after the bridge...

My pedals lock up!

What? They don't go forward nor backwards.

First I though I may have hit the shifter which would drop it down a bunch of cogs. So I jump off bike and try to pedal with hands and re-ajust the shifter and nothing happens.

I then see my chain is broken. Outside link sheared off and mangled and caught in between the two derailleur pullies.

Crap

I realize I don't have my multitool and therefor can't use my chaintool and replacement link (I have both on me). I pull my pouch from back of my jersey and confirm there is indeed nothing but the chaintool and co2 inside. It's like flicking a broken light switch on when you know it's broken.

I put the pouch back in my Jersey and decide to walk back to race start and said I DNF'd due to mechanical.

Then my thoughts transition to Screw that!

The decision is made to back tracking to my car and fix this thing and get back out. Along the walk down fire road I see @Santapez & @MissJR packing up and getting ready to head out. Steve busts out his chain tool and helps me remove the mangled link to get a QR Link in. We get it fixed up and I get back on the bike and resume the race.

Unfortunately the whole chain fiasco and walking set me back 23 minutes

I finish Lap 4, for a total 2hr 25 min on the bike. Halfway into lap 4 the gel wore off and I was got hungry & legs felt tired. All throughout lap 4 I'm thinking of the irony how I got to race early, took my time getting ready, and forgot my multitool! Also I probably could've fixed my chain in under 5 min and still held 2nd place. Damn it!

Lap Time: Too much

4 laps of Mayhem and race complete and surprisingly I wasn't really all that upset about the chain.

 

[BrianGT3]

The Broken Chain was a major setback and learning opportunity

The Aftermath:

-After crossing line I ran a full race, 4 laps. Didn't quit. I was happy I finished, I hate quitting. I wound up getting 12th out of 14 riders and not being DFL after all.

-Frustrating stuff happens during races which can lead to negative emotions (ex: anger or defeat) taking hold. In correct dosages, it's a prime motivator, but with misuse leads to mistakes, over riding, over exceration, crashes, etc. Frustrating circumstances provide positives learning experiance. Get back out there and cherish the opportunity, I rode lap 4 super clean with little mistakes and a good pace. Frustration conquered, it was battle to not get out of seat and mash pedals and blow up at times.

-Added bonus is that competition sees that you don't quit. Racing is mental game, it's good when when you're tailing someone and they know you won't stop.

-This builds on the discipline involved in riding and training. I'm not hardcore about my workouts of following a set schedule, but I like to go out for a ride or hit gym with the intention to workout and push myself - take no shortcuts. I had an opporutnity to quit early and take a shortcut, but refused. Good mindset to always be in.

Post Race

I actually pretty happy after this race, maybe even more so than a 2nd place finish? Reviewing my laps vs race winner, by the start of Lap 4 race leader he had a nearly 2 minute lead on me, so I don't think a win would be possible. 2nd was still a solid result with big gap over the rest of the group.

I was happy because of how I felt. I went into the weekend feeling that I did everything I needed to do to prepare for the 2019 racing season. I did everything to prepare my bike (except chain!!!) for the season. I did everything the 3 weeks prior to ready up for this race. I felt super strong and had lots of power on tap all 4 alps. The legs and lungs operated in sync. I've been swimming 2x per week and I think that's really boosting up my cardio and conditioning.

Got a great race start, these have always been my achillies heel, I typically was slow starter then would ramp up. This past Saturday felt liek a fast start, cruise the entire time. I'm planning on always being in lead group on race starts from this point.

The main objective these past 6 month was to build leg strength, build power, "accleration on demand". VS me last year, I am able to lift more but kept my weight low and base conditioning up. Healthy eating played a part in this too and backing away from sugar. Nearly a year ago I felt this "power on demand" and got hooked pre knee injury, but lacked the conditioning and was moving and extra 15 lbs around. All during the race I was able to get out of seat and attack the hill climb on back of course and any log overs or slight inclines on the course. It was such a cool feeling, months of deadlifts, squats, lunches, and plyometrics paid off. I feel like I did it right this past winter. My legs felt tired after but no nuked. Looking forward to courses with more tech and hills to use the increased strength.

This race was a training assessment for 2019 and I felt like I did my homework. I felt dialed in that day, shit happens but you learn from it. I'm really excited to get back out to short track this weekend and H2H races later in April! I feeling more ready for this than I've ever been.

And finally:

I will never forgot my mulitool again.

 

[Dave Taylor]

Great job man. Winter work is paying off.

 

[Santapez]

I'm going to say I feel like an asshole for going so slow getting the tools to fix your bike. It didn't occur to me you were getting back into the race. I'm pretty sure I was holding a cup of coffee nonchalantly trying not to spill it while it all went down.

Glad you got back in and finished really well.

 

[BrianGT3]

I'm going to say I feel like an asshole for going so slow getting the tools to fix your bike. It didn't occur to me you were getting back into the race. I'm pretty sure I was holding a cup of coffee nonchalantly trying not to spill it while it all went down.

Glad you got back in and finished really well.

All good! Thanks for help