2018 Running/Cycling Thread - Page 4

On August 14 2018 03:29 L_Master wrote:
Go get it!! Hope it goes better for you than the last one! Plan seems like a smart one indeed.

On August 20 2018 13:24 Bonham wrote:
1:14:05 and a ton of fun along the way! I'll write a race report later this week when I have more time.

On August 23 2018 10:39 Twinkle Toes wrote:

Fuck complete summersault!
I have phobia with this thats why I always turn narrow when its crowded. I dont care adding a couple of seconds to my time if it means no broken bones and bruised skin.

On August 27 2018 03:03 L_Master wrote:
Bonham probably has a race report coming but I'll throw mine in their too. As I posted about had the Rampart Rager 100k yesterday. From a results standpoint, it wasn't a good one. I finished 46th out of a field of about 200 starters. That said, it was a very strong field with a handful of MTB pros, a dozen or so of the local MTB studs, and then another five or ten guys that are regional or statewide road studs with great fitness (I'd say 15'-16' 5k analog), and then plenty of other guys that are fit local racers.

We also had Katie Compton who is a 14x consecutive US national champion in cyclocross and a multi-time world cyclocross championships medalist so that was pretty cool. A bit like if you showed up on the start line of your local 5k and Shalane Flanagan or Shelby Houlihan were there. Also Shannon Payne (dominant Colorado mountain runner) was racing which was interesting.

Race was a 63M course with approx 5500' climbing. 7M neutral start (basically where someone is in front and lolligags at like a 12:00 mile equivalent before pulling over and letting the racing begin). Field was about 200 in size, which was wild. It looked and felt like the Tour de France rolling through town...if everyone was riding MTBs. Different feeling being in a bunch of that size. Cool, but also intimidating to be pushed in with 3+ riders on both sides of you.

The basic setup of the parcours is 3M on roads in Garden of the Gods, basically starting with a short, punchy 6% half mile climb, then a fast downhill and a right onto gravel of Rampart Range Road which was a 12M climb at 5.5%. The course then had about 18M of "rollers" (uphill for half a mile, downhill for half a mile, etc.). Then a 6M descent of Mt Herman Road, mile or two on the roads in Monument, and then downhill gently (1%) on Santa Fe Trail down to the finish for about 15M or so.

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Race Report

Race started out expected, aggressive up the first little climb. When I say aggressive, I mean it. It would be a little like starting out a 50M race with a 2:15 800. I was definitely in the red going over the top of that, especially with most of the top guys on CX bikes and not MTBs like I was. I had to do a little extra work as well to move up, as I'd needed a nature break and started towards the back of the field so I had to make up about 50m extra over that climb to be more or less with the "front" group. I had wanted to stay with that group thinking there would be some nice benefit towards getting a good free ride drafting through the downhill, but with the MTB and lack of gears compared to most other guys it ended up being a mistake. I went into the red for very little gain.

Had to work just to stay with the field due to bike and gears, so I hit the climb with HR close to 170, which in running terms for me would be like hitting a 1+ hour climb/starting a HM coming straight off 1200m at mile pace. In other words, I was already approaching redline with a lot of lactate/acid already. I tried to settle int a rhythm the first 5' but was too gassed, so I backed off to more like endurance pace or perhaps 2', before gradually finding a solid rhythm. Unfortunately, my legs already felt a bit heavy and sluggish and I knew I didn't have that "A game" feeling you'd be hoping for.

The next 1:15 was just brutal low threshold climbing. My pacing I'm usually confident in and I think I got it pretty damn good this time. I got passed by about 30 guys in the first 20', but ended up passing back a good 20-25' the remaining 45', as I just road a good solid tempo. The road had some nice sections, but it was a constant search to navigate and avoid washboards and rocks. It's not a pleasant feeling. It makes it hard to find rhythm and your constantly getting the saddle slammed into your ass when you're already deep into a HM type effort. Blissfully, the top 4M or so of the climb were much smoother and easier to keep rhythm. The climb wasn't good for me, I was probably 5M slower than I would have expected on a strong day, but I still went over the climb somewhere around 25-30th. I'd clearly worked hard, and was starting to feel the effects about 2 hours in, but I was going good, and had done a good job eating/drinking on the way up.

Speaking of which....eating when you're at threshold effort is really unpleasant. You get in maybe a chew, and then you have to figure out how to get in some air around this food before another chew. Took me like 6' to get a Honey Stinger Waffle (sort of like a cliff bar) down.

We then hit the rollers section of the course. Given my profile and current weight, I was planning for this to be a good section for me and move up some places before a brief rest on the downhill. I quickly found this wasn't happening. It was more up and down than I realized, and we already knew the guys in front were climbing faster than me because it had been all climbing to this point. More importantly the downhills were loose and there were lots of washboards, so I wasn't comfortable letting my bike out to high, high speeds and taking lines right on the edge of the road to dodge washboards. I started giving up a little time on downhills, and of course not making up much time on the uphills. Over the first 30' I think I had 10 guys go past me. I may also have not pushed the hills on this sections hard enough, as I was beginning to feel tired and was thinking about conserving something for the finish.

This section, as I mentioned, also had ridiculous washboards. Even with the front shock on my MTB some of the washboards were so bad they would slow you down to 5-10mph downhill and felt literally like a jackhammer all through my arms and hands, completely taking the feeling out of them in aggressive sections. When you're already tired, this gets old REALLY FUCKIN FAST. I spent quite a while cursing at the god forsaken washboards. They also made the course slow because washboards like that just destroy your speed. Come in at 20mph, hit a 20m section of bad washboards, come out at 5mph. The top guys all did this section about 30% faster which means that either they are comically better at finding good, washboard free lines....or there is a trick to getting over those that I don't know.

About halfway through this section the race started to go from "I'm getting tired, this is hard" to "I'm fucking miserable". Primarily because my back started to hate me. Probably a combination of being in a different position, lots of climbing, and those washboards but everything in my lower back, upper back, neck, and wrapping around to my chest started to hurt. I continued to put a decent bit into those rollers but now I was mentally struggling basically telling myself to just get down Herman and have someone come pick me up. Soldiered on, but at a reduced pace over the last 7 or 8 roller miles, and onto the descent.

The descent was 6M at 6% downhill. but on a very rocky, very rutted fire road. Not technical by MTB standards, but definitely plenty of skills, rocks, turns, loose, gravel, ruts, and other MTB challenges. I was tired, in pain, and not someone who has done a lot of MTB riding anyway, so I just took it safe. Another 2 guys past me, and I ceded another 5' to most of the guys in front of me. The pain in my back continued to increase. I was bordering on miserably uncomfortable and of course tired at this point. Still, I'd pedalled 3.5 hours already and didn't really want to pay $60 to not finish. Told myself I'd go another 2M and see where I was at.

Was now on more or less flat and gentle downhill roads. Took it VERY easy to Monument (fresh that would be almost a walking effort), though about pulling out some more, but said fuck it let's go another couple miles. Managed to pick it up a little more but I knew I wasn't pedalling as hard as my body could give due to the pain in my back. It just killed any desire to dig. I was tired AF and hurting so it still felt hard, but with that pain I didn't have the impetus to throttle myself the last hour. Made it to baptist, figured it was 45' and I'd been going for four hours so fuck it I'm going to miserable but I'm just going to grind this thing out. Lost another 5 or so places here, another good 15' lost to the top guys, and perhaps 5-10' to most guys due to skills (lots of sandy sections and loose gravel turns that I took it very, very safe through).

I hurt. I dug. I ground. I stayed in the moment. A half eternity later I was back on the paved trail that meant the finish was about a mile away. I finally believed I was going to finish and the pain was going to end, which made the last mile a bit of a relief and I rolled across the line in just under 4:45 in 46th place.

The result was poor, but I'm satisfied with how I raced. I didn't give into the temptation to DNF when things got hard, and I honestly think with the back pain I gave it just about all I could over the final hour and a half even if it wasn't much. Considering I came in here with months of 4-5 hour weeks, and this was a 5 hour day, I probably should have known something this could be an issue, especially on a different bike from normal. The other consolation is that I'm confident I lost at a minimum 10'-15' to lack of technical skills, which was the difference between 30th and 45th. A little less back pain and "average" level technical skills and I probably hit my target of top 25, so I don't think fitness was too off. Mostly technical skills lacking and issues with endurance/training on the correct bike.

On August 27 2018 23:28 darthfoley wrote:


Out of curiosity, how big are the fields in the races you typically do?

Had to work just to stay with the field due to bike and gears, so I hit the climb with HR close to 170, which in running terms for me would be like hitting a 1+ hour climb/starting a HM coming straight off 1200m at mile pace. In other words, I was already approaching redline with a lot of lactate/acid already. I tried to settle int a rhythm the first 5' but was too gassed, so I backed off to more like endurance pace or perhaps 2', before gradually finding a solid rhythm. Unfortunately, my legs already felt a bit heavy and sluggish and I knew I didn't have that "A game" feeling you'd be hoping for.