Well, for my first endurance race of the year, things didn't go as well as I would have liked them too. Headed up to Canada for the Epic 8 hours this past weekend. Trails were in great shape and conditions were perfect for race day.
Started off pretty quick and settled into 3/4th place hanging with the eventual race winner for a few laps. We chatted for a bit, discussing our racing plans for the season, etc. For some reason my small chainring was jamming up and caused me to have to grind up the singletrack climbs, using quite a bit of extra energy when I shouldn't have been. With not using the small ring, I took my time getting up the climbs to not use the extra energy and ended up riding by myself for quite a bit of the race. Continually catching and passing riders and being caught and passed by others. I still need to get over the fact that it's ok to be passed in these types of races. After so many years of xc, I just don't like to be passed by riders and willing to fight them for position. I need to curb that quick so I don't waste too much energy. After a few laps, I stopped on the side of the trail and made a front der adjustment so that I could use the small. I was churning out pretty good lap times and holding steady, but there just wasn't any fight in my body. I stopped around the 4 hour mark and just hung up the bike.
The course itself, lacked any real long climbs. There were some short steep singletrack sections near the end of the laps. Laps were fairly short (~9k) so lap time were quick (30-35 minutes). It was a very fast and demanding course and I took in a bit too many calories early on as I was stuck in the mindset that I needed to finish a bottle each lap.
Being away all week for work fired up the stress levels and the lack of sleep time during my trip and NO sleep the night before did me in pretty well. I'm not big on giving up in races. In fact I was pretty furious with myself, but I guess you gotta know when to hold em and when to fold em.
This week I will be resting up big time for the Mohican 100!!
Started off pretty quick and settled into 3/4th place hanging with the eventual race winner for a few laps. We chatted for a bit, discussing our racing plans for the season, etc. For some reason my small chainring was jamming up and caused me to have to grind up the singletrack climbs, using quite a bit of extra energy when I shouldn't have been. With not using the small ring, I took my time getting up the climbs to not use the extra energy and ended up riding by myself for quite a bit of the race. Continually catching and passing riders and being caught and passed by others. I still need to get over the fact that it's ok to be passed in these types of races. After so many years of xc, I just don't like to be passed by riders and willing to fight them for position. I need to curb that quick so I don't waste too much energy. After a few laps, I stopped on the side of the trail and made a front der adjustment so that I could use the small. I was churning out pretty good lap times and holding steady, but there just wasn't any fight in my body. I stopped around the 4 hour mark and just hung up the bike.
The course itself, lacked any real long climbs. There were some short steep singletrack sections near the end of the laps. Laps were fairly short (~9k) so lap time were quick (30-35 minutes). It was a very fast and demanding course and I took in a bit too many calories early on as I was stuck in the mindset that I needed to finish a bottle each lap.
Being away all week for work fired up the stress levels and the lack of sleep time during my trip and NO sleep the night before did me in pretty well. I'm not big on giving up in races. In fact I was pretty furious with myself, but I guess you gotta know when to hold em and when to fold em.
This week I will be resting up big time for the Mohican 100!!
Epic Peaks Coaching
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