Mt Hood Cycling Classic

[Daniel Auger]

All those reports from the BPR team are inspiring. I’ll think about you guys tomorrow during the Oliver half. This will help me in pushing harder when needed. Keep on the good work.

[Schulzy]

I feel I should write a quick note since I also happen to be at the Mt Hood Cycling Classic! I am having fun with the crew and appreciate everyone's support. It's fun sharing our stories at night! Racing has had it's ups and downs for me in the past few days but I have learned a lot and it's been a great experience!

Day 1:90 km hilly course - HR average: 153, max - 174
I had a good warm-up and my legs felt great during the first climb. Long story short, I felt horrible after 30 min. I was able to recover somewhat and ended up getting back in with the lead group after riding with a few other girls for a little while. At the line I ended up 40 seconds back. I had a bit of a rough night and hoped that the rest of the stages would go well! I will admit that I told the team that I was quitting rode racing and can only handle mtn bike racing but came to my senses later that night!

Day 2:  Time Trial: HR average: 156, max - 163
The time Trial was very scenic! I had fun and realized once again that I need to work on my time trialing skills! I tried my very best but couldn't manage to get my HR past 163. I look forward to practicing my time Trialing now that i actually have a TT bike!

Day 3: 117 km: HR average: 141, max - 173
I felt awesome all day! I rode strong and stayed within the top 10 positions until 2km to go where the pace was a little quicker. I lost a few minutes in the end but was satisfied with my effort.

I look forward to the crit tomorrow and hope to rip it up!!!!

Jen

[Schulzy]

Oh! The most important part of the day was that Ginny ripped it up at today's road race!!! I was so happy to be riding with such a great teammate!!!!!!!!!!


Jen

[GinnySellars]

So I finally had my first real RR experience, where I wasn't riding on my own off the front or off the back. What a rush!!! The women started part way along the men's course, and started on a steep descent. It was very weird to start a race on a descent. I was amazed with how relaxed I felt zipping along in a huge pack at mock speed. In an effort to stay safe, I stayed close to the front. And that's where I stayed. It was super exciting to actually ride shoulder to shoulder with the top women. I finally saw all the tactics that I hear about.

The weirdest thing happened in the first 45min. The race leader dictated a pee stop. So part of the group stopped in a field, and the rest rode super slow until we were all back on again. After that the pace was stupidly slow for probably 20min. No team wanted to push the pace or work. Once we got to the first hills the surges started. I worked my butt off to stay with the group. On one particular climb, there was an uphill crash fairly close to me, and it made a gap. That was where my HR hit 195 to get back on. I was super happy with my effort to stay on every surge and fight to get back on the pack if I was gapped. I stayed with this group until 100km. At this point I had been without for water for 30min and was struggling with nutrition. I saw a sign with 20km to the top, and all I could picture was the computer image of the final climb with 12%grades. When the group surged I told myself I'd do the climb faster at a steady pace than surging. I think you call this "self-drop". I was choked when I discovered that it was not all climbing after this, and I really missed the group on the next long false flat and descent. I struggled in the wind on my own, but got some water so began to revive. I climbed the final ascent to Mt Hood Meadows on my own, loosing 8 minutes to the leaders.

I learned a few things today...
- Feed zone means "sprint"
- Cattle guard means "sprint"
- With more experience I won't give the teams "their rightful place" at the front
- climbs are so much easier if you don't sit at the back
- even the top riders wheeze and moan on the steep climbs

It was super exciting to ride with Jen. She rode fantastic all day, in perfect position, doing her fair share of work at the front. It was amazing to be shoulder to shoulder with the yellow jersey, the TR girls etc. I loved hearing the tactic talk, and peer pressure between teams.

I'm not riding the crit tomorrow. I don't feel I've done my homework, and feel even a little irresponsible to race with no experience with these girls. If I plan to do more of this stuff, I'll practice at the Kelowna crits first.

What a crazy, scary, fun, exilirating few days with a great team. I'll be cheering like a mad woman at the crit tomorrow.

[StephenU]

Well things DID get ugly for me and as I might also add, VERY disappointing!  (I am healing mentally, although it might take a while!)
The queen stage was roughly 150km with around 10,000 feet of climbing.  I had been looking forward to this for a long time and was feeling confident that I might have a good time of it.  This is a true big time Road Race stage.  A large loop with two BIG climbs, norrow mountain roads, Fast highway decents, and a peloton cruising along the prairies as you might see on TV during the tour!
As you might have read in Andrew's Coaches corner post, I had some problems!  For the past couple of years I have been relying on Infinite as my nutritional choice during races and training and instinctively consume the right amount of water, calories, sodium, and everything else I need.  The length of the race made it impossible for me to carry enough to last 4.5 hours so I decided to use a Hammer Brand perpetuem saturated mix with enough calories for the duration of the race.  A great idea!!  All I needed to do was take water from the feed zones and I would be fine..  Well, as it turned out, I was fine and feeling really good until about 3 hours into the race when I started to get the headache, tingling face, and no more sweating happening!  My Face was caked in salt and burning up I felt.  I took in only 2.3 litres of water for the 4:45 I was racing on the bike.  I think that it is roughly half of what I needed as I was definatly suffering from hydration issues.  Mental mistakes galore!! I was reminded back at the house that I even took an extra bottle from Jonas and then promptly tossed it into the ditch just before a climb instead of drinking it!  (What an idiot!! - the extra weight would not have mattered and the 600ml of water may have saved me!!)
I started to really suffer as the race made it's way to the last climb.  There were a series of fast, rolling climbs before the last feedzone and I was slowly slipping to the back of the dwindling lead group.  As we reached the feedzone,  I was right near the back and slowed to grab a bottle.  I looked up after putting the bottle away and saw the group accelerating away from me.  I had very little left in the tank and tried in vain with another rider for the next 4-5 km to get back on but it was not happening!!  I eventually became so cooked that I could only push to 150HR and slowly pedaled up the remaining 20km to the finish line and promptly layed down flat on my back in the parking lot@!  During my solo 20 km ride to the summit, I was passed and or/passed misc. other Cat 3 and a couple of Cat 1/2 riders making the same death march I was making to the finish.  I have seen this before in other races, but not from this perspective. So I go away disappointed because I feel I was in good form and obviously wasted it by allowing myself to get dehydrated.

An amazing learning experience and I will approach next years even a little differently, paying more attention to my water intake.  It is very complicated when putting out that kind of effort and trying to match the nutritional needs when only water is available. 

It was a thrill to race with Jonas Sandstrom (Rossland) and Joel Johnson.  We supported each other before the races, during, and after as well!  It was exciting to see Joel go from being a little bit nervous in the bunch on the first day to aggressively asserting himself among the peloton during the last stage.

Thanks for reading!

Stephen

PS - I am still not sure when/if I might come out of retirement!

[SimonC]

Hey Cooked Quail ...

If I had a dollar for every time I felt like you after a race !!! Ask Jason about my freak out after last years Provincials  Also I remember a guy at Gila who was so freaked out about getting dropped he posted ALL of his cycling gear and car on Ebay and flew home ... never to return to the sport. And this was after stage 2 !!!
The great thing about cycling is that there is always another race just round the corner. Whenever you go to the line it doesn't matter how you did on the last race ... first or last ... It's what you do in the moment. So fly back to your Quail nest  and recover ... you'll come back stronger than ever ... I don't want to go to the line with you in the near future !!! Won't be fun to race with Angry Quail 

SC

[GinnySellars]

Hey Stephen
Your issue was so simple....just hydration. If you had done EVERYTHING right, and were in perfect form, and still shattered, that would be tough. You'd know that you were simply out of your league in fitness. That was NOT the case. You proved that on day 1. Next time you'll suck up the agua, and maybe you'll even have some support on route for feeds. Then we'll see pure Quail performance.

[IanC]

Hey Steve!
Mountain Bike Racing is way easier!!  You are going to rock that big wheel bike at the Test of Metal in a couple weeks!

[Andrew]

Hope you guys can all make it out for some long easy hours in the saddle on Sat/Sun. Would love to hear more of the fun details, and build on the team spirit that has been so positive this year.

COBRA Loop at 9:00am Saturday...
barbecue Saturday afternoon 4:00pm Sellars House
Century Mile Loop around the lake starting at 7:00am in Vernon and 9:00am at the Sails for the Kelowna Crew. Bring $10 for Sunday's support car.
More details on the facebook page. Please RSVP if you are joining us.