Ride to Beaverdell

So I went on my first long ride of the season yesterday. My plan called for a 100km ride, but a bunch of tri-geek friends were doing a 160km ride out to Beaverdell so I decided to tag along. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day here in Kelowna, but I knew once I got to the top around the Big White turn-off it could be a little chilly. I decided to leave the leg warmers off but keep on the arm warmers. It turned out to be nice and warm the entire way, even at the top.

Coming out of Kelowna is a constant uphill grind for about 20k then it levels off for some great riding in the bars. And then you hit the switchbacks up to Big White. Ugh. The road is narrow, bumpy and steep. You turn the corner thinking you must be at the top, and you see another set of long hilly corners. I just put my head down and rode, watching my heart rate the whole time.

Once you get past Big White the riding was unbelievable. It was sunny and warm with a blue sky and km's of flat terrain pretty much all the way into Beaverdell. It was great to just get in the position and ride.

Around the McCullough turnoff though, I lost a full bottle from the back seat carrier. For the rest of the ride I only had half a bottle of nutrition left. Not cool. I then had to minimize my fluid intake to try and make it last to Beaverdell.

Coming back started out great, then I hit the hills on the way back up to Big White. This is where my nutrition problems caught up to me. I completely ran out of steam around the 120km mark which was on the uphill climb. We did a refuel in Beaverdell, but all the local convenience store had was chemically preserved sandwiches, a cheesy bun with a sausage in the middle and some bananas. I ended up eating a banana and a pepperoni stick and some cheese.

Once I slugged my way up to the top, we all regrouped and I bummed some food from my fellow riders. I was starved and quickly ate a banana, two gels, a vector bar, gatorade... anything. We got going again and everything was fine. But boy did I learn a lesson.

The ride from Big White back to Kelowna is pretty much one solid downhill and except for the crazy red necks in their beat up pickups honking at you, it was a flawless ride back into town.

Things that were great:
1) My climbing was good (except coming back due to my nutrition screwup) and my heart rate stayed low and steady.

2) I was in aero pretty much the whole time.

3) My new TT bike rocks! It is screaming fast.

4) My butt isn't sore!

Things I learned:
1) NUTRITION!!! I really blew this one. I had two gels and two full bottles of nutrition - with no backup. Stupid. Stupid. I also realized I need some solid foods. It's more than a need... I crave solid food. I will really need to rethink my nutrition plan for IMC. Out of all the training/gear/prep stuff, this is the one thing I struggle with. How am I going to fuel myself during the race?

2) I need to purchase new bottle carriers! I lost a completely full bottle of my Infinit nutrition mixture about 60km in to the ride. That left me with one half empty bottle - not nearly enough fluid for the remainder of the ride. If this happened in a race I would have been hooped.

3) I need to tighten up my CO2 cartridges! I have a holder for the cartridges where they screw in to a threaded nut (btw I'm using the X-Lab Sonic Wing). At a stop I thought I would check them and luckily I did, as they were both dangling by a thread and ready to fall off. I tightened them up real tight and they were fine for the ride back. Again, if this had been a race...

So that's it. I had a great ride and a big thanks to my friends for tossing me their backup food.

Looking forward to riding in Penticton this weekend!