Author: James

Time for the first road race of the season and a return to the rain shadow of Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula. This race is a 12 mile loop on rolling country roads with a slight uphill finish. The Cat 3 race is 5 laps (60 miles) which we ended up averaging 24 mph over 2 1/2 hours (a fair bit faster than I would have done the 100k SIR Populaire in which was on the same day) . It’s a very different style of riding from Randonneuring as the pace varies much more with various surges and attacks throughout the race as compared with the steady tempo riding which is much easier on your body. That said the benefit of the peloton and drafting in a pack meant I only had a normalized power average of 214W.

All the teams park and set up their tents in a field beside the course and there is always a great buzz leading up to the race as racers get ready.

We had 6 team mates in the race itself (of a field of 47) and had loosely defined roles to follow during the race itself. Kyle and Aaron were the designated sprinters for the race and were just going to conserve energy until the end. Zach, Hani, Jim and myself were to cover breaks and help out with lead outs at the end.

The team came through and had a great race, Zach and Hani reeled in a troublesome break pretty much singlehanded over the penultimate lap and it ended up in a bunch sprint. I felt comfortable with my positioning and led out Aaron on my wheel into the 1K to go sign. He then jumped over to another rider going past and carried on to finish 3rd. Kyle had picked a different wheel on the right hand side and ran out of road to come around him but finished with a fine 2nd place by half a wheel.

My fitness felt fine during the race but my left leg had been threatening to cramp up for the last 3 laps despite downing two bottles of Scratch (electrolytes). I think they need to adjust a bit to the surges of racing again. I’m going to try drinking some Pedialyte before next weekends race and see if that helps. I had to shut down my sprint over the last 200m so that my leg wouldn’t seize up completely and rolled in for 16th place.

The lads; Aaron on the left (3rd place) and Kyle on the right (2nd place).

Some shots from the race (I’m the only blue helmet if you want to play “Where’s James” in the pack shots)

The Icebreaker Time Trial in Auburn, WA is the traditional kick off to the Pacific NW racing season. It’s a good early season fitness test and an opportunity to see friends on other teams that you may not have seen since last year. It’s a 10 mile flat TT on country roads (5 miles out, turnaround and return the same way) with riders going off at 30 second intervals. This means you always have both a target up ahead to try to chase down and/or someone bearing down on you from behind to keep you motivated.

I decided this year to view it as an opportunity to do an FTP test on my regular road bike as I wanted to try holding a specific power target with my power meter for the duration. This meant that I wouldn’t be as fast as I would be on a dedicated TT bike but would have more useful data to check my fitness level. (I wasn’t going to be in contention at this level, Masters Cat 1/2/3, regardless of what type of bike I rode in any case).

In this regard the Time Trial was a success, I was aiming to average 280w over the 10 miles and ended up averaging 279w. According to Strava this brings my current FTP estimate to 270w (or 3.5W/KG). My target for this year is to get my FTP up to 290 W and drop 10 pounds which will get me to the 4.0 W/KG number which I think I’ll need to be truly competitive at the Cat 3 level. That said it’s just a number and I’ve certainly won races in the past against people with higher FTPs than me.

This year we caught a break in the variable weather that had been with us all week and had near perfect conditions.

I drove down with a car load of supporters; my mum, Ashley and the boys. Susan was away for the weekend and Caitlin opted out for a quiet day at home.

My team were out in force and we had the tent set up for our warm-up.

Then it was off to the start for a 9:26 start time.

I caught the rider ahead of me a couple miles in to the time trial but was in turn caught by the rider behind me shortly after the turnaround.

And then ~26 minutes later it was all over

A great start to the season and such fun to have Ashley, my mum and the boys along to experience it with me.

It’s been a while since I last wrote anything for this blog so a brief catch up is in order. Over the past three years I’ve focussed more on road racing rather than ultra events.

I’m now a Cat 3 on the road and in addition to road racing this year am planning to give track racing a try as well.

Here’s a summary of my 2016 Cycling highlights.

I went in to the year with a goal of getting in the bulk of my riding before the schools broke out for the summer. I had sketched out a balance of randonneuring and racing objectives and intermingled those through the spring.

Randonneuring

The Cascade 1200 is a 770 mile loop around Washington with 37,500 ft of climbing.

This was my first 1200 since PBP in 2011 though I’d done a one way 1000k out to Glacier National Park last year. I’ve been focussing on road racing this year and haven’t put in nearly as much time in the saddle with most of my races being less than 2 hours long. I’d done one fast 400k a couple months ago but that was the extent of my randoneuring this year prior to this ride.

So this was going to be a bit of an experiment in how much shorter intense efforts could carry over to longer rides.

I also did a lot less planning going into this ride than previous ones. Normally I have set time targets for the controls but this year I had a much looser plan to simply ride in daylight and maximize my time off the bike at the overnight controls. The finish time didn’t matter to me in contrast to our Charley Miller ride at PBP.

Day One (Monroe to Carson, 223 miles, 12,300 ft)

88 of us set out from Monroe for the first leg down to Carson, 223 miles away. The group stayed mostly together for the first hour or so until we hit the first incline and then things naturally spread out. The lead group got smaller as we rode on through Issaquah and down through Enumclaw to Randle. By the time we hit Randle, 140 miles in to the ride, there were 6 of us left (Chris, Mick, Nigel, Del, Ryan and myself). Bob and Ed had fallen off the pace a bit about 30 miles previously. We had a brief break in the sun enjoying some cold drinks and an ice-cream and then it was off for the 2 main climbs of the day, Elk Pass and Old Mans Pass, both significant 6-10% pitch extended climbs.

I stuck with the group for 10 more miles until the road started to pitch up at the right turn after the Colonial Campground and then decided that I better conserve a bit more energy for the next 3 days. Still 150 miles averaging 20mph was a good way to start.

I spun up Elk Pass by myself enjoying the views and stopping to take some photos.

The descent was great down the other side and I caught up with the others just as they were about to leave Northwoods, the control on the other side. They carried on as I wanted to get some cold drinks ahead of the next climb.

This was my first time up Old Mans Pass from this direction and again I just spun up it easily and then enjoyed the twisty descent on the other side through wooded roads. Then it was a fast flat ride into Carson Hot Springs resort, our overnight control. I got there just before 8pm and quickly showered, enjoyed a great 20 minute massage from Lyn Gill that loosened out my neck and shoulders, got some food and was in bed by 10 in the room that Chris, Mick, Bob and I were sharing.

Day Two (Carson to Ephrata, 229 miles, 10,400 ft)

We got up at 5am for a 5:40am departure and rolled out along the Columbia river. Great views and we got to chat briefly with various groups of people who had started out ahead of us as we passed them. After about 40 miles of averaging over 20 mph again Bob and I decided to call it quits from the Mick/Chris/Nigel express and to ride at an easier pace.

The temperature kept rising as we started some serious climbing, long exposed climbs followed by sharp descents only to climb right back up immediately. We rode with Jan, Hugh and Mark for a while along this stretch. The heat and climbing took it’s toll on the field with several riders DNFing at Bickleton. Joe and Jesse (who showed up at various locations throughout the ride) were a welcome sight when we stopped to refill up our water. The store here had also opened as well due to the prospect of so many potential customers as a change from a normally quiet Sunday. Bob and I enjoyed a nice sandwich out of the heat and the shop owner turned on a floor fan to blast me with cooling air. It was tough to head back out into the heat.

By the time we reached Sunnyside a stop into Burger King was in order to refuel and have more cold drinks. Then it was back on the road to Vernita (an oasis in the middle of nowhere). I was feeling pretty slow in the heat on this stretch but knew from past experience that once it starts cooling off I normally come around pretty quickly. We rode with Asta and two guys from the east coast along this stretch. Then it was up and over the Rattlesnake hills to the manned control at Mattawa. I stretched out in the setting sun on the pavement in front of the fire station to relax a bit before out final 50 miles of the day.

This was the only stretch that we ended up riding partially at night over the four days as we’d spent a lot of time off the bike cooling down during the heat of the day. Time well spent to avoid heat exhaustion in my mind. Eventually rolled into Ephrata a little after midnight. Shower, food and bed.

Day 3 (Ephrata to Mazama, 144 miles, 8000 ft)

This was going to be a shorter day so we opted to get a full nights sleep. Ended up getting up at 7:30 and rolling out at 8:30. The first stretch was on familiar roads from NWCrank with a long gradual climb out of Ephrata and then down into the Grand Coulee and a climb up to Farmers. Farmers is a little community hall in the middle of nowhere that is a great respite from the heat. More familiar SIR volunteers providing support here and a chance for another sandwich.

The Farmer to Marlott stretch was a mixture of plateau riding (fortunately with favorable winds) and then a descent down to Bridgeport (more cold drinks).

Then on to Marlott with stops every 15 miles or so for cold drinks. Bill was set up in Marlott ahead of the main climb of the day up Loup Loup pass. Enjoyed some more cold drinks and a popsicle and then set off to start the 13 mile climb. Bob got another flat on this stretch (his second of the ride) but he made short work of fixing it. You do realize just how hot it is once you stop moving and stand exposed in the sun. Still mid 90s in the late afternoon.

The climb up Loup Loup took a while. We caught up with Terry Lentz who was helping another rider change a tire and Bob took off with him up the hill. I did my own thing up to the top, nearly losing the contents of my stomach two miles from the summit when I ate a handful of peanuts and promptly had to spit out half of them. The heat had got to me and that was it for me and food for the rest of the day’s riding while I let my stomach sort itself out.

Caught up with Bob at the bottom of the descent were he was waiting for me and we rode in the rest of the gradual ascent to the overnight in Mazama (after a short break for more water). Rode with Terry and Louise for a bit on this stretch before we separated to ride at our own paces.

Got into Mazama a bit before 9 and sorted out a room for Bob and I and then hung out outside the hotel with some food for a bit before heading to bed. We declined Mick’s offer of a 3:30am start and stuck with our sleeping in strategy for a later departure.

Day 4 (Mazama to Monroe, 174 miles, 6750 ft )

Got up at 5 for breakfast and a 6am roll out. The day started straight away with a major climb up Washington Pass. It was drizzling a bit which was a nice contrast to the heat of the previous days. This is a great climb, nothing to steep and great views and switchbacks at the top. I felt I’d overdone my sugar intake the previous day with the number of cold sodas I’d drunk so today was going to be real food only and no soda. This ended up working much better and my stomach felt fine for the day.

We rolled over Washington Pass and then down and up the Rainy Pass follow-on bump before starting the 30 mile descent on the other side. There was a SIR rest stop on the descent which was a welcome respite from the cold and a chance to drink some hot chocolate before heading down again. My layers worked out fine and even in short fingered gloves I was OK.

Once we reached Marblemount I had a huge plate of Chicken Teriyaki at a restaurant which was very Rando friendly. Fast, friendly service and tasty food. Carried on to the Big Rock cafe and another sit-down meal, this time a bowl of Clam chowder hit the spot. We’d hooked up with Tyler by this point and he rode in with Bob and I. We also rode some of this with Phil, a fellow 508’er, who was now riding a jerry rigged single speed after his derailler gave out.

Familiar roads and along the Centennial Trail for the last 50 miles in to Monroe. At one stretch along the trail we came up to a family riding with their 6 year old. His first day on a bike with gears. He had a blast riding in our draft for about 5 miles, proudly saying how he was beating us all. At one point we picked up the pace a little but next thing we know he was tearing up to us again having chased us down. We parted ways once we reached the rest rooms on the trail, he of course was straight over to the adjoining playground to burn off more energy.

I tested my legs a little coming into Monroe from Snohomish to see what was left in them. They held up well and could still hold 24-25 mph for an extended pull comfortably. Then it was a case of rolling into the finish hotel, handing in our cards and getting our medals before heading home to the family.

Postscript

Another good ride (though at times during the second day I was saying never again).

The main take away for me again was how important it is to get nutrition correct during these rides. I ate to much sugary food and drinks on the first couple days which threw off the balance in my stomach until I got it sorted out again on the fourth day. It’s a lot more fun to ride when you’re not feeling sick.

I definitely should have had more saddle time before a ride of this length. My legs were fine but by the fourth day my saddle was not feeling to comfortable.

The extended time off the bike each night worked out really well, allowing me to recover well ahead of the next day.

Having good riding companions like Bob (and Chris and Mick on the first couple days) makes the miles go by much faster, mentally and physically.

The great support throughout the ride by all the volunteers makes all the difference. There were various people, Joe, Jesse, Bill to name a few who seemed to show up each day in different locations with a friendly word and helping hand.

This year has marked my first foray into ultra-racing. Going into the year I’d planned to focus on two main races, Race Across Oregon (as a two man team) and Furnace Creek 508 (solo). These races, in conjunction with various randonneuring brevets, the “Death Ride”, and a couple of 12 hour races; the Lewis and Clark Ultra and Ring of Fire, resulted in a great season of riding and racing.

The Furnace Creek 508 is known as “The Toughest 48 hours in Sport” and is the world’s premier ultra cycling race. This 508-mile bicycle race is revered the world over for its epic mountain climbs, stark desert scenery, desolate roads, and its reputation as one of the toughest but most gratifying endurance challenges available, bar none. The course has a total elevation gain of over 35,000′, crosses ten mountain passes, and stretches from Santa Clarita (just north of Los Angeles), across the Mojave Desert, through Death Valley National Park and Mojave National Preserve, to the finish line at the gateway to Joshua Tree National Park, Twentynine Palms, CA.

It more than lived up to its reputation as a tough, challenging event.

Prelude

The couple of days leading up to the race were a flurry of activity, configuring the support van, stocking up on supplies (ice, ice and yet more ice), practicing our handoffs, studying up on the rules, registering and passing bike and vehicle inspection and then hanging out with hundreds of like-minded souls at the final pre ride briefing  in the hotel ball room.  Before I knew it I was off to bed for an early night with the alarm set for 4:50am to give time for a big breakfast ahead of the 6:30am roll out.

The Race

Stage 1: Start to TS 1 (California City, 82 miles  – 11:43 am, 5:13 elapsed)

The buzz of 70 racers itching for the off in the hotel entrance  driveway was contagious as the excitement and anticipation built up ahead of the official start. There was time for photos with SIR friends and training partners and then I positioned myself near the front to give Susan and the kids the best chance of seeing me on the webcam as we rolled out for the neutral 4 mile start.  6:30am finally came and our police escort lead us out of town until we hit the bottom of the first climb up the canyon. This is were the racing officially starts and all the riders pretty quickly spread out as the road started to pitch up.

The temperatures were still cool and there were a lot of officials along this section to make sure that everyone was coming to a complete stop at all stop signs and spreading out as required. There is no drafting allowed during this race. The aches I’d been conscious of in my left IT band and achilles over the past couple weeks eased up now that I was moving in a steady rhythm and were not an issue at all for any part of the race.

24 miles in I turned left at the top of the canyon and saw all the support cars parked up ahead ready to commence leap frog support . A quick stop to remove my lights and seat bag and to grab a fresh water bottle and a sandwich and then it was off to start the rhythm of ongoing roadside handoffs for water and food as I tried to stay moving on the bike as much as possible and minimize any time off the bike.

This was a flatter stretch and Mike “Newfoundland” McHale caught me in due course on his TT bike and headed up the road. There were great long stretches of road with extended lines of sight as we entered the desert country side proper.

The Windmill climb (6 miles, 1000ft) came up and I reeled Mike in and passed him before the top. Then it was on to the first time station, feeling good and averaging 15.9 mph for this first section.

Stage 2: TS1 to TS 2 (Trona, 153 miles – 16:29, 9:59 elapsed)

It started to heat up and the wind picked up as we headed into the afternoon. I passed Mike’s crew setting up his TT bike again so knew I’d be seeing him shortly. At some point along this stretch Christian got Susan and the kids on the phone and I gave a shout out as I rolled by.

The Randsburg climb was a hot climb (7 miles, 1500 ft) in the peak of the afternoon heat and I ended up stopping for a couple minutes in the shade to try to cool down a bit. I saw a number of riders including John “GeoDuck” Pearch go by before heading off again.

Arrived at Trona, 153 miles in, and had a brief stop before heading out. My moving pace on the bike was still holding steady around 15.9mph though a few more breaks in the heat had lowered my overall average a little.

Stage 3: TS2 to TS3 (Furnace Creek, 252 miles – 00:38, 18:08 elapsed)

Climbed the Trona Bump (5 miles, 1000ft) and then dropped down into the Panamint Valley and rollers on chipseal for the next stretch before stopping to get lights on the bike for night riding. I didn’t really notice the road conditions; compared to northwest chipseal it wasn’t particularly bad.

I came up to John’s vehicle and exchanged a few words as I passed. My stomach was starting to go along this stretch and it was getting tougher to work out what to eat. I was also finding that I was having to stop in order to have my stomach allow me to eat food now that it was nighttime. This was somewhat frustrating as any time off the bike is time lost. The right turn at the end of the valley came up and we stopped again to talk with the officials here. They were reminding everyone that we could leapfrog support up Townes Pass if we wanted in order to minimize traffic impact.

Townes Pass is a significant climb (13 miles, 3800 ft with grades of 12-15%) and I took it at a steady slow pace. I pulled in when I saw Mike’s vehicle about a third of the way up to check on him. Unfortunately his stomach had completely gone and he ended up needing to DNF.

I finally reached the top after various stops for rest and food breaks, donned my night helmet with head light and started on the descent. The head lamp made the dips that had been mentioned so much a non-issue and while I was somewhat cautious going down I was still able to maintain a decent clip. The temperature was in the 80s at the bottom in Death Valley as we rolled along to Furnace Creek and the midway point.

I sat down for a rest and called Susan to let her know the descent had gone fine. It’s not much fun for her to know I’m heading down mountain passes in the middle of the night when she’s back in Seattle. Thankfully the combination of Spot Tracker, Facebook updates and periodic phone connectivity meant much better communication during this race than in some all night rides I’ve been on.

So 18 hours in and half way done, a bit off target pace but, apart from my stomach, not feeling too beat up. To this point I’d been off the bike for about 1 ½ hours, most of that in Stage 3.

Stage 4: TS3 to TS4 (Shosh, 326 miles – 08:15, 25:45 elapsed)

This was a long slow stretch through the night. My energy levels were low as my stomach was not doing great. I had to convince myself that just throwing up and resetting probably wasn’t a good idea. I came upon Bob “Bushbaby” Brudvik along this stretch resting up in his vehicle after similar issues. I guess us Seattle riders had lost what heat acclimatization we had earlier in the summer and were getting hit hard.

We leapfrogged a bit along the valley as Bob would rest up, get back on his bike and then power past me only for me to catch up to him resting in his vehicle down the road.

Climbed out of the valley as day break was approaching, Jubilee Pass (5 miles, 1000ft) followed by Salsbury Pass (9.5 miles, 2300 ft) and a nice descent into Shosh.

I decided to try to force down a decent breakfast in the restaurant there and slowly ate a large omelet and some toast in an attempt to reset my stomach.   At this point I’d shifted mentally from racing to riding and wasn’t as concerned about longer rest stops. Having such a large time cushion to finish up the race meant that I knew that even suffering with digestion issues I should be able to easily finish well within the time limits.

In hind sight it would have been good to have some intermediate goals other than just finishing once my main time goal of 35-36 hours became unfeasible.

Stage 5: TS4 to TS5 (Baker, 382 miles – 13:22, 30:52 elapsed)

I rolled out slowly to digest my breakfast and gradually started feeling a bit better. My crew finished up their breakfast and then caught up to me about 6 miles along the road prior to the 4 mile climb up Ibex Pass. The short descent was then followed by a long 20 mile gradual uphill into Baker.

It was starting to get hot again and my crew was trying different things as they sensed a change in attitude.

Ice socks helped to manage my core temperature and I eventually reached Baker and another longish stop.

Stage 6: TS5 to TS6 (Kelso, 417 miles – 17:32, 35:02 elapsed)

There was an extended 20 mile climb straight out of the time station and my crew grabbed an ice-cream cone for me in Baker and then caught up along the road. It went down a treat! Then it was back into heat management mode, ice socks and short stops in the air conditioning to cool down. I caught up with Bob again on this stretch.

The road surface got progressively worse as I approached the top and then was bad all the way down the other side. I had to keep the speed down for the whole descent as I picked a safe line through the gravel and rocks. Another 40 minute or so stop at the bottom as we got ready for night riding again.

Stage 7: TS6 to TS7 (Amboy, 451 miles – 21:04, 38:34 elapsed)

The start was a steady climb up Granite Mountain as night came down (2000ft in 14 miles). I was in a steady rhythm and felt pretty good climbing without needing any real breaks. Once I summited there was a long fast descent for 17 miles into Amboy. Despite the fact that we were all watching out for a cattle guard mentioned in the route book it came up on us by surprise about 4 miles down and rattled some teeth.

We pulled over to swap out drivers and then carried on to Amboy. The Hawaiian theme at Amboy was pretty cool and I took 5 minutes with a towel over my head to close my eyes and reset my brain. My legs were vibrating away and after chatting with a couple other crews here we rolled out for the final stretch.

Stage 8: TS7 to TS8 (Finish, 508 miles – 02:58, 44:28 elapsed)

There was a bit of a downhill stretch and then a left turn onto Amboy road and after 5 miles the start of the climb up Sheep Hole Pass (10 miles, 1500 ft). I kept a steady pace with other riders periodically passing me.

A 6 mile descent followed the summit and then the long uphill run to the finish (20 miles, 1-2% grade). I was hallucinating a little along this stretch as I thought I saw a crew vehicle stopped up ahead with people standing out in the road. They never seemed to get any closer and I had to keep waiting for my brain to correctly interpret the light patterns that were confusing it. That, in conjunction with one stretch of semi trancing as I rode along, i.e. not really remembering the last stretch of road I’d just gone over, meant periodic stops for more caffeine were in order. Nothing dangerous and I’m used to the impact on my brain by the second night of no sleep so I soldiered on.

The long awaited left turn onto Utah Trail arrived and then we headed over to 29 Palms and the 3 mile stretch through town with a couple of final steep little bumps. We rolled into the finish at 02:58 for a final time of 44 hours and 28 minutes (18 hours for the first half and 26 ½ for the second half).

Bob had finished an hour and a half earlier but was still up to see us in which was great. Then it was time for the finish line photos, a shout out to Susan on the web cam and off to the hotel for 3 hours sleep before breakfast the next day.

Postscript

All the riders and their crew gathered for an outdoor breakfast the next morning and shared stories from the ride before we headed off on the 150 mile drive back to the start hotel to unload the support van.

Then it was simply a case of returning the rental van and hanging out in the airport bar waiting for our delayed flight to get us back to Seattle.

Final Thoughts

My crew was great! Words can’t express my thanks to Mark, Christian and Clint who were all willing to take the time to support me in this endeavor. I felt lucky to be able to share the experience with them.

Also, none of this would be possible at all without the support of Susan and my kids. I’ve skewed their perception of what a “normal” bike ride is for quite a while now.

The course was stunning, other racers and crew members were unfailingly friendly and encouraging, the officials kept everything running smoothly. All in all a fantastic experience and a race I would highly recommend.