Author: James

I haven’t down a 300k in a couple years but know pretty well what to expect after 18 years of randonneuring. This was a familiar course which I’d ridden a couple times before, the last one being two years ago with Mick and Matt. It heads up north to Everett via the interurban trail before finally hitting country roads, a loop around Camano Island and then a familiar return via the Centenial trail.

The 6am start necessitated an early morning alarm and time for a quick breakfast before biking over to the U-Village for the gathering of brightly colored randonneurs ready for their pre-ride briefing, bike checks and final toilet stops.

It was mild enough for me just to have arm warmers and a wind vest. Strictly speaking I failed the pre-ride check as I had no reflective ankle bands but as I had no intention of finishing after dark a reasonable blind eye was taken. I hadn’t even thought of them ahead of the ride but will dig out some before the 400k in a couple weeks.

There were about 50 riders at the start and we started out hot right out of the gate with some spicy short climbing on the Interurban trail. Yonnel and James Walsh were planning on going fast and I stayed up with them and a couple other riders until we came off the trail. They were climbing faster than Bob and I and I kept needing to chase them down after each climb. Bob fell off on one of the hills and I chased back on and stayed attached for a while but kept falling off on the hills. Eventually I got caught at a light turning onto Seattle Hill road when they ran it just ahead of me and that was that.

I then was in no mans land for a while up to Everett just doing my own thing in my aero bars along the country roads. I took a minor wrong turn heading through Everett but quickly recovered and then carried on. I kept looking back to see if anyone was coming up behind me as I didn’t really want to do the rest of the day solo. These rides are much more fun with riding companions. It was a couple hours into the ride at this point and I was trancing out a bit when suddenly I heard the familiar sound of Greg behind me. He and Rose were riding a tandem today and had a good group latched behind them including Bob who they picked up earlier. Excellent, we ended up riding together for the rest of the ride.

We got to Camano Island and then climbed at our own paces around the lumps until reaching the park were the food control was meant to be. No sign of any SIR control were the route had led us but we eventually tracked down Chris and Jan down a different hill at an old location and had a nice break by the water before carrying on for the rest of the ride.

I felt pretty comfortable for the ride and the time passed quickly as we all chatted away. Greg and Rose spent most of the day on the front so there was always a great draft and my power and exertion levels were low Zone 2 for the ride. It was mainly about getting used to long days in the saddle again.

I did hit it hard for one effort going up the Rocket Ride finish before Woodinville just to see what I could do deep in a ride. I ended up doing my best 15s power numbers for the season so far which is pretty good 165 miles into a ride.

Coming out of Redmond we ended up going up the old Redmond Road and I stayed on Greg and Rose’s wheel as we went over the top into a fast descent. Ended up dropping everyone but as we were so close to the finish we just kept rolling and everyone just rolled in at their own paces for the last 5 miles. Ended up finishing in 12 hours 33 minutes which is a decent time, an hour faster than the last time I rode it and with over an hour off the bike.

We all regrouped at the finish for a celebratory beer and then it was time to ride home and rest up for a couple days. TrainerRoad decided I should take Sunday off and I was happy to comply.

All in all a great day’s riding and so nice to spend time with Greg, Rose and Bob again. Greg, Bob and myself are the last of the 2011 Charley Miller group still riding frequently. Next up is the 400k in 2 weeks.

Apex hosts this race in collaboration with the Tour de Bloom team and so I raced in the morning and then drove the follow car for the afternoon 35+ Masters A race

The rain held off for the morning race and we had a decent size field as we were combined with both the 40+ and 60+ divisions, although scored separately. This helps with having a larger field but makes it difficult to know exactly who you are racing against.

We’d come into this with a plan to get Frank into a break on the second lap and for Jeff to try to win the first lap wine prime. This race has a decent hill up to the finish line (about a 7 min rolling climb) which you hit each lap. I was ok the first couple times up it and Jeff managed to take the prime as planned after chasing down one rider who started his sprint very early at 1 k out. We celebrated that briefly once he fell back to the pack and then carried on with the rolling roads of the backside of the course. I felt fine on these sections but for some reason just couldn’t stay attached to the field the thrid time up the hill. I have a tough time adjusting and recovering after summiting a hill and need to work out how to train that transfer point better as it keeps getting me. Looking at my data I wasn’t maxed out in any real way, although it felt it at the time, and should have been able to hang on. I actually then averaged 20W more for the rest of the race after being dropped.

I rode by myself for a little and then got joined by two riders from the 4/5 field and eventually reeled in a couple more riders up front who had been dropped from my field. It kept the last hour more enjoyable as I had people to ride with. I asked if anyone wanted to sprint coming up to the finish and got some takers so was able to see what kick I still had left. (40+ rider beat me but I beat the two 4/5 riders who I’d been riding with, Scott sat out the sprint and just spun in).

Due to some confusion we got shorted a lap for our race but I just went off the lap board and final lap bell so everyone had a fair idea that it was the end. Frank had created a break with one rider from the 60+ field and took the win. Their lead car had to eventually stop and pull them off the road to tell them their race was over as they had just kept going thinking they had 1 more lap still. Jeff came 2nd in the pack sprint for 3rd overall so all in all a great result for the team.

I wasn’t too far back at the end so rolled back to the car park with the others.

Then it was time to shift into volunteer mode for the rest of the day and 3 hours in the car with the race official and Susan following the Masters A race. It was good fun, chatting and trying to keep track of how many people were up the road in a break and chase group. We had to neutralise our race briefly when the 1/2 field caught us which proved a good opportunity for a roadside pitstop to make the rest of the race more comfortable.

All in all a good day out though a rather dissapointing race.

I’m planning on doing a full brevet series this year as part of my training for LEL in August. I like riding down in Olympia and so it was up at 5am to head down for an 8am start from just near Evergreen. There were about 30 people riding and my plan was to ride with Yonnel for as long as I could and see how that went as I reckoned he’d be the fastest one there.

We started out pretty hot for a 200k (22/23mph over rolling terrain) and were soon wittled down to about 6 people. I’d had enough after about 10 miles and decided a slightly slower pace and less surges on the climbs would make my day more enjoyable so dropped off what was now a group of four other people and watched Yonnel, Travis, Matthew and a rider on a fixie vanish up the road. I eased back a bit and after another 10 miles or so Adam caught up to me and we rode together for a while. We caught up with the fixie rider who’d dropped off the front group and the three of us rode together until about mile 40 when they too drifted away from me on a hill.

Reckoning I could well be solo now for the rest of the day I settled in to a steady rhythm and started ticking off the miles. As the day was heating up I stopped to take off my jacket and the crest of another hill. As a side note, most of the climbing, 15 climbs in total, was front loaded in the first half of the ride. Most of the climbs were only 2 minutes or so and all very comfortable at a non race pace.

As I started rolling again I saw a rider behind me so sat up to let him catch me. It turned out to be Matthew who had also been dropped from the front group and had then stopped at a gas station in Shelton. It later emerged that both Adam and the fixie rider had stopped there too and I’d unknowingly passed them too.

So from mile 50 or so Matthew and I rode the rest of the ride together. He’d thought he’d be by himself today and had aero bars on his bike so was able to get in them and do some great work on the front. I’d like to say I contributed to the effort but apart from moral support I basically just sucked his wheel for the rest of the ride.

It was a great sunny day for April, perfect conditions and I’m in decent shape but it felt unusually difficult to just stay on his wheel for 4 hours or so. The pace wasn’t too high and my effort levels were fine so a lot of it was mental I think and the lack of long rides so far this year. With 50 miles to go I really wanted to just let his wheel go and ease up a bit but just kept telling myself that the efffort wasn’t too bad and ultimately I’d be way better off and faster if I stayed on. I’m pleased with getting through the mental hurdle and sticking with it.

I was also trying a new fueling strategy this ride with Meuten 360 in both bottles for carbs. I think I missed my usual electrolye stategy as I had cramps threatening for the later third of the ride and will probably just keep that fueling strategy for shorter races instead and try to eat more on the ultra rides instead.

There was a welcome manned control at a state park at 67 miles which was my only stop for the day (apart from pausing to fix a quick mechanial issue for Matthew on the road). These manned controls are always appreciated, both for the friendly faces and a chance to refill bottles, down a coke and eat a couple home baked brownies.

Ultimately we finished in 7 hours and 15 minutes (just over 7 hours riding time) and averaged close to 18 mph. That’s a decent pace for a 200k for me these days and my best time in about 3 years so I’m happy enough with my form. Yonnel and Travis finished nearly an hour ahead of us and averaged 21 mph so I made the right call as that would have been a greuling day for me at that pace.

Matthew was great company on the road and we enjoyed a nice burger and beer at the finish before heading back to our respective homes.

For the upcoming 300k I think I’ll throw my aero bars back on my bike and rely on electrolyte mix and real food to stay more hydrated and keep energy levels up during the ride. You’d think I’d have this all worked out by now!

Mentally I just couldn’t get into this race properly. I struggled right off the bat going into the first climb and felt like I barely hung on which shook my confidence a bit. In hindsight I think everyone was suffering as the pace consistently let up as soon as we crested any of the short climbs throughout the race. When I look at the stats for that part of the race neither my heart rate or power were particulary high so it may just have been an issue with taking longer and longer to warm up these days. By the third lap I felt relatively comfortable going up the same climb at a similar pace.

I stayed mid pack or so for the entire race and don’t feel I impacted the race in any way (unlike the previous week). On the last lap I moved up a little but struggled with motivation and confidence to fight for the front. I ended up 9th in the sprint, finishing mid pack but pretty dissapointed with myself for not trying to do more during the race itself. I clearly had more left at the end and could have done better.

My team mates took 4th and 7th just ahead of me and I should have been able to help one of them do better.

Oh well, longer brevet next weekend before back to my next race at Racnsdale. Hopefully I’ll be more mentally fired up to influence it in some way.