Past Training/Race Reports

August 16 2006

Great Glen 24 Hour Mt Bike Race

In preparation for the Adirondack 540 (RAMM qualifier) I decided to race in the Great Glen 24 Hour Mt Bike Race as a solo racer. For those of you not familiar with this race format, the idea is to complete as many laps of the race course as you can in a 24 hour period. The rider with the most laps wins.

I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to practice sleep deprivation, suffering, and falling off my bike. As it turns out, it was also a great chance to test my nutrition, endurance, lighting systems, mental preparation, short selection, so on and so on..., under race conditions.

Here are the stats/results:

Place: 2nd place (solo age 19-39)
Laps completed: 20
Miles: 170 aprox
Feet of climbing: 15,600
Sore buns: 2

(Not too bad for a roadie) I chased the eventual winner all night, keeping a steady pace, hoping that he would fall apart and I could get past him. Most of the night I was within about 20-25 minutes of him and at one point within a couple of minutes. His crew told him I was closing in; he picked up his pace and pulled away from me again. As a relatively inexperienced mountain biker, all I could do was keep riding my tempo and I started focusing on solidifying my 2nd place.

As fate would have it, Leo (1st place) and I were camped right next to each other. We shared a few beers the night before the race, breakfast the morning of, and our crews worked together to get us both to through the 24 hour grind.

Speaking of crew, I have to say a big thanks to Terry Roach, my crew for the race. He kept me fed, informed and motivated. These races are won and lost in the pits and Terry was a big reason for my success.

This will be my last big ride before the Adirondack 540. I will ride a century or two (maybe one 200 miler), but the next month I will focus on speed work and recovery, so that I will show up on the start line as strong and rested as I can.

Link to 24 Hr of Great Glen

http://24hoursofgreatglen.com/

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July 30, 2006

Ride Report - Double / Double

This weekend I did two back-to-back double centuries. Once again, I headed out from my house and rode up to the White Mountains to do the traditional route, (Kinsman’s Notch, Bethel/Sugar Hill, Crawford Notch, Bear Notch, the Kanc, finally over Gonzo’s pass and home.) Day one went fairly smoothly, with the exception of the bee that stung my calf, on the way up the Kanc, and the pouring rain that started just as I began to ascend Gonzo’s pass. It did cool me off, but the river that flowed down the mountain slowed my climb and decent.

Day two was a repeat of day one. I decided to that the same exact course, so that I could plot my decline from one day to the next. It’s one thing to feel bad; it’s another to be able to quantify it.

I actually felt pretty good on the second day, and was keeping up with the pace I had set the day before. Unfortunately, on Bear Notch, I broke a spoke on my rear wheel, and the wheel started to flap behind me like a flag in the wind. I backed off the cable as far as I could and opened the brakes all the way, but it still rubbed a little when I sat down and the wheel would compress. I continued on with my wobbly wheel, over the Kank and Gonzo’s pass, determined not to let another double/double fall short because of equipment failure. Here are the stats from the two days: (Note the big heart rate drop)

Day 1:
Distance: 217 miles
Average speed: 17.1 mph
Climbing: 12985 feet
Avg Heart Rate: 145
Time in the saddle: 12 hr 41min
Time door to door: aprox 13 hrs 30min

Day 2:
Distance: 217 miles
Average speed: 16.7mph
Climbing: 12710 feet (where did the other 200 feet go?)
Avg Heart Rate: 129
Time in the saddle: 13 hr 12min
Time door to door: aprox 14 hrs


You will notice that my heart rate got pretty high day 1 on the first big climb (Kinsman’s). As I started to climb, I looked up and there was a group of cyclist spread out on the hill. I picked them off one by one as I climbed over the notch. Some dogs just can’t help it, they have to chase cars.

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July 14, 2006

I headed out early Friday morning (3:30am) with the intention of riding 400 miles. The plan was to ride north to Lincoln, go backwards around the traditional White Mt. century route (Kinsman’s Notch, Bethel/Sugar Hill, Crawford Notch, Bear Notch, the Kanc,) then ride the 100 mile, five notch loop again, climb over Gonzo’s pass, and then head home. That would give me the first 300+ miles. I would then do a couple of loops closer to home to complete the 400.

My ride was almost cut very short. At around 5am I hit a curb in New Hampton, sending me flying off the bike, into a heap on the side of the road. I had put a wobble in my (brand new) front wheel and bent the large chain ring. I was able to straiten the handlebars, open the front brakes and continue on.

I then rode up to Franconia to meet Dave Wentworth, who was spending the week camping with his family. I used Dave’s pliers to straiten out my chain ring and then Dave joined me for one of my loops through the notches.

Heat and wind were the stories of the day. After climbing out of Franconia, we descended into Bethlehem, where we met up with a strong tail wind that pushed us all the way to Bartlett at an average speed of 22 mph. After a quick stop for water and a Coke, we turned and climbed up Bear Notch. This is when we really noticed just how hot it was, and the only shade on the road was on the opposite side of the street.

At the end of Bear Notch, and 130 miles into the ride, we turned west, and now the wind that has pushed us along, was doing it’s best to keep us from getting up the Kanc. Unfortunately, it gave us little relief from the midday sun that was baking our brains.

We continued up the Kanc, then over Kinsman’s and back to Dave’s campsite. I then headed out by myself to do it all over again. Thankfully, the wind and the sun died down making the second loop through the notches easier, even with an additional 100 miles in my legs. I climbed over Gonzo’s pass and headed home, rolling in about 11pm (my speed on the bike was great but I spent too much time off the bike.)

At this point I decided not to head back out. I wanted to do 400 miles to prove to myself I could. I had had a great ride all day, kept my heart rate under control, and stayed on top of my nutrition. I had no doubt that I could do another 85 miles. Knowing that I could do it, made it seem less important to actually do it. I think the training benefits of doing 400 vs. 313 would be marginal at best, so I decided to go to bed instead (and to tell you the truth, I was a little concerned about getting run over by some drunk at 1 in the morning.)

Overall a good and successful ride on a challenging course. Here are the stats:

Distance: 312.6 miles
Average speed: 17.5 mph
Climbing: 18435 feet
Time in the saddle: 17 hr 51min
Time door to door: aprox 19.5 hrs


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July 1, 2006

Ride report – the double-double century (that wasn’t)

As I have been preparing for RAAM 2007, I have shared with you my progress as I have completed longer and longer rides. I guess it’s only fair that I share with you my failures.

This weekend, I planned on doing two back to back double centuries. The plan was 200 miles in the Green Mountains of VT and 200 miles in the White Mountains of NH.

Day 1:

Friday stared out great; I hit the road at 5:30 am, averaged 19 mph for the fist 40 miles up to West Lebanon, where I met up with Tim Young and Terry Roach (aka Chief). We then rode to Vermont, over Rochester Gap, Middlebury Gap, Brandon Gap, back over Rochester Gap, and then back to West Lebanon where I parted company with Tim and Terry.

This is the moment, when my double-double century started to fall apart. At the 175 mile mark, riding through Lebanon I took a wrong turn out of the traffic circle. I rode about five miles before realizing I was on the wrong road. Instead of doing the smart thing, backtracking to the traffic circle and taking the correct road, I continued on, thinking I knew where I was going. I would cut over in Grantham and only add five miles or so to my trip. Unfortunately, I was very wrong; the road I was on went to Claremont and nowhere else. By the time I knew where I was, I was 25 miles off course and my options were few. All I could do was race the darkness home. (I had left my light in Terry’s car saying “I won’t need it unless something goes terribly wrong) and it did. I peddled into my driveway just before 9 pm, happy to be home but with only an hour to eat, shower, and prepare my kit for the next day. I fell into bed at 10.

Day 2:

Up at 5 am, on the road at 6. I peddled north towards Lincoln, where I would meet up with Tim, Terry, Al and Phil. I didn’t feel too bad, considering I had done 233 miles the day before. Although, the steep rolling hills on route 175 did challenge my not-yet-recovered legs. Right on time, at 9:30 I rolled into Lincoln. This was the last thing to go as planned on day two.

As we left the visitor’s center in Lincoln and headed towards the Kanc, Al says to me, “Brett, it looks like you broke a spoke, your rear wheel is out.” I acknowledged Al, but kept riding, figuring a broken spoke wasn’t that big a deal.

We started climbing the Kanc and I struggled to keep up with the other four. I knew I was tired from the day before but my ego was crushed as I watched them all ride away from me. As I labored up the first half of the Kanc, I looked down at my rear wheel and saw that it was not a little out of true, it was a lot out of true. I reached down and opened up the rear brake. Miraculously the peddling got a lot easier. I caught back up to Tim and Al and rode to the top of the gap.

We proceeded down the other side and at the turn for Bear Notch decided to stop and get a better look at my rear wheel. This is when we (Tim) discovered that I didn’t have a broken spoke, but the spoke had pulled through the rim. He straitened the wheel as best he could, and although the Sherpas were saying turn back, we continued over Bear Notch.

I got my first pinch flat from the damaged rim, on the back side of Bear Notch, the second one at the base of Crawford Notch. With a packing peanut found at the side of the road, a piece of cannibalized rim tape and a dollar bill, Tim patched up my wheel (the repair held together for the rest of the ride, great job Tim!) Battling a stiff headwind, we rode onto Twin Mt for lunch, where I told the guys I was packing it in and heading down Franconia Notch. Tim and Terry came with me, and excepting defeat, Tim gave me a ride home from Lincoln. Thanks Tim, if you hadn’t been there I would probably still be wandering around the White Mts.

Here are the stats for two days:

Day 1:
233.1 miles
Avg speed: 17.3
Ft climbing: 13505
Time in the saddle: 13 hours 32 min

Day 2:
134.8 Miles (75 miles short of my goal)
Avg speed: 16.2
Ft climbing: 7785
Time in the saddle: 8 hours 21 min

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June 16, 2006

Rider Report 300 miles

Here are the stats:

Miles: 300.3
Avg speed: 17.8 mph
Feet of climbing: 13370
States included: 3 (VT, NH, ME)
Time in the saddle: 16 hrs 54 min
Time door to door: approx 18 hrs

I planned on doing a 270 mile ride, but I got a little lost in Maine. I was within spiting distance of 300, so I decided to extend the ride to 300. I have added arrow bars and they really let me crank up the speed.

I have also added the Hammer Endurance drink to my mix (Thanks to those who recommend that I check out the Hammer nutrition products.) I think I have the nutrition thing dialed in.

I felt good all day. (Except, when I had some girl pull out of the Dunken Donuts in W Leb and then stop right in front of me. I missed her by inches. It scared the crap out of me.)

In Conway, I had some guy catch up to me at a red light. He said “looks like you're out for a long one.” I said “Yeah, I at 220 now and have a have about 80 to go.” He replied “MILES!!!!!!” Felt good to blow his mind a little.

I am planning of doing a double/double century (two double centuries back to back) at the end of the month (Fri 30th, and Sat 1). If anyone is interested in meeting me on the road and doing part of one of these rides (you could do a century) let me know. I would love to have so company. This won’t be as casual as the century we usually do at the end to the year. I will have a lot of ground to cover and will need to keep the stops brief/infrequent.

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