Wilderness 101 2012

Strava GPS Data

Gearing up for these 100mile races I try to eat a huge breakfast the morning before.  I take the advice of Gerry Pflug's Endurance Race Preparation blog post.  Gerry has done about a million of these races and seems to win most of them so I figured he knows what he is talking about.  He is right.  Eating a huge breakfast 2hrs before the race is the only way to survive!  If you do it you will have a huge base of extra calories to dip into throughout the day.  I had 2 huge bowls of Bob's Red Mill oatmeal, 1 Probar, and 1/4 of a Jewish Apple cake.. whew... and I felt great!

I loveeeee oatmeal!  Bob's Red Mill is the only way to go!  They are huge cycling supporters and their oatmeal is better.

I ate about 6 of these in my race.  You have no idea how good they are.

During the race I ate Probars, GUs, and lots and lots of CeraLyte/CeraSport.  CeraLyte has a ridiculous amount of electrolytes and it goes down smooth... never upsets my stomach and eliminates any chance of cramping.

CeraLyte and CeraSport

The race started very slow for the first 20miles.  The lead group was about 50riders deep.  It was not until after the 1st aid station that things started to get a little faster.  There was a steep climb out of that aid station and the leaders set a decent pace with Justin Lindine (my cyclocross hero) leading the charge up the hill.  I was so happy to be racing right next to him (well at least until the first major downhill when the leaders got away).

After that first hill, it was myself and Gerry Pflug who were leading the Single Speeders.  I didn't see any of the other guys but I figured they were not far behind.  I just kinda followed Gerry's lead and I tried to never go above threshold pace since I knew it would be a very long day and I didn't want to burn any matches until the very end, and only if I had to.

On the 2nd hill I was able to get a small gap on Gerry but he closed it back down on the following flat/downhill.  It was not until after aid station 2 and the 3rd hill (bigger than the first 2) that I was able to get away and stay away from him.  After the race he told me that he flatted 2x soon after that hill... that sealed the deal.

I rode by myself for much of the day.  I had a few riders who I worked with but mostly I was by myself.  This made it really hard on the flat sections, having a geared rider to draft on on the flats is a HUGEEE help but I did the best I could and spun my single speed as fast as I could when the road was flat.

The last hill was the most fun one of the day!  I let it all out and went above threshold for the first time.  I had 2 geared riders breathing down my neck and I figured I could beat them on the hill for sure and that if the finish line was close enough after the hill that I could win.  I did get a sizeable gap on Garth Prosser and Simonson on that hill but afterwards there was about 5miles of flat and they caught and passed me with about 400meters left in the race.  I lost my top 10 overall placement at that point but still 11th was good enough and beating the other Single Speeders was just great!

2nd Gerry Pflug, 3rd Matt Ferrari, 4th JPock, 5th Hal

Newly Converted Superfly Single Speed!

Kevin Luckeroth, mechanic superstar, converted my Superfly into a Single Speed using the Eno Hub.  So excited to race Wilderness 101 on this bike!

I took it for a test ride on the roads this morning (trails are too wet to ride).  It rides perfectly!  So far so good!  Hopefully the trails will dry out a bit so I can really test it this week.

Check it out:

Race Report: 2XRip Olympic Duathlon!

Race Results

The 2nd annual 2XRip Olympic Duathalon was a total blast!  Dan and Suzy Serpico have started something incredible with this race!  It is TOP KNOTCH 100%!  This race has helped our charity in so many ways.  We really appreciate all the super hard work that they put into it.  

Adam Driscoll (1st), Lance Byrd (5th), Dan Miranda (11th), me (4th)

I try to run about 1x every 2 weeks or so and when I do it is on a 'recovery day' and I run very slowly.  I had no aspirations on doing well at this race but I knew I would go as hard as I could and just have a good time!  I was so happy to finish 4th in the Elite division with a time of 1hr 46minutes.  If only I could have ran 30 seconds faster I could have snook 3rd place :)  Maybe next time.

After the 1st run I was in about 8th place or so (not a runner).  But luckily one of my best friends/team mates/training partners Lance Byrd was right in front of me.  We left the 1st transition together!  There is a no drafting rule in duathlons but you can be 3 bike lengths behind the closest bike.  I was able to work with him and get an advantage by drafting even being 3 bike lengths back you still get a slight draft.  It was super fun racing with Lance.  We quickly moved up into 3rd/4th positions.  There was no hope of catching Adam or the guy in 2nd but if we beat everyone on the bike leg by enough time then maybe they would not catch us on the last 4mile run!!

Lance and I left the last transition together to start the run.  At the 1 mile mark we saw that we were being walked down by the eventual 3rd place finisher... he was just a really fast runner...  At mile 2 I was able to get a gap on Lance.  At mile 3 I was caught by the 3rd place finisher but at the turn around I saw that no one else was gaining any time on me, actually I was solidifying my 4th place!  I dug deep to try to get 3rd and he didn't get further away from me, but I could not close down the gap.  

I was so happy to get 4th!  It was fun and a great workout for cross and mountain bike.  Can't wait until next year!  (note: I do not plan on increasing my running training at all...)

Post Ride Food Intake!!

Grilled chicken, spinach, local cucumbers, local tomatoes, and mustard / mayo (on both sides) all on toasted wheat bread

Eccentric ENO Hub!!!?

For my first few mountain bike seasons I rode exclusively on a single speed mountain bike.  It was great!  Low maintenance and low cost.  This year I upgraded to a geared bike and although it is a little faster the cost and hassle that comes with it is just not worth it.  I just crash too much and break too many things to have a nice geared mountain bike.

Eccentric ENO

I LOVE my Superfly frame so I am going to go with an Eno Hub to convert it to a SS!!  Kevin Luckeroth, bike mechanic extraordinaire, agreed to help me with this new setup.  If I race Wilderness 101 it will be on a SS... If I am lucky I might even have it up and running by this weekend!

2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler

Raced the 2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler today.  Whew I could not get into the race mentally.  I was just out of it.  I finished but I was way near the back.  I loved the course, super fun!  Unfortunately it was not 'my course'.  I could not get a good speed going with all of the twists and turns, fun but not fast for me.

Photo courtesy of  Jack Anderson

AFC member, Brian Sawickey, scored a 1st place in the Men's Cat 3 race!!  Nice work Brian!!  Time to upgrade!!

Tandem Ride With Lauren!!

Lauren and I rode the tandem today and Lance and Annie were on their tandem too!  We biked alongside Adam and Dan Miranda as they raced the Arbutus 10k, placing 5th and 6th respectively... AWESOME!

Dan, me, Lauren, Adam, Lance, Annie

me, Lauren, Annie, Lance

The Morning Ride

TheMorningRide (TMR) is an awesome group of cyclists who bike mountain and/or road pretty much every single day of the week.  The have a great email list and a great outlook on life!  The also keep an honest pace.

(TMR starts at 6am SHARP from Child Time in Ellicott City)

I joined up with them this morning and put in some hard hill efforts in the process.  Good times!

Check them out and join them for a ride:

http://www.themorningride.com/

http://app.strava.com/clubs/themorningride

https://groups.google.com/group/themorningride/about

2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler

I am hoping to race the 2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler that is part of the Mid Atlantic Super Series this coming weekend!  The race is super close to my house.  I hope they allow water bottle handups because mannnn it is going to be hot on Saturday.

Raced a 5k! What!?

At the last minute I decided to race the Ellicott City 5k, hosted by Rip It Events.  I didn't have any bike races this weekend and the EC5k donates so much to Adventures For the Cure that I figured I might as well go out and do it!  I have run about 3x in the past 5 weeks or so... not too bad.  I did a 1hr 20mile threshold ride the morning before the race and a 50mile road ride the day before, I am not about to let up too much on my bike training just to rest for a 5k!

Adam and Dan Miranda had a super close battle for 1st place!  Dan was able to edge Adam out buy mear seconds at the line to take the win.  they ran in just under 17minutes (16:50 or so).  For that superrrr hilly course that is pretty fast!  Both of those guys are saving some juice for the Arbutus 10k this Wednesday.

Matt Cooper, myself, and Adam

I finished in 4th place with a time of about 18:30... I kept a strong/consistent pace the entire race.  It was actually kind of fun to run "fast" again.