(Met a local saying that Lance Armstrong once did a race on this course - could it be the Kmart West Virginia Classic?)
Date and start time: 05/23/2009; 11:00 am
Location: Thomas, WV
Type/distance: Mostly rolling hills with a major climb at the end; 37 miles in total
Weather: 60-70 degF, a lot of shade on the course
Course condition: Mainly one-lane mountain roads. Lots of ruts and gravel. Quite a few corners are covered with gravel, especially on the right side of the road.
Race goal: Stay in the main group of cat 5 (if there is a separate field)
Race strategy: Stay near the front at the neutral part of the race - expect gaps forming at the long decent to the actual start of the race. Once the race starts, ride at my own tempo to save energy for the last climb. Save about 40% energy for the last climb. Ride slightly below threshold at the first 5 miles, and give it all in the next 0.8 miles. Take a break on the slight downhill after this, and ride hard again on the last 2.7 miles of climbing.
Pre-ride meal:
0530 - Pancakes with syrup (420 kcal); 1 glass of soy milk
1100 - 1 cliff bar, 20 oz of water with 4 scoops of Cytomax
Mid-ride meal :
12 Hammer gels (1080 kcal)
44 oz of water with 4 scoops of GU powder each
What I did well:
1. Using only gels for refueling seems to work
What I need to improve:
1. Leave for the race at 6:30 am instead
2. Carry two 24-oz water bottles - one filled with 2 scoops of sports drink and the other with 4 scoops.
3. Ride at slightly below threshold on the first 4.9 miles of climbing.
4. Do two laps of Sycamore St. (9.92 % for 0.5 miles) next Saturday to get used to climbing very steep hills
Aches/pains/problems afterwards:
1. Bottom bracket starts to creak - fixed
Note:
I woke up at 5 am, and picked up my friend at 7 am. We stopped at Morgantown for a short break, and arrived at Thomas, WV at 10:30 am.
Parking is very limited in Thomas, so are amenities. I wondered how they are going to deal with it on the race day? We started the ride at 11 am. On the descend to the actual race start, my friend and I both noticed how poor the road condition is - plenty of ruts and gravels. Also, the shade makes it hard to see clearly if wearing sunglasses.
The actual race start is in a small town called St. George. It starts out with a short steep climb, but transitions to rolling hills. The course took us back to St. George, and we took the same way back up to where we started the ride.
The ride back up is harder than we thought. Upon post-ride analyses, I noticed that it started with a 1.3% gradual climb for 4.9 miles, shoot up to a whooping 10.44% for 0.8 miles, fell down a little for a few yards, and went up again at 7% for 2.7 miles.
My refueling strategy seemed to work - I felt good throughout the ride. But the amount of water I carried - 44 oz - was barely enough. I think I'll need 48 oz instead.
1 comment:
Good job up there yesterday!!! I was the one taking photographs and talked to you after the race. I tried to get everyone but I don't think I did.
Here is a link to the photos I did manage to get:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-clark3/sets
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