Racing? We Really Get to Go Racing?

Let the race season commence

After the longest year in the history of ever, with virtually no racing to be found, I finally managed to get myself on a starting line. With other people, not just the imaginary ones I usually ride with. Real people! On real bikes!

The Dirty 30 Gravel Race. 

Well, the 50 mile Dirty 30 Gravel Race.

Let’s step back a bit because I must admit I was not really all that stoked leading up to race day. I signed up for the race a few months ago expecting a pretty normal race day. I pre-rode the course with some friends on a beautiful Sunday at the beginning of March. The g-roads were in great shape and the course was, well, turn-y, but fun. A few days later I received an email letting me know start waves had been assigned. Start waves? I don’t remember anything about waves, but I may not have been paying attention in my excitement to sign up for a race. Anyway, I was in wave #2. That’s it, my race is done. I have no chance of placing very well. 20 some strong riders were heading out in a group two minutes ahead of me. Sure, there were 20ish guys in my wave, but I didn’t recognize any of the names.

About a week later another email came out and some adjustments had been made to the waves. A few people were moved from waves 2, 4 and 5 in to wave one, a few people others had been moved into wave two and I was still in wave two, which made me even more frustrated about the whole thing. At least I now had some company; fellow Team SPIN racer and regular ride companion Trevor Gibney had been moved to wave two. I was glad Trevor was going to be riding with me, but even more bummed by the shifting that put more strong riders together in wave one. I just thought, how on earth can we get our wave to ride as fast as wave one will be? Blah….

And the blahs stuck around for far too long. It wasn’t until the day before the race when I was doing the final check over of my bike that I started to feel a hint of excitement. I was still not optimistic about my potential result, but at least I was ready to have a fun day. The forecast looked good, if cold, the roads were still in great shape and I was going to be able to race with a friend. And I was racing!

Race day. Oh my cold outside. When I left my house, the temp was hovering somewhere around 30. It’s okay, I packed all the layers. I know it was not that cold, but I really don’t like being cold and I’m just being a bit melodramatic. I got over it pretty quickly as a little more race day excitement grew.

Waiting for the start

After a brief warmup, Trevor and I headed to the start line. We watched wave one head out then lined up in the start chute and awaited the count down.

3…

2…

1…

And wave two took off like it had something to prove.

Wave one is ready to go

The race started on a nice climb heading out of town where Trevor and I sat on the front and set the pace. We also just happened to be set up perfectly for Rob Meendering to grab a couple great photos. I thought once we got a few miles into the race the group would split up a bit and we would settle into a solid pace, but I was wrong on both counts. The group stayed very much together, and the pace stayed very high. 6-8 of us stayed on the front of the group and each took our turns pulling and keeping the pressure on. No one really attacked in an attempt to break off the front, although one guy liked to speed things up 3-4 mph for a minute or two at a time then drop back into the group. I think he was trying to split the group, but nothing ever came of it.

About 10-12 miles in and we started catching a few guys who had dropped off the back of wave one. At first I though it was just a fluke; someone had a flat or other mechanical, but as we rode on we kept catching people. 15 miles in and some spectators told us we were only about a minute behind the wave one group. A spark of hope was ignited. If we can keep this group working together and wave one keeps attacking itself, we have a chance of a solid place.

Somewhere around mile 15-16 the course starts to turn every mile or two. There is no real chance to get into any sort of rhythm or groove. Our group of what seemed more than 20 now (we continued to pick up riders from wave one) would approach a turn, slow way down, sprint out of the turn and just start to settle in before reaching the next intersection and doing it again. And again. And again.

Overall the pace stayed very high and somehow the group stayed together. Riders even continued to rotate through the front and take their turns pulling. It was a true hammerfest and such a great experience. There were some unexpected and unwelcomed surges here and there and the group would spread out while climbing, but it always seemed to pull back together.

Mile 38, our course met back up with that of the 30-mile race and we started passing some traffic. That traffic even included Sheldon (and his ferret, yes a live ferret in a special pet backpack) who was racing on his old school 26” mtb turned singlespeed gravel steed.

At mile 42 we came to a pretty substantial climb and I could see the toll the day had taken on a number of guys as we climbed, but at the top of the climb the group closed back up and continued riding together.

The end of the course had a very fast downhill section, just under a mile of flat paved road, then Ivan the Terrible, before a three mile flat blast to the finish line. Ivan is a ¾ mile climb with three false tops and max gradient of a little over 11%. It might not sound terrible, but 46 miles into the race we’d been having, it was a beast. 

Just before the descent I knew I’d better get some more fuel in me, so I grabbed my bottle, gave it a little shake and took a sip. I brought my hand down for a second to take a breath, hit a bump and my bottle slipped right out of my hand. I just looked at my hand still in the shape as if it were holding a bottle. For the briefest moment I thought I had to stop and grab it, but that would have destroyed my chance at the solid finished I’d spent all morning chasing. I just kept rolling.

After a 43+ mph blast down the descent we turned onto the pavement and everything slowed down. I could tell everyone wanted a little breather before the last, and biggest, climb of the day. Just before turning off the pavement there was some jockeying for position, but I kept myself near the front ready for the attack.

I was not disappointed. 

We climbed hard and things started to thin out a bit. Our lead group was down to 6-8 guys, but we were catching up to some groups of 30-mile riders. About three quarters of the way up the climb, I was on the right hand side of the road with one guy directly to my left and a couple guys in front of us, we closed in on a group of 3 or 4 30-milers but didn’t move over to go around them. At the last moment the guy right in front of me was able to move to the left and get around them but I was stuck, boxed in by the traffic in front of me, a rider on my left and the edge of the road on my right. The guy on my left faltered for just a moment, I’m not sure if it was the sudden move in front of us or the hill, but that was enough to slow him to the pace of the people we were trying to pass and Trevor and the other guys were able to open up a gap. It seemed like it took an eternity, although I’m sure it was no more than 10 seconds, and I was able to make my way left and get around the slower traffic, but the damage was done. The gap was created. There was a group ahead and I was by myself now. They crested the climb and were just gone. I gave chase but just didn’t have the legs to close the gap alone.

I was not about to give up though. With three miles left I was going to fight for every second I could, TT style. Luckily for me I did catch another group of riders (from wave one I believe) with about a mile and a half to go. I sat on the back of the group for a bit as we rolled into town on a paved road. At the final turn, about 200 yards before the finish line, the group slowed but I was able to move to an inside line, keep my speed up and sprint past them to the line.

Final result: I finished 5^th in my age group and 12^th overall in a time of 2:17:12 with an average speed of 21.9 mph. To top it off, I was the third person to finish from wave two, which means only 9 of the 26 riders from wave one beat me. It turns out wave two was the place to be. We stayed as a group (until the last 3 miles anyway), took our turns pulling and didn’t try to rip each other’s legs off at every chance. That’s not to say the group didn’t drop the hammer and make it hurt, but overall it worked to the group's benefit.

Big props to Trevor who made the group over Ivan and finished 8th overall, 3 AG and was the first person from wave two to cross the line. 

The important question, how does one fuel for over 2 hours of racing right at redline? It’s easier than you might think. The key is finding something that works for your stomach and is easily digestible. For me that is Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem. I was able to mix one bottle with about 500 calories in it. For a race of this intensity I try to take in about 200 calories an hour, so all I had to do was drink that one bottle during the race. Other upsides: I did not have to worry about trying to get stuff out of my pockets or trying to put wrappers back in them and I never had a mouth full of food when the pace suddenly picked up. It’s as simple as: I have a moment so I take a sip. I can also look at my bottle and see how my intake is going. One hour in, have I had almost half my bottle? No, take a bigger sip; yes, I’m all set. I also had a second bottle with Hammer Fizz. You might not be too worried about sweating when the temp is in the 30’s but electrolytes are just as important when it’s cold as when it’s hot. Based on the 50 mile course, I planned to be racing upwards of 2.5 hours, so I put two Fizz tabs in one 750ml bottle. Hydration and electrolytes set.

That’s it for the entire time on course. Two bottles and all my fueling needs were met. Pre-race I did have some Fully Charged along with BCAA+ and Anti-Fatigue Caps to make sure I was primed and ready to go. I also carried a flask of gel, just in case, but I never had to break into it.

I spent about two weeks not really wanting to bother with the race and I ended up having an amazing time and finishing rather well, even with my positioning error. And let’s be honest, had I been in the right place I may have finished one or two places better overall and maybe 30-40 seconds faster. It comes down to a race is what I make of it. I’ve put in my time logging trainer miles, building a base and making sure my fueling plan is spot on; on race day it all came together and paid off with a great performance and way more fun than it should have been or I expected it to be.

Strava Link

Up next I have the Lowell Rouge 100, a 100-mile gravel adventure. 

A pair of Basswoods in the wild