本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛What a great day of racing at Hardwood Hills! Never rode my mountain bike so long in a day before. But since it's the only day I get to ride my MTB for the year, why not make it worth the trip. After all 8-hour is relatively short compared to an 11-hour Ironman.
All the preparation was checking out last year's solo result and comparing that to my times in the relay team. And I figured if the course is a 9km one, then I should aim for 14 laps or 34:15 per lap (10% slower than my average lap time from last year). But if it's a 10 km lap as advertised on the official site, then 13 laps or 36:55 per lap would be enough. Those numbers are not just some random numbers, they are aimed for podium!
Nutrition plan was pretty much the same as for my Ironman race. Breakfast was bagel toasted with peanut butter & a moon cake. Then a GU gel for each lap, and GU Roctane gel with caffeine for the final laps. Instead of Hammer Perpeteum as my energy drink like in Ironman (they are expensive), I diluted two bottles of Shopper's Drug Mart's Life Brand Complete Meal (knock-off version of Ensure meal replacement) into two water bottles. I got the Plus Calories version, so each bottle contains 355 cal. And then three bottles of just tap water.
Installed my roof rack two nights before. (I know, other than this MTB trip, I don't even need the roof racks anymore.) And also installed a water bottle cage on my Litespeed. Not sure why it's missing from the frame.
Carried both Litespeed Ocoee and Scott Scale to Hardwood Hill. Was going to use the Scott as my back up bike. (A couple of years ago I snapped the rear derailleur, and Toby had to convert it to a singlespeed for me at the race.) But the Scott got semi-slick tires on, and the fork's air suspension is leaking air, so it's super soft. Oh well, hope I wouldn't need a back-up bike.
Set up my pit spot and told Joyce what I have in my cooler. Joyce was so nice to volunteer as my support crew while she's looking after Sam. I told her I have two types of water bottles, the pink one which contains my special "complete meal", and the red one with just tap water. Also, the blue gels (Roctane) were for late afternoon.
Met my friend Jon before the start. He signed up as a tag team, but his teammate dumped him. So he had to do it as a solo. Hahaha...
Mounted a bottle of "complete meal" on the frame, and stuffed four gels in my back pocket. At exactly 10 am, the air horn blew.
Pressed the start button my my Garmin 310XT watch and off we went. I set the auto lap feature off (usually it's set at 5km lap for my tri trainings 4 races) for this race 'cause I'll have to lap it myself.
I seeded myself in the first half of the 200 mass starters with a few solos around me. I don't think any solo would sees themselves at the very front. For the first lap, they taped off a few single track sections at the beginning, so the first two km or so were wide open gentle uphill for people to scatter out in order to avoid mass crash. I didn't hammer, but I was slacking either. I set myself to a good pace I was hoping I could maintain for a whole day. But of course that is generally not the case, because muscle fatigue will kick in layer no matter how slow you think your first half is.
The first lap was used to familiarize myself with the course. It turned out to be a fairly smooth course. Not too technical and no crazy steep uphills either. The first half of course seem to be tougher than the 2nd half. Only uphill I had to resort to my small chainring (I have two chainrings 2x10) was at around 5.15km, and even for that one I only had to use the small chainring in after 8 laps or so.
My favourite part of the course should be the big pine tree forest where you can get some decent speed while zigzagging around the big tall pine trees. Loved the flow if it!
And of course the last km of the course was enjoyable too where you could shift into the highest gear and hammer as fast as you can to the finish area.
The first lap was exactly 9km without the first couple of single tracks, and I managed to do it under 32 minutes. Not bad. So, let's see how long the 2nd lap is.
2nd lap turned out to be 9.3km, and it took me 8 seconds over 33 minutes to finish it. Not bad, I told myself, if my second half of the day doesn't slow down too much, then average 34 minutes lap could be doable.
The more laps in, the more time I was saving against the expected lap finish time. I had the expected lap finish time printed and made myself a pace wrist band. I learned that trick from running marathons. And it worked out very well for me in my marathon races. So on this special race band I made, there are two sets if times. The 1st set is for 14 laps, and the 2nd set is for 13 laps. After every lap, I banked in one or two extra minutes. And by the time I finished my 7th lap, it was 1:50 pm. So I gained myself 10 extra minutes for the 2nd half to ride the rest 7 laps. Oh, well, at least that's how I planned it.
After four laps, I finished my first bottle of "meal". It was a cool day, so I didn't have to drink a lot. On my way into the finish area, I told Joyce I need a bottle of water. On my way out, Joyce was there waiting for me with a bottle of water. I threw away my empty bottle while I'm approaching her, and grabbed the bottle from her hand without much slowing down at all. Didn't east a single second (which was important as it turned out later).
And after 5 laps, I finished all 4 gels. I forgot to consume one before the start of the race. So, I only had one at the beginning of 2 to 5 laps. Again I told Joyce I needed 4 more gels when I was finishing my 5th lap. And there she was waiting for me with 4 gels in her hand on my way out for my 6th lap. What a great support crew, Joyce! I can't thank you enough!
All the fist 7 laps were done under 34 minutes. I think I saw Rossetti on my 5th lap, and Jon my my 6th lap. And at the beginning of 7th lap on the long wide uphill, I lapped about 10 solo riders all stuck together for some reason.
At that point I was thinking about where my ranking would be and whether I would have a shot at the podium if I can maintain my speed.
But of course things never work out the way you planned it. The muscle fatigue started to kick in and I could feel my speed was gone. From time to time I would check my Garmin watch, my lap speed is showing less than 15km/h for the first half the lap now. I was averaging 17km/h in a couple of the fast laps. Oh well, what can you do? Just hope I can rest a bit while I was taking it easy and recoup later to speed up again. Oh, well, that didn't happen for the next couple of laps. I was getting slower and slower.
A solo guy passed me and I started to follow him and talking to him. I asked him him how many laps he's done, he told me a number which was the same as mine. Then I asked how old he was and hoping he would tell me he's 40 something so I didn't need to chase him down. He's kind of bold under his helmet looking from behind. But he told me he's 32! I said crap! You are in my age group! I don't like you anymore man! LOL
He slowly pulled away, and I didn't have much energy to really chase him at that time. But somehow he slowed down later and I got him back.
At the end of my 9th lap, I told Joyce I need a bottle of water. Then I got my water on my way out for the 10th lap, great! But then I reached my hand into my back pocket, shit, no more gels there! I forgot to check my gel stock. And that means I would have to do a lap without the extra fuel. It turned out the 10th lap was my slowest lap, 39:05! I would have been a minute or two faster than that judging from my other lap results.
Also I told Joyce to check my ranking if possible. (I didn't know there's a screen with live solo results right next to the finish line.) Also, at the beginning of the 10th lap, I passed a solo guy who donned a Trek Store jersey, and he looked kind of fresh and fast. We kind of rode together and chatted. Yes, all I wanted to know was whether he's my direct competitor or not. MIT turned out he was one. He's 36 and rode the same number of laps so far. Okay, you are marked. But without my gel, I didn't have the energy to even draft behind him.
At the end of 10th lap, Joyce told me I was 2nd. And I went like? What? 2nd? Holy shit! I could podium if I push it hard and don't let anyone pass me anymore. I assumed the Trek guy was now in 2nd position and I was 3rd. That news gave be a big shot of energy. And I started pedalling hard again imagining myself standing on that podium. LOL
In the beginning of 12th lap, I managed to catch up and pass the Trek guy. He's taking a pee break! I told him you should have done that. Hahaha...
But there were a bunch of other solo guys who passed me as well which I didn't get a chance to talk to. So, I wasn't sure about my position now 'cause I didn't know if they were 40 and above or under.
In the middle of the 12th lap, the blue jersey bold guy caught up with me again. He said hey it's you again. We chatted and exchanged our names. His name was Fig. Then he slowly passed me. I was rally tired by that moment, so I wasn't really planning to attack back until he told me he checked the result and he was 4th. I was like you were 4th? So I was 3rd? No, I'm not gonna let you pass me. I want the podium too. And I told him that loud and clear as well. Hahaha...
Then came the biggest uphill in this course, I somehow managed to gather some extra energy and sped up the hill and dropped him behind. I kept hammering so hard and looking back from time to time to check if he's coming back. The distance between us kept increasing from 100 meters to a few hundred meters until I couldn't really see him anymore.
I was so thrilled that I was gonna podium in my first ever solo 8 hour race. I didn't even ask Joyce for another bottle exchange for the final lap 'cause I didn't want to waste any precious second.
I kept hammering like a mad man in the final lap, and still looking back from time to time just to make sure that Fig didn't get a chance to ambush me. He's nowhere to be seen in the first 3/4 of the race until the final 3km to go that I heard his voice again. Fig, you are back? No way! I'm not gonna let you catch me. I shifted into another high gear and sped up again. I was now more focused on the turns and little trees. Any mistake at this moment could potentially cost me a podium finish. I was very smooth and fast though and crossed the finish line with Fig chasing like a madman from behind.
I finished in 7:31:05 with 13 laps done. While I was there still panting, Fig rode across the finish line in 7:31:17! WOW! I beat him by only 12 seconds! We shakes hands and hugged! What a great race!
We then walked down the little slope and went to check the solo results. Fig told me, "Tony, you are 2nd!" "What? So you are 3rd?" Wow! We are both going to podium in the end after all that mad chase. Both of is were so thrilled!
I went back to Sam & Joyce's tent and told them I got 2nd. I couldn't have done this without help from Joyce 'cause I know she saved me more than 12 seconds or 1 second per lap. Joyce also gave me an egg sandwich. Yes, I was hungry by now.
I then rode over to the main parking lot looking for the rest of CMBA. I needed to share this good news to them and get my new 2013 CMBA jersey from Peter to wear for the podium.
I quickly put on my new jersey and walked back to the award ceremony. Arrived just in time to stand I the podium for the SOLO 39 & under category. Shakes hands with Fig who got 3rd and the winner who rode 14 laps! I was so proud to stand on the podium, really! And I can see my CMBA friends were also very proud of me as well.
Went back to the main site with my silver medal. Had a leftover double-burger! Yes, I was still hungry. The 11 gels didn't taste as good as the sandwich and burger. That's for sure!
Oh, what a day of mountain biking! The only day of mountain biking for 2013! 7 hours and 31 minutes, 120 kilometres! And a 2nd place podium finish! Can't ask for anything better than that!
Although I now mainly focus on triathlon training and racing, at heart I'm still a mountain biker! Mountain biking is still the most enjoyable sport I do. I just love the moments you zigzagging through the woods, riding over the fallen golden leaves on the trails, passing through the sun beams casting in through the tree branches. Just love the feeling of being so close together with the mother nature.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
