When I first got here it was actually a bit chilly. I knew it wouldn't last. The terrain at Afton makes for a scorcher of a race. The climbs (and that would be most of the course) come up out of the river valley, so there is almost never a breeze. The oxymoronic Shady Lane and quite aptly-named Manhandler are the longest, steepest ascents, and you are left totally exposed to the sun the entire way up.Decided to ditch the Camelback and go with bottles. Also decided to mix gels directly into sports drink instead of throwing a few in my jersey. Turned out to be a mistake. First lap I felt okay. Got a decent start even though I was stuck back about 3 rows on the line. Passed my way into top ten by the time we got to Bridge Loop. Picked off a few more on Shady, held my own on the Southern Switchbacks and made a few moves on Manhandler. Not too bad. But, I noticed when I rolled through the start/finish that my bottle was only about half-empty, meaning I was not drinking enough or getting enough gel.
Felt ok up Bridge Loop but my next foray up Shady left me low on power. Manhandler treated me like the new guy on the cell block, and I was starting to wonder if I could actually do another lap. Had to small ring Shady and the Switchbacks on last lap, spinning out the leg cramps. Same with Manhandler, although I started to recover a bit towards the top, and passed a few on the final part of the climb past the lift tower. Gunned it the rest of the lap, but too late to make up much ground. 4th in my age group. Just glad to finish that one. I was really digging deep for a while there. Think I'm sitting top five, which is fine at this point. Long way to go, and honestly, I don't care as much about the overall this year. Just wanna have some fun and try to have a life off the bike too.
Photo from skinnyski.com
1 comment:
Sounds like we had very similar experiences out there. I'm going back to what worked last year. Maybe just more gels for the longer race time. Good luck this weekend if you're heading up.
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