Again I'm a bit delinquent for writing any sort of recap of the race I did, this time though I'm less than a week behind. It's been busy this week with a work trip to Chicago for some training.
The birkie was awesome. I knew from the day I got my fatbike, or even before I'd gotten my fatbike that I was 100% for sure doing this race, no matter what it took. I've skiied the birkie a couple times and I wanted to get back on the trail. For the people reading this, the race is similar but not 100% the same. The long race (47k) races out to OO on the Birkie trail then turns around and heads back to Telemark on the Birkie Classic Trail. The first thing you figure out is how relentless the hills are, it was very fun and very tough.
I have been training pretty hard with my power class but not been able to do a ton of other riding overall, so I knew I could push hard but was not expecting anything great. I was hoping for <3hrs but thought if I had a "good" race I could do 2:45 or less based on how other things have gone.
I lined up and started further up in the start grid than I would've in the past, I was towards the back of the "going for it" grid which was supposed to be 2:15-2:45. Figured I'd want to be up there to avoid getting stuck behind people aiming for slower times. I think where I lined up ended up being pretty good though I did not finish in <2:45.
The race was a blur of down one hill then up the next. Shift up 5 gears to get momentum down then try to hammer up the next hill, all while trying to not blow up. I so far this year have decided that while I'll use HR for training I am not going to pay attention to it while racing and just go on "feel". I don't want to artificially slow down because of a HR number flashing at me on the gps. I do still wear it because I like seeing what zones I was able to maintain and for how long.
I started out feeling pretty good, was doing gels and water here and there. I was not feeling incredibly strong though. About halfway through the race I ended up pacing fairly well with Ross from my team, that was fun to ride with him as I don't think we've ever ridden together before.
Race went fine, just pushing, eating gel, drinking water, but I ended up cramping pretty badly. Looking back I don't think I was getting enough hydration during the race. Going up steep prolonged hills was getting very painful and when I finally got off to walk up one about 5mi from the finish my left leg locked up. I got back on the bike at the top but the next couple miles were really bad until the cramps went away. From there I just tried to stay on the bike at high cadence, the cramps went away but I was not able to push any harder as the cramps returned then.
Course wise I think next year I could easily run a 4" tire for less rotating weight, it was nice and firm and even with warm conditions it was not bad. I just got in the rut and rode out as much as I could there as the track was nicely packed down and faster than if you were out of the rut.
Finish wise, I got in at 2:55, less than my goal but not as good as I'd really hoped I could do. I know there is some good room to improve for next year. It was fun to see/hang with the Broken Spoke guys before/after a bit but I headed home just about immediately so I could make it in time to see the kids before bed (I did make it).
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