24 Hours of Summer Soltice

Food
From Wed through to Friday I carbo loaded. Body felt better than times before. I think my body may be getting used to it.

In terms of preparing for the race, my time was really crammed the week leading up. With work and family commitments I wasn’t able to pre-ride and we didn’t go and set up until Sat. morning. I think this was a big mistake, not pre-riding makes a huge difference (bad) – and setting up on Sat. just meant everything was rushed. We all just showed up – there was no team planning etc.

Note: for big events always try to take the Friday off (or the afternoon) and set things up, and preride with the team. Discuss tactics, ride the tricky sections more than once, etc.

In terms of my mindset, I wasn’t as focused on this race as the previous Ocups. I think because my goals this year were about Ocups and I was looking at this race as more of an “experience”. As such the week prior (not the week leading up) I put in a 15hr training week with a 6 hour ride on Sat. This burned my out completely, I had to take the Monday off of work and only rode once more before the 24hr weekend. This was short sighted and made me less than 100% leading up to the event.

So all in all, mentally and physically this was the most unprepared I’ve been for any event this year. Considering it was a 24hr this is pretty much the exact opposite of what I should have done.

First Lap – 12:00pm
Warmed up on the trainer for about 30 mins escalated my heart to 160 with a couple of sprints. During this warm up drank a bottle of eLoad. Felt good heading to the start with about 10 mins to go.

Got a good position in the start. I just went to the front and backed in. Start went perfect, I hung with the lead pack (as planned). By the time we hit the first single track I was in about 6th. During the lap I lost about 3 positions. I think I could have been faster if I would have known the trail better. I couldn’t go all out, because I didn’t want to blow up. This would have been solved with pre-riding.

Note: Overall the first lap, felt jittery and not smooth. In those high intensity race situations I need to learn how to relax and flow more. This is going to be a big step for me in racing expert.

My heart was around 172 for most of the lap. In the end I cam in at 47 mins – about 8th or 9th place. I was pleased with this placing, as the majority of guys in front are expert class riders.

Second Lap – 5:00pm
This was a fantastic lap for me. Felt strong with great flow. I rode totally clean and was standing and pushing on all the open stuff. I need to be able to feel like this during the start – this is where I was at my best. Came in at 48mins and had more to give – my average HR for the lap was around 175 (fantastic for me)

Third Lap – 9:00pm
Before I went out for this lap Todd came back from his and he had, had a bad crash – faceplant. And split his face. When he got back to camp he was a mess, bloody, crying, shaking, etc. It really freaked my out – seeing what can happen when things go wrong. When I went out for my lap I was feeling good, had the same type of feeling as the 2nd lap, although as I was riding Todd was in the back of my head. I had my light on – it was just getting dark.

I came out to a double track section, went to big ring, stood up and hammered a couple of strokes. Passed two guys, miss judged a sweeping right hand turn and slide off into the forest. I had enough time as I was sliding through the tress to pray to God that I didn’t hit anything with by body. Luckily I didn’t and my left bar took the burnt of a tree.
I pulled myself out of the trees, got my bike back together, checked myself (bloody hands, bloody left knee, bloody right shin) and got back on. I was in a lot of pain and was moaning as I rode, took my maybe 5 mins to start to feel ok again. Then I started to push it.

Note: This crash came because I wasn’t paying extra attention at night. When riding at night you have to trust your instincts about the corners, you have to turn before you see it. Otherwise, it’s too late. I knew this, but because of the poor preparation and my preoccupation with Todd’s crash it didn’t even cross my mind. Must focus when riding at night –all the time.

When this lap was over I came in at 52mins. Still a respectable time, although if I hadn’t of crashed I would have pulled at least a 48 again, if not faster.

Note: Because of Todd’s crash he sat out the remaining night laps – causing the rest of us to step up the rotation – more riding, less sleeping.

Fourth Lap – 12:30am
When it came time for this lap my plan was to back it off a little, ride clean. I did that, overall the lap went well, totally clean and smooth. My time was 54mins slowest of the event (for me). Still respectable, but not a performance ride.

Fifth Lap – 4:30am
I was tired at this point (go figure) and I miss judged Steve’s time out on the course. As a result I wasn’t there when he came in. I met him on my way to the start – lost about 4mins on the lap because of this.

Note: have to stay much more focused on lap times. I assume Steve would be slower (like Mike) and he was actually pulling in much more consistent times.

Once I got out on this lap, it actually went pretty good, it was still at night and although my legs were tired I rode clean, safe lap – again not my best performance – but at night I wanted to ride clean. My time was 53 mins (or so) hard to say.

Sixth Lap – 9:30am
This was my final lap, so I wanted to really give it all I had. I warmed up for 10mins before the lap. Took a wack of zone caps and eload and got ready to rock. When I got out on the course my legs were tired but I just kept pushing it. I was feeling good and strong and was putting in a great performance.

What was that?!
About ¾ of the way through the lap, this guy came by me. This was the first guy to pass me since the first lap. As he came by, I settled onto his wheel. He took a look back, saw me there, shifted and stood up. I went with him for a couple of strokes. He then took another look back, shifted again and proceeded to sprint like I’ve never seen before. He literally left me in his dust (there was dirt flying off his wheel) – he sprinted like until I couldn’t see him anymore. As I came around a corner I could see him in the distance, still hammering. I was in completely aw.

Note: Seeing him inspired me as to what is possible. He had such unbelievable power at that point in the race that it opened up my mind. I want to have that kind of performance. I’ve seen fast lap times on the board before, but never up close like that. Wow – now that’s impressive.

I finished my lap in 50mins, I was quite pleased with the final performance.

From team perspective we ended up in 5th, this was disappointing for us.

Times:
Lap 1 – 47m22
Lap 2 – 48m00
Lap 3 – 52m22
Lap 4 – 54m32
Lap 5 – 53m52
Lap 5 – 50m52


What did I learn in this race?

1. Preparation is key. Show up the day before, set up, pre-ride, plan with your team
2. Must train and taper for these events – going at it the way I did ensures a lower performance.
3. Train and prepare with the team – this event didn’t feel as tight as others.
4. When riding at night anticipate the corner – and focus!