Transcontinental Race

[Gruffy]

http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;product=4016...
Available in 28/32/36 hole configurations. And a variety of colours, which is important.

[Gruffy]

richardxjr said:

I'd go 32. A few grams for a lot more strength imo. You'll be giving 'em a right bloody pounding D. Being tubeless you don't want a rim dink, or worse, which will take longer to sort than any marginal weight gain.

The whole race is an exercise in risk management. I'll take advice from whoever ends up building the wheels but, given I'll also be riding on aero bar extensions, with more weight over the front, I'm instinctively leaning towards 32. I'm expecting some rotten road surfaces through Eastern Europe. Friday's ride also reminded me that durability is one of those things that you don't notice until it becomes a problem. Confidence in your kit definitely has an impact on pace and stress levels.

[Gruffy]

So, a quick update: the entries are confirmed (or denied) over the next week or so. As I mentioned above, I'm racing to Turkey one way or another, so it's not a big concern either way. If I get the nod I'll be quite happy to be part of the official race and all the coverage that comes with it. If not I'll be excited to take a Sharpie to a casquette and become rider #301 with rogue status.

I spent lots of time chatting to David of DCR Wheels and he's now building up a set that we think will be the best combination of speed, weight and durability for the race. More on that in the blog shortly.

I've added a few more entries to the blog at The Adventure Capitalist and I have a dozen more drafted. The frequency will jump to 1-2 week in the New Year. The response has been more popular than I expected and that's given me motivation to maintain it.

James Hayden mentioned on Twitter a couple of days ago that he's training full time now, with the help of some corporate sponsors, and given his performance in TCR No3 I think it'd take a lot for anybody to beat him under the circumstances. No word yet on whether Josh is competing again but my gut feel is he'll move onto a different challenge. I'm too untested and inexperienced to have any real idea of where I could finish so it seems pointless to make wild guesses at this stage. Maybe by early summer I'll have a bit more insight.

Training and diet get a shake-up in the New Year with some proper structure. I'm testing the Kinesis GF Ti frame in early January and if that rides as expected I'm likely to build a bike around that.

[Gruffy]

I watched Inspired To Ride and Mike's little guide to bikepacking a couple of weeks back. Good to watch but confirmation of things I'd already picked up rather than any particular insights.

You can run 28s on the Aeroad if you have the right rims. The Mavics mine came with are much too narrow, but I'm tempted to change those in the spring anyway. I'm very keen on disc brakes and the extra comfort of a Ti frame for ultra-distance riding. It'll be quite nice to have a bike set up purely for outright speed with no compromises and one for proper distances in all-weathers.

[Gruffy]

I've not yet decided on what kit I'm taking, so I'm not yet sure what my luggage needs are. I'd like to try and avoid a bar bag because I think that's a big aero hit. I think the 'stem cell' type bags will be worth the hit, allowing me to cut down on the number of food stops. Seat pack for sleep kit and clothes. Top tube bag as a grab bag for electronics, passport and food-stop sanitary items. I guess that means I probably will need a small frame bag for tool, pump, spares, warmers, gilet.

We'll see. I'm still interested to see if I can ditch the sleeping gear altogether.

[Gruffy]

That route looks awesome. Are you touring or racing?

[Gruffy]

Yes, but he showed enough before succumbing to Shermers Neck, close to the end, that I think he's a very strong contender. Experience counts for a lot and he was oh-so-close in his first year. With that extra experience on a broadly similar route and with 8 months of full-time training - which you have to assume will include a lot of neck work! - then I think it would be a pessimist who didn't credit him with very high odds of winning.

[Gruffy]

cjm said:

It's not really a race but its 1205km in 90hrs so I'll need to be going a bit. If I can manage it then LEL shouldn't be too difficult!

300km a day means you could comfortably keep the riding to daylight hours, with battery-powered lights there if you need them. AA-powered for extra flexibility. The route could be quite lumpy which means you may not get much from a dynamo anyway. For 3-4 days I'd probably go with a battery pack and USB plugs for your gadgets. Nav would be a 'tested and reliable' Garmin and smartphone.

[Gruffy]

I'm fascinated to see how I handle two weeks of what is, basically, isolation under intense physical stress and sleep deprivation. I suspect I'll learn a lot about myself during the race. The thought of DNF'ing is so terrifying I simply block it out. 50% attrition rate was bloody high this year. TCR No4 looks harder to my eyes, so the odds of failure are very real.

[Gruffy]

Santa just called. I'm in.

[Gruffy]

A quick update:

Ultra-distance specific training started last week after a cycling lab test revealed some interesting news on my suitability for the race. Blog entry on that here https://theadventurecapitalist.wordpress.com/2016/...

I'm building up a bike for this but that's taking much longer than expected. I started in October and was hoping to be riding it already but have been suffering delays with frame suppliers. On paper I think the Kinesis GF Ti Disc looks like the strongest contender and they've also offered a strong deal on account of what I'm doing with it and the exposure that the blog generates, but they don't have a demo model in my size and they seem to have trouble putting one together. Demand is strong so they're selling them before they land. Fair enough, but I'm no closer now than when I started and the clock is ticking. I'm also looking at a few others but haven't been pushing them too hard as I keep expecting to be testing the Kinesis any day. Time to progress with other suppliers though, who also have long lead times. J Laverack is one I'm looking at closely. It has reviewed well, looks stunning with a progressive design that suits the build and, as a nice touch, it's also built close to where I grew up.

The wheels are being built up as I type. With David Hunt of DCR Wheels I've worked up an experimental design that pushes the limits of fast ultra-distance wheels. Time will tell whether we've pushed it too far, but I should receive those when I get back from a trip to Japan in February. It doesn't look like I'll have a bike to put them on though.

Once I know what frame I'm going with I can spec the group set and get that ordered. It's far from an off-the-shelf configuration so I'm on the look-out for a friendly supplier who can help me assemble a full Shimano Di2 setup at competitive/trade prices. If anybody has any contacts please get in touch.

Another thing waiting on the frame is the bikepacking luggage. That's custom made to fit the frame perfectly. I have a couple of ultra-distance tests coming up and I'm keen to start riding these under full TCR conditions. I'm sure there's a lot of lessons to learn. At the current rate of progress though I don't think I'll have the set-up until late March at the earliest. In the meantime I'm just cracking on with training and nutrition improvements.

[Gruffy]

I plan to assemble everything myself. It'll be useful to have that experience should anything go wrong during the race. So for me it's all about price.

50/34 and 11-32 (which means SS cage rear derailleur)
Hydraulic disc brakes (160mm)
5-way Di2 junction box & TT bar-end shifters

Haven't found one supplier yet who offers all that in one package, so may end up sourcing from several.

[Gruffy]

I'll check them out. Thanks.

richardxjr said:

Hydros. I know they're brilliant and all that, but not easily or quickly fixed if you lose fluid, gain air or nick or rub a hose. Cable disks are well proven, probably no heavier, miles cheaper and a spare inner is cheap and light insurance.

The main reason for hydraulics on a TCR bike is they need less power to activate, which is a real issue over ultra-distance racing, where you expect to lose the function of your hands. I also like that they auto-adjust as they were; also useful over 4,000km of racing.

The whole race is an exercise in risk management and judicious corner-cutting. There are compromises everywhere.

[Gruffy]

Six weeks since my last update here, though I've been updating the blog a bit more frequently.

It's been a busy time. I tried track riding at the Olympic velodrome and was caught in a big crash on my stage 4 test. That made a mess of my helmet, stole some skin and caused some fairly severe whiplash that I'm now working with a physio to recover from. The following day I test rode the J.ACK from J Laverack and fell in love with that. The morning after that I flew to Japan for snowboarding 'cross training'.

Since I returned from Japan I've been focusing on the whiplash and trying to gradually increase the time I can spend on the bike again. It was just an hour or two for a while, but last weekend was a century from Rugby to London. I was trying an ISM Adamo saddle, but that didn't go so well so earlier this week I pulled out the big guns and went for a pressure-mapping saddle fit session at CycleFit.

The physiological test I did in January threw up more questions than answers in the end. The numbers were significantly different from what I was seeing out on the road in the rides that followed, so I was none the wiser with regards to power or heart rate zones. I'm seeing Dr Palmer again tomorrow for a retest, so hopefully I'll have a bit more data to work with soon.

[Gruffy]

Not everybody goes to such lengths. Some of the riders are regular audax guys and are already used to banging out massive mileages. I'm sure there'll be some who do bugger all and just rock up on the start line, coping just fine. I'm not foolish enough to think I can win the thing but I'd like to do the best job I can, so I'm applying myself the best way I know how. I don't have youth, athleticism or experience on my side, so I'm substituting with preparation, cunning and optimism instead.

TwistingMyMelon said:

Good blog, love the text and images, well jel.

You mention you have had issues with your knees in the past, mind expanding on that, as my left one is just starting to give up!

I played a lot of basketball in my teens, so lots of jumping as high as possible and then landing on concrete. That wore away at my meniscus and also chipped away at the cartilage of the trochlear groove - the knuckle that your kneecap slides up and down in. Every time I landed the kneecap would dig into the groove and now there's nothing left. In 2010 I had surgery to stitch the meniscus on both sides (it'd torn almost clean through as well as wearing down in thickness) and chondroplasty to smooth down the ridges that had formed in both trochlear grooves. Recovery was glacial and the legs faded away to nothing. In 2012 I went back under the knife and had micro-fracture surgery. This is a fancy name for drilling lots of little holes in the bone to create scar tissue that acts like a rudimentary cartilage substitute. The legs still refused to recover, despite 10 hours a week gym time and constant physio. It wasn't until I temporarily decamped to France in 2014 to renovate a property that the penny dropped. I suddenly made real progress even though I'd done no exercise for 8 weeks. The difference was not sitting at my desk for 12+ hours a day. It turns out that even the gym work couldn't counter the damage of the sedentary life of a desk jockey. We did a ski season after the renovation but when I got back I started cycling and things have been improving steadily ever since. I still have real limitations (I can't run, jump or squat) but I'm able to do ride relatively freely.

[Gruffy]

TwistingMyMelon said:

…my left one is just starting to give up!

Get thee to a physio!

Seriously, one of the biggest mistakes I made was letting things drag on too long. Too much time spent 'protecting' my knee introduced problems that are so much harder to resolve than the injury itself. Go big and go early. A good physio is worth their weight in gold and will help you avoid introducing any imbalances as well as diagnosing the knee problem.

[Gruffy]

A follow-up to the test in January https://theadventurecapitalist.wordpress.com/2016/... The numbers weren't matching up closely enough with what I was seeing out on the road so we did a retest to try and figure things out.

[Gruffy]

ALawson said:

Gruffy, liked the latest blog post. You will result in my Waitrose bill being bigger this month, or is Holland and Barrett better for half that stuff.

Waitrose are fine for most of that but if you find you're sticking with them you may be better buying some of them in bulk online. I use healthysupplies.co.uk and they're much cheaper for things like cacao powder and cinnamon. It's not a superfood but I also buy their 'no-nonsense pitted dates' by the kilo for general snacking. Cheap as chips and absolutely delicious. 100 calories of pure carbs for 5 dates.

[Gruffy]

I am. I separate out my regular training and diet from my 'ultra' training and diet. The huge ultra-distance rides cause more fatigue than fitness benefit but are necessary for conditioning and experience. For regular training I eat as clean as possible and for ultra rides I simulate race conditions by scavenging in petrol stations and whatever I can find quickly. I have a multi-day test run planned in a few weeks which will be interesting to see how my body copes with repetitive junk food.

[Gruffy]

The bulk of my training is at zone 1 or 2 intensities (as it will be during the race). At that effort I burn large amounts of fat anyway. My metabolism is well suited to endurance and I'm still burning fat at relatively high efforts. When I do fuel it's only ever a fraction of what I'm burning, but if I manage the intensity it doesn't seem to be an issue.

Sunday's ride was 275km, burning around 7,000 calories. I ate less than 3,000 during the ride but never felt held back. My outputs were flat from start to finish. If you're familiar with Training Peaks I can tell you that my efficiency was flat and my power:HR coupling was less than 5%. All very encouraging at this stage in my prep.

I'm actually increasing my intake now to manage weight loss more gradually and preserve muscle. I considered adding a session of fasted riding once a week but that's effectively what my ultra distance rides achieve anyway, so I think it's better to fuel well for each training ride.