Discussion
Laurent's ride is comparable (I'd argue even more impressive) with Rodney's sub-39 last year. This year the course is 100km longer than the 'shortcut' version that Rodney took, starts at 8pm instead of the morning and has an extra 100km before reaching Jebel Shams, which you'll hit in the middle of the day if you're near the front.
It was frustrating to scratch, especially on the middle flat sector where I would expect to gain ground. Unfortunately my off-the-bike conditioning wasn't up to scratch and this was exposed when Jebel Shams turned out to be much more rampy than expected. It's not a short nasty section followed by a draggy climb. It's lots and lots of super nasty sections stacked together. Every racer was pushing the bike and the right side of my back (I was alternating pushing sides) was in a lot of pain. I've never had back pain before and the idea of living with a long term back injury, frankly, scares the bejeesus out of me. I figured it was almost certainly temporary overload but, truth be told, I wasn't enjoying the course enough to take the risk. 90% highway shoulders.
Everything else that would normally ache on a long ride was absolutely silent, which is encouraging, but this is a wake up call to get my ass to the gym; something I've been threatening to do for the last year. We talk about specificity in training and it works both ways. I'm quite fit for a very specific task (pedalling a bike for a long time) but have been caught out when the task changed slightly.
Blog entry coming soon with all the stories www.theadventurecapitalist.wordpress.com
It was frustrating to scratch, especially on the middle flat sector where I would expect to gain ground. Unfortunately my off-the-bike conditioning wasn't up to scratch and this was exposed when Jebel Shams turned out to be much more rampy than expected. It's not a short nasty section followed by a draggy climb. It's lots and lots of super nasty sections stacked together. Every racer was pushing the bike and the right side of my back (I was alternating pushing sides) was in a lot of pain. I've never had back pain before and the idea of living with a long term back injury, frankly, scares the bejeesus out of me. I figured it was almost certainly temporary overload but, truth be told, I wasn't enjoying the course enough to take the risk. 90% highway shoulders.
Everything else that would normally ache on a long ride was absolutely silent, which is encouraging, but this is a wake up call to get my ass to the gym; something I've been threatening to do for the last year. We talk about specificity in training and it works both ways. I'm quite fit for a very specific task (pedalling a bike for a long time) but have been caught out when the task changed slightly.
Blog entry coming soon with all the stories www.theadventurecapitalist.wordpress.com
JEA1K said:
Collected my Madone SLR today and the guy at Trek informed me that the oversized clamp for carbon rails on the SLR seatpost is available. Not sure of the part number yet as I need a few more parts after its been stripped/resprayed and I built it up again so will be ordering a few bits so will get it then.
Is that Trek's/Bontrager's version of carbon rails (7x10) or everybody else's (7x9)? I rarely ride more than 100 miles at a time on the Trek so it's not the end of the world but this would let me shave 100g of weight off and allow me to use it for some of the quicker long stuff.Gruffy said:
Laurent's ride is comparable (I'd argue even more impressive) with Rodney's sub-39 last year. This year the course is 100km longer than the 'shortcut' version that Rodney took, starts at 8pm instead of the morning and has an extra 100km before reaching Jebel Shams, which you'll hit in the middle of the day if you're near the front.
It was frustrating to scratch, especially on the middle flat sector where I would expect to gain ground. Unfortunately my off-the-bike conditioning wasn't up to scratch and this was exposed when Jebel Shams turned out to be much more rampy than expected. It's not a short nasty section followed by a draggy climb. It's lots and lots of super nasty sections stacked together. Every racer was pushing the bike and the right side of my back (I was alternating pushing sides) was in a lot of pain. I've never had back pain before and the idea of living with a long term back injury, frankly, scares the bejeesus out of me. I figured it was almost certainly temporary overload but, truth be told, I wasn't enjoying the course enough to take the risk. 90% highway shoulders.
Everything else that would normally ache on a long ride was absolutely silent, which is encouraging, but this is a wake up call to get my ass to the gym; something I've been threatening to do for the last year. We talk about specificity in training and it works both ways. I'm quite fit for a very specific task (pedalling a bike for a long time) but have been caught out when the task changed slightly.
Blog entry coming soon with all the stories www.theadventurecapitalist.wordpress.com
How’s the back now? It was frustrating to scratch, especially on the middle flat sector where I would expect to gain ground. Unfortunately my off-the-bike conditioning wasn't up to scratch and this was exposed when Jebel Shams turned out to be much more rampy than expected. It's not a short nasty section followed by a draggy climb. It's lots and lots of super nasty sections stacked together. Every racer was pushing the bike and the right side of my back (I was alternating pushing sides) was in a lot of pain. I've never had back pain before and the idea of living with a long term back injury, frankly, scares the bejeesus out of me. I figured it was almost certainly temporary overload but, truth be told, I wasn't enjoying the course enough to take the risk. 90% highway shoulders.
Everything else that would normally ache on a long ride was absolutely silent, which is encouraging, but this is a wake up call to get my ass to the gym; something I've been threatening to do for the last year. We talk about specificity in training and it works both ways. I'm quite fit for a very specific task (pedalling a bike for a long time) but have been caught out when the task changed slightly.
Blog entry coming soon with all the stories www.theadventurecapitalist.wordpress.com
Any other crazy adventures planned this year that we can follow?
Gruffy said:
Is that Trek's/Bontrager's version of carbon rails (7x10) or everybody else's (7x9)? I rarely ride more than 100 miles at a time on the Trek so it's not the end of the world but this would let me shave 100g of weight off and allow me to use it for some of the quicker long stuff.
Yup, OEM .. available from Trek. I'll get him to send me the part number and post it up. I landed yesterday and saw my physio in the evening. My back is cranky but, as I'd hoped, it looks like it's just temporary overload and no lasting damage.
This year is a tricky one and I've not committed to other ultras yet. The coronavirus may scupper plans in any case. In the meantime I'm dabbling with road racing from April with my new team, hopeful that the longer distances play more to my strengths.
This year is a tricky one and I've not committed to other ultras yet. The coronavirus may scupper plans in any case. In the meantime I'm dabbling with road racing from April with my new team, hopeful that the longer distances play more to my strengths.
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