We drove to Pocatello yesterday during the heat of the afternoon. One of the gas stations we passed showed a temperature of 103°. When we arrived here we checked into our room, had some food then went to bed. Even though I was really tired, I didn’t sleep too well. So when I awoke this morning I wasn’t feeling that refreshed and knew that today would be a hard day. I even skipped taking my temp and resting HR since I knew they’d both still be high, so no need to confirm the obvious.
We drove to the race course which was about 30 minutes south of Pocatello. We registered and got ready to race. I didn’t do much of a warmup since my race was 100 miles. We started at an easy pace. The course was four laps of a 25-mile loop, with a 2-mile hill that starts only a few miles into the loop. It starts out straight with a gradual incline until you hit the “gap”. That’s where you go through a rock canyon and the road twists and turns. It’s actually quite pretty but I really couldn’t enjoy it since I was already suffering. This wasn’t good, people are chatting away while we’re climbing and I feel like I’m already going 95%! After we got out of the canyon, it eased up, but we still had a gradual climb to the feed zone. I made it over the top mid-pack, but it felt harder than it should have.
The rest of the first lap was pretty uneventful, but I felt much stronger on the downhills and the flats, even when I was pulling through. There was a small two-person break off that everyone was content letting go, so I mostly sat in. I did do a couple of psuedo-attacks, but that’s because the pack was going so slow and I wanted to keep some pressure on. But I always kept it under my threshold.
The next time up the hill was harder, which was surprising. Just a few miles before on the flats, we were tootling at like 20mph! If people wanted to reel-in the break why didn’t they work before! Anyway, this time I really struggled on the hill and just barely made it over the top, last wheel of the pack. We may have dropped a few riders by this point, but I wasn’t sure.
The third time up the hill was the fastest so far and I just couldn’t hang on. I was only 150 meters back from the pack when I crested the hill. Another rider came to my aid and we started rotating on the downhill. Soon we were joined by another pair of riders The four of us rotated well for a while, then a couple of the riders started dying and stopped pulling. So it was up to me and the other guy to chase. We worked well together but I was starting to hit my limit. On the downhill, the pack was able to put some good time on us, but when the course leveled out, we could see they were slowing down. We finally caught the pack right before the end of the third lap.
When we hit the small hill before the real hill starts, the pace picked up and I got dropped. The gap wasn’t too big, but I knew if I chased and caught back on, I’d just be off the back in 3 miles when the real hill started. Plus, I got a decent 3-hour 20-minute workout at that point so I figured I’d just call it a day and race the crit tomorrow (which I wasn’t really planning on). Even though DNF’ing is disappointing, I don’t feel that bad since I lasted longer than I thought I would. Since I’ve been focusing on crits, I haven’t worked on my climbing at all this year and it shows. But in a few weeks, after criterium nationals, I’ll have a month to work on my climbing and try to get my usual top fifteen at Bogus.
Heather’s race went OK. They only did two laps and Heather got second. We were both glad the skies were mostly overcast so it kept the heat at bay. I went through a lot of liquids during my race but still felt dehydrated when I got to the car. So it was probably a good thing I quit when I did. Tomorrow I think I’ll race masters since the Cat 1/2 race is so late in the day. That way I can race, come back to the hotel, and shower. Then I can enjoy Heather’s race and we can head straight home when she’s done. It isn’t supposed to be as hot tomorrow so that’s a good thing.