Rock Cobbler 6.0

Over a week after the event you have probably seen and read enough Rock Cobbler 6.0 Race Reports to have a good understanding of how it was the mudpocolypse of 2019 and how this year we got to ride through Race Director, Sam Ames, house! But if you haven’t here’s mine.

I’ve been fortunate, I think that is the right word, to have ridden 3 out of 6 of the last Cobbler’s, my streak was broken last year with pesky work getting in the way and making adult decisions.

Each year the race gets weirder which is French for harder and this year was no different…and to be honest what would you expect from a race whose marketing tag line is “it’s stupidly hard”! So with that said, on with the show!

I had driven up Friday afternoon and gone through packet pick up without any issues, availing myself of some fish and chips and some liquid courage at Lengthwise, the host brewery! All good races start and finish at a brewery right, Hotel parking lots are so 2012! Becca had opted to stay at home as her hip injury is painful at best and the thought of spending the day in the car was not appealing. Other than some spotty traffic, the drive was uneventful.

Unless you’re not local Southern California has been having some rain and the week leading up to race we had rain early in the week. That left 3-4 days for the course to dry out but there was one day of rain in the offing. As we neared the weekend the forecast went from rain Friday day, to Friday night and as we woke Saturday morning the roads were dry and skies were heavy.

Folks were milling around in the Lengthwise Parking Lot putting on and taking off clothing, depending which way you looked we were riding into Mordor or the Emerald City! As usual I was a Pactimo walking model and I was able to break out some custom Lynskey kit that I had designed and had made up through the Pactimo Custom Program (ping me for more info) in the end I went with bibs on the bottom. A winter base layer, jersey, arm warmers and a light weight rain jacket and full fingered Louis Garneau gloves and Helmet, and my usual helmet liner from Headsweat, zero cover up top requires some protection from the sun (reinforced by my Dad’s recent melanoma removals) and it keeps me a bit warmer and soaks up the sweat on a hot day. The jacket folds down to nothing and actually fits into a jersey pocket or can easily, which is what I did, be stuffed up under your jersey in the back. In the end I think this was the best call, I wad definitely a bit chilly at the start but the jacket kept my dry and kept me warm at the end of the day.

I also stuffed my pockets full of Honey Stinger waffles and had a King Size Pay Day which would be a treat towards the end of the day. Pro tip; I’ve learnt now to snip the tops off everything, I don’t have to worry about opening things while riding. This makes eating so much easier and even more so with full fingered gloves.

So, with the national anthem ringing in our ears and the first drops of rain landing on our sunglasses we rolled out.

The first 15 or so miles are a neutral rollout, new this year was the route which took up through a quiet residential area. This minimized the break up of the peloton due to traffic lights and other than getting a little hairy going through wet “four corner crit” corners we were fine and in good spirits. After making our way to the usual bike path which funnels everyone to 2-3 abreast we were pretty strung out. The rain hadn’t eased either, the smooth but somewhat dirty bike path and pace meant that we were all getting a good face-full of splatter from the bike in front. Added to which I was regretting leaving my Ass Saver as home as my backside was slowly but surely getting damper and damper….oops! For future RD reading this, they make excellent Swag Bag gifts!

We finally exited this section and started the first off road part of the ride. Mostly single track this strung folks out quickly as they realized they were in the wrong gear riding up and just hadn’t brought enough gears to the party, see my thoughts below on this! Even with the current drizzle the surface was very ridable and we rolled around basically getting our bikes dirty and our heart rate into Zones 4/5.

The following short section was a little less rideable….but fortunately very hikable…and was really only the threshold to the first long climb. The key, for me at least, is knowing when to ride and knowing when to walk. Riding is, generally speaking, always quicker, more comfortable and more efficient. Pushing a 20lb uphill in the mud generally sucks. So, most folks, walked, rode and took pictures. Once you were on the top it was a nice double track trail that was very rideable and gently descended over 5 miles.

I saw the first Aid Stations and rolled by, I had no need to stop. We were spat out onto the road. From here we directed into a residential area. A short climb and we were at the end of a cul-de-sac?!? Where to go from here; up Sam’s driveway through his backyard, into his kitchen, passed his lounge and out the front door and down the red carpet…of course!

Back the way out and back onto the dirt.

Rolling our way along minding our own business and doing our best to find the best lines. We entered the section of trail that runs alongside the Kern River. This section was well churned up and more like some of the run ups you may see in Cyclocross, albeit taken to 11 with tree roots and low hanging branches…oh and new this year (vs. 2016) the Barb Wire fence had been broken was being held back, so you didn’t have to throw your bike over and climb through it. I saw one poor soul walking back out the way we had come in with a broken rear derailleur.

More ups, downs, lefts and rights and we were directed into the Private Orchard section. It’s at this point I would like to introduce our Sponsor for the next 5-7 miles…Jiffy Peanut Butter! As you would expect the orchards are very well irrigated add to that the aforementioned rain and we were in for a treat.

I was able to roll through most of it without issue and when I surfaced onto the road I saw a large group of riders with TacoMan standing by the entry to the next section. I was lucky enough to have avoided the worst of it and with riders grouped on the side of the road scraping thick mud off their bikes or breaking chains to try and remedy mechanical issues I joined a group and followed TacoMan on a minor detour onto the road and back onto the route a half mile or so away. At this point we were only 40 miles in, so less than halfway and had the big climb to come, elapsed time 3:23! A short day it is not!

Again from 2016 race the “climb” was about 9 miles with a small drop after the summit. Ride and push were order of the day. There’s no point complaining you paid good money to do this! At the second summit your treated to roughly a 10 mile descent so I took the time to stop and put on my jacket, while the rain had stopped some time ago it wasn’t especially warm.

Some rolling along at the bottom and we finally hit the last “shenanigan” of the day, the Hike a Bike section, it’s only half a mile but tops out at 49.5% grade…so the clue really is in the name!

At the top there is an Aid Station and this would be my only stop of the day, a mini can of Sprite and a bio break and I was on my way again.

From here we had about 5 miles of dirt left and we were back on the river path for the ride to the finish. I leveled up my skills and was able to put my jacket back on without stopping…much easier on 33mm tire vs the 25mm on my road bike.

As usual the Finish is not at the start and you have to keep your eyes open for arrows to guide you there. A lot of people miss this detail (or don’t bother) and as such don’t pass through the Finish Line and a awarded a DNF. Once at the Finish I was too cold and too tired to linger. I buddied up with two other guys and we retraced our steps back to Lengthwise…and like that Rock Cobbler 6.0 was in the bag!

Some awesome finish line food, one pint of beer was pretty much inhaled…so I had another plate of food; Pulled Pork, Mac-N- Chees, Salad, fresh bread…this time I savored it!

I grabbed my Cheese/Cutting Board said some farewells and was on my way home!

Some final thoughts on the race and the day;

All in all I had a solid day. As noted it was wet and cold and I wasn’t sweating. I managed with two (yes just two) bottles and skipped all but the last Aid Station. I stopped a couple of times on my own time; jacket on, AltRed (ping me for my Ambassador code) swallowing a couple of times and once to pee. My ride time was 7:38, my elapsed time 7:47. Only 9 minutes of not moving!

The Lynskey (as always) was great; I had no issues with the drivetrain mudding up and the Wend Wax worked without issues through all the different types of mud, dust, sand and cowshit I threw at it. I do have a couple of follow up items; I need new brake pads, I was running out of grab on some descents. I need to switch out my 3T Wheels for my Stan's Tubeless wheels and ride Tubeless, I think this will be a much more comfortable ride and obviously the sealant speaks for itself.

Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight! Lots of mechanicals this year, mostly drivetrain related. Choose your weapon wisely! Yeah, my cassette looks like the serving platter on a Cunard Cruise ship…but it’s a bad day when I run out of gears! For the record, it’s 50/34 with and 11-42. That’s way more gearing than a 1x which is often a 42 with 10/42, I may be a bit slower, but I am moving.

On that note this year clothing and tires played their part, I don’t think anyone was running anything less that 30mm if you were you probably had a bad day. I did see plenty of 650b with MTB tires and some solid DK style 40mm gravel tires. Basically, whatever you selected you were probably right for 25% of the day and wrong for the rest. I was using IRC Serac Sand CX Tires, they’re file tread and worked well enough for what I needed, I did slip on a couple of climbs and I did slide down a couple of descents but I had no real issues.

As for the event, this is a Class 1 event, it’s well organized and well presented, despite Sam’s underselling it of as a “Shit Show” it’s far from it. From start to finish including pre and post event communications it’s buttoned up.

Yes, it’s stupidly hard, but also stupidly fun! Unless you’re at the pointy end look up and take in the view, enjoy the company around you. Misery loves company after all!

So that’s that for another year, 5 weeks to Spndx Stampede!

Rivet Raid

Rivet Raid in the bag.

Not a race but a ride to raise money for the Santa Monica Mountains Restoration Trust. There would be one timed segment and what a doozy it was; Puerco Canyon from PCH, 2.95miles 1500' gain average grade 10%! But I am getting ahead of myself. The original ride was cut short due to all the rain this week so we were all riding the shorter 50 mile loop, which would have approx. 5000’ of gain.

The day prior I had felt a sore throat coming on, it’s my Achilles Heel, and with one of the kids in the house sick during the week the odds were pretty good I could catch something. I stopped on at a Pharmacy on drive to the race and picked up some DayQuil and Ricola. A good swig on the former and a pocket full of the latter saw me through the day.

80 or so riders left Peddlers Fork restaurant in Calabasas Sunday morning. The roll out was easy enough and there was plenty of chatting, Unfortunately the group got split by traffic lights very early on and I was at the front of the second half. As the lights turned green a few hardy souls tried to bridge and I was happy to let them go. An uneventful 4 miles brought us to the bottom of Dirt Mulholland and we started the climb up. Recent rains had left the fire road soft in parts and there were the remains of some flooding but if you choose your line carefully you could miss all the standing water and keep a clean pair of heels. The route steadily climbed up and I found myself chatting to a couple of riders, one a local and another from a San Diego team. I recognized the kit and know a couple of BWR peeps who are on it. “You must know, Joe Schmoe” is always a good ice breaker and the conversation was easy from that point on. The local rider pulled away and then suddenly pulled over and dismounted. His rear derailleur had exploded and was wrapped around his cassette. I asked if he needed assistance and he declined saying he would limp back home without issue. I saw him later at the finish and he had indeed made his way back to the start/finish and was having his bike fixed by the VeloFix Van that was providing support.

The trail topped out and we had the easy roll down on Sullivan Ridge Trail towards Santa Monica. I had last ridden these trails over 18 years ago on a hardtail 26” mountain bike shortly after moving to the US. To top half of the trail is gravel and the second half is concrete.

Memories kicked in, mostly, and a safe roll down the broken concrete road that was littered with potholes and hikers was the prudent choice, Another rider I know, Chris, caught me and we rode into Santa Monica together keeping one eye on the route on my Garmin and another on the traffic. The course wound its way through the blocks of Santa Monica. Some how we managed to miss the first Aid Station, I wasn’t worried as I had plenty on me but Chris turned back to find his original starting buddy. Other than multiple stops at crossing, junction, traffic lights and my expressed disappointment at one lady who rolled through a stop sign as I was mid-junction crossing, this section was uneventful.

The course dropped us onto Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). As you would expect there is plenty of traffic, but it ebbs and flows as the traffic lights catch and hold cars. There is no real bike lane but enough of a shoulder to make it ok.

Shortly past Pepperdine University was the right hand turn onto Puerco Canyon. The first half mile or so is road, then a gate and then the trail. This was the second Aid Station. I stopped to fill my bottles and asked had they seen any riders, as I, surprisingly hadn’t. I was told I was in the Top 20???

But then looking over my shoulder I saw the lead group, who had stopped at the first Aid Station had caught me, I went from Top 20 to top 50 in 2 minutes as they all caught and passed me!

This was the timed section. I had never ridden this trail, but I had run, well, walked it. It’s a long steep slog. The recent fires had taken its toll and the landscape was stark. That said the recent rain and sunshine was already making a difference with new green growth showing everywhere. I sat in and pedaled up. As I was waving my camera around someone asked me for it and took some great photos of me! Yay!

The first section of the climb was a series of ridable switchbacks, the higher you climbed the better the view. Until these ended and you got a reminder of what was to come…

I’ll spare you nitty gritty. The climb took 44 minutes, there was some walking, some cursing, a few downs and plenty of camaraderie from others suffering. Oh and the sun had come out too…temperatures rose to 80f!

Still at the top we were treated to a nice view for all our hard work!

The roll down the back side was no cake walk either, again I had run this fireroad as part of 50km runs from previous life as a runner which gave me an insight into what to expect….I am not sure this was a good or bad thing?! As before there was some washout and the channels made it somewhat challenging, as on the climb there were a few sections walked but mostly my Lynskey took everything in its stride. The third and final Aid Station was at the bottom and I stopped again to fill up my bottles and fill up from the cheese board that was on offer! Salty cheese and meat….yes please!

After a short stretch on the road the final section was a series of twisty rolling single track nothing too onerous other than a couple of short sharp climbs and some greasy muddy sections.

Of course with 300 yards of trails left I took my eye off the ball and toppled over in an unceremonious pile in the mud! A nice two mile roll back to the Finish generated enough speed to throw most of the acquired mud off of my bike!

A couple of right hand turns, and I was through the Finish Line.

Plenty of food was on offer and folks were milling about swapping war stories from the day. I was feeling pretty crappy and my throat was sore, so I scoffed the brisket burger, grabbed my bike and headed home.

All in all this was a grand day out and a good test of both my fitness and the bike. Both need a few tweaks but nothing major. My fitness is pretty good, there’s definitely room for some improvement but that will come as the season opens up more. The bike is rolling along nicely but there are few creaks that need some attention. Switching out my Eggbeaters for Shimano XT SPDs has removed the annoying squeak and I had no real issues in clipping or unclipping. I am still on the fence about switching out my 3T wheels for my Stan’s Tubeless, I’ve had no real issues to date running self-sealing clinchers…of course this may well turn into famous last words! I need to shake off this stupid cold/sore throat thing before digging back into training.

The event was well run, the Aid Stations well stocked with goodies and volunteers, Both of which I have seen fall short of the mark on other events. The course was challenging and got me, at least, riding new trails. Like many of the events in Southern Californian (BWR, Cobbler, etc.) the Rivet Raid is not a pure “gravel” ride. It’s a far cry from your Mid-West minimum maintenance roads that are wide, rolling, straight and…gravelly! That said, and in fairness. the descent along Sullivan Ridge Trail was gravel. So as long as you have this in mind when signing up you’ll be fine, and the challenges you may encounter along the way will only improve your bike handling skills!

Here is the Strava File if you’re interested.

So onwards, Rock Cobbler in two weeks…shenanigans aplenty await!

Strava Festive 500; my experience and thoughts on how to be successful

The Festive 500 is a Strava Challenge put on each year, this year is the eighth time it’s been run. The premise is easy 500km (310 and change in miles) in the eight days between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The only caveat is that the rides have to be outside, no trainer, no rollers, just hard, cold tarmac (or gravel or dirt or snow). I’ve seen it come around for the last few years and have accumulated the miles in the normal course of training/riding. Most years I would usually total somewhere between 60-70% of the mileage. This year I decided to make a plan and go for it.

There were a couple of other considerations;

• I had to accommodate a pretty tight work schedule, I only had Christmas and New Year’s Day official off.
• The weather, winter has arrived in California, yes, I fully understand it’s relative to somewhere like, Wisconsin but it’s relative and this week has been pretty cold!
• Given that we’re in the depth of winter then day ends abruptly at 5:00pm I was constrained to riding in the morning
• The good news was that it sunrise around 7:00am and I was working from home. So in theory I would be able to get on the road by 6:45am and get a solid 90-120 minutes before work.

So how did it shake out…

Monday December 24; 2:19 35.1 miles (56km), 2356’ gain, Min temp 39.2f Got out a little later than planned but was on the road by 7:00am. A tour round the local roads, with some climbing. A little longer than planned but nothing too onerous.

Tuesday December 25; 4:21 68.5 miles (90km), 4747’ gain. Min temp 53.6f. Headed out at 11:10am for obvious reasons. A nice big loop which took me out to Newbury Park, into the Santa Monica Mountains to see the burned area and home again.

Wednesday December 26; 2:37 38.6 miles (60km) 2375’ gain. Min temp 39.2f. Headed out to the local farmland. Clear blue skies and a nice cold wind. As you can see where we live is not flat by any stretch. Nearly 10,000’ in the last three days!

Thursday December 27; 1:47 27.0 miles (43km) 1736’ gain. Min Temp 35.6f. Looking for new routes I ventured over the hill into Thousand Oaks. While this should have been rush hour, the traffic was lighter. Managed to re-tweak an old reoccurring knee “thing” while doing nothing special?!

Friday December 28; 1:36 22.2 miles (35km) 1394’ gain. Min Temp 48.2f Wrapped up work early and headed out in the afternoon, given how much it hadn’t warmed up I was happy to leave this to much later in the day!

Saturday December 29; 3:36 51.1miles (82km) 3297’ gain. Min Temp 50.0f Slightly later start even through it wasn’t that warm. Headed out towards the Santa Monica Mountains and saw some more of the burn area. Took it easy babying my knee. Had hoped for a few more miles to get me over the 400km mark but fell just short at 391km.

Sunday December 30; 4:47 72.8 miles (107km) 4662’ gain. Min Temp 41f Longest ride of the event. I had planned to ride with the CVR Team but misread the start time and turned up an hour late! With that said I had the .tcx file on my Garmin so I headed and followed my nose….well my Garmin. I added a couple of twists at the end get the mileage and then I was done!

Stats:

• 315 miles / 509km
• Total Time 21:03
• Total Elevation 20,567’ / 6269m

As you can see it’s pretty doable. Other than a tweaky knee that, after making the Adult choice, prevented my from going to the Four Days of Fitness I came out unscathed. I made sure to plan out as day as best as possible but I got caught short with my Garmin showing 10% battery life while I was a two hours from home! Fortunately the 1030 has a Battery Save Mode, but it was down to 3% when I got home…that’s a little close for comfort! So with it completed here are some thoughts;

Home Relations; first and foremost get buy in and agreement on this in advance, balance out any family commitments and duties. Pissing off everyone at home while you’ve disappeared on Christmas Day for 5 hours is not an option for everyone. Fortunately being married to an Endurance Athlete means that I get a pass on a lot of things that others would at best get the dinner in the dog and at worst a set of divorce paper left out for you!

Prep; if you’re going out early, get all your gear prepped, laid out, ready the night before. Fumbling in the early hours sucks! Along with this is charge/recharge everything! Having your Garmin die 20 miles from home will be just a tad frustrating…I almost leaned this the hard way!

Route Planning; I wandered around a bit. Having a pre-planned route helped the miles go by. It also allows you to do the math and make sure you are spreading the distance out over the days, so you can finish it. Eight Metric Centuries will work…but so does a Statute Century (plus some loose change) every other day. Make sure you measure twice and cut once!

Keep some company; riding with a group or just another person not only makes the miles role by but gives you a chance to sit in a bit and draft for some (not all) of the ride. Mentally the company was nice too. I was bummed to miss the Team ride on the last day for both reasons.

Clothing/Gear etc.; I only had to fight with the cold. I finally feel like I have a wardrobe for all seasons. It’s taken a few years, but I am finally there, of course being a poster boy for Pactimo helps! I used everything in my arsenal on multiple days!

Fuel; it’s important to keep the fuel and fluid intake up. You’re not fueling for today, you’re recovering today and fueling for tomorrow. Breakfast and Dinner included. Keep drinking, even if you’re not sweating make sure you keep the intake up

Recovery; foam roll, stretch, recovery boots, Epsom salts bath…whatever your recovery regimen make sure you follow it, if you don’t have one find/create one. Google, your club or your mates can help!

Pacing; pace yourself for the event not for the day. Go out too hard on Day, 1, 2 or 3 and you’ll be paying for it down the line!

Bike Love; we all love our bike, show it some, give it a wash, wipe down, whatever it takes. Lube the chain and check the tire pressure. Just some basics will keep you humming along the road rather than standing on the side of it! If you use anyt of your spares; tubes etc, make sure you replace them for the next day

Have fun; finally enjoy the challenge, you’re not a pro, you’re not being paid to do this, all you’re going to get is a Ralpha Roundel and a Virtual Badge! Those not in the know will look at these and listen with a measure of disbelief and incredulity at what you just did…but hey you just did it!

So, these are the things that I can think of, I am sure I missed some, what thoughts do you have?

Belgian Waffle Ride 2018

The Belgian Waffle Ride was my “A” race for the year. I was getting it out of the way early to give Becca plenty of room for her events in 2018. She was coming back from injury and with the race being brought forward by four weeks I was looking forward to having a relatively sane 2018 after a very busy 2017!

My approach to the race started back in January when I attended the Source Endurance BWR Camp. <insert placeholder write up#1> It’s a great opportunity to catch up with old faces, make new friends and more importantly spend some quality time on the course. Going into camp I had a pretty good base of fitness, 12,000 miles in 12 months will do that to you! I had attended Neil Shirley’s Four Days to Fitness over the holidays where I notched up nearly 300 miles in four days with 20,000’ of gain <insert placeholder write up #2>.

This year I took a step closer to getting a Coach. I started working with Apex Coaching from Colorado and was using the Apex Sufferfest Extended Training Plan which officially started the last week of January. As my training is primarily indoor based, the plan was a combination of Sufferfest rides, customized training rides and a long (most often) ride at the weekend, I actually knocked out an indoor 100 mile too! It just doesn’t have the  touchy-feely side of coaching, which is fine as I have no issues with motivation. This format was the weekly rinse and repeat for the 11 week lead up. I had the initial consult mid January and a follow up call with Coach Cody two weeks before BWR. All my Training Peaks boxes were green and I had completed in excess of 95% of the workouts head-on…including the twice weekly Core. I had also completed the Sufferfest 30 Yoga Challenge and extended it out to 50 day to get me to Race Day.

I was carrying a slight niggle in my right knee/quad into Race weekend from the preceding two weeks so I aggressively pre-habbed it with Foam Rolling, Compex Recovery and Epson Salt baths. In the end it held up without any issues.

As a lead up I had planned to go the Rock Cobbler in Bakersfield in February, it’s truly an amazing affair and I was bummed when work got in the way and that plan got deep sixed. Instead three weeks before race day I headed south to Temecula for Jon Hornbeck’s SPNDX Stampede <insert placeholder write up #3> on the Saturday and then stayed for the BWR Recon Ride <insert placeholder write up #4> on the Sunday. Over the weekend I accumulated nearly 150 miles, notching up 90 miles or so on course. I spent much of the Recon Ride on my own as not long after we started the group shattered and we all went our separate ways. I had a course in my Garmin and I followed it like a bloodhound with the scent. As a result I was able to mentally join a lot of the dots and it proved an excellent opportunity to burn in the course in my brain.

My goal for this years BWR was a revisit of last years, a sub 9 hour finish. With the temperatures topping 95f in 2017 last year’s goal got knocked sideways, fell over and was jumped all over due to the heat. In 2017 crossed the line in 11:01 with a moving time of 10:28. So 32 minutes of stoppage time. You can read the full report here. This year the 9 hour goal was to be achieved through two distinct actions; (a) quicker Aid Station stops, I hoped to easily save 15 minutes and (b) an increase in intensity over the day. My Normalized Power in 2017 was 162 (HR 132bpm) and I felt that I could increase this. My FTP had increased from 258 (April 2017) to 268 (January 2018).

It was a lofty goal, made even more so, as this year the course was a mile or so longer, had more dirt and more elevation. The only saving grace was the month earlier meant there was a good chance of cooler temperatures.

So with all that said and some placeholders for what’s not said let’s go on with the show.

My bib number put me in the second of two waves. It was only a 5 minute lag from Wave 1 and I wasn’t overly worried I was racing the clock.

There was a slight delay in the start and instead of rolling out at 7:05am we left the Lost Abbey at 7:35am. Other than an extra 30 minutes of nerves this was no biggie. After a stirring rendition of the National Anthem we were on our way. A couple of sharp right turns and with a Police escort we left San Marcos and hit the long descent towards the first dirt section. Of course, as these things usually go, my Garmin decided to take a dump and reboot. It recycled and came back online within the first mile, other than this it performed without issue (no I don’t want a Wahoo, thanks).

The roll down Del Dios was not really what I would call neutral. Folks knew what was coming and were vying for position. I took the attitude that a long day could be easily cut short by someone doing something stupid so I kept my nose clean and had a gentle but quick descent. I knew what was coming and 4 bikes wide making a switch-back turn up a curb onto single-track dirt Sector could be recipe for disaster!

Straight out of the gate there were some folks struggling with the terrain, skinny tires, rim brakes and 11-25 cassettes make this a challenge. But that’s the joy of this race, equipment choice is critical. Is it a road race with dirt, a gravel race with road…the answer is yes depending on your bike!

Riders were forced to dismount early. Others were sent home! A loud twang followed by an expletive left a SRAM eTap rear derailleur on the side of the trail and someone’s day was over before it got started…unless he had a spare hanger…I am guessing he didn’t! There were plenty of flats, I counted 6-7 in the first mile or so of dirt.

The field strung out quickly as expected. I kept a steady speed knowing roughly what was coming. After some short and sharp climbing we were treated to a nice gnarly descent. It wasn’t long but it wasn’t a cakewalk either. The key here is smooth is fast, choose your line, stick your ass out behind and ride it down like a mountain bike, let all the action happen beneath. I know it sounds easy but it’s amazing what the bike can bounce around and through if you let it.

I kept far enough off the wheel in front the give me bail out room and made it to bottom without issue. A short flattish section followed by a climb back up to Del Dios and we were on the road again. This was really the pipe opener for the day. Spreading people out, testing equipment early and near civilization so it could be fixed and if it couldn’t within reach of SAG or an UBER home. Nobody is coming to find you if you have an unfixable mechanical in Black Canyon.

A right turn and we were heading for Lake Hodges. I have ridden this section multiple times in different months and each time it’s different. The hero dirt of January had been replaced with dust and sand. The good news was the route was well worn by local riders, the bad news was that it was 6-8” wide and opportunities to pass were minimal. Again I was happy to employ the Goldilocks approach, not too fast, not too slow! Keep my nose clean, avoid the big rocks, don’t flat. From memory I knew the right line to take through the stream crossing. Go wide and to the right and it’s 4” deep, take the short route and it’s 6-8” deep with a couple of potholes which add another 6” and will happily swallow your front wheel and give you a nice early bath!

No dramas and I exited this Sector. I saw Becca on the side lines cheering and of all the strange things a Facebook friend from Switzerland! I rode through the Aid Station, I needed nothing and stopping wasn’t on the plan. The next Sector was the Mule Trail; flat, dry and dusty. It was mostly a double track trail where the main challenges was navigating some hikers and other riders who switched lanes without looking.

At the end a right turn and the Sector exited onto the road. This was the first road climb; Highland Valley. Highland Valley is the gift that keeps giving, you climb, catch your breath, climb, climb, and then climb a bit more. I sat in, span up. Did my own thing, passed some and was passed by others. Finally you reach the top and there is a nice roll down towards Ramona.

The key to this road section is to form a group. It’s a gentle climb as you cross this valley plateau on your way to Black Canyon. There was no one in front so I looked over my shoulder and was happy to see 7-8 riders bearing down on me. They rolled by and tagged on. We worked well as a group crossing the 10 mile section in less than 30 minutes. Looking back at this interval my average power was 162 and was spread out nicely across Recovery, Endurance and Tempo. Perfect! Riding in a group is not in my strong suite but I concentrated on the wheel ahead, took my turns at the front, was complimented on an extra long pull and given the advise of not to power off the front when pulling through to lead.

Becca was camped out at the next Aid Station, at Mile 44, and had strict instructions on what I needed. The group broke up a mile or so before this point so I rolled in by myself. I jumped off the bike to pee, I had been wanting to go for the last hour but didn’t want to stop specifically for this, going while on the bike crossed my mind but was followed by visions of ending on the side of the road in a puddle of urine and some nasty road rash who knew where! I saw Becca and made a beeline for her. Bottles off the bike, fresh bottles back on, bars in jersey a quick kiss and I was off. Well under 2 minutes, a good start…or stop as such!

Black Canyon is an up, down, up ride. It’s basically a fire-road and has various vehicles driving up and down it all year round to change the surface structure. There are sections that are sandy, some that are rocky-ish and others that are wash-boarded out from the rain. The first section is the shorter up. It’s a good reminder of what’s to come. You’re soon out of sight of the Aid Station and on your own. As you crest the valley below opens and you get a good vista of what’s ahead. The ride down is like any other, take it easy, smooth is fast, give yourself plenty of room, apex the corners if you can.

At the bottom you catch your breath on a blacktop section that is 40’ long and then you start the second climb. I kept a steady cadence picking off some riders in front and being passed by a few others. I was in my zone. Kept my cadence high and my watts up. I have only ridden the entire Strava Segment on race days, I’ve never quite reached the top during either BWR Camps. The Segment is 17.6 miles in total, last year I took 1:45:44 with a HR of 142bpm, this year it took 1:27:41 with a HR of 145bpm. Faster at mostly the same effort. The cooler temperature was definitely helping although the cloud cover had become thinner the further east we travelled.

At the top there was an Aid Station, I had plenty of supplies so I rolled through and made a right turn onto the road. Up ahead there were two or three smaller groups of 3-4 riders, I tried to bridge up to one group but they splintered on a climb. The groups further ahead formed a peloton and started to pull away from me. A couple of riders bridged up to me, I hung on as long as I could but they were too strong and pulled away. Another group caught me and we tried to work as a group but it wasn’t coming together and they fell off my wheel. The road continued towards The Julian Pie Shop and I thought for a moment that a slice of pie right about now would be pretty tasty. The right turn at the Pie shop pointed me into the wind. It was just sit in dig my way through the miles knowing that at some point I would make another right turn and pick up some shelter. This section really reinforced the need to find a group and work together, I felt I had been bounced up and down the road and wasted a lot of energy trying to hang on or riding into the wind.  The turn came and the head wind eased. Ahead there was a single rider and I focused on their back and wheeled myself up to them. I finally up caught her and passed, she was suffering and had the 1000 yard stare. Shortly after we made a left turn and started the descent back to Black Canyon. The road was pretty badly cracked up and had a fair few number of sharp hairpin turns. Easy and smooth, ride the apex, avoid the big potholes. It was pretty crappy but I concentrated on not making any stupid mistakes. I had ridden the reverse direction during the Recon Ride but traveling at 5mph uphill affords you a lot more thinking time verses traveling downhill at 20mph. The road finally ended in loose, shaley gravel and for a mile of so it was keep the wheels rolling and don’t do anything too fast. Finally I bottomed out back at the bridge and was happy to be back onto the dusty fire road. The climb back out was uneventful and although I was passed by a few riders I pretty much had the trail to myself.

I finally exited the canyon and Becca was there waiting for me with iced bottles and more food, a quick change and I was on my way, another quick stop. I rode out alone but caught another couple of riders who were I had seen several times earlier in the day. There was four of us in total and then another three tagged on and then I fell off the back again. This was getting pretty boring!

As you exit Ramona there is the long descent down the 78 highway. There’s a bike lane, kinda, and there’s usually a headwind, at least that has been my experience to date. Riding it alone is a bit easier than in a group as the cars can navigate their way around you and don’t get too impatient. I wasn’t hammering by any stretch but the road lends itself to speed and 10 miles came and went in 28 minutes and change. As it bottoms out you make the left turn in Bandy Canyon and onto the dirt of Sandy Bandy. This is actually a super fun sector to ride, it’s not technical, it’s flat, you can power your way along it and there are a couple of nice breaks where you can catch your breath. The only challenge is there are some spots with deepish sand but you just drop a few gears and spin through it! At the end you exit onto Bandy Canyon and there is a nasty kicker of a hill which spits you back on Highland Valley Road. This time you to get to ride down the climb and then make a right back onto Mule Trail. This is followed by several Sectors that are strung together.

The first, the Mule Trail was uneventful and I reached the location of where the first Aid Station had been, this was around Mile 99, so roughly 34 to go. The second is back around Lake Hodges without doing anything stupid. Follow the tracks already made, easy through the shallow section of the stream, back through the rock garden, no drama. Smile at and thank the Hikers and other Bikers who pull over and look at you like you’re a lunatic…’cos you are!

At the end I was spat out into the parking lot where we were directed left and across onto the trail that would lead us back to the exit onto Del Dios where we had first entered the dirt. This third Sector is pretty flowy. There are a couple of tricky spots where it’s easier to get off and run or where you may need to dab around your way around. The problem is that you’re tired, doing stupid things with your legs could send them off in a crazy cramping spiral, (been there done that)!

With one dismounted hike-a-bike section and couple of shuffle-dabs I was done. Another left turn onto the fourthg Sector, this was real gravel! Again the path was pretty well established and it was a case of keeping spinning the wheels and keep the cadence high. At the end there are a couple of short climbs which bring you back up to Del Dios. You don’t actually get back on the road but parallel it through to the final section. This is the final Sector in this section; a reverse of the very first dirt of the day. There is a tricky descent, tricky enough that a guy I had being playing tag with since entering Black Canyon was standing on the side with blood on his elbow and knee. I skirted round him and made my way down. Smooth is fast! At the bottom, there is a short flat section and a bridge crossing, the only thing that can go wrong is if you mess up the turning and ride into the bridge!

The other side has the gnarly climb up. I have all the gears I need so I pedaled up without issue, yelling at someone who had missed the turn at the top. In my mind I thought it was a lot longer but it was over fairly quickly. I was passed by Mr. Bloody Elbow, who promptly rode too hard into a corner and crashed again! I stuck to my plan, made my way to the end without issue. The was another Aid Station but I knew that Becca was literally around the next corner at the 110 mile mark and so I rode through.

Again a super fast stop. Fluid and gels were all I needed for the last 20 or so miles, nothing solid. I also sank half a can of Coke, it’s worked in the past but wouldn’t sit well with me this time, shortly after my tummy started to churn but fortunately that was as bad as it got. Rob, a friend from Camp pulled in behind me, he had pulled the plug on his race and offered to lead me back up Del Dios. I jumped at the opportunity. He led me up the climb at a steady pace. It was a long slog and I was tired. We had one more challenge ahead and we both knew it. The climb through Quest Haven to the top of Double Peak, it’s only 4.6 miles and you pick up 1200’ of gain…only, right!

The Oasis was a the bottom of Quest Haven, scantily  clad boys and girls tempt you with lawn chairs and bacon! I topped off one bottle and rode on. I botched a line ride through the dirt and the bike skidded out from under me. I was on the cusp of cramping and toppling over but it held off and I was able to recover. Back on the road you’re treated to 4 or 5 sharp climbs, I passed someone who was walking one of them. It averages around 8% grade here but one section tips up to 13%. The final climb up Double Peak is never fun. Rob was dragging me up and slowly but surely I was making it. Another swig of Coke and it was the long roll back home but not before the final twist, the route turned right that had us heading away from the finish for a while!

Finally with a couple of hundred yards left, I punched it and pulled away from the group I was with to make the right turn into The Lost Abbey and cross the finish line!

Done!

My Garmin said 9:35, I knew I was a little over that due to the reboot at the start. My official time 9:38:52.

79/223 out of my wave 213/413 overall. Faster riders in Wave 1 skew the results.

Overall I had massively improved my time riding a slightly longer and harder course 1:23 (that’s hours and minutes!) faster. I had decreased my stoppage time from 32 minutes to less than 10! Ten minutes! TEN MINUTES! I was blown away! No doubt this was in part to having Becca support me, with a written out plan to follow, even down to Longitude and Latitude co-ordinates on where to stand! She had been able to track me by using the RoadID App on my phone and knew when to roughly expect me. It worked a treat and meant that she didn’t have to wait on standby for hours on end.

I missed my goal by 38 minutes…well 39 I suppose. Nevertheless I was (and am) super happy. Taking 2 hours off was a lofty goal, it would mean being 18% faster than last year. Had I given my all, well I was pretty darn close, there may have been room to go a bit harder, hung with a group for a bit longer, ridden the descents a bit faster? These are all maybe’s at the end of the day.

2017 (top) vs 2018

So with time to reflect and ponder I have come to following conclusion;

The day went about as well as it could of! I had a goal of going sub 9:00. It would take over 2 hours off of last year’s time. My timing goal was on and off all day, at one point I was 10 minutes ahead but I started to flag around mile 110 (go figure!) A massive thanks to Rob who took the longest of pulls to get me over the last 20 miles!

While I missed my goal I remain super happy with my finish. With hindsight and with the pain and tiredness finally subsiding I have concluded that what cost me the time was the down-hills. This may seem counter-intuitive but to be honest I do think the difference can be made with improving my descending skills both on and off road! That takes time on both surfaces and lots of it and my training is indoor constrained due to family, work and the fact that I’m not a Pro! That said perfect practice makes perfect so it’s an identified weakness to work on! Riding down from Double Peak I hit 45mph, that’s fast right…some people hit 55mph! Looking back at all the descents in the race there is always room for improvement. I know that because Strava tells me that while some of them we PRs others were not.

Is there enough to make up 38 minutes…I guess we will have to wait till 2019 to find out!

So thanks for reading this to the end. I have a couple more posts coming with official photos, about the Race itself and my bike set up.

Redlands Strada Rossa IV

This is beyond late in being written and posted but to be honest work got busy and it wasn’t the best of days so I really wasn’t that inclined to sit down and put finger tips to keyboard. But here I am and it will serve as a good reminder when registration comes round again for Redlands Stada Rossa V next year, skip this event.

As a reminder, I rode this race last year but crashed and ended up limping home with a DNF and with my rear derailleur shot and not being able to change gears. So this year I had unfinished business. It was only to be a B race or possibly even a C race but it would be a good opportunity to put my newly installed 11 speed groupset on the Lynskey through its paces and give me a pretty good sense of how I was coming along fitness-wise in the grand scheme of things.

Nice and Shiny! It lasted about 30 minutes!

The event is a fundraiser for the Inland Empire Cycling Alliance. Inland Empire is with San Bernadino and is roughly 120 miles or a solid two-hour drive from my house.

The morning and drive out was uneventful, albeit an early one. About halfway into the drive I realized I had left my wallet behind and that I didn’t have enough gas to get home…so no stress there!

I considered my options; turnaround, call Becca and say could she come out and help, call the AAA or beg someone for some cash! As luck would have it I had been contacted by one of the organizers asking if I could donate some raffle prizes and had a name of someone who could (hopefully) lend me $20 to get home! I had quickly reached out the companies that I am an Ambassador for and to a few others that I know. Unfortunately, I couldn’t drum up anything in the few days’ notice I was given so I raided my closet and found some unworn Truckers from Headsweats. Some socks and a cap from 3T. A few bags of Skratch were pulled from my kitchen cabinet. 3TrainerRoad generously chipped in a 3 month subscription and Thread & Spoke created a special coupon code. I was armed with a box full of swag, a name and a need to borrow some cash!

An enforced stop to find a bathroom put me a little behind schedule and by the time I arrived, met my contact, begged some money, handed off the swag and got my bike the horn blew for the start and we rolled out. 200 yards in I then realized I had forgotten sunscreen, with the possibility of an 8 hour or longer day it seemed stupid to not stop, I quickly shot back to the car and slathered myself. Of course, the small-ish group of 90 mile riders were out of sight! Bugger!

Fortunately I had the route in my Garmin and I was able, after a couple of wrong turns, to get onto the route without too much drama. The first 5-6 miles or so was on and off road but nothing too problematic. There were a few more wrong turns but I quickly corrected my errors and was happily making my way along thinking that I would catch sight to the main group riders at some point. Yeah about that!

Getting out of town…and following tire marks in the dirt!

At Mile 8 the route went off road and here I made a fatal error and missed a turn completely. With hindsight, I should have turned around but at the time it seemed I was on the right trail. I spent an hour riding, hiking up slopes, hiking down slopes, carrying my bike and covered between 5-6 miles. I finally found the missed turning and was back on track. However, I was obviously a long way behind the 90 mile riders. I referenced the route card and altered the distances so I knew what to add on to the miles on my Garmin.

Rideable, Carryable…it’s all the same!

I did some math on the timing and thought that I would probably miss the first Aid Station as it was only serving the 90 mile ride. Even though there were no posted times for AS closing I was so far behind that it only made sense. I though therefore that I would hit the second AS for me which was the first AS for the metric century riders who had set off 30 minutes after me. I would be at Mile 27 including my extra 6 miles and they would be at Mile 13. Don’t worry about the math, just know that I would find an AS at some point!

As I closed in there were no signs of any AS, no popup tent, no empty water jugs, not a soul. Ok I thought then hopefully I would catch something at AS 3 (#2 for the Metric riders) at M44/M29 respectively. I was riding back on the road at this point but had no cash on me to resupply so I went into a gas station, ducked down, used their ice machine to fill my bottles and left. I rode onto the next AS location and as before nothing. Fortunately, this was in a park and I found a water fountain and filled up both my bottles which had some ice left in each!

At this point I been covered 60 miles and been on the go for nearly 7 hours. I had started with two full bottles of Skratch, refilled them with ice around mile 40. I had also grabbed a couple of Clif and RX Bars from home. Usually I would rely on real food but I hadn’t had any time to whip up any portables.

 

Any port in a storm!

Fortunately I am not a heavy drinker and it was not an overly hot day. There was some cloud cover and wasn’t over heating or even close to it. There were a couple of tough climbs where I got a good sweat on and some pretty rough sections but I was managing on my minimal supply and had started to actually ration myself. My food was gone and with 30 miles or so go I had two full bottles of Skratch and the slim possibility of actually finding an AS location manned. I thought it would be around another 2 – 3 hours of riding as I was averaging 12 miles in the hour. I should probably mention that for the entire day after the start I didn’t see one other rider, not one!

I chipped away at the mileage and actually recognized some of the route from the prior year albeit it we were riding in reverse. I was rolling along and minding my own business when I overcooked it on a descent and went over the bars, the bike landed in a heap next to me and my shiny new shifters were all nicely scratched. This added insuIt to injury. I nice cut on my knee rounded things out. I remounted and got on with the day. No point sitting there pouting!

Despite the lack of fuel and fluid I was feeling pretty confident of finishing but it was becoming a race against time to beat the battery on my Garmin. I had, somewhere along the route, lost my route card and without the Garmin I would be lost too. I did have my phone and I was skirting civilization as I went from road section to off road section so there was no real issue of being lost in the woods so to speak. Also unlike last year there were pretty good course markings with chalk arrows and plastic cones so I was able to follow those quite easily.

Long days like this are often more mental than physical, a fact born out by the technical data; Ave HR 128, NP144. Pushing on when you really just want to say ‘eff this is something that is hard to explain but every pedalstroke is getting you closer to the finish. It becomes an internal narration of continuous forward motion and one where you know that stopping just isn’t an option. Anyway, no one is coming to get you!

With all that said it all came a head quickly; my Garmin gave out a final chirp and died. I was in the back of residential area and couldn’t find any arrows or cones. I rode up, down, left and right and really gave it a good go to find the route but I just couldn’t see anything to follow.

I pulled out my phone, hit Google Maps and pulled up the directions back to the car and the start/finish. I was 9 miles away, I would miss the last 2 or 3 off road sections but it was basically the same net mileage. I turned up the volume and listened to the directions as I rolled back to the start. I was expecting to see the promised food and drink and folks telling war stories and the like. I found a deserted parking lot!

I cleaned up, headed to a gas station, grabbed some food from Trader Joes where I could pay with my iPhone and drove the 2 hours home!

If you want to know about the course my best advice is to download the oute and go and ride it. If you are interested here is my Strava file. I am sure it will change next year anyway. It’s not easy or for the fair weather rider. This year was easier than last I am told and I would agree. It’s a long technical day that challenges your fitness and bike handling skills. Compared to the few other Gravel events I have ridden it was much more technical on the off road sections.

I had thought to berate and complain about the event. The mysterious missing Aid Stations were apparently there and I have seen photos online from other riders on the course and at the finish line! By my best guestimate I finished somewhere around 2-3 hours after the second to last person. I would certainly not expect anyone to wait for me for that long and I had signed away my life with the standard waiver at the start. It’s an adventure after all!

There are things that could be improved, this year was better than last and I am sure next year will improve again but my love affair with Strada Rosso is over. I had gone to the race to close unfinished business from last year and even though I didn’t quite ride the entire course and I added a section of my own design, I more or less covered the distance and I was certainly out there for the duration.

 

My Fenix3, which has a better battery life then my Edge810, recorded for just over 11 hours in total, of which 9 hours was moving. I covered 93 miles and 7800’ of gain.

Strava categorized the day as Epic, I wouldn’t disagree!