24 Hour Time Trial
As has been the case with many people, the last year and a half or so hasn’t gone according to plan for various reasons. After a long year of working through various issues including a chronic injury to both knees, I was finally able to get on my new Specialized Shiv TT bike and start training for an ultra-distance race a few months ago. My training mostly went according to plan, minus a couple of frustrating trips to Borrego Springs for long training rides on the race course that didn’t go well. I tried not to dwell on those setbacks and was able to put in a solid three week training block leading into race week.
It was a bit of a mental challenge going into the race knowing I wouldn’t be able to ride nearly as many miles as I have in the past. I was fairly certain that I could hit 400 miles if everything went smoothly and conditions were favorable. I had a solid crew coming out to help with Rich and Terry Walsh and Pat Hurter. My friends Susan and Tim were also planning to come out on Saturday morning for backup if needed. All of them have either crewed for me in the past or are familiar with the race so I felt very comfortable that they knew how to take care of me.
Overall, I felt pretty calm leading up to the race start. They placed me in the first start wave based on my previous results, but I knew there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with anyone in the group. Despite all my mental preparation knowing this would happen, I still struggled to get into the right headspace for several hours, feeling like I wasn’t living up to everyone’s expectations. It took awhile, but I finally got there and was able to focus on enjoying the race experience and riding for no one but myself.
As anyone who did the race has already mentioned, the wind was brutal for the first 10-11 hours of the race, and blowing in the typical direction from the west so that we were fighting a headwind up the steady 1-1.5% grade on Borrego Springs Road. In spite of the wind, I was keeping a steady pace and staying on track for my goal of 400 miles. I was also staying on top of my race nutrition and hydration, which seemed to be working really well for me. My plan was to take in a 600 calorie bottle of Spiz every two laps and to take a new water bottle every lap. I knew Rich would give me a hard time if I was handing back Spiz bottles that weren’t empty, so I made sure to finish them off before coming into the pit. It seemed to be working well – my stomach was feeling good and I was surprised to find that I wasn’t really craving any solid food.
I knew that the key to hitting my goal would be to stay on the bike as much as possible while keeping my pace steady. For the first 12 hours, I did a great job of both. I had only stopped for about five minutes for a pitstop and my lap splits were pretty consistent, but the wind had taken a lot out of me. My legs felt decent because they were well trained for this, but the rest of my body was feeling strained from the effort it took to keep the bike upright against the wind. I promised myself a short break at the halfway point and looked forward to getting off the bike for a few minutes and lying down to take some strain off my back and neck. I had asked for a PBJ during my break, but I found that I still wasn’t really wanting to take in any solid food. The only thing that sounded appetizing at all was plain street taco flour tortillas so I ate a few of those while I rested and my crew gave my bike some TLC and Rich worked some of the knots out of my back and neck.
Getting back on the bike, I was a little disappointed to see that I’d just burned about 20 minutes off the bike and my goal was to keep my off the bike time to less than 30 minutes. I figured I could stay on track if I just took one more short break after another six hours, but didn’t make any effort to increase my pace to make up the lost time. I’m not sure I could have if I wanted to anyway. After another hour the sun came up and I looked forward to feeling more awake and a little warmer. Unfortunately, it got a little warmer than I was hoping for within a few hours. But on the plus side, the wind had definitely died down.
I was feeling pretty miserable, but all things considered I was in better shape than I typically am at the halfway point of a 24 hour TT. I had been battling hot foot on and off for a few hours and was occasionally feeling like my legs were on the verge of cramping up, but I was working through everything pretty well. My stomach still seemed to be tolerating the Spiz just fine. I had brought a whole bin filled with fig bars and Clif Z bars and I ate exactly one of each, a few flour tortillas, and a handful of grapes. Other than that it was just Spiz, a few gels, an iced coffee drink, and a few small cans of soda.
Susan and Tim made it out around mid-morning to cheer me on and give my tired crew a little help. It definitely gave me a little boost as well to see them in the pit. I was still on track to hit 400 miles with about six hours to go, but it was really starting to get warm. I really wanted to stick to my plan of staying on the bike, but with about five hours to go I found myself feeling a little disoriented and nauseated. It was early in the lap, so I figured I’d take it easy and see how I felt when I heard from the crew toward the end of the lap and tell them I needed another short break if I still wasn’t feeling so great. I was trying to troubleshoot to figure out what I might need. I wasn’t terribly hungry or thirsty and figured I’d probably just feel more nauseated if I tried to force down more calories or fluid. I decided to come back in for a short break when I got back to the pit. I spent about 15 minutes lying on my back with my feel elevated and an ice sock cooling me down. I knew the 400 mile goal was slipping away from me, but I had also known all along that the conditions might not allow that goal to happen. I was confident that my fitness level combined with the race conditions necessitated more time off the bike than I’d anticipated and I was at peace with that.
The break seemed to help me feel a little more comfortable, but I was definitely starting to feel like I was running on fumes. Although the wind had changed direction and was now pushing us up the shallow grade, it was also about 10 degrees warmer on that section of the course so I still dreaded getting onto that stretch of road every lap. After another lap, Rich let me know that they would be switching to the short loop with two hours to go, so I really only had time to do one more long loop. He encouraged me to just take it easy and then come in for a short break again before going out to finish on the short loop, where it wouldn’t be as hot. I took his advice and I think that was by far my slowest time on the long loop, then cooled off for a few more minutes before finishing strong with about five laps on the short loop.
My total for the day was 388.8 miles, a bit shy of my 400 mile goal and even a few miles short of my mileage from my first 24 hour time trial in 2017. Despite that, I’m very happy with both my performance and the outcome. I maintained the speed and effort I had planned for when I was on the bike. I just spent more time off the bike than anticipated, which I feel that the conditions necessitated. I may not be back to my peak race fitness, but I feel like I put together an almost perfectly executed race for where I’m at right now. And it was great to be back at a race again and to see lots of familiar faces. It was a huge emotional boost to hear so many people cheering me on as I rolled through the pit almost every lap.
My crew got my car packed up and got me back to my hotel within about an hour of the race fitness, which was crucial as I only had about 17 hours to rest up and recover for my next event, the 6 hour time trial on Sunday…
6 Hour Time Trial
I registered for the 6-12-24 Hour WTTC about a year and a half ago, as it was supposed to occur in October of 2020 then was cancelled due to the pandemic. It was the first time they were putting on the 6 hour time trial on a separate day and making it possible for someone to race in two events. I decided to go ahead and register for both because it sounded like an interesting challenge. Registration for both events rolled over to this year when the race was cancelled last year, and I decided to go ahead and stay on the roster for both events even though I wasn’t sure earlier this year whether I would even be healthy enough to do the 24 hour event. Leading into the race, I had been feeling pretty good on the bike. I wasn’t sure how it would feel to get back on the bike the day after a 24 hour race, but I was willing to give it a try.
The plan was to prioritize rest, hydrating, refueling, and spending as much time in my Air Relax compression boots as possible between Saturday night and Sunday morning. I took an Epsom salt bath in the hotel room and put the compression boots on while I ate some dinner. After I finished eating, I was struggling to keep my eyes open and it wasn’t comfortable enough to get to sleep with the compression boots on, so I only spent about 15-30 minutes in them. But I did get a pretty solid 6-7 hours of sleep. I think I woke up and ate a snack at some point. I naturally woke up a little earlier than I needed to, so I was able to spent a full hour in the compression boots before leaving to park in the pit area. I got there with plenty of time to get all my gear and nutrition re-organized before the race started at 10:00 am. Aside from a couple of people who were doubling up the 12 and 6 hour events, I was the only one crazy enough to show up for the 6 hour race after finishing the 24 hour. It was an entirely different crowd of people for the 6 hour race. None of them had any idea who I was or that I had just finished racing for 24 hours the previous evening.
I was placed in the first starting wave once again, which felt kind of silly since I had no intention of trying to keep up with anyone in that group. I had made the decision to ride my Cannondale System Six aero road bike with clip on bars rather than the TT bike. I was more concerned about being comfortable than being fast, and it was definitely the right decision. My legs did not feel fantastic as I left the starting line, but it didn’t take too long for them to warm up. I was also feeling a cramping sensation in my right side that lasted for an hour or so. I wasn’t pushing myself hard at all and opted to switch over to the screen on my Garmin that only shows elapsed time, heart rate, and cadence so that I wouldn’t even think about any other data. Because about 95% of my training the last few months has been on my TT bike, it took me almost the entire first lap to remember that I had drops on my road bike, which gave me a whole other position to use.
I carried a water bottle and a Spiz bottle on the bike and figured I would need to stop each lap to refill the water bottle. I was riding self-supported, so it meant taking a couple minutes each lap to ride over to my car. I found myself trying to think about making it through two laps before stopping, but realized there was really no point in killing myself just to save a minute or two. By the end of the first lap, I realized the Spiz was going to get too warm on the bike, so I’d be better off carrying two water bottles and either eating solid food on the bike or chugging from the Spiz bottle between laps. I was riding at such a low intensity I wasn’t sure I’d need that much nutrition anyway. I figured with two water bottles, I could probably go two laps without stopping, but I ended up draining both bottles on the second lap and went back in to refill them again. I also realized that I definitely needed to keep taking in calories even riding at the lower intensity.
After a few hours, I was surprised to find that I was actually feeling really good. I felt like I was able to start increasing my effort just a bit and my heart rate was actually going into Zone 2. I knew I could bonk at any moment so I still wasn’t pushing too hard. When I came in after the fourth lap, I saw some other cyclists coming in from the short loop, so I was glad I wasn’t going to have to make the choice to go back out for a long loop or kill time until they made the switch. I started trying to crunch numbers in my head and wasn’t sure how accurate I was, but was pretty sure I could put in 100 miles before the time limit.
The field for the 6 hour race was pretty small so I didn’t see too many other racers out on the long loop – mainly a few of the faster ones who lapped me on my 3rd or 4th lap. But on the short loop I was starting to pass a bunch of people who looked like they had gone out too hard and were falling apart. It felt surreal to see all these people in salt-soaked kits fighting off cramps while I probably could have been holding a conversation with someone the entire ride and was just starting to get into a groove.
I finished my final lap with less than 10 minutes on the clock and had just hit 100 miles. As I was packing up my car, another racer walked by and sounded annoyed as he made a comment about how I had way too much energy to burn when I flew by him on that last lap and that maybe I should have used that energy earlier in the race. He obviously had no idea what I’d just done and was probably more annoyed about the fact that he had gone out too hard and blown up, so I just let it slide.
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out this weekend. I felt as strong as I could have hoped for both events and it was a huge confidence boost that I am going to be able to continue racing ultra distances. As I started my way up the Glass Elevator (Montezuma Valley Road) on my way back home on Monday, I thought about how defeated I had felt the last couple of times I’d made this drive after aborted long training rides. I smiled with satisfaction that I’d faced my demons and put together a great weekend of racing. I haven’t made a firm decision about what my plans will be for 2022, but I definitely think I will be putting at least 2-3 races on my calendar and hope to have a good plan within the next few weeks.
Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support over the last week. It felt great to know that so many people were cheering me on virtually and to feel so much support at the race itself. I am extremely grateful to Pat, Rich, Terry, Tim, and Susan for working together like a well-oiled machine to keep me on the bike. Thanks as well to my coach Rachel for putting together a training program that got me to the starting line as fit as possible and for talking me through a couple of rough patches during the race. Also, I would never have been able to put in the training that I have in the last few months without the assistance of Paraic at Cyclologic in Scottsdale, AZ in setting up my bike fits so that my knee pain is almost completely eliminated. Thanks once again to The Bike Shop for their support and for keeping my race machines tuned up, to Vertix Ultra for an awesome communication system, and to Randy Ice at Spiz.