A PR SECRET I USED LAST WEEKEND TO RIP IT UP

THERE'S SOMETHING I DID LAST WEEKEND AT THE LEADVILLE STAGE RACE THAT YOU OUGHTA KNOW ABOUT.  I ripped PRs on almost every section of the course.  Granted, it was a stage race vs the normal 1 day 100 mile format, but still... 

... a PR is a PR.

I doubled down, tripled down?, on PR Lotion and Lactigo.  Before 'xplain it, let me just say when stage racing...

... recovery is key.

Not only did I feel great every day, but I had a truly great performance on the last day...

... because I was chasing a ghost.

Matt, from San Diego, and I connected at the start line.  We'd been riding together on and off throughout the weekend. 

He took off hard at the start with the leaders.  I couldn't quite hang on, and found myself with a couple of other cats.  We came around a corner 12 minutes later and there he was on the side of the road.  I encouraged him to hurry - no way I was stopping.

The three of us were rotating pretty good.  I was starting to get my legs and settle in.  Looking back, I could see Matt was closing.  

He caught us, recovered a bit, and pulled through.  A gap opened so I closed it.  We never saw the other two again.  Instead, we started rotating and closing in on riders ahead of us.

Fast forward to the feared Powerline climb...

... Matt drops me, slowly, rocky by rock.

Finally he's out of sight.  But, I'm still going strong and I am pretty sure I can descend faster than him.

At the top, I uncork it all and really hammer...

... I'm hellbent on catching him.

Up the paved climb to Carter Summit I'm feeling amazing.  Stomping on the pedals, out of the saddle.  I drop a youngun' about the size of a toothpick...

... it's on.

Down St. Kevin's on a blistering pace, bursting out into the valley, I'm in a full aero, TT position putting down the power...

... where is that cat?

At the bottom of the Boulevard, the watts are still strong.

How much further?

'bout 3 miles.

Three miles from the last aid station to the finish. 

I'm flying.  A light drizzle tickles my cheeks.  It feels so good to be ripping up this gravel road that has broken my heart so many times...

.. but still no sign of Matt.

Up the final climb, into the rodeo corral, across the line...

... in record time.

So fast, in fact, that I've wildly exceeded my expectations and cracked 7.5 hrs aggregate time.

Gasping for air, with my finisher's medal around my neck...

... Matt crosses the line, 5ish minutes back.

I waive him down.

Where'd you go?

I stopped to help the kid with the broken chain.

You're a freaking stud!

He must be, because I doubt he used this double/triple secret.

Each morning, at 630am I put on a thick coat of PR lotion.  Then, put on a second layer about 815am when I slipped on my kit.

That's the double part.

Here's the triple.

After each stage I showered, dried, and put on Lactigo. 

Then, lay on my back with my legs against the wall.  As I lay there, I reached up to my legs and dug my fingers in and pulled/squeezed down from ankles to nethers.  The lactigo is real slimly until it dries.  

Of course, I also got a good 20 minutes of HyperVolt on the legs after that and pounded a bottle of Skratch Recovery after each stage.

https://pedalindustries.com/collections/recovery

I guess if you look at it like that, I quadrupled down.

If you want to save about $100 on those products, you gotta join the PEDALposse.

https://pedalindustries.com/products/the-pedalposse

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