BRAIN TRUST OR BRAIN BUST
IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO PRE-RIDE THE COURSE, if you can. Sometimes it's weeks or months in advance, others a or two prior...
... which one is best?
Well, I can tell you which one isn't.
Today, Kyle and I hooked up with some friends from Utah.
How long we riding?
Oh, just an hour.
Where to?
The start, then over to the finish.
How? long??
Maybe 90ish minutes.
Which was about what I wanted to do.
2.5 hours later,
we got back to the finish.
What happened?
We depended on...
- an impossibly small map
- one person to figure it out
- signs, which were not yest posted, to guide us
... consequently mixing up several courses into a long route.
Along the way...
- we climbed a short, nasty hill, not on the course
- missed the finishing mile or three
- and, I slightly bonked
... saw a bunch of beautiful countryside we wouldn't have seen.
The point of all this?
Let me put it this way, when just three of us went out in separate vehicles to do some more recon no one got turned around and we saw what we needed to see.
So, when should we pre-ride...
... as early as possible.
Why?
So just in case we do some extra miles...
... we have plenty of time to recover, and replay and dissect what we experienced.
Do pros do this?
Oh heckyeah!
If not in real life, for sure pouring over maps and other intel.
Why else would Primoz have been so chill when he lost 6 minutes to Ben O'Conner two weeks ago...
... he knew the terrain that followed would favor him to regain the lead today.
PS: Special Vuelta inspired kit...
... and use promo code GCRED and save 30% on the GC Red gear.
Here's the link: https://pedalindustries.com/collections/the-gc-collection
... code expires on 9.10.24.
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161
7ish hrs
No strength work
10 minutes recovery
30 minutes reading + Journaling