HOT LAPS IN THE HIGH COUNTRY

WELP, THAT HURT.  10 days out from my A race and I thought it would be good to get some intensity in.  Just my luck, there's a local MTB midweek race not far from where we are staying...

... was it too hard?

The course was just silly.  Straight up for 3 miles, straight down for 1 mile, 1 mile flat through Start/Finish and do it again.  Being in a taper mode, I'm pretty fresh so while I was struggling to breath at 6000'...

... my numbers surprised me...

... partly because the data collector was in my back pocket vs on my bars.

For the actual race portion, ave HR 167/max 177 and ave est. power 257/max 1287.  Those are pretty good numbers for me and I think it's because we've been doing similar outputs...

... on our Hot Laps Wednesday.

Which brings me to my points:  there is nothing better than race specific training on the type of course you'll be racing...

... get as close as possible, it matters.

The best for me was having a good battle for, I think, 4th in Expert A.  The last lap I was caught and passed on the climb.  He was going strong.  But, I had a little advantage on the DH. 

I had passed him early on the first lap, and when he caught me  on the final climb I let him pass and encouraged him on, and he did the same for me going down a few minutes later. It was narrow enough and fast enough he could easily have blocked me, which would have made for a barbanger on the 1/2 mile flat to the finish... I love battling like that.  It's the best, bringing out the best in each other.

Ten days out, I'm feeling pretty on track.

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About halfway through I had a small puncture.  Sealant spraying out and quickly doing it's thing - Orange Seal.

I thought I might have to  jam a little dart in the hole, air up, and race on! 

It's a fast enough process, I would have been able to race on and probably only lose a few positions.

The Dyna plus system is super light and takes up very little space in my Mini RaceDay Bag™.

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