SOMETIMES PRE-VIEWING IS JUST A HECKUVA A GOOD REMINDER
THE FIRST WE EVER RACE A COURSE, taking the time to recon from parking to finish, even if it's just the first 5 miles...
... can pay oodles and oodles.
If we have the time,
pay the dime.
Pre-view it all.
But, what if we've already raced it?
Trust me on this...
- the turns
- the sunlight angles
- how the herd responds over undulations
... we'll never have the course as dialed as the locals.
I was reminded of this today
- 36 miles
- 4500' of vert
- most of it off road
... pre-riding the first 33ish miles of our upcoming epic SurfNSummit.
The reminder wasn't the route so much as these specific issues...
- check your batteries - the one day I don't check the shifter batteries the night before and my casual spin to the start turns into sprinting home to replace a 2032 and then pin it to meet the crew - we don't wait, ever.
- respect the pre-ride like we'd expect the race day - I went low on my calories/bottle and extra gels in the pocket and really suffered for it on the way back
- if at all possible - have the cold/icy water if it's going to be hot vs the "room temperature" free water that was as warm as the outside air of 100º. this made eating the NutttrButtrs during the last 90 minutes impossible because my stomach wasn't loving the hot water
- have the bike in the finest working order - that fouled rear 2-speed unable to access my 3 lowest gears made the 50 minute climb unnecessarily challenging
- pace to race - in this case, while grateful to have 4 of the posse join us, they weren't doing the whole thing and rather than high zone 2, we were bouncing between tempo and threshold for the first 90 minutes, which is not the plan for the epic adventure
... that said, it was great to push the pace and be reminded of such idiocy.
Interestingly, while the big climb was a definite grind, and with the superlow cadence I couldn't put out as much power...
... my time was only 7 seconds slower than during the event last year.
Go figure.
No.
Go preview,
as much as possible.
And if we can't in person,
we try and dig up some YouTube intel.
===
165.4 lbs/12.4%
7ish hours sleep
480ish anti-oxidant level
Upper Body: 0 push ups, 0 pull ups, hand gripper, shoulder press, curls
Lower Body: 0 box jumps (24"), Bulgarian split squats with 25lb dumbells, nordic curls, heel and toe raises
89/113/-24 per Strava Power &Relative Effort (whatever that means)
What I'm reading: Full Black, Brad Thor
What I'm studying: The entire works of Neville Goddard, all kinds of marketing, Old Testament