My first ultra-endurance event ended with a big fat DNF. The main issue is that I caught a cold before the race and was not able to ride the bike for about two weeks. Then during the race, I didn't consume enough calories and ran out of gas. Oh, and I guess I kind of gave up too. <whine>But I had excuses!</whine>
What went right: I showed up at the start line despite being woefully unprepared.
One thing I was happy about was that my inactive time was only 33 minutes total. I feel that I made pretty efficient use of my time considering I was riding unsupported.
About 20 miles from the end I got caught in the worst weather I have ever been in on my bike. It was an intense hail storm, the road was covered in hail AND I was also climbing up a pretty good hill. It was actually kind of fun, I just smiled and kept pedalling. I wonder what all the people in the cars that passed me thought?
What went wrong: Nothing went horribly wrong during the event, it was more an unfunny comedy of errors. One problem I had that threw me off was that I had a bag of perpetuem in my front jacket pocket. The constant motion broke it open and with the rain, the perpetuem literally glued the pocket zipper shut. This was the pocket that had all my snacks (fig newtons) and enduralytes so I was unable to access them. It wasn't a fatal problem but it was very distracting.
It never fails: putting brand-new tires on the bike is the surest way of guaranteeing a flat, especially if they're expensive tubulars. I noticed a flat tire about 5 miles from the end but fortunately it didn't take a lot of time to fix: stopped the bike, checked the tire, pulled the sliver of glass out, put in some Stan's, inflated w/CO2, back on my way in less than four minutes.
Lessons learned:
1. I am now tracking the amount of calories consumed during a ride. Previously, I had just noted what was consumed without bothering to actually count the calories. For the LaC I only consumed a total of 2310 calories and thus averaged a mere 224 calories/hour. I need to see if getting this up to at least 300 cal/hr will provide a benefit.
2. If the event organizers are providing consumables at time stops, no need to stuff the jersey pockets.
3. Don't quit pedaling. I threw in the towel at 6pm; if I'd gotten onto the day loop and puttered along for one lap at 10 MPH, I would have at least received full credit for a 12-hour ride.
4. For training I did a lot of short intense rides, I need to get more endurance rides too.
5. Pre-ride maintenance should include cleats. Lost a screw off of one cleat, the entire assembly was loose enough to move by hand when I checked it afterwards.
6. Carefully examine the map and cue sheet before the ride. Despite having the route in GPS I still took a few wrong turns. Fortunately the Garmin let me know fairly soon, but the bonus feet were unnecessary.
7. I experienced some mild nausea towards the end. I think it may be due to mixing up a two-hour bottle of Perpetuem (3+ scoops) but then not taking in enough plain water to dilute it to the proper strength. I will stick with one-hour bottles for the next few rides to see if this makes a difference.
