Doh moments and race sim notes

John and I drove out to the R. Dawg course again. I was going to leave first this time and do the full expert course. But when I went to get my shoes/helmet. Doh! I'd left my bag in the garage. I even sat in the car before we left my driveway and went through a checklist, helmet, check, shoes, check, etc. Um how could I check it off if I didn't have it?

I ended up riding home in sandals and helmetless. Got my stuff and rode back out to hook up with him on the course. My saddle felt way to high in the sandals and I could feel my hamstrings from the extra stretch they got later in the ride.

Kudos to John for shaving 8 minutes off his time from last week. He has a new secret. It can shave 8 minutes of YOUR time too. I will sell it to the highest bidder... Ok I'll give it away. It's called eating.

Pre-race meals and eating enough carbs during the ride/race.

I stuffed myself this morning at 5:30am. I ran 3 small bottles of HEED at 1.5 scoops=37grams/bottle. It was too high a concentration as I started to get that bloated feeling. The first bottle got drained in an hour, but even 2:20 into it I hadn't finished the second bottle, I was just feeling too bloated to want to drink it. I put started on the third one at around 2:40. I was starting to feel the energy drain a little, which makes sense cause if you're not drinking the drink than there isn't any carbs going in.

Afterwards when I tried to drink stuff for recovery everything tasted sickly sickly sweet.

I am thinking that if I've got a full tank from the pre race meal, that 37g/hr is too much. I'm, going to drop to 1 scoop/bottle which equates to 25g. The concern is that this is too low to keep the bonk from coming in a race. It's such a fine line between keeping good energy and no bonking and getting bloated.

John made a comment that my pallette seems to have gotten reprogramed a little. Cause honestly I am not craving sweet stuff at all. This is coming from someone who practically has enshrined Reeses on this BLOG. It's just after the last race I'm really sensitive to sweet tastes.

In the past 3 weeks. I have had 1 candy bar and 1 ice-cream and like 2 sodas. All felt like mistakes. I used to have sevearl candy bars a week, and ice-cream or other dessert at least 2-3 times/week. The only real sugary stuff I'm eating is gatorade or Heed for riding.

This creates a somewhat of a Catch 22 for me. Simple sugars are absorbed faster which is imperative during racing. But the simple stuff tastes sweeter. Other sugars don't clear as fast but don't taste as sweet.

Hopefully cutting the concentration of the HEED will help me to drink enough to keep from bonking but not get bloated. I can't even fathom the thought of hammer gel. Maybe it was the plain stuff I'd been using as I don't recall the rasberry or Power gel creating such a negative taste reaction with me.

Riding wise I felt ok. Last night's trainer workout was a tough one. On the way back out to the trails I rode up old farm for time. 17:44. 36 seconds off my PR. Not bad. And I cleaned this one section that I always walk when going for time, but can clean when just riding for the clean.

from the 3 way back to the finish I shaved a minute from last week. But definitely wasn't as motivated as last week, and was a little more fatigued.

To dually is coming along. It felt pretty good today. Seems to be a great climber, and standing feels better than the HP. Downhills felt slightly better today, and it definitely carves the loose turns better than the hardtail. The longer wheelbase helps hold more speed through the corners and I'm glad I went with the 17" over the 15".

Someone asked for a picture:


The review is coming. I need more time to get dialed on it.