Stage 2 was going to be interesting mostly to see just how the body was going to respond. I felt pretty beat up yesterday after the ride so it was interesting to see whether or not the body was going to have enough time to heal and get ready for Day 2. I sat around the food tent and grazed after yesterday's race. I also ran a Compex active recovery sesion followed by running the massage stick over the tired legs. It must have helped because the legs felt OK today - they did not feel snappy by any means but after a tough Day 1, I was expecting some heaviness.
I will be following the same protocol again tonight with a Compex active recovery session followed by 'the stick'.
As for today's stage...it was similar to yesterday although much much rootier! The middle section of the 48km was filled with roots and nastiness...it really forced many a dismount and some sketch downhilling. The rumor has it that Day 3 tomorrow is going to be filled with roots from start to finish - so today's middle section is only a teaser of what is in store from start to finish tomorrow. We had slightly less climbing than we did yesterday but it was still a hard day. The last 7 km were phenomenal though. The reward after getting beat up all day was a downhill that was superb. It was fun, fast, flowy...and most importantly it was SMOOTH. People in these parts love their roots and their rock - WOW. I am not used to having people pass me on the downhill but that happened a fair amount today.
The biggest culprit was the rear tire. My super low profile rear tire did not like the wet slippery rocks. I think the support staff also inflated my tires overnight (they do that if they see low tires) and I believe they way way way over-inflated my tires which defeated the purpose of being tubeless on today's terrain. I am swapping out tires to a more aggressive rear tire in order to be better equiped for the remaining days. The rear tire was definitely a loose cannon today and I paid the price with knock to my ego on the tekkie skills and also with a couple of great falls - one which could have turned out badly but fortunately did not!
All in all, this is definitely a tougher venue than I thought it was going to be and I believe that these first two days were the easier days all week so things will only ramp up over the week - Giddy Up!
I will be following the same protocol again tonight with a Compex active recovery session followed by 'the stick'.
As for today's stage...it was similar to yesterday although much much rootier! The middle section of the 48km was filled with roots and nastiness...it really forced many a dismount and some sketch downhilling. The rumor has it that Day 3 tomorrow is going to be filled with roots from start to finish - so today's middle section is only a teaser of what is in store from start to finish tomorrow. We had slightly less climbing than we did yesterday but it was still a hard day. The last 7 km were phenomenal though. The reward after getting beat up all day was a downhill that was superb. It was fun, fast, flowy...and most importantly it was SMOOTH. People in these parts love their roots and their rock - WOW. I am not used to having people pass me on the downhill but that happened a fair amount today.
The biggest culprit was the rear tire. My super low profile rear tire did not like the wet slippery rocks. I think the support staff also inflated my tires overnight (they do that if they see low tires) and I believe they way way way over-inflated my tires which defeated the purpose of being tubeless on today's terrain. I am swapping out tires to a more aggressive rear tire in order to be better equiped for the remaining days. The rear tire was definitely a loose cannon today and I paid the price with knock to my ego on the tekkie skills and also with a couple of great falls - one which could have turned out badly but fortunately did not!
All in all, this is definitely a tougher venue than I thought it was going to be and I believe that these first two days were the easier days all week so things will only ramp up over the week - Giddy Up!
Way to go Tiago! We miss you! Erin, Moby and Otis
ReplyDelete