Monday, July 21, 2014

2014 High Cascades 100 Pre Race thoughts....

There is always a certain level of anticipation and trepidation going into any hundie for me.  This year's HC100 would be no different.  The questions always linger...Did I train enough (perhaps)?  Did I over-train (most unlikely)?  Would the bike hold up?  Did I have the nutrition dialed?  hydration dialed? bike dialed? course dialed? management of conditions? etc...

As with everything, you can always get into analysis paralysis and at some point you just have to get on your bike and ride.

This year had a few extra variables involved.  I broke my Lynskey frame about 3 months ago and had subsequently been riding the wife's single speed for most of my training.  I got my new Lynskey about a month before the race and was in a bit of a mad rush to get it built up and ready to ride so I could get used to the bike prior to race day.  I was able to get one longer ride in but still did not feel like I was one with the bike.  This was a big unknown relative to how the body would feel after several hours on the bike.
My training was a bit more of a question mark for me this year too.  My longest training ride was not as long as I would have liked due to the bike shuffling but also due to a bit of a mechanical on my scheduled long ride.  I was about 25 miles into my ride when I sliced the sidewall of my tire open and had to put a boot into my sidewall to get me back home.
From a nutrition standpoint I went with a liquid calorie approach...how would the stomach hold up?
From a gear ratio perspective, I also changed it up from the past two years.  My first HC100, I went with a 32x20.  Last year I went with a 32x19.  This year I had been riding a 32x18 all year and left that on for race day.  How would the legs hold up?

There were also some other variables involved that everyone else was dealing with...The trail conditions were softer/looser this year.  We had snow drifts in the high country so there was bound to be more hike a bike.  The course proper was not finalized until the week before the race.  This made it difficult to pre-ride big sections of the course (combo of snow and course finalization).  The weather was also a big unknown as it had been in the mid to high 90's leading up to race day.

The other cool thing about this year's race was that the wife signed up for a long day in the saddle too.  This year would also have a different flavor because of that.  It was fun to see her get her long training rides and also go through the agonies of pondering the similar questions above.

Race reporting forthcoming...


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