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1st 100k race


ps's picture

By ps - Posted on 21 June 2010

Re: This ride meeting: 
Husky Enduro 2010
Status: 
Finished
Time: 
06:08:20
Position (Overall): 
174
Race Category: 
100km/Male/Masters
Position (Category): 
61

Stayed with the in-laws in Kiama the night before and left a bit late to get to the start on time. Was still getting dressed during the rider briefing and got to the briefing area just as a group went down to the start line so did my warmup in the 100 meters across the car park to the start line.

Wasn't really sure what to expect although I knew it would be harder than the dirtworks 50K. Mainly flat fire trail and single trail in the first 10-15k. Lots of places to pass and trains of riders grouped together. Got caught out 6 inches off line while following someone closely as we went past one of the many puddles and went through a rut soaking my right foot. Spent the next few minutes complaining to myself about having a cold right foot until we got to what looked like a creek crossing. Followed the guys in front through as it was only a foot or so deep. No need to complain about my right foot anymore as now everyone had wet feet. The next puddle was the deepest at about knee hight and everyone carried their bikes through. This continued the trend of cooling off every half hour or so in varying depth and consistency puddles.

Came across my first wooden bridge over a big log and though thats really narrow. Made it over the top however must have been looking at the following left turn as I dropped off it half way down. Lots of other log rolls followed throughout the race and I think I rode all of them. Was so happy that I bought a copy of the bike mag to read while taking one of the kids to the doctors a few weeks ago. I think I only hit my chain ring once and that was because I hesitated and didn't have enough speed. That dvd made life a lot easier getting up and over the many logs.

Rode by myself for a while through more single trail and was a bit careless passing one rutted section as my back wheel slipped down into a rut and flicked the bike sideways while I slid to a halt up against a tree. Dropped down into a section of single track and worked out fairly quickly that I need to improve my technical skills. Got into a good rhythm and ended up catching up to someone. Followed him for a while until he spun after hooking his front wheel on a corner. One of the guys behind me who had caught up asked to pass however the other guys were happy with the pace. Wow that single track stuff is fun. Lots of variety in the three different single track sections and they all flowed really well. Most of them were on the side of lightly forested hills so a fair bit of off camber up and downhill corners with little climbs and switchbacks. Some nice berms in places and while I probably wasn't fast I was starting to get the hang of things after a while.

There were a few hills although nothing too steep. Slowed down after the 50k mark as I had not trained that much and never been past 70k in a ride. Most of the fire trail sections were fairly short generally with only a couple of lines because of erosion or tyre tracks. Had intermittent cramps from about 70k onwards. Very happy the kilometre signs kept going past and the golf course finally appeared.

Overall a really enjoyable ride with lots of technical sections.

Rob's picture

That's a nice time for your first 100!

hawkeye's picture

no less. Excellent effort, Paul.

ps's picture

At least I have the excuse that i dont know any better. Every time I saw a single speed I shook my head. They make a conscious choice to ride a hardtail with no gears.

Happy enough with the time although I now know that cramping is bad. A lot slower than my DW50 time over the first 50 so no idea how these other guys went so fast.

hawkeye's picture

with a hardtail. They're just ... harder. Sticking out tongue Smiling

ps's picture

Thanks fro the comment, wasn't really sure what to expect although my bother has been giving me a lot of advice and used to take me on training rides so I had an expectation that I would end up in the 6hr range.

A very easy 2:36 in the DW50 gave me confidence to push a bit harder at the start however I now have some idea of the gulf between preparing for a 50k and a 100k. Due to a variety of things I really only got my training act together over the last 3 weeks before the race.

Keen to understand why I got cramps. Never had them before and don't normally drink endura supplements or gatorade during a ride. Been looking through the site for cramping causes and solutions and while there is a wealth of information its clearly a complex problem.

I didn't start drinking my strong mix of endura optimizer until after the 50k mark. Also drank only water the night and morning before the race. Seems like I should start with something simple like taking the optimizer before and during the race. Is small changes to preparation the go here?

Rob's picture

Eye-wink

Erm... well, these days I take magnesium supplement daily. It seems to take a while to build up in your body. Before I took supplements just ate a zillion bananas the week before a long ride. Now, rather than drink that stuff on the race (other than the usual morning intake) , I put a pinch of salt in whatever I'm drinking and rely on the reserves. Seems to work.

All that said - Steve01 said he used to take supplements and stopped and doesn't think they make any difference. They probably clash with his chocolate and ice-cream diet to be honest! Eye-wink

hawkeye's picture

quite easily but attention to stretching after my gym workouts has helped reduce that significantly. My cycling physio recommended magnesium orotate, which I will look at shortly as I start to train for the Back Yamma Bigfoot 50km.

armo's picture

My GP suggested that I take magniesium suppliments a lest a month before Dirt Works to allow a steady build up in system, a week before drink 700ml mix of water and Enduro to mantain good fluid balance.

ps's picture

Thanks, everyone keeps saying magnesium and thats also the trend with Endura however my brother insisted we have a few beers before the DW and no cramps. No beer before Husky and cramps.

Seems pretty simple to me that its all about the beer however as a concession to the science guys I will also be more consistent with the endura stuff beforehand. Also someone suggested that training properly will help, might be something in that theory.

Matt_B's picture

I only had two beers before Husky and cramped
I knew i was at least one, maybe two short on the ideal prep
Definitely a correlation there

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