Stradalli goes to MI-Barry Roubaix 2017

The Barry Roubaix gravel road course and I have never had a great relationship. I am not a good climber and this route is all up and down for 36 miles. To put it nicely, I do not enjoy riding this route even on the nicest of days...
So why did I go to MI to race it??? I haven't been to MI in 6 months. I was excited to see my friends and family and thought this would be a great way to see a bunch of people all at one event. Plus, I'm in way better shape than I have ever been. I figured I could hammer this thing out in 2 hours and possibly win some money to help cover the cost of my plane ticket (top 10 overall women had nice payouts). Also, even though I don't like the course, the event is so awesome and well run. The streets of downtown Hastings are shut down. There is a huge fenced area with fire pits, a Founders beer truck, and thousands of cyclists! So fun! The race caps out at 3500 racers and it's known as "the worlds largest gravel road race". There are three distances to choose from 22 miles, 36 miles, and 62 miles. I am in shape for the 62 and I considered it. I chickened out signing up for it knowing the weather in MI could range from snowing to 70 degrees, but most likely, cold! Turns out I made a good choice. I signed up for the 36.
Watching the forecast I started mentally prepping for a nasty day on the bike. Forecast showed high of 48 and 100% chance of rain with 15-18 mph winds. The morning of, I headed to Hastings with a pretty good attitude. Temps were in the 30's with a "real feel" of 23. I had tons of warm clothes and my Bar Mitts to keep my hands dry. We lined up and I headed for the front of the pack. The race was going off in waves of 100 people or so. We took off and I was feeling fine. We had a small group of fast girls and my plan was to stay with them. Well, that didn't happen. Even though I'm a better climber than I used to be, I was still DYING on the climbs. They pulled away and I'd reel them back in on the flats and down hills but ultimately they just out climbed me. I was still quite a ways ahead of the rest of my wave. I must've been about 5th overall women. I settled in and just focused on catching one rider after another trying to hold my 5th ish place. I probably passed 300-400 guys that had started in waves ahead of me.

These pictures give you a good feel for course conditions....

About half way through the race I was already bummed that I lost the lead group and then it started pouring. I hate to admit it but I mentally broke. My usual "fire" was no where to be found. My shoes filled with icy water, my gloves and bar mitts filled with icy water, and every layer of clothes was soaked through. The winds picked up and it was like being trapped in my worst nightmare. I hate being cold. I was trying to not panic (holy crap I'm going to freeze to death) and I contemplated quitting. I think the only reason I didn't quit was, if I stopped riding to wait for a pick up, I would have been even colder. I had a lot of pep talks to myself in my head. But nothing could get me back in race mode.
Conversations with myself:
E, there's a chick passing you right now. You're not even going to be top 10...COME ON-You're not even trying. Drop the hammer, do your thing, chase her. You've got this!!!
Nothing happened. I don't know how else to explain it.
E, drink some water. Just reach down and grab the bottle, you need water.
Nothing (never touched my water)
E, eat your Gu blocks
Nada
E, get on that guys wheel as he's going by
Nope
I barely remember the last hour of the race. I just wanted to get to my car. That's all that mattered to me. My legs were numb. My fingers were numb too. I could not feel the shifters or the brakes.  I just about wiped out on a downhill with a turn at the bottom.  I hit the brakes but nothing happened. I think it was because I couldn't tell what my fingers were doing.  Although, I heard a bunch of racers lost their brake pads in all the mud. We finally got to the pavement in downtown Hastings and again tried to talk myself into riding hard. I just couldn't. I was frozen, literally and figuratively, I guess.
I finished. Some of my friends had been standing around in the rain to wait for me to finish. I did not see them. I was too focused on getting to my car. I rode through the finish and headed straight for my car.

I just about burst in to tears when I couldn't get the key out of my pocket and into the lock. My hands were shaking so violently I couldn't get the car open.
I managed to get in and get the heat going. It was quite the task getting changed. I had so many layers on, and there was so much dirt, and my hands were numb and shaking. I had brought hot water to drink and poured some in my bottle. Instead of going to the beer area and getting food at one of the stands I went to a restaurant. My friend Kim helped get us to some seats (I could barely speak) and I ordered a hot chocolate, soup, and pasta. I had my full ski outfit on. Snow pants and all. By the time we got done eating I was functioning again and the shaking had stopped. I headed for the beer and fire pits. I was feeling better and had an awesome time catching up with everyone and sipping on a Founders Dirty Bastard. 

I missed seeing a lot of friends because most of them stayed home when they saw the weather. I'm really glad I toughed this out and finished, though I'm bummed I couldn't seem to pull it together after the rains hit.   I really don't have a good explanation for what happened and why I couldn't pull it together. I think the weather just broke me! Major Kudos to all who raced. I ended up 13 out of 106 (Overall Women 36 mile).  Missing my top ten by 2 minutes. Ugh.
Before Saturday there were only two bike rides I had absolutely zero fun riding. I now have 3. Two out of the three are on the Barry Roubaix course....hmmmm?!? :-) (The other was Iceman '15. I know my MI friends all remember that one!)
I was super happy to have my Stradalli, Honey Bee, in town with me. Although, I'm not sure Honey Bee is happy to be in Michigan!

The final Coconut Cup

The day after the Tour De Picayune started early!  I had to get up and drive to Miami (from Fort Myers) to finish my 6th race in the Coconut Cup Series.  I had slept good but knew there was no way I'd be able to be competitive in the race.  I geared up and headed out for a little pre-ride.  My balance felt totally off and I honestly felt like bursting in to tears I was so tired. 
I lined up at the start and as soon as those girls jumped ahead of me off the line I forgot all about being tired.  My competitiveness just completely took over! I rode the first lap in 3rd.  We were actually having a lot of fun.  The three of us were chit chatting away and having fun riding bikes!  This reminded me of why I race, and why I love this sport, and why I got up at the crack of dawn, exhausted, and drove to Miami-IT's FUN!  Yes, I'm serious about training, riding hard, and trying to win, but ultimately, I do this because it's fun!  If it ever becomes not fun, I won't do it any more.
Our chit chat session got cut short as some Cat 2 guys came around us and took down our lead rider.  I waited until she got up and we continued on.  Even though I had a decent first lap my exhaustion caught up to me.  The first place rider had gotten away in the crash, and I had to let second place go. I knew there was a rider behind me still so I kept on the gas as much as possible.  I could see her coming for me on the switch backs! 
On the last lap, the second place rider had slowed down due to a broken seat.  She was trying to finish standing up!  I went around her and ended up finishing the race in second.  I guess you just never know what's going to happen in a race!

Since this was the final race, there was a cookout afterward.  They announced the winners of each category for the Coconut Cup series.  I was second overall in the Women's Cat 1 group.

Great ending to the Florida Mountain Bike Season!

 

Tour de Picayune 2017-50 Miler

The Tour de Picayune is one of those races that the locals talk about all year.  The course is in the Picayune Strand State Forest.  It's a 27 mile loop that consists of two tracks, single track, and some gravel roads.  Doesn't sound too bad, right?  Well, most of the two tracks are sand, some of them miles of deep beach sand. The single track is fun but it's not your usual "worn in" smooth dirt.  Between the sand and the vegetation you ride over it makes the entire 27 miles a grind. To keep things even more interesting, the trail is in the absolute middle of nowhere, with no bail out options. I have ridden the trail a handful of times before the race.
It seems like my friends and I have been talking about this race for months and then all of a sudden I realized it was 3 days away.  I put a post on Facebook asking some of my endurance rider friends to chime in with any tips for a 5 hour race (I've never raced for longer than 3 hours).  I don't like to eat while riding but I knew I had to in order to ride for 5 hours straight.  Also, I didn't want to "ride" I wanted to "race" and wanted peak performance. I received many tips and I pieced together what I thought would work for me. I didn't want to try anything new on race day (always a terrible idea).  So I decided to use the nutrition I'd been using but more of it.  I also tried one new thing. Beets.  I read a few articles and it seemed easy to try and has the potential to increase performance/stamina by 15%. That's A LOT!  I bought some fresh beets a few days before the race and ground them up in my daily protein shakes.  The fruit I put in the shakes cut down the nasty taste.  My stomach handled them fine so I loaded up my shakes with beets for a few days and the morning of.
I felt great the morning of the race.  My plan was to try and hang with the winners of past years (Bill and Andy).  Yeah, I know, this was a pretty lofty goal but....the last thing I said to my besties JR and JP was Go Big or Go Home!   I lined up next to Bill and Andy at the start.  We took off and I was behind a few of my fast friends (part of our top 5 group at Piggy's Revenge)  I thought they would be trying to follow Bill and Andy too but they weren't going for it and were falling behind just a few minutes in to the start.  I shouted "don't let them go".  When I realized they weren't going to go for it, I went around them and dropped the hammer to catch back on to the lead guys.  So, here we were 5 minutes into a 5 hour race and I was balls out-lol.  I knew they wouldn't keep up that pace so I was trying to hang on until they settled in to their endurance pace.  Unfortunately, about 10 minutes in I had to let them go.  There were four guys in front of me so I was 5th.  My goal was a top 5 finish so I was Ok with this.  Unfortunately, my speed was not fast enough to hang with the top group but faster than the gang behind me.  I settled in for a long lonely solo ride. About halfway through the first loop I saw the 4th place rider, Jerald!  He pulled away from me again in the sand but I "burned a match" a caught him.  I figured the two of us working together was better than solo!  I rode his wheel for miles and miles.  I told him I could take a pull and help him out. He didn't respond and looked at me like I was a crazy lunatic.   OK, whatever, I'll stay behind you! (He later told me the crazy look was because I was too small to draft behind-ha). As we were nearing the end of the first loop, I touched my foot down to keep balance in some sand and felt a weird twinge in my left quad. Like the muscle was giving out.  This was the beginning of "cramping"  I've always heard people say "I was cramping" but I have never cramped in all my years of racing.  I had no idea what to do.  I wasn't even half done with the race.  I have a bad knee on my right side so I usually pedal with 70% left leg and 30% right leg.  I started focusing on pedaling hard with my right leg to try and save the left.  This worked.  I was just getting little twinges here and there and was able to keep going. 
Near the end of the trail is a BRUTAL sand section.  If you stay off to the side the ground is a little firmer but there are trees and bushes along the side.  I decided that branches in the face were better than trying to get through the deep sand.  So I plowed through the trees-ha!  I lost Jerald during this time.  He was really good in the sand.  I finished the first lap by myself.  I stopped and filled my camelbak and bottle with cold water.  It tasted amazing!

I looked down the road to see if anyone was behind me.  No one coming and Jerald was long gone in front of me.  Here we go, lap 2 solo, is what I was figuring.  I turned up the tunes on my headphones and headed out feeling dang good! Things got better when I caught up to Jerald again.  I was in my own little zone by this point and I rode on by him with a "hi".  It might've been smart to hang on his wheel but I just wanted to keep plowing along at my own pace.  We went back and forth quite a few times.  He'd do better in the sand, and I'd do better on the harder surfaces. At exactly the 3 hour 50 minute mark I experienced my first real cramp-HOLY CRAP! That hurt.  I was thinking for a minute I was going to be limping my way out of there on foot.  I let my left hang unclipped in and pedaled with just my right leg.  I let the left leg spasm itself out and then slowly tried to clip it back in and get that leg spinning circles while the right leg did all the work. Recently Bob McCarty taught me how to rest my legs while standing.  If you drop your heels and lock your knees it takes the strain off your quads and stretches your calves.  Feels awesome!  I was trying to do this rest move and this is when I realized just how brutal this trail is.  The rough terrain, whether it be the sand or the foliage you're riding over, does not allow for coasting.  I would stop pedaling, stand and drop into rest position and would roll about 10 feet before the bike stopped...sigh...so much for resting.  I did this about 5 times to try to get my legs to calm down.  I did get a little rest and was able to continue on.  Finally, what seemed like out of nowhere, a crowd of people appeared at the side of the trail screaming.  Holy Crap! We were at Snake Pit (a camp about 20 minutes from the end of the trail).  This totally renewed my energy.  I was following Jerald through the single track at this point.  I started singing some Katy Perry behind him and he said "do you want to go?". Must be he didn't like my singing. I was like "yep!"  It felt so good to be on single track moving the bike around and being in and out of the saddle.  Besides the cramping issues, my energy was off the charts.  I dropped the hammer through the last single track mostly right leg pedaling but whipping around the corners and riding over every log-over like a Pro.  I hit the miles of sand at the end of the ride and rode it terrible.  I was off the bike 7-8 times from loss of momentum.  (Later, talking to everyone after, this seemed to be a common problem.  Just no power left to ride through it!) I was surprised to see that Jerald was not in sight. I was actually going to finish this thing in the top 4!

 I knew I had finished well!

 I was so happy to be OFF my bike!

Bill, Andy, and I at the finish

 The finish line!

Sooo tired...

I stayed on the power for the last miles of gravel.  Pulling into the finish was the best feeling ever.  I knew I had seriously just crushed that ride. I had planned for 5 hours but crossed the finish in 4:28.  The best surprise when I got to the end was- the 3rd place rider had dropped out of the race.  The only riders waiting for me were Bill and Andy.
Jerald rolled in a few minutes behind me.  I had no idea where the others were behind me the entire time.  I was sure they were only minutes behind me.  Since I am used to cross country races that are only 1.5-2 hours (you're full-on the entire race) I kept feeling like I was riding slow at an endurance pace!  The other riders ended up finishing near the 5 hour mark and beyond. 
I ended being surprised again when I found out the top three finishers received prizes!  Bill, Andy, and I went out to Snake Pit to receive our prizes. Wes (race coordinator) had sandwiches for us too.  It was all I could do to choke down a half of sandwich.  My stomach was a disaster from eating all of that sugary crap during the race.  I think it's safe to say, I gave that race every thing I had.  I was absolutely exhausted and sick!  I hung out with my friends for a bit, mostly staring blankly and feeling like crap.  I got home, went to bed, and got up at 5 to head for Miami to race again!  The final Coconut Cup was the next day at Markham Park!
My conclusion is that beets are awesome :-)
As always, thanks to Stradalli for the sweet ride.  Many thanks to Erik Keller for the awesome photos,  Picayune Nature Club, Wes, and the other great volunteers