First Attempt at the Course

rlh2000

I did my first ride on the course today. Relentless would be the word I give it, and I agree with everything I've ever heard about it. Wow. Physically tough, but more so mentally/physically. I did about 87 miles (end of the stick + 2 loops).  I did a really bad job at riding at steady power, but a lot of times I was in my lowest gear and going super slow and still spiking power.  I've only been riding with power for about a month, so I know I can work on evening it out more than I did. I am disappointed in my 15 mph though, has me majorly rethinking my expectations (was thinking 17+ mph- oops!). I rode with the VisionQuest supported ride, so we left as a group, and I had my first experience of everyone just leaving me in their dust as they were just powering up everything and I was trying to keep my watts in check. I realize how must restraint that is going to take on race day!

 Here's the Garmin (the IF/TSS isn't correct- can't figure out how to change my FTP- any help with this?) -

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349245766

 Going to the rally next weekend, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot there, but feel free to give any feedback!

 

Nemo Brauch

Rachel- looking at your file, it seems to me you are a l'il peep like me! I've done Wisconsin twice and love that course. But for l'il peeps like us it does take tremendous patience. My FTP the years I did IMLP was around 150-160 (I don't remember exactly) and II completed the course in just over 7 hours with a great run the first year and a not so great run the second year. So somewhere around 15mph is about what you should expect. A few things to consider:

- when you are a l'il peep, there are simply some hills that you won't be able to get over and stay in the recommended power zone. it's just physics. What you don't want to do is let that number on the screen freak you out. But, what you can do is try to minimize the damage as much as possible. You essentially need to spin up so that if you went any slower you'd fall over.

- because of the above issue- it's even more important that you stay in your zones during the rest of the ride. while other folks may have a little wiggle room to make mistakes- you don't- all your wiggle room is going to be used up on the above hills, so you must stay smart

- gearing. do you have a compact crank? what cassette on the back are you using? take every gear you can!

- nutrition. this is where I messed up the second year. that course is particularly tough to manage on the nutrition front because you are either descending down something fast and don't want to pull your hands away to eat or spinning up so slow you might fall over and don't want to pull your hands off to eat/drink. The automatic timer on your watch will go off at exactly the wrong time every time and its real easy to get behind. So next time you do the course, make a lot of mental notes of where you will make sure to get some hydration and fuel during the race and set your plan to eat at those times vs a timed interval.

trigirl1203

Rachel- I agree with everything that Nemo said above. I am also considered a "lil peep" and struggle on those hills...even with an 11/28 cassette I am forced to grind my way up those hills (the 3 biggies and Mt. Horeb climbs). The best advice is to really just do whatever you can to keep your cadence as high as possible. Like Nemo said, you have to watch your zones then for the rest of the ride. I know EN states to ride the first 40 mi in zone 1 then the remainder of the ride in zone 2, but I try to keep the whole ride in upper zone 1 because I do have to compensate for how high my power spikes on those hills. I am having a compact crank put on my bike this week for the camp this weekend, so hopefully that will help even more-Like Rich says-Mo gears, Mo Better

Don't worry about your mph. If you are taking that course at 15 mph and run the marathon, you will be passing many of the 16/17 and even 18mph folks that hammered the bike.

This weekend up there SUCKED. I rode 80 mi Saturday and 40 mi Sunday-Each day was windy, cold, and Saturday rainy. That wind is usually never that bad climbing into Mt. Horeb...It was terrible this weekend. Use this weekend as an awesome mental training weekend. It'll hopefully be much warmer/less windy race day

Hopefully we can meet this weekend at the camp! Looking forward to talking with you more!

Lori Beck

I was out there on Saturday too. Felt like a early May ride with the temp and wind! Great mental training!

Cadence question for all of you...on the big hills...even with a compact and 11-27...my cadence is still low. Are you able to spin on the hills?

See you at camp this weekend!

trigirl1203

Lori- I currently have an 11-28 and my bike is at the shop as week speak getting a compact crank put on. But with just the 11-28, I'm still grinding with a very low cadence. I just do my best to spin as much as possible when the hill plateaus for a bit...especially on the first major hill, it starts steep, then there's a bit of time where it plateaus, in which I get my cadence really high to drop my numbers out of the 300s. Then its back to grinding just because I am out of gears. Going to try out the compact crank with the 11-28 on Friday-I'm excited to see if it does make a significant difference. Will you be up at the camp this weekend also?

Brian Bird

@Lori - this is going to be my primary focus this weekend at the camp -- trying to match a cadence to a watts that is not too high.  Last time I found I was down around 45-50 RPM even with a compact front 11-28 rear.

trigirl1203

Not happy to hear that Brian. I was hoping the compact would magically have me spinning a 90+ cadence up those hills

Brian Bird

@Lauren -- sorry there was a typo -- forgot to include the 1 in front of the 45    -- the compact will help.

 

 

Lori Beck

Thanks Brian and Lauren.

Yep, I'll be back up there Thursday! Im looking forward to he camp. I also need to figure how to get a higher cadence on those hills....pay back on the run hurts! :-)