North Shore Century ride - "something new and different" - Matt Aaronson
This was not a race or training but is a good story of "what happens when someone trained for a specific thing does something different".
Today I rode the North Shore Century in Chicago's Northern suburbs. I rode with EN teammates Ed Gross and Jeff Linkus and his GF, and also another buddy of mine named Joe. I saw Bruce Thompson, Claudia and some other EN-ers at the start too. It's a popular event.
I have not trained for the Century distance. All of my events this year were HIM distance, so I'm really good at riding for up to 3 hours at z3 with z4 intervals in the first hour, and I'm also good at riding for 2 hours at z3 the day after. I did a small handful of over-distance rides this year – two 75-milers early in the season, two 80-milers mid-season, and an epic ride of the IMWI course which was 108 miles and had a similar outcome to today's ride.
My last race was HIM distance on Sep 9, and I've only ridden twice since then for a total of 3 hours. Also I tapered for the race, so my volume was not high for about the last month. Essentially I'm now in season-over mode, and just doing some fun riding without goals other than to stay active and try to get on the bike twice a week for a least an hour to ensure my FTP does not get completely destroyed for the months before starting the January OS. Road bike only. And no looking at power until the ride is over. Just simple rules like that to ensure the focus is on fun.
One other thing is that my SAU bank account is totally empty after a long season of training and racing. So I probably shouldn't have done the ride but I figured if we started at 7am I could make it back by 1pm (including driving 30 mins from the start back to my house) and not get in too much crap at home. My kids were doing a sleepover at my parents' house so my wife would be able to sleep in and that would keep her happy (or so I thought).
The ride started out crisp with temps at 39 degrees, although it warmed up and eventually got into the 60s. It was perfect weather. The wind was from the WNW at about 10mph, so the first 50 miles heading essentially north were more-or-less into the wind (a bit of NE towards the halfway point), and the return trip was more-or-less a tailwind. But the wind wasn't a huge factor since it was much more W than N and the route was more N/S than E/W.
We set off just after 7am at a nice leisurely pace, and this gradually increased as we got warmed up. After the first aid station we for sure picked up the pace and settled into a good effort. The second aid station was the turnaround for the 70-mile route and so we lost Jeff Linkus and Steph who had some other things to do on a Sunday and needed to get back. I probably should have turned around since we were spending about 10-12 minutes at the aid stations and not quite hitting a 20mph average, but I figured with a tailwind on the return leg that 1pm was still possible. That proved to be a dumb call.
About 2 miles out of the second aid station Ed got a flat which cost us 14 minutes. But we dialed up the pace and seemed to really be cruising. We fell into a single-file paceline and I was pulling for a good portion but at one point after hitting the Wisconsin border I turned around and Ed and Joe were gone – the guys behind me were total strangers!!! Crap!! Well, I figured they'd catch up at the next aid station.
By the time we got to the aid station at the 54 mile point I knew I was hosed, time-wise. I used the restroom and eventually saw Ed and Joe. They had just arrived so were not quite ready to go. I was under the gun to keep moving so we parted ways and I hit the road. I was really hoping to find a big pack of guys doing 25 mph who I could draft off of to get back faster.
Knowing I was only halfway and had a ways to go, I wisely decided not to start hammering and rather just go at a comfortably hard pace. I maintained my commitment not to look at my power and rode by RPE. Unfortunately there were no fast groups and the only people riding with me were people I passed who would draft off me for a mile or two before dropping. When I got to the next aid station I stopped for a couple of minutes but decided to keep going because a big group from VisionQuest (hardcore cyclists and triathletes) was rolling out and I thought I could catch up to them and draft. For some reason they were only doing about 19mph so I decided to pass them and keep going it alone.
At about that point – 80 or so miles – I could tell I was starting to tire. My legs were fatigued and I was having trouble maintaining the 21-22mph that was very easy for the period from the 54 mile aid station to the 72 mile aid station. But we were getting back into some familiar roads that I ride on during training so I knew the landmarks and how much was left until the finish. I hit the lap button when I passed a coffee shop that is the turnaround for a lot of ABP training rides and from there I knew it would be smooth sailing to the end. But man my legs were fried. Also I think I was dehydrated and hitting the wall…my nutrition for the whole ride was 2 bottles of Gatorade, a mini clif bar and 3oz of trail mix (which was being given out at the second aid station. Plus a handful of pretzels.
I was not in fine form as I got to the finish but man did I get my bike in the car and get out of Dodge FAST!!! It was about 1:15pm and I was driving with my rear pockets still crammed full of uneaten bars, the removable sleeves of my jacket, etc, etc.
I certainly was in trouble on the home front but it could have been worse.
The data is below and it is totally predictable. Overall I averaged z3 output (based on a tri-bike FTP measured at peak in-season fitness), which makes sense since my HIM training has me optimized for z3 riding. Starting at around 75 miles my power declines. I'm not trained for long rides, and that is clearly evident. No material HR decoupling…both power and HR decline as my weary legs are pushed beyond what they're trained for and can't take it. I suspect if I had allowed myself to look at power output I would have pushed harder to keep the wattage up…which would have resulted in decoupling and a REALLY hard end to the ride.
Overall I like doing events like this – having some fun and staying in shape, and going out on a limb doing things you're not trained for but that aren't so unreasonable that it's unwise to attempt them.
OVERALL: 101.52 miles in 5:16:01 (19.3mph). NP 205 / IF 0.809 / TSS 344.4. Elapsed time 16:16:37.
Miles 0-10: 35' / 17.0 mph. NP 149 / IF 0.585. HR 109.
Miles 10-18: 27' / 17.9 mph. NP 200 / IF 0.789. HR 125.
Aid station #1 – 12.5'
Miles 18-33: 46' / 19.2 mph. NP 229 / IF 0.901. HR 136.
Aid station #2 – 13'
Miles 33-35: 7' / 17.1 mph. NP 198 / IF 0.779. HR 129.
Flat tire – 13'
Miles 35-54: 57' / 20.2 mph. NP 225 / IF 0.885. HR 145.
Aid station #3 – 13'
Miles 54-72: 52' / 20.4 mph. NP 212 / IF 0.835. HR 143.
Aid station #4 – 2.5'
Miles 72-88: 49' / 19.6 mph. NP 197 / IF 0.774. HR 140.
Miles 88-101: 39' / 20.0 mph. NP 181 / IF 0.712. HR 138.
Cheers,
Matt
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Comments
@ Matt - It was nice to see you at the start of the NSC. While it would have been fun (for a while) to ride with you, I knew my legs just didn't have it in them to ride at your pace only 2 weeks after IMWI. So I rode with the Lifetime Fitness cycle club and we puttered along at 16 mph average for the century. It was really more of a social thing as people talked alot, stopped and hit the buffet for 15-20 minutes at each rest area, had beers waiting for us at the end. I certainly began to feel the fatigue of the miles on the last 35 miles or so. Interestingly, my arms and hands got really tired from sitting upright for so long ( I didn't ride in aero bars at all for the first half of the ride since too many other riders around). On the way home I'd purposely drop off the back of a group so I could ride aero which felt more comfortable to me than sitting up.
Sorry to hear that you're in the dog house.
Congrats again on becoming a WSM!! Well deserved.
Yeah, I really approached the ride with a post-season mentality. Since there was no training goal and no structure I really thought it would be easy-peasy. But 100 miles is no joke, esp for a guy who hardly ever rides more than 60-65 miles for training.
@ Bruce, the road bike position also threw me for a curveball and my lower back was feeling pretty sore by mile 75 or so. My arms and hands weren't too bad although the multiple hand positioons afforded by the road handlebars probably had a lot to do with that. When I ride my tri bike in the base bars my hands get sore pretty quickly.