Week #30 The Rift - 18th Overall / 3rd Masters

The Rift in Iceland did not disappoint. Not everyday you get to ride 200K of the hardest gravel roads around a volcano. The race had a neutral roll out for about 5 miles of pavement then it was game on. The lead group took off and I knew I couldn't handle that pace so I settled in to the second pack.
We had pre rode the first part of the course and knew about the first water crossing of the day. All of them were rideable (well I fell in one about half way through the race), but deep up to mid calf. It seemed like the weather changed as much as the scenery. Starting out raining, then wind, sometimes sleet, more wind, luckily a tailwind, more headwinds, strong crosswinds and then there were the hills so steep we had to walk.
I felt fairly strong the first 100 miles then I began to have troubles holding my pace. The only mechanical of the day happened around mile 50 where I ended up stopping and putting a tube in my tire since it wasn't holding air. Not sure were the leak was, but it wouldn't seal up.
Somewhere around 15ish miles to go a group of 4 guys caught me and there were two master riders in the group. I tried to go with them without any luck. I was able to hang onto 18th overall and 3rd masters for the day.
The Lauf True Grit was a great bike for the course. It was so technical at spots and I have zero mountain biking skills. I was on Panaracer Gravel Kings SK 38s. Probably should have been riding 43s with all the large rock and washboard roads, but who knew.
I tried to eat Science in Sport gels all day, but I had trouble taking my hands off the handlebars since the terrain was so rough. I look back and I should have eaten more food between hours 4-6 in the race. This is something I will work on for Gravel Worlds.
Probably one of the neatest thing about the race was rolling over 2,000 miles for the month at 100 miles into the day. The Rift was my 3rd race also for July. I know that I am ready for a short recovery break and be ready at Gravel Worlds on August 17th.
#moveupoffroad #fueledbyscience #isotonicsquad #laufforks #ucantu #flyvie13 #possmdoping #unlearnpavement #justanotherdayonthebike #joypowerjuly #joypower

Week #29 Bohemian Sto Mil - 1st Overall and still getting in some big miles

The Bohemian Sto Mil turned out to be a great race. I was a little worried since I had crashed so bad last year. I made sure that I would take all of the MMRs very easy and ride the gravel as hard as I needed to. We had a group of 6 for the first 30ish miles. It was good since there was a head wind for 20+ miles. Once we had the wind at our back, Josh and I started to make a few moves to see who was ready to race. I was most worried about Anton Krupicka (awesome trail runner) who is now getting into gravel racing. Knowing how talented his is, that engine can translate over to the bike fairly easy. Anton did bridge back up to me after my first break but he had a little trouble on a descent and I was able to open the gap up again. Around 70ish miles (at the second checkpoint) I did see him again so I tried to ride the flats really hard. When I got to the big hill at mile 79, I tried to just ride steady and ended up with the KOM. There were enough turns in the course that I couldn't ever see Anton again and ended up winning by almost 5 minutes. Super happy with all the miles I have been getting in and how tired my body is. With over 2,100 miles in the last 28 days and 2 races / 2 wins, I feel that I am in really good shape. This week will actually be a little of a rest week and then racing again on Saturday in Iceland. It will be a fun trip and hopefully my body will react ok with the traveling.

Week #28 Another BIG week in the saddle

So if nothing else comes out of #joypowerjuly, I did get in 2051 miles in the last 28 days. I should be able to make the goal of 2000 miles in July since I went over 1000 miles on the 13th. There will be the travel days while racing in Iceland but hopefully I will only have to take one day off the bike.
The last few weeks have been hard and I do notice I am tired all of the time. Overall though, my training has been going really good. I feel like the last couple of races have been really strong and hopefully that will carry through to Gravel Worlds. The other good thing is I have been able to get my weight down to under 145 lbs. I would like to try to keep it around there through GW if I can.
Next up is Sto Mil on Saturday. First goal is not to wreck, second goal is not to wreck, but if I do, not break anything. Hopefully we can just ride it at a controlled pace and not have to work very hard. After that it is off to Iceland to see what I can do over there.

Week #27 Husker Hondo - 1st Overall

The Husker Hondo turned out to be a tougher race than expected. Han-Wei Wang showed up to do his first gravel race and rode strong. By the halfway checkpoint, myself, Josh, and Han-Wei had pulled away. I luckily knew the course and was able to open up a gap once we rolled out of the checkpoint. Han-Wei had a crash on a corner and a couple missed turned which gave me the advantage. I was happy with how I rode on the long stretches in the second half of the race. Luckily there were enough rolling hills that I was able to keep the gap.
I also had another big week of training - 534.8 miles. That makes 1,093.4 for the last two weeks. I am not sure I will get 2,000 miles in for July, but hopefully I can at least have a 4 week period that is close. If anyone is interested in joining https://www.strava.com/clubs/joypowerjuly it would be great to see how many miles we can all get in together.

Week #26 June = Big Miles

I was able to get 1900 miles in for the month of June. This is the biggest month I have been able to get in so far. Hopefully I will be able to get that 2000 mile month in someday. Doable, but still a lot of time in the saddle. Wasn't quite sure if I was going to be able to finish Saturday's ride, when my chain broke going up a hill and I crashed. Luckily we were able to get it repaired quickly and I only had a few cuts on me. There will be a couple big rides this coming week but after that I will start to rest a little before The Rift in Iceland at the end of the month.