Watermoo 2022
112 miles. 218W. HR 165.
I think I had this on my calandar somewhat earlier in the year and decided not to do it at one point and then a number of weeks ago decided to give it a go. This would be my longest ride by 6 miles and definitely the longest endurance event running or cycling I have done. I haven't raced since last November, so this was kind of a strange rust buster, but it is a small, well-organized race and pretty close to home. Nice mix of gravel and tar. Some climbing but nothing too long.
I had to get up at 4 in the morning, which was not pleasant, but I got up well enough. Tried to eat a lot of carbs but found it hard to eat. I had packed about 40 oz of electrolytes and however much water my Camelback holds (I think it is around 2L, so basically 4 more 17 oz bottles). I ended up losing the bottles in the race, but had 10 oz of emergency Mike's Mix in one of the larger baby bottles of the boys. Next time I will fill the hydration pack with electrolytes. Had we had the weather from about 10 days ago I wouldn't have made it through the race (or I would have had to have stopped at the refuel stop).
Warmed up 10' just to check everything. Headed out with the lead group who I knew would crush me, but I figured they would ease into it and hopped a splinter group would form and I could have a fast race. Going in I figured a minimum of 17MPH, but wanted around 18.7 to finish in under 6 hours. We were moving along at 20+ for a while and it felt fine. A gap formed at one point in the first 18 miles and it just opened up I wanted to bridge the gap, but my computer mount was loose and starting to fall off, so I stopped to fix it, which I had thankfully put the 2.5 mm allen key in my pack as my multitool doesn't have that size.
I was pretty disappointed to be all alone, but there was almost no wind and the conditions were overcast and cool for the most part, so I told myself I had an almost 100-mile time trial ahead of me if I didn't find someone to work with. I kept pushing and my power kept climbing, averaging into the low 240s for a good bit. Started picking people off after quite a long time. Found a group to work with around 30ish miles and we traded pulls for the next 40ish miles. I put in a lot of pulling and this was probably a mistake. I felt great though and when the pace started to fall I would jump back in the lead and push the pace. We were around 19.5 MPH or so, and I didn't want to slip below 19. We needed more people to take their share of the work but they didn't.
Around 75 miles there is a feedstation. I didn't want to stop, but I didn't want to ride solo. One guy and I struck off and worked together with a few other folks for a bit the race. The water crossing is around mile 77 or 80. Luckily it was only knee deep and maybe 15 feet wide. After that it was a short section of seasonal two track. Really started to bonk around 85 miles or so, and was bacially dead at 100 or 102 miles. I knew I would finish, but I had no power left. I put in a strong finish trying to catch a guy ahead of me. I took around 6 or 7 gels, but think I would probably go with a more carb heavy option such as Maurten for something this long.
Cooled down for 10 minutes.
I had a burger and a beer at Jolly Pumpkin after killing two slices of cheese cake a vendor was selling after the race. I was going to stay and have another beer, but wanted to get home to the boys and Megan had been up with them since 7 or so right when the race started.
I will likely make this a yearly think if I can. Really need to have races I do every year to ground me. So far I have the November mountain bike race, Iceman, which is helping to do that.
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