LOTOJA 2013
(Road Cycle Event)
Distance: about 205 miles
Time: 9:21:32
Pace: 21.9 mph
Category/Division: Cyclosportive/Mens 25+
Division Place: 1st (2nd in Cyclosportive category about 1 minute 10 seconds behind a 2 person relay team).
Overall Place: ??? "Cyclosportive" (mine) and "Race" categories were different distances; so not an apples-to-apples comparison (Cyclosportive course about 3 miles longer than Race course).
King of the Mountain Place (Overall/Category/Division): about 42nd overall; 1st in Cyclosportive category; 1st in Mens 25+ Division
Apologies for the longer than needed post...Do not feel obligated to read...
Really happy with the ways things turned-out for this race. This was my second year doing LoToJa (last year was the first). I was a bit leary about what to expect going into it this year. My running and cycling training had been going well through the first half of the summer. I was following a very similar regimen to last year (about 80+ running miles/wk and ~130-150 cycling miles/wk) until a glute injury befell me mid-July. Still not exactly sure if the injury was more running or cycling-related (probably more running), but at any rate, my running training has been dismal at best since then. The cycling training has remained about the same or been a little better. So fitness-wise, I didn't quite know what to expect. I felt pretty good about my cycling, but feared that the missed running-fitness could end up hurting me. That said, I had a couple of good, real consistent cycling weeks leading up to the race and was pretty relaxed about the whole thing.
Last year when I signed-up for the race, I registed in the Licensed Cat 5 "Race" category. This year, I didn't plan on really doing any other cycling races other than LoToJa and didn't want to pay the 60 something bucks for the annual license through USA Cycling. So, I signed up under the Cyclosportive category (formerly the "Citizen" category). By definition, the Cyclosportive category is supposed to be a less competitive "grand fonda" type category. However, my experience from last year was that it was actually just as competitive as the Race Cat 5's (see results from last year). So, I didn't think I'd be missing-out on anything from a competitve standpoint by doing the Cyclosportive category. Plus, according to the rules, Cyclosportive racers have more latitude to work with other groups during the race. Technically, race category riders are only supposed to ride with those in there same start group (although it can't be enforced that well and doesn't really happen during race).
One thing I didn't realize until a few days before the race is that the courses would be different for the Race and Cyclosportive classwa on the first leg from Logan to Preston. The Cyclosportive category would follow the old traditional ~33 mile route to Preston, while the Racers would ride a new route a little ways to the east that was about 30 miles. Shortly after Preston, the courses would converge and follow the same traditional route the rest of the way to Teton Village. The shorter race course and great weather conditions made for a lot of fast times on the day. But it muddies the water trying to compare results in the two categories.
As noted in my blog from last year, there were 4 specific things I wanted to do differently this year:
(1) Wear sunscreen on the arms and quads
(2) Get a bike computer
(3) Skip the first stop in Preston!
(4) Figure out how to not to have to pee before the first climb!
The first two things were pretty minor and were easy fixes this year. The second 2 were more critcal. I recall being on a training ride to Big Mountain last year (2012) and met an experienced cyclist who had done LoToJa multiple times. I told him I was doing LoToJa for the first time and asked for pointers. Two of the things he told me were: (1) to not stop in Preston because no one who is competitive does and if you do, you're toast because you won't catch up, and (2) don't drink anything until the first climb because its cool when you start and if you do drink, you'll end up needing to pee too early, need to stop, and you'll be toast. In my mind, I thought he was crazy thinking who in their right mind participating in a endurance event of that length wouldn't drink during the early stages of the race?.. That's suicide and you'll just pay for it later on.
I blatantly disregarded that advice entirely and, sure enough, had to pee like a race-horse half way to Preston. I stopped in Preston to meet support team and 90% of my group raced on through. Eventhough I stopped at Preston and reloaded my fuel (which I really didn't need to do had I been smarter), I didn't go pee. So half-way up the first climb, I needed to stop again and pee. I worked real hard and bled all sorts of time between Preston and the top of Strawberry Pass as I struggled to catch up with my start group, but never eventually did, finishing 8th and ~1 min, 30 secs behind the winner of my group.
One challenge this year was that I would have access to my support crew only three times during the race compared to 4 last year. I think they changed this for safety and traffic reasons. Last year, I was able to meet up with them and reload my bottles and food at Preston (~mile 33); Monpelier (~85); Afton (~130); and Alpine (~155). This year, "Race" category people didn't have the option to stop in Preston, but could stop in Montpelier. Cyclosportive riders could meet their crews in Preston, but not Monpelier. As mentioned, I didn't want to meet up with mine in Preston, so that meant I'd have to make it all the way to Afton (a long ways). At Montpelier, there would be a "neutral" support stop, but it wouldn't be roadside service like if I had my crew. There was also an optional neutral support station for all riders about 3/4ths of the way up Strawberry Pass (about mile 75).
So, my plan was to carry enough nutrition so I wouldn't have to stop for food until Montpelier. Between the PB & honey sandwich, EFS, GUs, Cliff/Powerbars, I had about 1,800 calories onboard to get me to Montpelier, a little extra than I figure I needed. I would then plan to stop in Montpelier and refuel with about 1,000 calories worth of whatever bars/gus/fluid they had to get me to Afton. Then I'd meet my folks at Afton and take on another 700 calories and meet them one last time at Alpine and take on another 1,000 calories. I knew that one of the keys was to eat like a pig during the whole race. I wanted to average at least 200 calories every half hour.
For hydration, the plan was to drink and hydrate real well the day and night before, but have a 'dry' breakfast (an Elvis) and not drink anything until well into the race when the sun started coming out. If I could have found a way to effectviely jimmy-rig a catheter to use while I was riding so I didn't have to stop and pee, I probably would have. Fortunately, I didn't. But I was worried how the lack of drinking would impact me later on. Was it going to be a bad call? Maybe, guess we'll see... Although I started eating early on, I didn't take my first sip of fluid until about an hour and 45 minutes into the race; well into the first major accent of the day.
My race started right on time at 7:06 AM. They do a <20 mph regulated roll-out for the first little ways. The first part of the race was chill just spinning in the middle with my pack. I made chat with a few guys. There was one cool younger guy from Colorado named Justin who was a multiple time veteran of LoToJa. Just as planned, I didn't make any attempt to pull the group or expend any energy I didn't need to. About 2/3rds the way to Preston, my group caught the group of women who had started just ahead of us. No one in my group showed any interest of making any moves. I started to feel a little urge to go to the bathroom, but it wasn't bad. Nothing like last year and I knew I could definitely make it quite aways before needing to stop. As we approached Preston, I was curious to see how many people would stop. Last year, it was next to no one. However, much to my surprise, most of the riders did stop this time. Interesting... I rolled on through and just waved to my parents who had stopped to cheer. Up a little ways ahead were 3 guys from my group. They had slowed up a little to wait for others to join and work with them. I caught up to them pretty quickly, but no one else was really there to join us. So the four of us start to work together out of Preston.
We all knew the group was too small for that early in the race. We wanted more people so we didn't need to work so hard. Right out of Preston, there are a couple of minor climbs, a big descent, and a bunch of rollers before you get to the bottom of the first major climb. We started seeing more stragglers from other groups, both race and cyclosportive categories, but really couldn't see any bigger packs of riders yet. On the second little climb, we lost one of our 4 guys. Now down to 3 of us. I felt like we were working a little too hard, especially for that early. We were okay for the time being, but I wasn't going to be willing to push like we were for too long. Finally, a few miles befor the base of the first climb, we saw a big pack not to far up in the distance. Me and one of the guys I was with decided to push and catch up to them, so we did. The other guy wasn't able to hang with us and dropped. At last we caught the group at the base of the climb. We quickly saw that it was all women. Ranging all the way from Cat 1s to Cat 4s. They were moving at a very conservative pace and the dude and I just fell in with them content to cruise with them and recover for a while. We knew the group would soon blow apart once the climbing started.
As the incline started to increase, we passed the set of porta-johns I had stopped at last year. Already, I was in much better position than last year. I hadn't stopped in Preston, I didn't have to stop at those John's either and my bladder situation was okay at the moment. Still, I hadn't drank any fluids at that point. The incline strung us out. I quickly found myself pulling off the front of the pack of ladies. I was fully expecting my comrad to be right there with me for the march to the summit. He had looked to strong to that point, but he wasn't there. I put it into a comfortable low gear and just started spinning my way up at a brisk, but comforable pace. By now I had started drinking and was doing so at regular intervals. I was passing people right and left. Didn't want to push hard because there was still a lot of race to cover.
Soon, a pack of seven of the fastest women passed by me. I matched them and just started climbing at there speed because it felt good. They were animals. Very impressive climbers. Since they were the top women, there was a race official on a motorcycle that stayed close by watching them, giving them information, making sure they were playing by the rules and that no one else was disrupting their race. I knew the rules and even though I was riding close by them, I never got right in front of them to make it look like I was pulling them or influencing their race and I tried not to be directly in their draft stream. In my estimation I stayed well off to the side. If it appeared that I was influencing their race, they could get disqualified. There were a couple of times that they were obviously annoyed with me and reminded me of that fact. I reassured them that I was not influencing their race and made an extra effort to stay even further out of there way. As a note, had I just drafted behind them, that wouldn't have been against any of the rules since I was in the Cyclosportive class. Nonetheless, I didn't want, or need, to draft behind them. We passed a lot of people on the way up the mountain. I don't recall anyone passing us. Toward the top, 2 of the 7 women couldn't hang and they dropped. We came up on the neutral aid station. I remembered from last year that the volunteers were handing out bottle waters. I wanted to get one to replace one of my own. However, this year, there wasn't anyone ready to just hand me a bottle and I didn't want to stop and get off my bike to get one, so I continued through. Toward the end of the feed zone, some people were handing out Red Bull's. I'm not a huge fan, but I figured I'd take one just for the extra fluids. I knew my 2 bottles onboard were a little light fluid-wise to get me to Montpelier. I still had plenty in them though. I sipped down most of the Red Bull as I continued climbing near the ladies as we approached the summitt of Strawberry. With a few hundred yards to go to the top, I worked my way around them and was alone as the descent started.
It's a fairly long descent and it was pretty sparse of riders the whole way down. I stayed close to a couple of guys. As things flattened out, the 5 women passed me again. I'd had had enough being too close to them and didn't want them to do something irrational and report me to the officials as having influenced their race (and potentially get me disqualified), so I didn't attempt to go with them. I soon found myself with a few other guys. 2 of them were IHC relay riders. I started working with them and before long we found ourselves right up with the 5 women again. I wanted to work with the guys, but I was not going to get close to the girls. I pretty much stayed at the rear of the group for the 15 or so more miles into Montpelier. The girls were cooking along at a great speed. There were a few times I thought the guys were getting a little close to them, but the motorcycle official was right there and he didn't look concerned that anything wrong was going on. That 15 or so miles into Montpelier were some of the easiest miles of the whole race (aside from the first miles to Preston).
We got into Montpelier and you have to make a few turns (a left, then a right) to get to the feed zone. It was packed with people. I rode my way to the back of the feed zone where the neutral station was. No one was there to hand us stuff, so I had to get off the bike and walk a ways into the park area where they had a tent, table, and food for the Cyclosportive riders. My bladder was probably 65% ready to pee. I decided I better go. I went to the John first and then over to the food table. I had one PowerBar left over from my stash (which means I had taken in around 1,500 calories through Montpelier). I grabbed a bunch of whatever Nature Valley bars they had and Gu Chomps (~1,000 calories worth, as planned), topped-off my bottles (water only) and hurried my way back to the bike. The whole stope took a few minutes, but I figured it was well worth it.
Now, starting out of Montpelier. There is some minor ascending before you get to a pretty big climb, then a good descent, some more gradual climing and then the king of the mountain climb. Right out of Montpelier, I met up with a few new guys and we started working together. We worked into a good, but not too strenuous of a pace. We picked-up a few other guys as we approached the first big climb. On the ascent, one guy hung with me for most of the climb, but dropped before we reached the top. I took the descent with a few other older guys.
Then around mile 90-95 on the gradual inclines preceding the king of the mountain climb, a big group of really strong riders passed us from behind. I latched on and found myself working relatively hard in the middle of the pack. They were going about as fast as I wanted to go. I was content to let their strong riders do the pulling and just draft in the middle of the pack. It was a smart thing to do. We hit the check point for the begining of the king of the mountain climb. It's a chip-timed 3 or so mile climb to the summitt of Salt Water Pass before the descent into Afton. I stayed in with group for most of the king of the mountain climb. I remember it being really hot at this point in the race last year and being very hard. But this year it seemed easier. I didn't feel as spent and actually felt good and strong up the climb. I started passing a bunch of people and didn't end up getting passed at all. Sure, I could have pushed harder up the climb, but I wasn't so much concerned about having a good KOM as I was about having a good overall LoToJa, so I wasn't about to overdue it on the climb. I had a good steady climb and made a good push for the finish. I had no idea what my time was for the climb, but I hadn't seen anyone from start group since the beginning of Strawberry Pass and figured most of them were well behind. I figured my KOM time would at least stack up pretty well against my division when things were said and done.
Now on the descent to Afton. Because of the gradient here, you can really make good time the rest of the way to Afton. Last year, I had felt pretty good going into this part, but had pushed way too hard and ended up feeling not so good when I reached Afton (it was the low point of last year's race). This year I wasn't about to make that mistake. I'd go at a decent pace, but wasn't going to push it too hard trying to burn-up the roads going into Afton. As was the case with the beginnings of the other descents, I found myself pretty much alone for the first part. It didn't take long though until I caught up with a couple of riders about my speed and a few other guys from behind caught us from behind. Then, again, we found ourselves close to two of those fast women from the earlier group. Me and the few guys I was with leap-frogged the 2 girls the rest of the way to Afton. I definitely did my fair share of pulling at the front of the pack, but with the memory of last year, I wasn't willing to exert too hard.
At last we rolled into Afton somewhere around the 130 mile mark. I spotted my Dad with my bike pump standing near the John's at the front of the feed zone (he was there just in case in needed mechanical help). I zoomed by and he didn't see me. I met my mom at the back of the feed zone and we executed a fairly smooth pitstop. In addition to the fresh bottles and food bag, I got a bottle of Coke. I haven't drank Coke for years, but at Ultimate Challenge a few weeks ago, I remembered seeing a dude get a Coke from his family on the way up Little Cottonwood and thought to myself that it looked like the most refreshing thing on Earth. So I told my folks that's what I wanted them to hand me at both Afton and Alpine. Dang, it was indeed the most refreshing thing, and I don't know if it was just mental, but I had a great section from Afton to Alpine. I got in with a large group of strong riders and we pushed north at a very good clip toward Alpine. I definitely did my fair share of pulling at the front, if not more than my fair share. It seemed pretty windy at times. Not necessarily headwind, but cross-wind. It was annoying, but not so terrible as to seriously impact our riding. I continued to pound the calories. I pounded another PB & honey on white bread among other things. I honestly lost count of the calories I took in after Montpelier through the end of the race. At some point, I may go back and try and reconstruct. What I did eat though worked, at least from an energy perspective. As we approached Alpine, I still felt great energy-wise, but my stomach was getting a little edgy with all of the food (I'd need to be careful the rest of the way) and I started needing to pee pretty bad. I debated taking a potty-break at Alpine, but decided to muster through (which ended up being a good call, but didn't feel like it at the time). Still, I knew I needed to continue taking in calories and fluids. I got a new feed bag and Coke at Alpine. Drank most of the Coke within a few minutes of starting to ride. I think I only ate one small thing out of that feed bag before the finish at Teton. I was one of the first out of the feed area and decided to just ride slowly until the guys from the same group i had been riding with caught up and we could work together again. They seemed very slow out of the shoots, so I just kept going thinking they'd eventually catch-up.
This is the section of the course along the Snake River toward Hoback Junction. It's probably the prettiest section of the entire race. The race profile shows this section as mostly gradual uphill, and it is. But there is a fair amount of sections where its downhill where it was relatively easy to hold speeds in the mid-to-upper 20's. I found myself riding most of this section with just a couple of riders that I'd end up catching and riding with for awhile and then leaving. About 2/3rds the way to Hoback Junction, a strong group of riders came up from behind and me and a couple guys I was with latched on. The leaders of the group were clearly three Cat 5 dude's with 1100 series race bibs on. They didn't look interested in letting anyone else in the group lead. So the rest of us just let them do the work up front while we followed. There was one cool red-headed kid who was part of a relay team and who was obviously fresh and strong. He was determined to stick with the 1100-series dudes and I knew he'd be a good rider to stick close to.
At this point of the race, I was feeling pretty good. The hours in the saddle were definitely taken there toll, but I was doing alright. Definitely feeling better than last year and more confident in my ability to hang to the end. The legs felt relatively strong; likely due to my attention to nutrition during the race. However, I knew they didn't have a lot of climb or pulll left in them. I knew I would be in trouble if I didn't have a group to work with during the last section up to Hoback and the moderate climb up into Jackson. The stomach was not feeling terrific. I didn't feel like eating anymore. I had to pee. I kept drinking mostly my EFS drink and used most of the water bottle to dump down my back. I knew I just had to hang tough and hang onto Fire-crouch and the three 1100-dudes.
We rounded through the turn-about at Hoback and started up the climb into Jackson (people are idiots at turn-abouts by the way; one car was totally oblvious and about killed us). I felt about the same up this section. Fortunately, the 3 1100-guys were good climbers, but weren't hammering a pace that I couldn't match. We crested the last climb up to Jackson and made a left turn down a side road that would take us to the west side of Jackson for several miles. There was a big group of riders up not too far in the distance. We slowly worked our way closer to them. They were about 300 yards ahead of us when one older guy in our group said "it'll be a lot easier if we catch up to them." He convinced Fire-crouch and I to surge and catch them. Fire-crouch and I sped around the 1100 dudes and pedalled hard to catch the big group, which we soon did. The old dude eventually caught up, but it took him awhile. Fire-crouch looked strong during the surge. My surge told me exactly where I was, and it was near empty. Still plenty of energy for cruising, but no more top end for any sustained period of time. I knew my only option was to ride as strong as I could within the middle of the group. The good thing was I felt that well within my capabilitiles of doing so to the end. My spirits were high and I was focused. I kept watching my bike computer and knew by this point that my time was going to be better than last year. Probably at least sub 9:30. I was pretty sure that was leading my start group because I hadn't seen any of my fellow 3100-series Cyclosportive riders since about mile 50 into the race, so unless anyone had somehow snuck by me without me noticing, I was going to win my division. I also figured that I was pretty high up in the overall Cyclosportive ranks. Although I was riding around serveral blue-bibbed Cyclosportive riders, they all seemed to be 2X00-series who would have started well before me.
Suddenly, like bats out of hell, the three 1100-dudes who we had previously been riding with went speeding by us. Obviously, they hadn't been impressed by our little surge up to the group and they looked like they were gearing-up for a big showdown at the finish-line. My group kepted pace with them and now we were just one big group rolling together over the last few miles. The course goes onto a narrow paved path for awhile then through a little tunnel. Race officials are directing the riders where to go and everyone is going a little slower and cautiously in single file fashion on the turns of the path. The path soon spits you out back on the main road connecting Jackson to Wilson/Teton Village. You round the last right turn onto the main drag toward the finish at Teton Village. I'd say its about a 5-6 mile stretch. It's flat, fast, and goes by quickly. The speed steadly ramps up as the riders get nervous and start positioning for the final push. The Tetons loom majectically in the north. There are markers counting down the kilometers to the finish: 5, 4, 3, 2., and 1. The finish-line is in clear sight. With 1k to go, you round the last soft right curve by Teton Village and with placement at stake, most of the riders just go wild to the finish. I gave as good a push as I could, but it wasn't anything compared to what some of the guys did. I crossed the line in 9:21:32 with a fist-pump. Very satisfied with the result. Final mileage was about 204.6 or something. Its a very welcome feeling to stop, step off the bike, and take in a swig of fresh cold water.
The finish line is nothing special to speak of. Nothing like most of the finishing areas at most of our local running events. It's just on the path on the side of the road. Very narrow. No real goodies to speak of. You're basically encouraged to get your finisher's medal, check the results on the electronic board and get out of the way to your car. A little disappointing that its so lack-luster for such a big event. The awards ceremony is actually held the next morning at the high school and it is a fairly big, lengthy production.
Saw on the board that I had won my division. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers for the division weren't even showing yet, and wouldn't until after we'd left the area. I posted a cocky post about my finish on Facebook (sorry!).
Unfortunately, my wife and kids didn't make it in time to see me finish, but I met up with them shortly after (they left Salt Lake in the morning to drive up). We drove with my folks to the condo we had rented for the weekend near Teton Village. Got cleaned up and had a nice dinner. Went to bed fairly early (all beat from a long day of riding/driving).
Got up in the morning and made it to the awards ceremony at the high school. They had the results posted. Confirmed my first place division finish, well ahead of second place by about 30 mins. Also saw that I had won the king of the mountain competition for the Cyclosportive category (there were about 41 "race" category riders who had better KOM times than me). Found out that I was the 2nd overall finisher in the overall cyclosportive race, behind only a 2-man relay team. Awards were given to 5 deep in each division in both Race and Cyclosportive categories and there were a lot of divisions. I ended up getting a LoToJa courier bag (last thing I need), some DZNuts cream, some endurance drink drops, free entry into next years race (cool!), and a 1 day/1 person ski pass to Jackson Resort (which I unfortunately probably won't use. Anyone want it?). They only gave KOM awards to the overall female and male, who were both from the "Race" category, so I didn't get anything there.
As mentioned, the 'race' and 'cyclosportive' had different courses (cyclosportive class was about 3-miles longer according to race bible), so its hard to really access how I stacked-up in the overall classificaiton of all riders. One way to look at it is average MPH. My result on Milliseconds says 21.9 mph which would put me somewhere in the range of 30th place. But who know's how accurate that really is.
Overall, I'm very happy with how it went. Its a 17-minute improvement over last year. I really didn't think I had the fitness to do that this year, but there was more than fitness that came into play:
-I was just plain a year wiser this year. I rode a smarter race this year no doubt. I drafted better and was content to let others do most of the hero work... Hey, cycling is strategy and you have to play the game.
-I didn't make the mistake of stopping in Preston this year and didn't have to stop until Montpelier. Last year I made two unwise stops before Montpelier.
-Weather was hotter last year. This year's weather was better overall.
Those are just a few of the contributors.
Not sure if I'm going to to do this again next year. I probably will, especially now since I have free entry. It is a really cool experience. But to train right really takes time. I kept telling myself during those many afternoon rides away from my family that I wasn't going to do it again next year. But we'll see what happens. I have time to think about it.
Now I need to decide what I'm going to do with SGM. I'm still on the fence. I want to (kind of), just not sure its the wisest thing to do. The glute is still not fully ready to go. I've missed a lot of miles, long runs, and faster work the last couple of months. My running legs really don't feel like they have any speed. I need to decide soon as its less than 4 weeks away. I'm probably leaning more toward no than yes at this point. That feeling changes day-by-day though. I'm obviously not in the running PR shape I was last year. Should I be content with mustereing through a mediocre, maybe 2:40'ish race (top-10 is not in the cards), or should I save face and try and make my 10th go around at the race next year a good one?... Some of the questions that I'm working through in my mind. It's going to be a spectacular year down there. Lots of great competitors in super shape (you know who you are). Even if I can't be in the middle of the competition, it would still be cool to be a part of the race and witness.
I admit, I'm at a bit of a lull with my running right now. The injury has taken some enthusiam out of my sails and my running interest is a the lowest its been in quite awhile. Lately, I don't get up in the mornings and look forward to my runs like I should. Hopefully its just something that's natural and that'll pass soon. I really want to get the fire back.
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