About 5 km ahead we were riding this narrow road, Rose was behind me this time. Some cars were passing us fast and after those cars passed I heard another car engine close behind, so I turned my neck to the left and saw this pickup truck that didn’t want to pass us. Since I was riding close the side of the road, when I looked to the front again the pavement was cracked and at the speed I was riding it made me loose control of the entire bike. Tried to recover the control of the bike but a couple meters ahead there was a ditch and in it when my front wheel. The ditch and long grass cause my front wheel to stop, trowing me on the air to land about 8 feet inside the ditch itself.

That’s the story so far, tomorrow morning im going early to an orthopedic surgeon. Ask his opnion but no matter the course of action I want to recover fast and get back on the bike asap.

Once my wife got to the hospital, I asked her ” is the bike broken?” and she said “NO, the bike is fine” which I reply “thank God!”

The first hours were pretty much normal, I knew I couldn’t push my partner hard at the beginning until he had warmed up properly. Between the first and second aid station I was prepared to lift up the pace, but my partner didn’t feel as good as I. He had lost that morning some of his blood pressure meds and was feeling fatigue. That didn’t bother since our goal was to finish and the pace we had was good enough for it.

By the time we reached the 3rd aid station, groups were already quitting. We saw riders resting and in pain because of leg cramps, other were dehydrated because of the hot temperature and some were carried alone the course by their team members because of fatigue.

We were lucky on entire race, neither of us had cramps or took falls. The water bottles were filled with electrolyte solutions the entire time and gels and food were consumed every 30 minutes or so, the plan went smooth until the last aid station. There, we calculated 20 km to the finish line. The made us lift the pace but were careless with the calorie intake. By the last 5 km I believe we were both bonked and with the hot temperatures our mood was not the best.

The entire time we kept ourselves motivated and even share laughs with other team members, that help us to pass the hours easy. The last kilometers were not easy, but we both learned a good lesson from it. We also believe we could have shaved an entire hour out of our final result since my partner was not having his best day. I like to thank him (Jossie) and my team (Warriors in Pink) for their support. We couldn’t have done this race without them. Also like to mention that this years edition was better than the previous year, if race organizer keep up a good work we could end up with a great international race in a couple of years.

This morning we arrived at the race start at 6:00 am, it had been raining almost non stop for 12 hours. We were scheduled to start at 6:30 am the first group, but a 7:00 am race organizers were still in conference with local authorities. Sadly around 7:15 am race organizers called for all the group captains to explain that the local authorities were not at the disposal to work on the event due to a flash food warning that was in effect for all the island.

This was not surprise for some, and some riders were mad that the event was canceled. Race director said that the original plan was a mostly flat stage on Saturday and a mountain stage on Sunday, but since the Saturday stage was cancelled they were gonna made some modifications to the course and make it longer for Sunday. Meaning that tommorrow we are not racing 100k anymore, the exact distance is unknown possibly 150 km more or less.

Today we stayed inside and rested most of the day. Tomorrow the plan stays the same, to finish the race. We are all hoping that there are no more problems or the race will be canceled for another weekend.

Race Across The Sky -- Website

Race Across The Sky -- Twitter

One of the best mountain bike races on the planet. I wish one day to be part of it.

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

50 miles out and back.  Start/Finish in the heart of Leadville @ 10,200’.  90%+ dirt or double track dirt roads.  Steep climbs: serious descents.  7 mile climb to the 50 mile turnaround at 12,600 ft.  Approximately 14,000’ elevation gain.  Greater than 65% average finish rate under the 12 hour limit.  Excellent support stations.

More info at:

http://www.leadvilletrail100.com/

Bad news arrived yesterday of a tropical storm named Erika who will hit the island on Friday. We are expecting heavy rain on Friday but Saturday should be a normal day. This can increase the difficulty of the race since the terrain will be converted into mud possibly. In the case of heavy rain on Friday we are going to spray some PAM on the frames and on the sides of the tires, less mud stick on the frame and tires means less trouble pedaling.

The most basic equipment is already pack on the hydration systems. Only the food is to be placed the day of the race. This last couple of days I’m avoiding any high fat foods like burgers or fries. Breakfast is whole wheat cereal, fruits, juice and coffee. Lunch and dinner is pasta or rice, with chicken and vegetables. There is very interesting article about nutrition before a race at CyclingNews.com. Also mostly resting but not total rest, today I went for a 1 hour ride and 4 race efforts of 1:30 minutes to maintain the fitness. Tommorow should be an easy effort recovery ride and total rest on Friday

.

Been playing around with the Training Load Plugging for Sports Tracks, not very reliable since heart rate formulas (TRIMP) inst as exact as watts. But calculation shows that my fitness is higher than 2 days before last years event. I’m going to write about this chart later and the whole season.

With just a couple of days left for the 2009 edition of the Survivor MTB race, only one things is our minds. To be rested and have everything ready for the race. Both bikes are on the bike shops for tuneups and revision of all the parts, to minimize mechanical problems the day of the race. The nutrition plan was executed last week and was a major success, the breakfast didn’t cause any problems and gave us plenty of energy for 100km mtb ride. Also we tested the gels, milky ways, clifs, electrolytes and everything seem OK. Now for the checklist:

1. 1 Hydration System of 70 ounces
2. 1 or 2 Spare tubes
3. Tire Levers
4. Patch Kit
5. 1 small air pump
6. 3 co2 cartridges
7. 1 multi tool
8. Power links

Like I said before we are not carrying an extra tire, we will use tubes in the case we get a flat that cant be repair by the tubeless tire sealant, and patch kits if we flat the same tire again. The powerlinks are in case of a broken chain, this are easy and fast to use. Co2 will be use first and the air pump in case we ran out of co2. Tire levers and a multi tool are standard equipment.

For nutrition during the ride I already covered that on another post, the only thing is that I’m carrying some other stuff like fig newtons and peanut butter sandwiches to vary the taste in flavor. The week ain’t a full rest week, like some people believe. I treated this week as a race week on the calendar, doing easy rides in hear rate zone 1 and on Wednesday doing 3 or 4 short race effort intervals to maintain the level of fitness.

One aspect no one is taking about is the weather, we should monitor the weather on Friday and see how the skies look on Saturday morning. If there is small chance of raining we are taking compact rain coats, its very uncomfortable to ride for a long distance in the rain. But rain would a plus in the hot weather we are experiencing now on the island, hydration is very important both days.

The morning of the race we are consuming the following as breakfast. This should be tested before the race, to see how the body reacts.

• 4-6 ounces pasta
• 2 fried eggs, hard yolks
• Coffee
• Whole-wheat toast with peanut butter

This will top off our glycogen storage and blood glucose, also the extra fat will keep us from getting hungry on first few hours of the race. This is what Chris Carmichael had for breakfast the day of Leadville 100.

We will consume 2 energy gels per hour = 200 calories/hour.
At every checkpoint we will drink one bottle of electrolytes (100 Calories) and one Milky Way or a carrot cake (200-270 calories).
We should be consuming 2500 calories minimum during the race. We are also taking some other stuff, in case our body doesn’t like our plan.

As for equipment, each one of us is taking a 70 ounce backpack hydration system. Inside we will have the following:

• 1 multi-tool per team
• 1 hand pump per team
• 4-5 chain power links per team
• 1 set of tire leavers per team
• 1 set of cleats per team
• 1 first aid kit per team

• 3-4 Co2 per team member
• 1 tube per team member
• 1 rain jacket per team member
• 1 patch kit per team member

The will be riding the following:
2008 Scott Spark LTD
2009 Scott Spark 35

Both full suspension bikes will be fitted with a Minoura Saddle Cage Mount, for a total of 2 bottle cages per bike. Both will be filled with an electrolyte brew. The water for hydration we will be all coming from the hydration system backpacks. Bikes should be inspected the week before the race to minimize any technical problems that can surface during the race.

I’m still working on the recovery plan between both days, ill be posting that later on the week. Also I have to go out this week and test the nutrition on the bike for a couple of hours just to make sure.

I decided to put the rain coat on the back pocket of my jersey and take the mountain bike for some hills repeats at road #100. After some repeats the weather seemed the same and still no rain. So I decided to go for a 20 minute Threshold and going back home. Lucky me not even one drop fall.

I got the front wheel fixed last week and hadn’t test it until today. I felt some wobbling riding on the road downhill, no big deal. Don’t have money to buy a new one, so I guess this will have to do until its useless.

Cruise Intervals of 6 minutes @ Heart Rate Zone 3

The hottest topic is the Survivor MTB Race, with only 3 weeks left for it. Only God knows why? So many are training endurance 5 to 3 weeks before a (200km) 2 day stage mountain bike race. My only opinion is that the teams that win by huge gaps of time did 12 to 16 weeks of endurance and later did 8 weeks to build other skills and maintain that endurance gained.

I expect the time for both days to range from 6 to 10 hours, how hard a team maintains its pace it would be equal to the weakest rider on the team. Here comes trouble on the road. The majority of fights on teams at race like this are why the guy who cramped or slowed the pace didn’t train harder like the others. So choosing team mates is not about friendship is about winning and having the best. That is why I believe in duos or solo, less people means less conflict.

I believe the most important aspect is nutrition, it doesn’t matter if your plan is to win or to complete the race. If you go out that day without a plan on the intakes of calories your gonna hit a bump sooner or later affecting your performance.

Last year I saw people taking Endurolytes like they were Gummie Bears, causing an increasing in the anti-diuretic hormone and retaining water many days after the race.

Another interesting case was a water intoxication of a rider who drank so much water and nothing else for hours. So much water dilutes the sodium concentration in the body causing hyponatremia.

This are just a few I can remember, the most usual are cramps and hitting the wall. As for cramps, It has already been prove scientifically that electrolytes don’t have a relation between cramps.

I guess at time like this if you didn’t prepare well enough on time your only options are to plan your nutrition for the race, trust the abilities of your team mates and be prepared for the worse even if nothing goes wrong.