Bicycling

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<WoW Guild Officer>
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Was gonna ask if that was Leadville, but that's 100miles... Also first and second had a sprint to see who would win... and so did 3rd and 4th. That's fucking insane after 100 miles of MTB. I can't imagine doing 66, let alone 100.

I'm going to do a 50mile Fire-road/MMR/MTB/Gravel ride around labor day. I think I will also be cooked after it.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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Seventh_sl said:
Finished my endurance race today, and learned that competitive endurance MTB is HARD. Holy fucking shit am I smoked. I overcooked the first lap (2x34) and completely blew up at mile 40. I composed myself, drank a ton and ate my face off and managed to pull it together for mile 45-58, and then was cramped, dehydrated and unbelievably out of gas for the last 10 miles. 10 miles of fucking brutal climbs and pretty gnarly singletrack.

The course was relentless, I blew my 8 hour target by 4 fucking hours but.... I finished that bitch! If anyone's wondering "Hey, what's it like doing intense cardio for 11 hours straight?", I can confirm that it's glorious, terrible, and you spend a lot of time in a very dark place. Also, a raked out long travel AM bike with DH tires on it it not the right choice for 7500 feet of elevation on trails.

Here's the Strava.
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Big time props on just finishing the sucker. I get pretty wiped just doing my normal 8 mile/1500ft up local mountain bike loop. When I'm in really good shape I'll sometimes do it twice, I cannot imagine doing it 8 times, in a race setting no less. And ya, that is so much the wrong bike for the job there. :p

On hydration, I always tell people who want to do races/events like this that it is so important to make hydration a lifestyle. You can't just start chugging a bunch of water a few days before the race and expect your body to be properly hydrated and to perform well on race day. Not saying that is what you did, just throwing it out there.
 
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Ok, so I've got a ~55 mi adventure ride coming up labor day weekend on MMR/Fire roads/ATV trails/MTB trails/gravel. I'm probably gonna rent a hard tail 29er, as my hard tail 26 is old (without and would be brutal to do.

I've been off-the-bike for 3 weeks due to some surgery, so I need to get some hard training in soon. Gonna start the over-hydration chain now, but I was hoping for some recommendations on "stuff" to bring with. Forecast (this far out it doesn't matter) is nice, so I'll have a few seat bags and a feed bag along with water bottles.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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They might be kind of disgusting, but those GU packets really helped me along when I did the STP. I wouldn't wait until I felt crappy/hungry/low energy to use them either, I'd just try to routinely pop one every 10 miles (usually right around when it was my turn to pull). Might just be placebo but I really felt like they helped keep me moving.
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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Not a fan of Gu. But there's others out there that are similar. Personally I like the ju-jube type ones like Honey Stingers or Shot Bloks.

Good old chocolate milk is also one of the best recovery/hydration drinks out there.

Borzak_sl said:
Sounds kind of like "fun". I bet you get some adrenaline going. I'm not sure I would be all up on a sport where you see so many ambulances. I ride for the most part to get away from such.

Do you have to a few after a ride to decompress so to speak from the rush?
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Not really no. I dunno, maybe other people get hyped up from it, but I'm a fairly intermediate rider for downhilling so it's not like I'm sending absolutely massive shit. Generally the group of guys I'm riding with is pretty laid back about it. We're sharing a can or two of beer on the chair lift ride up, some guys smoke a joint or two during the day (I tend not to as I end up riding way, way slower), and having a pitcher if we stop for lunch etc.

I don't really view or approach it much differently than skiing in the winter. You might get amped up because you just hit a jump or pulled off a trick that was cool/difficult/whatever, but it's not like it's a continuous adrenaline rush when you're riding the same run you've done dozens of times before.
 
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opiate82_sl said:
They might be kind of disgusting, but those GU packets really helped me along when I did the STP. I wouldn't wait until I felt crappy/hungry/low energy to use them either, I'd just try to routinely pop one every 10 miles (usually right around when it was my turn to pull). Might just be placebo but I really felt like they helped keep me moving.
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Nah, I've heard phrases that confirm the same theory (who ever eats first finishes, drinking and eating is the second most important thing behind pedaling, etc). When I did my first century I brought "real" food, as the bike shop nerds recommended against GU if I wasn't already into using it consistently (intestinal problems was their reasoning). Peanut butter mini bagels, grizzly bars/tram bars, and a snickers is my plan again. I'll bring a backpack for hydro this time too I think. Should have 3L of water in hydro along with two water bottles that I'll fill and use first. Last year they had water stops (unmanned, just a igloo cooler) which was nice.

I'm wondering about mileage. I can get easy road mileage, but I might need to start doing some loops around the local MTB parks to get some more internval/MTB training.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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Ao-_sl said:
I'm wondering about mileage. I can get easy road mileage, but I might need to start doing some loops around the local MTB parks to get some more internval/MTB training.
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I do find road biking and mountain biking to be completely different animals and I really don't think training for one carries over for the other a whole lot. The first time I did STP I was mountain biking so much I thought that would cover me and boy was I wrong, I finished but I suffered. Next time I did STP I put the mountain bike away and did just road bike training. By the time STP came I was in good enough road-bike shape to average ~18mph on back-to-back centuries, but after STP I bonked on my first mountain bike ride doing a 2 mile/1500ft climb up single track.

There obviously is some overlap, but cardio wise they are completely different (road biking is more long endurance, mountain biking a lot of short intervals) and even muscle wise you use a lot of different stuff. Since you'll be dealing with some gravel roads the road biking will translate to that more than it would straight single-track, but I would try to get as much time in the saddle on a mountain bike as possible.
 
Fifey

Fifey

Trakanon Raider
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opiate82_sl said:
On hydration, I always tell people who want to do races/events like this that it is so important to make hydration a lifestyle. You can't just start chugging a bunch of water a few days before the race and expect your body to be properly hydrated and to perform well on race day. Not saying that is what you did, just throwing it out there.
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Yeah, I drink well over a gallon a day of water without even factoring bike time. I believe the rule is for every hour of riding you want to drink a 22oz bottle of water. Also, it's imperative that you eat before you feel hunger, if you start to get hungry or weak, it's too late.
 
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Hrm... got an email from the guy who is organizing the ride. He said the first 20 is mostly gravel with the last 30 being mostly MMR/Fire Road/MTB Trail. He said if I wanted to I could change bikes midway as we'll swing through the starting area. The recommendation for 700c/cyclocross tire size was 38s, which is nice as I have what I think is perfect set of tires. So my question is: should I get new tubes when put on the new 38s? I'm riding 32s right now because it's shitty trail/gravel season until snow hits.
 
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fifey_sl said:
Any tube will be fine, I run 18 to 23 tubes in my cross bike, tubes stretch a lot.
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Well, I'd like to use the tubes I have now in my 32s, so I'm guessing that confirms it. I'll have a few spares/patch-kit/pump/etc.

I'm sort of wanting to go tubeless after thinking about it, but then changing tires will be tough.
 
Fifey

Fifey

Trakanon Raider
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Yeah, the only thing is the smaller tubes will deflate a tiny amount faster than the bigger tubes but it's so minuscule it doesn't even matter.

I want to go tubeless too but I feel there isn't enough time, cross starts next Tuesday and I'd want time to test it before racing.
 
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cyclocross-is-coming.jpg
 
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Seventh

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^ Damn straight.

I'd been eyeballing the CAADX 105, but after some deliberation I think I'm going to get aRevolt. It'd be a great gravel grinder and a passable-for-a-season CX rig, and I can put some 700x50 tires on it for some of the nuttier woods around me. I can score one for a few hundred less than the CAAD and am pretty sure I'd spend more time in the plain old woods with it than a full on CX setup.
 
ham

ham

Lord Nagafen Raider
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I want to sell my spr srs cross frame and get a heavy steel one. I'm not winning races anyway. who here is a 58
 
S

Seventh

Golden Squire
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I picked up that Revolt. What a hell of a hilariously good time. I slapped some ridiculous 700x45 monstercross tires on it, set it up tubeless and after a few miles fucking with the fit and tire pressure was absolutely drilling it through the woods all afternoon. There are some places near me that are great hiking trails but ho-hum for MTB because they're rather boring, but on this thing it was like a whole new set of trails. What a great workout and a hell of a lot of fun - small jumps are no big deal on a full suspension but when you're tucked in the aero position they're quite a bit more exciting, haha.

AfUchcr.jpg


QB6GDt0.jpg


YFLNCK8.jpg
 
Famm

Famm

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
11,041
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Fire XC is my favorite tread up front, they work well in back too but I usually prefer a faster roller. Cool set of rubber you got there.
 
jooka

jooka

marco esquandolas
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Anybody have some suggestions on cycling rain gear. Mostly thinking jacket , gloves, and maybe shoe covers.
 
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