I’ll be at the shakeout ride tomorrow at noon near the expo. Be in a blue rapha kit, black lauf seigla. Say hi if you are around!
I did the 100k road fondo today. I think I was arriving as you guys were rolling out actually. 75 miles in the legs all told today. I might be regretting this decision tomorrow.
That was a doozy. Hardest, sketchiest, scariest, most fun ride I’ve ever done. Felt like a CX and MTB race had a baby from hell, then they made it 107mi. Even on 45s I felt severely underbiked.
BWR 100k Road Fondo Saturday: 3:30, 184 TSS, 65mi, 3600ft elevation.
BWR Waffle Sunday: 7:10, 367 TSS, 107mi, 7,100 ft elevation.
Happy with my efforts. Finished the Dubbel which I’m more than pleased with. I was scared my legs would feel terrible Sunday morning after the Saturday effort but they felt surprisingly good. Stay with the lead group until the first unroad sector, then dropped back a bit realizing that I did 10min at close to 400W and wanted to not blow up. Spoken like a true roadie, it was very technical. Super rocky and chunky, very steep single track climbs and descents. Boden Canyon was wild. Too many near misses to count. Beautiful if I wasn’t scared for my life half the time. I saw a couple -20% or steeper descents in my data.
My goal was sub-7 and I was on pace for it but 2 late crashes (minor) and a snapped chain pushed me over. The crashes were nothing, scraped knee but not bad. One was caused by my right leg completely locking up cramping. The snapped chain that did me in. I had the tools but it just took a bit of time. I was hearing some grinding noise for a while then on one of the super steep climbs it went.
Another thing that killed me was using road pedals. Looking back I have no clue what I was thinking. I didn’t think there would be that many dismounts/remounts. Must have been 20 all total. And each remount got worse as I tired and got dirt in my cleats. Probably lost 5min from that alone. Bonehead decision that I learned the hard way.
Also, gearing killed me. You need at least 1:1, probably lower but I didn’t. Just grinding up climbs at 40-50RPM.
My whole body hurts now. Neck, back, triceps, forearms, hands, fingers. My fingers cramped up which I have never seen before. My legs are probably the least sore muscles in my body. There was no let up. No relaxing. No breather. The descents were more intense than the climbs.
Overall, definitely type 2 fun. I just wanted it to end for the last 20 miles. It was my longest ride ever in time and distance. It was the hardest without a doubt. I’m super glad that I did it, but I don’t think I’ll ever be back. It’s a little too sketchy for me. Maybe on a full-sus MTB. Maybe in a few weeks (or months) I’ll have a different view but for now, it’s a one and done event for me. Great event, really well put on and attended (though most pros were at Traka). Just not my course.
As somebody who just did their first hike-a-bike (not at BWR) in road shoes. I’m with you… what was I thinking. Congrats on a finish, I saw A LOT of DNF on the results page.
Running 45mm Hutchinson Caracal Race tires was a big mistake for me. I didn’t realize that the course had gotten so much gnarlier than prior years. I should have ran with my normal 50mm G-One RX Pro’s or even Thunderburt 2.1’s. That being said, in hindsight I should have at least let some air out of the tires when I realized that the singltracks were better suited for MTB. I lost the front a few times and low-sided at relatively slowish speeds, just some scraps on the legs but nothing major.
That being said, the legs felt good but there weren’t too many places where I could really push without being paranoid about what kind of obstacles were around the corner and a lot of time was spent cautiously going down some of the steeper, looser singletracks. With about 30 miles left to go (we were doing the Waffle), I was riding with a couple of other guys and we were ALL sick of the singletracks.
A few things that were kind of weird. Having the Pro Men and then all the regular Waffle riders go BEFORE the pro women was weird. They caught up to me after about 12ish miles and they were coming up so fast to the point where it might not have been very safe for them to have to navigate through all the age-groupers. I immediately moved out of the way when I heard them coming up and pulled over to side to let them all pass for a few minutes. Might have been better for them to release the Pro Women 10 minutes after the Pro-Men and then the Age Groups after that.
My overall experience is Type 2 and sorta bordering on Type 3. Would have definitely been Type 2 if I had beefier tires.
Thanks. They say higher DNF rate than Unbound and after riding the course I believe it.
I ran the same tires. Was wishing for more grip. Granted, I picked them because I did the road Fondo as well. And even considered riding my road bike with 35s. But man, not the right tire choice for this course.
Maybe I was one of them.
Me at mile 90:
I’m calling it Type 2.5 fun.
My 2.1 and 2.25 thunder burts were perfect on the course. plenty fast too! highly recommend that setup