Congrats to all the folks out there riding today!!
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The Pros results this year are pretty insane. Across the board everyone was faster substantially compared to last year. Were the conditions just ideal?
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Congratulations!!
50mile. Made lead group. The only MMR with mud, I crashed out about 25m in. Lost group. Battled back. Never saw the lead group again. Picked off 7-8 riders. Top 15 OA. AG podium.
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Yep. Mud was a non-factor for the most part. Most of the MMRs weren’t that bad.
Biggest issue I saw was bike-handling related coming into corners which I think Pros don’t need to worry about…
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Conditions were pretty ideal for speed. Hero mud/dirt/gravel in a lot of spots. Definitely sketchy in spots with greasy mud and lots of ruts, I saw at least 10 crashes today (mostly minor, but a couple bad ones).
Overall good day for me in the 200. Plan was to go out hard and stick with lead group until Divide road at mile ~40 and then get in an appropriately fast group as things split apart on that selective section. I worked my tail off to make that happen and then flatted pretty quick on Divide and watched ~200 people ride by as I screwed with my tire for over 10 minutes. It should have been simple/quick co2 hit, but made a dumb mistake with clogged valve core and I couldn’t get air into the tire (I’ll never race again without new valve cores, I swapped a new one in at the first aid station).
Anyway, I chased pretty hard all day (mostly riding solo passing slower groups on the road) and then my wife tells me I’m only 3 minutes down on 5th at the last checkpoint (with about 50 miles to go). 5 place podium at Unbound and figured someone would blow up in front of me. I was pretty cooked at that point and and it was mixed feelings knowing it was time to chase, but it lit a fire and I got in serious TT mode the last 50 and ended up 3rd in age group. Tailwind most of the way home, a couple climbs but pretty flat with rollers (my happy place for pushing watts). Same result as last year, but played out totally different. And my time was almost exactly the same (4 seconds slower this year).
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I lined up for the 100 a bit over 30 mins before the start and couldn’t get past the 7 hour expected time because it was so packed. I was a bit worried my 6 hr goal was over before I even started. Fortunately it was a very fast start (no real neutral pacing) so it spread out right away on paved sections so there was plenty of room for me on the side to dig in and pass probably a couple hundred people before hitting gravel.
After that, it was perfect finding fast groups the entire day. I was with groups of around 5-20 and we continually picked off groups in front of us. As is obvious by now, terrains were very very fast. Saw a few crashes (and some amazing saves) but not as many as I expected.
There were a few sections with slick greasy mud a few inches deep but most were very short, although often at the bottom of hills. I felt strong enough that on nearly all descents I’d let a 10-15’ gap open so I could safely choose my lines. That was a smart choice as each rocky descent usually had someone fixing a flat after.
Aid station was fast with everything I needed in a 3 minute swap. I peed in a jug blocked by the truck while my wife went to town getting everything done. Only time having to pee all day, which was rare (and welcomed)
Getting out of the aid station I was solo but saw a group about a mile up that I slowly reeled back. First time I had a chance other than pulling to get on the aero bars and dig in.
Hung with that group for a good hour then during one of my pulls I noticed they weren’t hanging on. As I’ve mentioned before, something about the aero bars has me incorporate my muscles so differently that I put down 20-30+ watts with the same perceived effort, plus more aero. I decided to fully break away and caught the next group a few miles ahead. Turned out to be wasted matches since the prior group later caught up 
1 mile out I was with a group of 10 and thought I might be able to break away. I was towards the front when I stood for the last short steep climb and both legs went completely locked. I was near a curb/grass and crashed (fortunately up hill just a few miles/hr). I was completely paralyzed from the waist down. Couldn’t bend my legs. Some bystanders brought me water and juice which I slammed. Turned out to only be down about 4 minutes total and was able to get back on and finish.
My fueling/hydration seemed near perfect. 2250 calories over 5:38. 1200ish mg sodium/hr. In the second half I finished my 2L water and 2 bottles at 750 mL ea. I always have issues consuming enough water/calories the 2nd half of a ride so surprised this happened. I did finish the water with about 40 mins to go and was rationing my bottles with tailwind mix, so that, plus being my longest ride ever, all played some factors.
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race went much better than expected for me. Finished the 200 12:33. I think I might have been able to go sub-12 had it not been for a puncture at the water crossing at mile 120ish, but at least I didn’t crack a rim like the guy behind me. Still way better than I anticipated.
Things that worked:
- Caffeine - incredible ergogenic. Brought me out of some slumps and made me feel strangely refreshed.
- Swapping chains at the first aid. Something about a squeaky chain is demoralizing for me, so the swap is more than just and efficiency benefit. Wish I had a third chain at aid 2.
- 120 g carb / h
- Tufo thundero 48s. A little squirrelly, but fast. And save a very hard rim strike that would have punctured anything, no punctures.
Things that didn’t:
- Solid bars for fuel - hard to suck these down when you are gasping for air and your mouth is dry
- Not running a rear insert.
- Basic thin plugs. Wish I had brought dynaplugs.
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Good close up of Lachlan Morton and Rob Britton’s bike setups: Unbound XL bikes: Rob Britton’s Factor Ostro vs Lachlan Morton’s Cannondale Topstone | BikeRadar
Lachlan’s hydration set up is creative for keeping the weight off the back for that long of a ride.
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Congratz on a stellar hard fought day. Third in AG is outstanding and very cool for you to claw back like that after the flat.
Curious what sealant you were running?
I started putting Synergetic on my valve cores and inside my valve stems (with a pipe cleaner) based on Silca’s recommendation and so far this year it’s made a big difference with them not clogging up. Last year I seemed to be changing them every couple of weeks.
Thanks. Yeah, I was super happy with the result, particularly the way it played out. My only regret a couple days later (besides the dumb mechanical mistake) is not going just a bit harder. I was pretty confident I could get on the 5 place podium when my wife told me I was only down 3 minutes to 5th and 6 minutes to 4th with ~52 miles to go from the last checkpoint. People implode late in that race, I did a bit last year. I had been riding my pace all day after the flat, so a bit different than fighting in groups all day and I still had decent legs at that point. So, rolling steady and strong into the finish, I was somewhat confident I was 4th or 5th coming across the line. When my wife told me I was 3rd, I was stoked. When I later learned that finished less than 2 minutes down on 2nd, of course I had to beat myself up for not going just a little harder. 2nd was about 25 minutes ahead of me at the last aid station and I closed it down to 1.5 minutes at the line. I had planned to get text updates on my phone from my wife on time gaps. For some reason my phone died 4 hours into the race, so I had no idea I was closing on everyone so fast (and didn’t realize I had already passed 5th, 4th, and 3rd and 2nd was close). Another lesson learned, I think I screwed up my phone constantly dumping water on myself and not having my phone in a bag. It wouldn’t charge after the race and had water in the charge port, I have no idea why that would kill it early in the race though. Anyways, it wouldn’t be a bike race without me beating myself up for something afterwards. I was happy to learn that the winner was like an hour up the road, so he was the class of our AG by a good margin and I had no shot there. I came away with a few tactical learnings, particularly the possibility of riding that course solo at a pretty good clip. I probably have over valued the advantage of groups on that course, especially when the wind isn’t howling. I actually finished 4 seconds faster than last year and rode the majority solo. That’s with a ~12 minute flat repair, but on a course that was probably running 15-20 minutes faster this year. So, pretty close to a wash.
Orange seal. And the painful part is I noticed the core was a little clogged when I aired it up in the morning and thought about swapping the core for a second. I cores in my pit box and it would have taken 1 minute. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Awesome tip, thanks.
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I’ve used WD40 for the past few years - helps with unclogging valve cores and I think reduces (but not eliminates) likelihood of future clogging. Same idea as Synergetic - which might actually work better for keeping valve cores from clogging, as it’s more viscous than WD40 and will stick better to the valve core internal surfaces. Will try that next time.
@DaveWh @grwoolf Any experience with these? I’ve had a few annoying clogs and seems like these might help.
Not here. I don’t love the idea of swapping all bikes/wheels to a new “non-standard” valve, but I also hate clogged valve cores. I’d love to hear feedback from others if they have tried them.
I now have these on all my wheels. 10x better than a normal valve.
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I haven’t used them.
I have figured out my routine / process with regular valve cores. Any time I notice one getting a bit clogged, I’ll clean it out with a pin and some WD40. It’s a bit tedious, but only takes 5 mins. As a result, I haven’t had an issue with a “really clogged” valve core for a few years now. And certainly before any big race or ride - I’ll pull the valve cores, clean them, and add sealant to the tires.
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My gravel reserve wheel set didn’t come with the Fillmore valves, but my 42|49 road set did.
I purchased a set for my gravel wheel set soon after. They seem so much better built with less moving parts. They take air way faster, I can’t see a single down side. They also allow me to seat a tire with a pump more often. I noticed in a video yesterday that Keegan used them (he uses reserves but I didn’t automatically assume he used those stems).
I was an hour and a half from home right after getting my new bike last fall and unscrewed my valve cap and it stuck to the core and screwed it out with it. Fortunately I could hand screw it back in and pump it up. After that I always kept a tiny valve core removal tool and spare core in my small ziplock.
I no longer have any use for the core, but still carry it. Had I of seen you on the course Saturday @grwoolf - I could have passed it along and it’s make the time carrying worth it! Hopefully some day it’ll come in handy for someone I’m with.
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The valve cap that comes on the valves that ship with the Vittoria Airliners double as a valve core removal tool. Very convenient.
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You just made me realize that I actually had everything I needed to fix the problem on the course pretty quick. I didn’t have an extra loose valve core, but I did have my spare tube with valve core in it and I had a tool that included a valve core removal tool. I guess since it took me 2+ days to figure that out, I shouldn’t beat myself up too bad for not figuring it out on the side of the road with race brain. But yeah, I can be dumb. Basically, I wasted 2 co2’s that were barely getting anything in and then had to resort to hand pump which I was able to force air in slowly and the tire eventually sealed.
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Curious how you got a puncture on the RK. I haven’t had so much as a simple sealing puncture in years so I have no idea if my repair kits even work 