It was my first Ididaride! and it was a race.

Message from the Ride Hosts:

On behalf of EVERYONE at the Adirondack Mountain Club (commonly referred to as ADK), thank you for riding with us this year.  For some of you, it was your 9th time (you know who you are!) – We are deeply grateful to you for participating in this event.  Together, we raised almost $35,000 for ADK's wilderness protection programs.  We LOVE the Adirondacks and want to spread the love – outdoor recreation is key to this love.  So, here's what the 9th annual Ididaride! group was comprised of:

495 riders total

405 75-milers / 7 bike escorts/sweeps

80 20-milers / 3 bike escorts/sweeps

70% male / 30% female  

GEOGRAPHIC: hailed from 21 states – AL, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, KS, LA, MA, MD, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NY, PA, RI, SC, TX, VT;  CANADA – Quebec and Ontario (14 of you!)

Time of first riders in:  4 hours, 6 minutes. Timer malfunctioned just after noon, for which we apologize.  That system is only there for the riders' interest.  Ididaride! IS A TOUR, NOT A RACE!

Reality:

It was my first Ididaride! and it was a race – a 76 mile race with 6,840 feet of climbing.  I work at an

engineering design laboratory that was, at one time, managed, for the Department of Energy, by GE.  Over the last couple years a “friendly competition” has emerged between our design lab and our old workmates at GE.  The friendly competition involves a yellow jersey for the person with the fastest time, and a trophy for the team with the fastest average time of all their riders.  Like I said, it was a race.  We won the jersey and kept the trophy for a second year.  This is the first time I've ridden a road race as a team and I'll admit I was pretty anxious over not being the one to lose the trophy. 

Strategy:

Describing anything I do as a strategy is a stretch, unless being random (as my kids describe me) is a strategy.  What I've been doing that turned out to be beneficial, is reading road riding how-to books and articles, and tagging along on the Dreamgirl’s training rides.  The books I've read discuss race strategies that capitalize on particular strengths of individual teammates.  My initial interpretation of this strategy is to figure out who is the strongest rider on our team and glue myself to their wheel.  Potential problem: what if our strongest rider attacks and breaks away early, I follow, get ridden into the ground and dropped without the strength to hold onto the follow group – lots of risk in that strategy (unless you're the Cannibal).  Better strategy: get to the staging area early; mill around and get to know the other riders; plant the seed that we all should ride together, and pace line to share the load and keep as many riders as we can in the lead and chase groups.  This is the strategy that I stuck with. 

Getting Ready:

I got lucky here.  I followed (sort of) the Dreamgirl as she trained for a Solo performance at this year’s Hardcore 24.  At the HC24, I road with a team of five and therefore didn't kill myself.  All I had to do in the two weeks between the HC24 and Ididarid! is maintain fitness, then at the T-minus-one week point, redo what Dreamgirl did prior to the HC24.  And of course keep reading.  An article by Selene Yeager, “How to Climb Faster”, caught my eye just in time for me to apply the principle to the Ididaride!.  The article’s side bar entitled “Stay Fresh to the Top” was of greatest benefit.  The sidebar emphasized “… rotating through muscle groups to give some a break while others are on duty”.  This can be accomplished by scooting forward and aft on the saddle to engage quads then glutes and shift to alter your cadence.  Timing should be adjusted to meet the situation similar to a pace like.

The First 37 Miles:

As planned, I got to the staging area early and started conversations with teammates about the benefits of riding together.  I was able to coax a couple to join me at the front of the neutral start.  For the most part, however, our team riders were more comfortable mixing in nearer to the middle of the 400 starters.  The ride started with a climb up Pleasant valley Road.  I’d ridden Pleasant Valley Road recently and knew my limitations.  Luckily, they weren't tested.  Taking the advice of more than one article on pace lining, I settled

into spot four for most of the first climb, letting the big guns do the work and only did short pulls when feeling obliged.  At mile ten, we started a fifteen mile descent.  What a blast.  I was in a group of nine that was more comfortable going fast than I, so I had a fifteen mile lesson on descending.  Still attached at the bottom of the descent, with virtual high-fives all-around (I’m not comfortable enough to physically high-five on a bike at speed), the group now really coalesced for the next twelve miles of climbing to Speculator and the first “rest” stop.  Around the half-way point of the climb, a threesome of strong climbers broke off the front.  The rest of us didn't have the wherewithal to pull them back in so we became the chase group.  I looked at this an opportunity to eat.

The Difficult Decision:

Approaching the rest stop, my group quickly reached consensus to stop.  I was not on board and silently wrestling with what to do.   I didn't want to undermine the group decision, but I didn't need to stop; I had just eaten and had plenty of water.   I also fully understood the consequences of continuing alone.  Then opportunity knocked.  The three climbers, that had dropped us six miles earlier, had stopped to fill their water bottles and where rolling out of the rest stop just as we rolled up.  I had to decide to stop and stay with chase group or attach to the lead group, knowing that there is still a lot of climbing to come – and soon – and these guys were strong climbers.  I chose to go with the lead group and take the risk of getting dropped, knowing that if I did get dropped, the chase group would not far behind.

Getting Dropped:

Did I mention that I was taking a risk? There were two fairly major humps with some of the steepest grade just following the Speculator rest stop.  I fell off the back on the first hump but managed to stay close enough to reattach for the second hump by sprinting down the backside.  Unfortunately, this was too much effort for

me to maintain and I had to let go before I died.  Time once again to eat and clear my legs.  I race cross-country ski marathons in the winter.  X-C racers are into paring performance food, such as gels with “real” food.  Another thing I've learned from the X-C ski racing world is to include food with a high moisture content to bolster hydration.  The Dreamgirl and I have been experimenting with these ideas and created a wrap that is tasty, meets our nutrition needs and is easy to eat and digest.  Paired with GU products I find that I can extend my performance window.  I start every race with GU Roctane and supplement with a GU gel every forty minutes; the stuff works.  At this point in the Ididaride! however, the trusty old PB&J was the “real” food of choice as I spun and watched the leaders extend their lead.

Riding with Jim:

“I caught you.”  Jim, a teammate and one of the chase group, noticed that I had cruised through the Speculator rest stop so he wasted no time grabbing a full water bottle and headed out after me.  That was ten miles ago.  Damn, had I known I would have let off the gas much earlier and pursued the leaders with Jim.  Lesson learned–vocalize your intention, someone may be like minded.  I pulled while Jim ate.  Then it was time for a monumental effort to catch the leaders.  We actually did it–it was a killer effort for me and somehow as we pulled into their draft, I dropped my chain.  Majorly demoralized and dropped from the leaders for a third time at the fifty mile mark, I settled in with Jim to finish as a chaser.   Jim and I were later caught and passed by a second chase group of three at sixty miles, just before the Indian Lake rest stop.

The Finish:

The Indian Lake rest stop was the last rest stop.  Jim and I decided to go for the finish with everything we had and passed the second chase group, putting us back on the tail (quite a long tail I’ll admit) of the leaders.  The finish was fifteen miles away; the first five miles had three grinder climbs, the second five was the steepest descent of the day, and the final five was flat.  One rider from the second chase group caught and passed Jim and me again on the last grinder climb of the day, leaving Jim and me to chase him to 5^th and 6^th place finishes.  The best part of finishing with Jim was sharing the pain.  Jim was cramping and I was simply and at the end of my endurance rope.  WHAT A GREAT TOUR.

What Worked:

Having a strategy: riding as a team, eating on a regimen, combining GU performance drinks and gels with real food, cycling through muscle groups on the climbs, taking time to spin the legs on the flats, suffering to hang on when needed, and knowing when to let go all worked.   My unofficial X-C ski coach, Joe, would call it ‘riding with purpose’.