National Championships Race Strategy

Alright folks, here we go. I started the year hoping to qualify for the Suarez Gran Fondo National Championships, and suddenly it's just days away. The course is just as long as all the others I've raced - 97 miles in this case - but the most elevation thus far. Checking in at 9,000ft of total elevation gained, this one will make or break me.

Race Profile

Once again, this course has 4 timed segments - the only thing that counts for this race is how long a rider takes to complete each segment, with the lowest cumulative time winning overall. 

Only 4 miles from the start, the first segment is a Category 2 killer. At 5.6  miles in length, it averages a 4.3% grade and boasts 1267ft of elevation. Fortunately I've done a climb like this many times before, so I have a good idea of roughly how long it will take me. Still, this will be a hard effort, especially so early in the race (but I suppose it's better than a climb like this at the end -- oh, wait a second...). This is definitely one way to wake up your legs!

Segment	Distance	Gain	Fastest ('22)	Target	Actual
1	5.6mi	1267ft	19:43	20-25	?
2	1.4mi	288ft	3:58	5-7	?
3	5.5mi	382ft	12:08	15-20	?
4	11.2mi	1211ft	29:47	25-35	?

The second segment comes along after a fast descent and partway up the next climb. At a short 1.4 miles in length and only 288ft of elevation, this one should roll by relatively easily, all things considered. The third segment will be interesting; this is the first timed segment out of all the races so far this year that is partly downhill. In fact, only a short blip at the end has any elevation gain, although it promises to be a steep section -- gaining almost 300ft of elevation in only a 1/2 mile. 

The fourth and final segment is the one I am probably most concerned about. At 11.2 miles long, it gains 1211ft, mostly in the first half. This makes it a very similar segment to the first one, but twice as long in totality. Situated 70 miles into what will certainly be a difficult day in the saddle, proper nutrition and hydration will be key to surviving. As you can see in the table above, I'm giving myself a pretty wide berth of time to complete this section. After finishing this section it's almost entirely downhill to the finish, with the exception of one last bump in the road around mile 90 or so. 

Perhaps most interestingly, this is the first event that has checkpoints outside of the aid stations. The purpose of the checkpoints is pretty simple - if you aren't going fast enough to finish within the time limit, you'll get directed to a shorter route. If that doesn't give a good indication of the race difficulty, I'm not quite sure what does. 

During the Highlands Fondo I felt like I did a really good job eating and keeping my energy high, and felt like I could endure more carbs going forward. I tested that theory in Boone, and it ended poorly - with food sitting in my belly, refusing to digest as the miles wore on. For Nationals, I'm going to take a hybrid approach. Obviously I still need to keep the carbs flowing, but this time I'm going to be a little smarter about it. I've been using Skratch Lab Super-High Carb drink mix for a few weeks, and it's been treating my gut well. It's easy to digest, and I can more easily manage the number of carbs going into a bottle. Paired with Nuun electrolyte tablets (in a separate bottle), I think I'm going to have a winning combination for fuel and hydration. I'll of course have a handful of gels in my pocket just in case, but I'm hoping to take as much nutrition from my bottle as I reasonably can and keep the gut distress to a minimum. 

In terms of my bike, I'm sticking with my Canyon Endurace. In fact, I've made a few minor improvements to it since Boone. First and foremost, I was having quite a bit of knee pain by the end of Boone. While the course was certainly hard, I felt like my cadence was unusually high for the vast majority of the event. This made me wonder if my saddle had been slowly sliding down over time, which was quickly verified with a tape measure. Surprisingly, it had sunk almost a full inch since the last time I had checked it -- and who knows when that was. Fortunately a little carbon fiber assembly paste did the trick and I'm back in business. 

The other upgrade, if you want to call it that, was with my chain lube. For months I've been considering waxing my chain, but my god that sounds like a lot of work. So, I figured the next best thing to try would be Silca's Super Secret Chain lube. After all, what do I have to lose? The only catch is this: your chain still has to be really, really clean in order to apply it. So far the performance has been incredibly smooth - but only time will tell how it holds up after a grueling day in the mountains. 

So this leaves us with one final question - what are my finishing expectations? Well, it's truly hard to say. I've been reluctant to make predictions up until now, as each preceding racing had its own characteristics, and the some of the fields (like Highlands) were absolutely enormous for my age group. For the National Championships however, it's time to go big or go home. There are only 24 - yes, 24 - other men in my age group. I'd like to think I can pull off a top-10 finish, so that's my target. I know what you are thinking...why not shoot higher? The simple truth is this: there are some semi-pros that race these events, and they will smoke just about everybody off the front. I learned that quickly at the Highlands race, and even more so at Boone. Given this is a National Championship, you've got to figure those fellas are bringing their A-game as well, so I've got to keep this realistic. Thus, top-10 it is! Now we'll just wait and see how close to that I can actually get. Seriously though - regardless of my finishing place, it was only a handful of months ago I wasn't sure if I could even qualify for this event, no less have hopes of being competitive in it. I'll be dang happy when I cross that finish line, no matter the place.