Week 22: Second Shot at 400 Miles

Date
May 29, 2017

Distance
214 (on Monday. 401 total.)

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Week 22

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Ride Report 

I was eager to get the taste of failure out of my mouth. Maybe a little too eager. Again, the goal was to ride 400 miles in under 30 hours. I went for an out-and-back route this time. No need to ride to some other town and waste time/money on a rental car back. Also, there are plenty of gas stations on 395, so I'd never be too far away from water. On top of that, it has a very nice shoulder for most of the route. I didn't have to worry about anything but riding.

Eat. That was the word of the day. I didn't care how hard it was. I was shoving at least 200 calories of food into my face every hour. I brought a wider variety of things with me this time. I had a few Lara Bars like normal. I had my top tube bag full of almonds. I also had some fig bars, tortillas, golden Oreos, chips, and dried fruit. I wish I had more tortillas. Those were really hitting the spot for some reason. I was able to eat with no real issues. Why such a difference this time? I wish I had some golden nugget of information, but the simple answer is that I brought a wider variety of food and I was determined to eat. I looked at liquid calories as a bonus. I was watering down all my drinks just to be sure that I didn't even have the option to try going 100% on liquid calories.

Things started out pretty well. I did the first 100 miles in 6:31, which was a little faster than last time, but still a comfortable pace. My bag was a lot lighter this time, so that probably made most of the difference. I did the 2nd 200 in 6:04. That was too fast. It may not sound fast, but I took a 27-minute break during that section. There's a long, flat stretch between Bishop and Lone Pine and I just got a little carried away. I was feeling good and hammering in the aero bars. After a while my legs started burning and I realized what I was doing. Oops. I stopped for that 27-minute break and did the rest of the ride at a more reasonable pace.

The 3rd 100 miles was pretty bad. That took me 9:15 and I had a lot of off-bike time: 1 hour and 10 minutes. I was feeling slow, and there are multiple reasons why that might have been the case. First, as mentioned, I went too hard in the 2nd 100 miles, so I could have been paying for that. Second, I'm doing this ride less than a week after my last attempt. That may not be enough recovery time, especially considering the calorie deficit I put myself into during that ride. Third, I was having a more difficult time battling sleep this week. I stopped twice for little 10-minute naps. Last week the first nap was enough. This week I was still tired even after the second one. Fourth, maybe I just get slower after 200 miles. I don't have much experience riding more than that. I've done a 400k, but that was a long, long time ago.

I was beginning to feel like I felt on that second day last week. My legs lacked power and things were in slow motion. I was beginning to doubt that I was going to beat 30 hours. I needed a solid fourth 100, and that's exactly what I got. I felt pretty good up until Bridgeport (350 miles), and shortly after Bridgeport is a nice flat, then downhill section until about 365 miles. Then my legs started feeling dead again, but at that point I knew my goal was within reach.

I finished in 28:40. Ride time was 25:59. That's a lot of off-bike time. As mentioned, I had a total of 1:10 in the third 100 miles- 2 naps and 1 extra long breakfast break. That's what really killed me. The rest are just small breaks like bottle refills and "nature breaks" that add up over a long ride.

I'm glad to finish, but there's still room for improvement. I'm not sure how to battle the sleep problem. I've always been a big sleeper. I don't function well on less than 8 hours and I've always hated driving at night because I have trouble staying awake. So part of me wants to say that sleep deprivation will simply always be a physical weakness of mine, but part of me thinks that sounds like an excuse. As far as slowing down after 200 miles goes, I'm going to have to do another long ride on fresher legs and see how that goes.

All in all, I have to be happy with the ride. I did the best I could. I made up for last week's disaster, which is a big weight off of my shoulders going into my ride across America from south to north. I learned a few things that I can apply to that ride. On the technical side, I have my bike bag setup all squared away and the bike is all ready to go. On the mental side, I feel like I've had some great mental training for the last two weeks. In some ways it was good that I failed last week. I learned a few lessons and was given a nice, healthy dose of motivation.