Tuscarora Off-Road Weekend
This year I wanted to try some new things on the bike. First was to join a team that had racers with similar goals and energy as me. Giant Northeast Off-Road Team seemed like the perfect fit. Second was to try different styles of racing, including endurance/longer distance mountain bike races.
The Tuscarora Off-Road weekend is the first endurance race of the Mid-Atlantic Super Series (MASS). This race was also my first race of the season, and longest race to date. It is a 4 hour lap race, with approximately 6.3 mile laps. Looking at the results from last year, my goal was to finish 4 laps in less than 4 hours. I also was using this race to train for Bakers Dozen - a 13 hour endurance race that was just shy of 3 weeks away.
For Tuscarora, my goals were to:
- Work on regulating my HR to average 160ish (80% max)
- Try to pace myself and maintain consistent lap times
- Learn to eat and drink on the bike without using a camelback (using the feed zone, swapping bottles, etc.). This includes eating before I get hungry!
- Climb all hills (within reason)
- NOT get hurt
The Pre-Ride
On Friday night, I headed to Blain, Pa to meet up with some members of my team at a friend's cabin near the race. The next morning we pre-rode the XXC course and I took a nasty fall in the rock section. I landed in a awkward position, with the handlebar digging into my lower right abdomen. I shook it off enough to finish the pre-ride, but the burn proved to be a constant annoyance because of its location and inability to wrap or bandage.
My new race bike was on its way, but I didn't have it in time for Tuscarora. I already knew that my rear wheel on Pink (last year's bike) was dinged up and no longer holding Stan's consistently. So, I decided to run a tube for the weekend. This already proved to be a mistake. In the first lap I flatted, and I knew all the rocks would further test my luck. Fortunately, a friend from Pittsburgh had an extra wheel that he was willing to loan me for the next day. We threw it on, and despite some issues with the shifting, I was ready to roll. I knew this was me and Pink's last race together, and I could look forward to a new bike and a new start to the season.
The Race
I programmed my Garmin Edge 500 to monitor my lap stats in advance. My plan had been to manually reset the laps as I passed the feed zone. However, I overlooked one important detail.... my Garmin was set to auto-lap every 5 miles. This threw off my ability to accurately measure the 6.3 mile laps and compare distances/time over the course. Instead, I tried to focus on mentally segmenting the course and remember how long it took each segment per lap.
The course itself was in fantastic shape. There was a little bit of everything: fire road climbs, super gnarly rock sections, creek crossings, and fun downhills. The trail conditions were much better than I expected. In looking at the pictures from last year, I expected to be riding in rivers of mud. There was really only one major creek crossing, and only one hill that I couldn't climb - affectionately named "the beast". Pushing my bike up this hill was my biggest challenge of the race. It was so steep and rocky that it just zapped all my energy. Pink is a heavy bike.
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| Ladies at the startline |
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| Coming off the dreaded gravel climb |
Overall I was really pleased with the race. I felt stronger with each lap, and never felt as if I came close to maxing out. After I finished 5 laps and got some real food, I was confident I could jump on the bike and do a few more laps if I had to. This was a really important test for me to see how hard I could push it for Bakers. I think I probably could have increased my effort and shaved off a few minutes per lap, but learning how to maintain a consistent pace and control my HR for longer races was my bigger priority. I ended up coming in 6th place (out of 15). Considering that racing legends Selene Yeager and Sue Haywood were my contenders, I was pretty darn happy with those results.
Place: 6/15 Women Open
Distance: 32.1 miles
Moving time: 4:20
Laps: 5
Elevation: 5,279 feet
Avg HR: 166 bpm
