2014 Camino Real Double Century

I started off this year in better shape than normal for February. Missed 4 weeks due to the flu, had 2 weeks to train for a half marathon and 2 weeks after the half, to train for Camino. My weight is down back to where I like it. I'm starting to feel like I can do anything on the bike again.

My plan was to stay with Joel Sothern. He's won Camino the last 2 years and set the course record last year. I won it 3 years ago. Our group started at 6:15am and immediately some people took off and started running red lights. I didn't worry too much about it, because I knew we still had a lot of fire power in the pack. As we turned left on Jamboree, Joel took the lead up the climb and I quickly got on Rick Anderson's wheel as he kept the gap close. We made the light for the left hand turn going up San Joaquin Hills and never saw the pack again. We caught 2 of the 3 riders who took off running the red lights. I asked one of the guys, "who's still up ahead?" and he said it was a Furnace Creek (508) guy. We stayed together and eventually caught the Furnace Creek guy around the 27 mile mark (Aliso Creek Rd). I noticed this Furnace Creek guy was strong and taking long pulls. I asked Joel who he was and he told me he is Sean Cuddihy, the 2012 Furnace Creek 508 Champion. We pretty much worked together except the fifth member of our pack. He was wearing a Bahati jersey and didn't pull at all. I knew this guy was in over his head and would be dislodged as soon as we hit a tough climb. All 5 of us came into the lunch stop at mile 87 and there was no lunch. Planet Ultra was not set-up for us, but Frank Neal was there with some Heed and water. As I return from the restroom, Joel asks me if I'm ready to go and says two guys already left. Planet Ultra is finally there but I'm not going to eat now with everybody leaving. We start climbing a decent hill right after lunch, as I pass Rick, I tell him this is a long climb. I have to back off on this climb because my bottom bracket is grinding really bad. Sean and Joel end up putting 20-30 seconds on me over the top. I'm in 3rd place and don't expect to pull back these guys at all. I make it to the 135 mile mark and they tell me I'm 5 minutes behind 2 riders. Next stop at 168 miles, they tell me I'm 15 minutes back. I tell the guys at the station to tell whoever is behind me to hurry up because I'm tired of riding alone. As I'm 5 miles from the finish, Joel and Sean pull up and Joel says "your prayers have been answered." They tell me they went off course and added 12 miles to their route. Now I'm thinking, who are the two riders in front of me. We make it to the finish and they tell us we are 1st place. Next to come in are Marc and Lou. They unknowingly took a wrong turn on the way back and ended up ahead of me. They added an additional 6 miles to their route before the finish to correct the error.
1st place tie
Sean Cuddihy
Joel Sothern
Rod Palomino
http://www.strava.com/activities/113573992

Surf City Half Marathon

1:39 half marathon time.
Better than I thought, considering I only ran 4 times in 6 weeks, due to the flu.

Solvang Autumn Double Century 2013

In first place for 82 miles, then had to back off with some lower back problems.
http://app.strava.com/activities/88723406#

Finished 2nd place overall.
http://planetultra.racemine.com/Planet-Ultra/Events/2013/Solvang-Autumn-Double-Century/results

Pacific Coast Duathlon

Here's the story and it's not a good one. 6th fastest run into transition #1. After having the fastest bike split, I came into transition #2 in 1st place. I was out on the run in 2nd place and was passed by two more competitors to finish 4th overall. It's very clear I need to work on my run and transition. This is my wake up call.
http://www.geminitiming.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/pct_du_age_13.htm

Devil Dog Duathlon

1st place in age group, 4th overall.
Fastest bike split, still have to work on the run.

Grand Tour Triple (300 mile)

I signed up for the Grand Tour Triple knowing that I could always cut it short and do the double instead of the triple. I knew a couple of great double century riders (Marc and Brook) were starting at 5:30 so I decided to roll out with them. These guys are so good, if we had decided to do the 200 miler in under 10 hours, it would be very possible. They had a buddy they were riding with for the day so we took it relatively easy throughout the day. This worked out perfectly for me to be fresh at the 140 mile mark. The 140 mile rest stop was the point I had to decide to go north on PCH for an additional 100 miles or go south on PCH to complete the double. I found some other triple riders at the rest stop so I had no excuse not to do the additional 100 miles and complete the triple. These riders started over an hour before me but weren't in any hurry to get going so I decided to leave. After somewhat getting lost out on the course I come across this group of riders and it was them. They had avoided these ridiculous turns I did according to the route slip. At this point I decide to ride with them and make sure I don't get lost. We were going a slower pace than I'm accustomed to but that was fine with me. When we reach the next rest stop I tried to be patient and wait for everybody but nobody seemed like they were even close to leaving, so once again I decide to leave. I get in cruise control and take off towards Gaviota. On my way to the turn around I notice 3 guys going the other way. Knowing that there's another group up the road was perfect motivation to keep the hammer down. I catch these 3 riders at the next rest stop (220 miles) but we miss a turn somewhere and lose 10 minutes. The sun was getting ready to set so I went to the front to help speed our group up but everybody fell off. I see some lights up the road and crank it up some more and chase down these two riders. Luckily, one of these guys had the route programmed in his Garmin so I didn't have to read my route slip in the dark. We miss the Port Hueneme rest stop and decide to turn around and check in. This cost us an additional 20 minutes and I see two of the three guys hanging out at the rest stop. With only 30 miles to finish I went to the front and cranked it all the way back to finish in Malibu.

1st place for the Highland 300
16:59 riding time
19:22 total time

World Champion - 6 Hour Time Trial

 

It's been a long year. I did 5 double centuries and knew the Ultra 6/12/24 Hour Time Trial World Championships was coming in November. After completing my last double in October, I kept an eye on who was registering for the Championships. A lot of the top ultra racers and legends were showing up for the 24 hour time trial. I wasn't riding much but knew I couldn't lose much form in 3-4 weeks. I could do the 12 hour TT but didn't want to take any days off of work and didn't have a crew. I wanted to get the experience, so I decided at the last minute to register for the 6 hour TT the morning of the race.

The 6 hour time trial was starting at noon in Indio. I was able to sleep in my own bed and drive to Indio in the morning. I prepared 8 bottles the night before, 5 Accelerade and 3 water bottles. Luckily the week before, I rode 115 miles on 400 calories and didn't bonk until 90 miles in. I figured 1000 calories and I would cruise through 100+ miles. The problem with starting at noon in Indio was the temperature was close to 90 degrees and rising. 5 minutes before the start I was trying to find a plastic bag for my cell phone. By the time I set Strava and got my phone in the baggy, I missed the start by 10 seconds. I chased down the group and there was still a rider up the road.

It's always nice to have a racing plan, mine was to hopefully keep the leaders in sight and then give everything I had after 100 miles. It was warm so I used my regular helmet instead of an aero helmet. Back to the race, I was quickly closing in on the leader. It was a female and she was a triathlete. I had no experience in these things so I stayed back 30-50 feet. After the first lap (15.8 miles) she stopped in the sag stop and I continued because I still had 1 1/2 bottles left. I wasn't in 1st place for long because she soon passed me around the 20 mile mark. She slowly started pulling away and I decided it was too early to put that kind of effort with 100 miles left.

She was now a little dot up the road coming into the next sag stop (31.6 miles). This time I stopped and picked up two bottles. I didn't have any sag support and had to get my own bottles out of my car and figured she had support so I would lose even more time. At about the 35-40 mile mark she wasn't gaining on me anymore. That little black dot up the road was getting larger and larger. I was thinking maybe it wasn't even her because my speed hadn't increased and I was gaining too quickly on this person. The closer I got I could tell it was her, so I started slowing my speed down. I didn't want to take 1st place so early in the race. I kept on gaining even though I slowed my pace down. She obviously went out too hard and now has hit the wall. As I was passing her around the 45 mile mark, I told her "We have a big lead, just finish and we have 1st place." She told me she needs a coke to get back to normal. Just as we come into the next sag (47 miles) she passes me up to be 1st into sag.

I get my bottles and take off and notice I have a front wheel flat. My car isn't too far back so I do a U-turn and go back to my car to fix the flat. The stem on the tube I used wasn't long enough for my carbon wheels. I had to quickly search for an extender to pump up the wheel. As I'm fixing my flat I'm also watching other riders coming into the sag. I didn't recognize any of them as my competitors in the 6 hour TT. I finally take off and figure it's going to be a long time before I catch that girl. After having to ride back to my car and fix the flat, I figured I lost about 6-8 minutes. That's at least 2 miles.

If I can maintain my pace, hopefully I'll catch her in 2 laps. Lap one (63 miles) goes by and no sign of her. Lap 2 (79 miles) goes by and still no sign of her. At this point, I'm figuring I can do 2 more laps within the 6 hour time limit and hopefully I'll catch her. Due to the heat, I took my last two water bottles at the 79 mile sag. It's getting close to 5pm and I can see it's going to start cooling down because the sun is going to disappear behind the San Jacinto Mtns. Still no sign of her and I'm preparing to come in for my last lap (94 miles).

The plan was to come into sag and tell everybody that I'm all out of water and get at least one bottle. The plan worked and some ladies came and filled up my bottles. I changed my helmet and put on my aero helmet for the last lap. I will have to average 20 mph for my last lap to finish in the 6 hour time limit. I figure if I don't catch her on this last lap she must've dropped out. I cranked out an awesome last lap (110 miles) and finished a few minutes under the 6 hour mark.

After changing and putting my bike away, I made my way to the finish line to find out what place I came in. 1st place! The day went according to plan. 5 bottles of Accelerade, 4 bottles of water, 2 hammer gels, 1 gu gel and 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich, 1 flat tire. 110 miles, 5:45 riding time, 1000 calories consumed and 4000 calories burned. Once the results finally were posted online, I checked to see what happened to that girl. She dropped out after 79 miles and finished in 3rd place among the females. http://24hrworlds.com/24/index.php?N_webcat_id=408