Snicklefritz

LOTOJA registration opens up on
https://www.lotojaclassic.com on April 2nd. The race usually sells out within 3-4 weeks
so sign up early if you are planning to do it.

zimbo

I'd love to do this race sometime but the date is really close to the Bridge-to-Bridge ride out here and it's pretty hard to train for a 200 mile race and be good at the short stuff around here all in the same year.

But one of these years I'll do it if for no other reason than to say I did it.

--Steve

JF1

I've had it marked on my calendar since last September. This will be the highlight of this year for me. It will be my first 200+ ride. Started training for it last October. Dropped 25lbs so far and have about 15 more to be down to fighting weight. Really looking forward to it.

JF1

I wonder of Bayareawheeler will be doing it this year. Didn't he win Cat5 last?

Snicklefritz

Yes he won his CAT5 division with a time of 9-something. If you go to "photos of suffering in races"
in the road racing forum you'll see a picture of him there.

GuitarWizard

I'll do this some year....just need the fundage and time.

zimbo

I'm pretty sure BAW won the Cat4 division.

--Steve

bayareawheeler

nope cat5 5500's (my 4th race ever) 9:44\206 miles avg 20.5 thank god for pacelines

just got my email on how to get the comped registration completed this morning. Ill be registered by the end of the day. Im a cat4 now so...must train harder LoL. Planning on being about 10lbs lighter so well see how it goes. Hope to see some of you out there. Snicklefritz - we should try to bump into each other at some point pre-race pasta, or maybe a post race IV LoL

this is also my target event of the year.

bayareawheeler

ok all registered now if i could only drop that pesky last 10 lbs without giving up the beer

Snicklefritz

I would like to race with the CATV men and use a bungee cord to your bike. lol. Even with the beer
you had no problems last year!


What kind of training program did you use? Given that you are from the bay area, I am curious which climbs you felt were most helpful for preparation. What did you do about altitude adjustment? Did you go out in advance or just the night before.

I have to sign up today although I will probably do it as a relay

Snuffleupagus

Ouch. Have fun guys.

JF1

Just signed up. I registered as CAT5, we'll see how that goes. Got a lot of work to do.
Snicklefritz, BAW or anyone else who has done it, how do the support vehicles get around or how does the system work? My wife is going to be my support vehicle and the way I read it, riders will be able to meet up with them at each stop right?

Snicklefritz

It may depend in part on the actual route. I haven't looked at this year's route. If it was like last year, then the support cars ride on a different route for the first 100 miles. They can stop at most, but not all, of the aid stations. There are specific places to park and then the crew walks to the feed zone where there are numbered stations with poles and flags. You pre-arrange to meet your crew by a certain station to do a moving handoff. Alternatively, you can ride up to the feedzone and get off if you want.

After a certain point you can leapfrog with your support car. I think it was after 180 miles or so.

PM me if you would like more info on how to do the support car thing. My dad did SAG for me last year and was very good at it. I can give you some tips and pointers on how to make it efficient.

patentcad

What does LOTOJA stand for exactly? How the hell do you average over 20mph climbing for half of 200 miles? You're all on EPO.

zimbo

Logan to Jackson. The air is thinner so the speed on the flats and downhills is a good 1-2 mph faster than you're used to. Plus, although there are climbs they are spread out and you work together when not climbing.

Having not done it, I would guess that the challenge (aside from staying fed and hydrated in the saddle that long) is that because you're only supposed to work with your own group of entrants you need to stay together even though 200 miles and numerous climbs would tend to stretch the group out significantly.

--Steve

Snicklefritz

LOTOJA = Logan to Jackson

You tide from Logan Utah to Jackson Hole Wyoming as part of a road race. It's the longest
amateur road race in the US. In fact, I think the USCF no longer allows amateur races to be
any longer than 150 miles or so but this one got grandfathered in.

I rode this last year without training for it. In fact, my longest training ride that year was 70 miles. I can do it because I am a major slow-twitch fiber kind of person. Ask me to sprint in a crit though and well, we don't need to go there.

Snicklefritz

Pizzaman should do this with Vino and bayareawheeler. Yeah, you guys do it as a relay team. I'd pay good money to see that happen.

JF1

bayareawheeler is an animal.

bayareawheeler

thanks for the compliments - all my training consisted of was LONG rides. 3 months before the race I made sure I did at least 100 miles in a day every weekend. Some weekends we would put in 130 mile rides. All were pretty much different variations of coast rides from the palo alto\menlo park area with an avg of 4-5k climbing. I was also commuting to work 4 days a week @60 miles round trip. Healthy 300-350 mile weeks.

this year everything has changed, joined a team and have been doing alot of team rides...short but fast. I will prob start doing the long rides again a couple of months before the race with the same buddy I will be racing with again this year. We had some fun and made personal bets (I gave up beer completely and he gave up candy completely, it was tough on both parties) to keep motivated...it was fun...until mile 180...that was when the voices started

During the race what I did was pick out the strongest team and made sure they didnt get away. By mile 50 it was me and the team, by mile 150 it was me and the teams leader

gotta say im probably proudest of getting the KOM for the complete 5 cat5 fields (250 people), even more so then the win...being a 180lb rider it hurts to go fast uphill LoL

looks like this year is the 25th anniversary...the beer should taste even better at the finish line!

sign up - ill buy the first round

Snicklefritz

They don't really watch the pack rules that closely. Well maybe for people that are at the front or close to it. I saw a ton of people riding with others outside their group.

JF1

I think I'm going to try what baw did and do 100 miles a weekend starting 3 months out. I'll be doing my first 100 miles of the year this weekend and try and do that once or twice a month up until then. Does that sound like a good plan?

bayareawheeler

worked for me

few things i learned from last year.

Easy to over do it on the food, most of the race I was carrying way too much food. I estimate I threw half of it away, im going to find my "list" and cut in half (ill post it if interested). Zip lock bags are hard to open while racing and the small pb&j sandwhiches on rolls were messy but the favorite snack on the ride.

I also had to make myself eat on a schedule or I wouldnt have eaten nearly enough.

100% sport drink in the bottles seemed to work great, but it gave me BAD gas at the end.

last 2 stops I had a energy drink ready my bag..Monsters i believe. And they tasted sooo good at mile 150ish

If your sharing a sag make sure you dont get a gap inbetween riders. I ended up missing my sag for one stop and it did some damage. Thankfully i had made some friends in the group and was given water. This year we are bringing a motorcycle in the back of the truck so if we get gapped my little bro can wait for the 2nd rider and then cruise up on the moto (i should mount a video camera huh LoL)

There are some crazy ass huge groove wedges in the road at one point (about half way im guessing) that popped a bottle right out of my cage...these things are knarly and could cause a crash if they caught you napping.

I noticed in my race that the strong riders had grouped at the front by mile 50 and at the first small hill rode away and peloton was not seen again.

watch for tandems on the descents...these guys are flying and are usually also towing a group of freeloader cyclists in tow LoL

ill add more if I think of any. IM looking forward to the race, only thing im praying for is the weather to cooperate.

The hotels at the finish line are nice but not worth the $$...almost like a crazy compound sort of feeling. We got kicked out of the stinky moose for next to nothing...they really over-reacted, also far from downtown. So this year we have already found a much cheaper alternative with hot tub for soaking. THAT IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE SILVER DOLLAR SALOON!!

at registration the night before the race they have all you can eat pasta and salad that really hit the spot!

50$ each way to ship my bike. Was able to get boxes form the LBS

JF1

Good info man, thanks!

zimbo

I believe I speak for everyone when I say that the details of this part of your race report are severely lacking. Race schmace dude. Tell us how/why you trashed the hotel.

--Steve

Galico

Lotoja Registration is Full as of April 5th.
I first rode in 2004 and it was not filled at the start of the ride
In 2005 I think it filled in a few months
In 2006 it filled up in two weeks
This Year-It filled in less than 2 days