Ok the bike setup is finally finished and I am in love with my creation. It’s a mullet gravel bike. It climbs so nice! When I say mullet I mean it. Slammed gravel frame with 35c front and 45c rear tires. 10/52 mtb cassette in rear as well. The front is slammed 20mm(crown to axle)with an aero road fork instead of the gravel fork it was designed for. This changes the head tube angle and seat tube angle to more resemble a road bike. It’s really fast and super light. I am very proud of this build.






Currently my biggest weakness is steady state climbing. So this will be my focus until the race. I have a climb in my area and the 8 mile out and back I’m has 1200 feet of climbing. I just can’t put out more than 200watts for a long steady climb. Last time I did this rout I had to stop 5 times to make it. My goal is to make this climb without stopping before race day.

However I can smash the punchy shorter climbed and love high intensity interval work. One benefit I have is home field advantage. I ride the trails the Otter race will be on. I am loving the punchy nature of these trails. I went out with a small group of friends also training for the Otter thinking I would be the weak link and just destroyed them all. Like dropping 500 and 1000 watt short climbed then walking away on the downhills as my bike is so much faster lol.

I am also training a little in the background one day a week for some strength to smash it at the power booth at the Otter.
Smith machine squats are up to an easy 320lb single for two sets paused on the heels. I am also up to 135lb single leg smith machine Bulgarian split squats. My last sprint was a 1sec max of 1708 watts so the power is still coming up. Willing to bet if I changed my reporting to 1 sec from every three that number would be much higher. I'm am not really trying to get stronger at this point and am working on fast twitch and abb/core snap speed. Lots of weighted leg lifts, holds, planks, and knee ups. Lots of single leg work and less squats.