scotton

I'm not new to gravel riding per se, but I did my first official gravel race yesterday (meaning timing chips and no lollygagging). I intended to start riding gravel races 6 years ago, but had some back problems that needed to be sorted out. Here are some general observations that may help others before their first race (or may help me in future races).

I was in the 50 mile 50+ age group. I have too much going on this weekend for the 100 mile, so I was treating this like a test race for some 100 mile races later this year.

Just as with most races or big rides, we started hard. I knew we were going to start hard and I planned for it. After the first couple of miles I let the front go and settled into my pace, towing a small group. This turned out to be a good decision, because apparently there was a pretty good crash at the front.

Based on the number of water bottles on the road in the first few miles, as well as the general bike handling skills, I think there were a few people newish to gravel. Lots of team kits and skin suits, so I'm thinking a lot of these guys were cross and crit racers. I put in about 200 miles on the sketchiest gravel I could find over the last couple of weeks, so I knew my bottles weren't going anywhere. Or my computer. Or my car keys. Only saw one or two flats, the roads were better than I usually ride.

There was only about 2,000 feet of elevation over the 50+ mile course, and only one short climb had me in my little ring. And apparently, I'm the greatest descender ever? Not really, I descend like a self-employed guy with bad insurance. But in the little rollers, I was flying by people on the little 2-4% descents. Don't know why, the roads were fine. I am fairly heavy, so maybe that was it. I don't treat the back side of rollers as recovery, I treat them like momentum builders to help get up the next roller. The rollers on this course suited my roller style, short and not so steep that you can't stand for the last part of each climb.

Line choice was problematic for a lot of people. I would be on a stretch of road with deep, loose pea gravel on the tire tracks and firm, hard pack on the shoulders. So when I zoom past people on the shoulder, why are they still in the deep pea gravel when I look back? I mean, sometimes the line is subtle, but this wasn't one of those times. It was a 5 mph difference. Just because it's a gravel race doesn't mean you should stay in the gravel if there are better options available. Also, many times the center-most tire tread in the oncoming lane was the best line but people were staying off of it. I get it, we are adverse to riding in the wrong lane, but I only saw one car on the gravel roads all day, so I was using the whole road unless we were going up a blind hill or coming up to a corner. I learned to drive on roads like this, so maybe I have a better sense for how cars and trucks generally drive on these roads.

Deep sketchy corners are something I need to work on. Just a confidence thing. I did ok, but I felt myself babying a few corners. I guess you aren't losing that much time and momentum taking a corner a little slower, but it felt like an area I can improve.

Water stops killed me. I took two big bottles figuring I would refill at 20 and 40. I lost 5 minutes refilling water bottles, which dumped me from 8th to 14th place. And I had to pass the same 7-10 people 3 times because they didn't stop. I should have been passing new people, not re-cycling. I believe I drank just over 100 ounces (it was only in the mid 80s for most of the ride with decent cloud cover). Osprey hydration pack is on order. I'm going to figure out how to bring enough water for 100k, then I will only need one stop for 100 mile events. Another benefit to a hydration pack is that you wind up drinking a lot less dirt. Tailwind Orange and Kelechi dirt do not mix well. I forgot how much more dirt you get on you in a group setting.

I need to bring one or two shots of pickle juice. This is the second longish event where I started getting the beginnings of calf cramps around mile 40. I don't mix well with Enduralytes, so some research is in order. I think I need to take in more electrolytes than I am getting from the Tailwind or Clif Bloks. Longer training rides at race pace should help sort this out.

I worked hard on figuring out my nutrition before the race, and it was on point (except for the cramping issue above). I'm not great with gels, so I went with a bottle of Tailwind (200 calories) every hour and 3 Clif Bloks every half hour. The Clif Blok wrappers are cyclist-proof, so I took what I thought I would need out of the wrappers and dumped them into my top tube bag. This gave me 400 calories an hour. The target was 360 calories per hour, and I figured I would probably miss a feed time or do a light fill on one of the bottles (I did). At the end, I felt great energy and hydration wise. I was trying to stick to around 145 BPM, and that felt good. The last 5 miles, I felt like I had more in the tank so I stepped it up a little to try to catch some people (I didn't). I need to train at a higher heart rate to try to get comfortable doing 150 BPM for 4-5 hours steady. I also need to get faster and better and younger, so add those to the list.

Side note: This was the first time I really thought about feeding, I usually just eat a bar or something half way through a ride and drink some energy drink when thirsty. The constant calories spread over the race were game changing and I feel dumb for not doing this sooner.

Here is what I took away from this race:
Preparation was key. Putting in miles on bad roads with my full race setup and testing my nutrition made for a fun and safe race.
Have a plan.
Stay in it mentally. If you zone out, you will deviate from the plan.
Don't get sucked into big front groups. Don't assume that fast young guys know how to corner a loose gravel road.
If you are leaving the house at 4 am, pre-load as much as possible. I left my floor pump and chain lube sitting by the front door.
Remember, you chose to do this. This is fun. This is what you want to do. At certain points, this will be important.
If you have the chance to help or encourage someone, do it. At some point, you will need help from someone else so go ahead and pay it forward.

I averaged 15.8 mph with 147 HR for 53 miles. The 50+ winner of the 100 mile averaged 19.3 mph with 129 HR. So my next mission is to figure out how to make me more like him and less like me. I truly hope a turbo trainer isn't involved.

Spoonrobot 

Nice report, lots of good stuff.

I've noticed this a ton every race I do. Lots of racers just can't see the smooth line or don't think it's an issue. Put it this way, it only takes one or two pedal strokes to go across the road to a smoother section which can often save you 10-20% or even more of whatever power you need to put out at whatever speed. Never mind the additional comfort from a smoother line. I'm pretty sure at least one of the guys I was riding with yesterday ended up cramping and getting dropped precisely because he'd just power ahead in a straight line over whatever roughness happened to be in the way.

I bounce around from left to right like a ping-pong ball if I'm leading the group or riding by myself. In the draft it's not possible but evens out I suppose.

HGH or Test patch? I kid, I kid.

Koyote

The 50+ age group is amazingly competitive. In one race last year, I was 7th place in the 50-60 men's class, but was faster than every rider in the 40-50 men's group. Huh.

I've tried to figure it out, and this is my theory: by their 50s, people's kids (if they have 'em) are out of the house, and so they have more time to train...And most people are more economically secure by that age, so they might have nicer equipment (though that is a minor factor.)

HR average of 129 for an average speed of 19.3 on gravel? I think the HRM might have been inaccurate.

chas58

I've seen the same thing in age groups. I would rather be in the open category than the 50+ age bracket.
Maybe we are just smarter as we age? I got passed at the finish at the velodrome by a guy 70 years old. He knew what he was doing, that is for sure!

Agreed on HR. Besides, LED based HRMs are notoriously bad on Gravel. I had all kinds of off the wall HRM readings that worried me. I finally got a Polar H10 chest strap, and that one works.

147 is quite respectable for 50miles at over 50 age. if you are average, your maximum sustainable heart rate is 80% of (220-age). That is 136. So, if you are averaging 147, you have the VO2 of someone in their 40's.

If you are racing, you are going to be at max effort, so you can increase your power at a certain heart rate, but you aren't going to sit back and take it easy.

@scotton I loved that write up. Thanks for sharing!

Koyote

Those "averages" are not very accurate or useful, in my experience. By that formula, my max sustainable HR should be about 131; last year I did one fifty-mile gravel race with an avg HR of 167. 'Course, I'm cherry picking that example because it was pretty extreme -- I had a good day. But I also did a two day stage race this past weekend with a lot of technical stuff, which slowed me down, and my avg HR was 156 on Saturday, 158 on Sunday...And that was my third weekend in a row of racing, so I was actually a bit depleted.

Rides4Beer

+1 for the hydration pack, less dirt, and it's a lot easier to drink from on rough terrain. I still take my bottles, but they're just backup water now.

gus6464

Hydration fanny pack. Best piece of gear I've ever bought. Stuff all kinds of crap in it and lots of water.

Ohh and get a small 3oz squeeze bottle from REI and put pickle juice in it. Anti-cramp shot for when you need it.

Rides4Beer

I use the hydration pack that I have for ultra running, it's the Ultimate Direction AK 2.0. Bladder holds 2l of water and the pockets up front are great for carrying food, and it sits up high enough that I have no problems reaching my jersey pockets.

caloso

3L of water, plus 3 bottles of gel, plus 9 Clif blocks in 3 hours?