My first Mtb Solo Race

[CorsairMac]

wooohoooo and the Fans go Wild!! good on you ma'ma. there's something about those long solo races that seems very appealing to me. I might have to get better at MTB'ng and then look around for one of those.

[han-grrl]

Training for longer races is a bit tricky. Basically you need to build hours on the bike. I had only decided in July that i would do this race, so i hadn't trained a long time for it. I did 3 hour plus mountain bike rides, hill repeats and on days i didnt have a lot of time, basically like a one hour time trial (as hard as i can go for the hour plus warm up and cool down). I am hoping to have this a bit better organized for the next year. it was a bit experimental.

i think longer rides are best done on the road, just to save the body a bit. It isn't very realistic for me to do super long rides on a regular basis, but i will be doing shorter races and enduros to make up for that (like other 8 hour races, or 100 km mtb enduro races). One a month starting in April until the big day in August (that is when i HOPE to do the 24 hour solo).

[han-grrl]

I have learned there is nothing like getting better at mtb than by doing enduro's...you don't get to pre-ride anything, so you have to get used to just riding into stuff. My problem is that i keep losing where the trail goes, so i ended up BUMPING into stuff sometimes

wooohoooo and the Fans go Wild!! good on you ma'ma. there's something about those long solo races that seems very appealing to me. I might have to get better at MTB'ng and then look around for one of those.

[Adventure Girl]

Congrats, han-grrl! Tell me more about your race strategy. Did you stop between laps? How long? I've done a few 24-hour races (5-man relay), so I would ride a 12 mile lap, and then rest for a few hours. But I rode as hard as I could for the full lap.

I've considered doing a solo endurance race. I'd definitely start with an 8-hour one. Solo 24-hour is damn hard core! Another advantage of an 8-hour race is that there is no night riding. In my last race, I had two night laps

Did you have a crew (or at least a cheering section?) What kind of race course was it? Single track? Pretty technical? Long climbs?

So your goal was 4 laps at 10K, and you did 6 laps at 12K?!!? Damn! You need to reevaluate your abilities!

[Veronica]

So your goal was 4 laps at 10K, and you did 6 laps at 12K?!!? Damn! You need to reevaluate your abilities!

Yeah! That's exactly what I was thinking!

V.

[han-grrl]

Ok so number one, ride your own race when you go solo. I saw (and heard about) a few people that went out too hard from the start and paid for it later one. You definitely do not ride the same way as you would a shorter race or as a relay.

You don't bother pedalling up the hills. takes too much energy and will eventually hurt your back. there weren't that many climbs on this race course, but because i was on the hard tail, i took the opportunity to walk, to stretch out the back a little.

I had my hubby as my support. He was definitely handy to kick me back out in the race. because after lap 4, i really did just want to sit.

I ended up refueling after every lap, even just a little. i didn't eat well, so this became a little bit of a necessity. i stopped mostly under 5 minutes each time, after lap 4, i took a longer break because i REALLY needed it. and after lap 5, i needed some major refueling and i was feeling a bit gross (the Boost did not sit well).

what i did learn about eating:
Boost works for me early in the race not later
Chips better than pretzels for me
I definitely crave more salt that sugar during my race.
Have ginger ale next time, i really craved something bubbly (maybe someone can explain THAT one i figure it was to break down the very pasty saliva in my mouth hahaha).

I hadnt brought anything new that i hadn't had before, i just didn't know with the longer race what my body would be in the mood for. I found it rather challenging to eat, i really need things to be as liquidy as possibly.

the course was mostly single track. which made it hard on the body. it was also very rooty, which made it hard with the hardtail. but it was fun.

mentally, i felt good, until about the end of lap 5, when i just simply had enough of the body shaking. it was hard to get in a good flow with this race course, and you couldn't cost anything smoothly because of the roots. there were two smooth sections, the beginning of the race loop and the end of the race loop which were on gravel road.

i lowballed my goal because i am recovering from a back injury, and i simply didn't know how my back would handle riding for so long. apparently it was fine

Congrats, han-grrl! Tell me more about your race strategy. Did you stop between laps? How long? I've done a few 24-hour races (5-man relay), so I would ride a 12 mile lap, and then rest for a few hours. But I rode as hard as I could for the full lap.

I've considered doing a solo endurance race. I'd definitely start with an 8-hour one. Solo 24-hour is damn hard core! Another advantage of an 8-hour race is that there is no night riding. In my last race, I had two night laps

Did you have a crew (or at least a cheering section?) What kind of race course was it? Single track? Pretty technical? Long climbs?

So your goal was 4 laps at 10K, and you did 6 laps at 12K?!!? Damn! You need to reevaluate your abilities!

[runnergirl]

WOW!!! congrats, awesome first race after an injury!

Endurance mt. biking is hardcore-good luck training for the 24 hour! I'm a total single track chicken...but you've inspired me to drag the old mt. bike out there again!

[Adventure Girl]

Ok so number one, ride your own race when you go solo. I saw (and heard about) a few people that went out too hard from the start and paid for it later one. You definitely do not ride the same way as you would a shorter race or as a relay.

That's for sure! As a member of a relay team, you go all out for the whole lap. But for soloists, it's all a matter of endurance. There was one long fire road climb on the course I did. I was passing WAY more people than I normally would. But lots of those people were solo riders.

[han-grrl]

I just wanted to say thanks for being such an awesome group of cheer leaders! IN BIKE SHORTS of course!

I felt pretty good about my race, but you gals are making me blush a bit. Thanks, its nice to hear nice words

[snowtulip]

Wow, great accomplishment! I'm feeling inspired now. I did a mountain bike tour this summer and completely loved the endurance aspect of it and had been considering an 8-hr solo. I might have to go for it! Keep us posted on your future rides.