It's been an eventful week for me.
I wasn't actually signed up for any races after Sea Otter. But after my success there, I thought I just can't let this fitness go to waste
. So I signed up for my local MTB race - QuickNDirty Summer Series. And another gravel race - BelgianWaffleRide CA. QnD was Thurs at 6pm. BWR was Sunday at 830am. My recovery went well for the past 2 weeks so I'd be ready for QnD. But could I race well twice in a few days...
QnD is thankfully a short race, just over an hour. But because I'm insane, I had a ton of fun going all-out. I set a new all-time 1hr Power PR to get 7th/16 in class. I went back and forth with 4 other guys for 6th place the entire race. Thankfully we dropped 2 on the final climb. Then things got a little tactical on the final flat. I led into the last sharp turn because I knew the other two would pull a bigger gap if I wasn't in front. One rider managed to pull a gap after that. I sat behind the final rider, got a better run on a short downhill, and managed to sprint him to the line. My sprint was 10s at 650w avg & 900w max. That felt good. And I closed the gap to the winner of my class by a minute. Another minute might have me sniffing the podium.
Funny story - MTB/gravel pro Matt Beers showed up to the race. He's in town to defend his BWR win. He spanked everyone on his gravel bike, winning by 42s. He beat me by only 8min!
Here's highlights of the final lap starting at 19:42. I'm in pink.
Recovering Fri and Sat was kinda rough. I did a recovery ride on Fri and a short super-easy recon on Sat. Because of that recon, Sat also included 2 tire swaps. I put on 40s in the morning, hated them on the recon, and put my 44s back on in the afternoon. I was also a little nervous Sun morning when I woke up with slightly wooden-feeling legs. But my warm-up felt alright and there was nothing left to do about it anyway. Well.... turns out the legs were good.
BWR ran a new course this year. "Only" 106miles and ~8000ft of climbing. They ditched a punishing gravel climb and 2 annoying asphalt climbs in favor of 2 gravel sections. I figured the pace would be comparable with faster asphalt and slower gravel. My guess wasn't that far off as the winner went only 0.4mph slower than last year. But I didn't. I pushed really hard in the beginning to stay with the lead group as long as possible. By the top of the first climb around mile 6, I managed to stay ahead of 2 breaks and just had the leaders in sight. Then I passed about a dozen people in the first gravel section by choosing the grass instead of the trail. And then I held on for 5 more hours, lulz. Just like Sea Otter, the legs hurt the whole time but they just kept going. I worked hard to stay in groups to share the wind. I did my pulls. I closed gaps. I ran all the dismount spots. I even had something left at the end. The final dirt climb was 0.5mi at 12% avg - I didn't cramp and managed to drop another rider. I did get out sprinted by 2 riders, but I'm good with that after over 6hrs in the legs.
Goal time was 6:30... Finish time was 6:25:36. I caught up another 8% to Matt Beers compared to last year. And to top it all off, I got 59th overall and 3rd in my age group. So here's a podium picture
The numbers
Pace - last year 15.8mph, this year 16.6mph
Calories - consumed 2400, burned 4700
Fluid - consumed 3.5L, sweat loss 4L
Gap to winner - last year 138%, this year 130%
Overall position - last year 126th, this year 59th
Schedule this week is QnD Round 2 on Thurs and a long MTB event "ride" on Sat. My legs are currently cooked. I will decide Wed if I'm doing either.
It fascinates me because it gives a somewhat of a glimpse into how far ahead the elite really are from us mere mortals. Like, I might know how it feels to push 350 watts for a minute or two AT BEST. Now can i wrap my head around doing that for hours? No. No sir I can not. 
Preferably before you are sweaty as heck. 
