Oklahoma Gravel Grinder 2019 - I went out hard and blew up AKA same story different race

The 2nd of February 2019 was the 4th edition of the Oklahoma Gravel Growler out of Shawnee, OK. I signed up for this race as part of my training for the Landrun 100 in March. My plan was not to race hard and actually treat it as a training ride in HR Zone 3-4, try out gear/hydration/fuelling, this didn't quite go to plan. When I get on the start line, I always get sucked into riding way to fast, this is the reason I don't Zwift, I have very little self control but I'm working on that.  

The weather has been pretty reasonable for the last week and we mostly avoid the polar vortex, temperatures were set to be starting around 50℉ however there was forecast to be a 10-15 mph wind from the south. For once the weather guessers were almost spot on, though the wind speed was more like 12-19mph. 

The Oklahoma Gravel Growler had a couple of race options this year. A short course and Ultra run of 36 miles and a long course of 83 miles all events were chip timed. The run started at 07:30 and the rides started 1 hour later. 

Down town Shawnee

Waiting to start

We had a police escort and neutral roll out for the first four miles. The pace was pretty mellow. Once we turned the corner and the race went live, the pace rocketed up. As usual I was not near the front when this happened however I am glad of this, since I was maxed out trying to maintain the pace I was riding with the group I was with. I didn't manage to get into a good riding group for a while but when I did it was nice to chat to a few people.

Trying to keep up

Ooooophs 180BPM that is going to bite me later. 

My big issue with racing is that I always think I can go faster than I actually can, especially at the start. Looking at my first hour of racing I was working way to hard, this would come back to bite me later on the ride. 

The aid station at 42ish miles came up a little after 2hrs 16min. We had roughly 18miles of tailwind by this point. A quick stop to pee, take on more some HEED and eat some more of the food I was carrying. 

After the aid station I headed out, solo again but soon caught up with another rider Paul from Missouri. After this section of "road"

Honestly its a road...

Woohoo singletrack :D 

Just me myself and I

Hey look more straight roads :)

I rode with Paul for a while and we worked together for a little while into the winds, that was until Seth from Stillwater caught up to us. I started talking to Seth and before I noticed Paul was no longer with us, I should add, Seth who was riding a singlespeed so climbing faster than me. I was feeling good though and Seth is a strong rider. My problem was I was working way to hard to maintain his pace.... Think 10 miles (35min) into a headwind with a HR around 180 oooophs. At around mile 61 Seth rode away from me.

This was the last I saw of Seth. 

I continued on hoping that I would catch onto a wheel to share some of the load into the winds, I saw nobody however, at around mile 70 I started to cramp up in both legs. It was at this point that Desiree White (one of my teammates) cruised past me, seemingly without a care in the world, she went on to win the women's singlespeed category. As was  at this point as pointed out on Facebook, "when a race becomes a ride" - Alan White - 2019

I was then passed by multiple people on the remaining 13miles to the finish, including Paul, I should have slowed down and waited for him for the 10 miles of headwinds. 

Almost done!

I'm almost done here and very happy :)

Race results  

Results here. I took 45th place overall, and 38th place in the open category.

Race results

Lessons from the race

1. If you think you are going to hard you probably are and should slow down and hopefully then you won't cramp up with 13miles to go. AKA I should have ridden this as a zone 3-4 ride I think I would have been just as fast in all honesty as I wouldn't have cramped up. 
2. My hydration seemed to work well.
3. Food was good, though probably a food bag next time. 
4. I want to set up my wheels tubeless again. 
5. I need to draft more, even when getting pelted with gravel or get stronger so I don't have to draft.
6. I should carry pickle juice.
7. Race smarter not harder.   

Strava or it didn't happen obviously