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

Back racing again.... this time it is on gravel

This weekend I will be taking part in my first gravel race in Oklahoma. The race is called the Oklahoma Gravel Growler and is based out of Shawnee, OK which is around 1 hour from where I live. 

I have only ever raced two gravel events (Green Lake Gravel race report) so it will be interesting to see how the event here compares to them. Hopefully less bear encounters at this event. 

The event has two course options, long  (83 miles) or short (31 miles) and a ultra running event which follows the short course. I'm signed up for the long event. Looking at the distance, I have worked out it will be my longest ride since the 3rd October 2018 where I did a lot of wheel sucking and before that my longest ride last year was the Su100 back in February 2018. I am hopeful I will be able to find a few people to ride with so as to minimise the pain/effort. 

Looking ahead at the weather guesses, it seems its going to be warm with temperatures starting at around 50℉ and rising to 60℉ with a southerly wind of anywhere from 10-25mph which should make things interesting for the return. 

The route heads north ish for around 25 miles which means the return will be roughly 25 miles of headwinds. 

Route in Garmin

I'm using this event as a training ride for the Landrun 100 in March, so it'll be more testing of gear, food and hydration strategies. I will also try and work out how courses work on my Garmin as I never used them. 

419 race report

And that is a wrap, I have completed my first MTB race in Oklahoma. 

As is usual with my races I went into the race with a plan and almost totally failed to execute it. My plan was to try and keep my heart rate in zones 3-4 and have consistent lap times. 

The race started with a LeMans style start, I was definitely not thinking when I placed my bike towards the back of the field. I can also tell I have not been running recently, as I got onto my bike my HR was already in zone 5. My heart rate stayed high throughout the race (ave 170, max 188) though at least it was consistently high :)

For the second goal, I am pretty happy with my execution although I did slow towards the second part of the race, some of this was due to the course changing on laps 4, 5 and 6 where it had thawed a little and turned into a slip and slide in sections. The plus tyres were awesome on the dry sections however in the muddy sections they were lacking in traction which meant I was losing lots of speed through the corners.

Muddy bike

I think this is the dirtiest this bike has ever been.

At the end of lap 6 I was out sprinted to the line to roll though with seconds to spare to get in a 7th lap. The guy who beat me to the line decided not to do a 7th lap even though he too beat the clock. I on the other hand although tired decided that I could manage another lap and hence finish on the same lap as the winner, albeit down by 48min and 32 seconds. This meant that I finished in 8th place which I was not expecting. 

All in all it was a fun race and although I would have preferred to have been riding my Epic, the fat bike on plus tyres performed very well. I am very tired now, however I am sure I would have been almost as tired if I was riding my Epic. Roll on the season, this was a fun way to kick off the season.

Right after this was taken I tagged a tree :)
- Photo credit Celestial Cycles

Would you look at that. 

Results link 

Lap Data

Lap 1 - 176bpm ave HR - Lap Time 40:55.3 - Strava time 39:03

Lap 2 - 175bpm ave HR - Lap Time 40:35.2 - Strava time 39:43

Lap 3 - 175bpm ave HR - Lap Time 41:52.2 - Strava time 40:35

Lap 4 - 173bpm ave HR - Lap Time 43:19.3 - Strava time 42:27

Lap 5 - 171bpm ave HR - Lap Time 45:49.8 - Strava time 44:42

Lap 6 - 166bpm ave HR - Lap Time 46:33.2 - Strava time 45:35

Lap 7 - 157bpm ave HR - Lap Time 48:54.9 - Strava time 47:28

Strava because otherwise it didn't happen. 

Racing in Oklahoma for the first time

419 my first race in Oklahoma

On Sunday I will be taking part in an endurance mountain bike race at Lake Thunderbird. The race is 4 hours and 19min long though I assume if I cross the line at 4:18 and 59seconds I will be able to go out for another lap and ensure my ride is longer than 4hrs 19min.

The weather guessers down here are absolute champions at their jobs. On Monday they were warning everyone about the extreme cold that is coming in, it was looking like a high temperature of 15℉ for Sunday. I was excited that I would get to use some of my Alaskan biking skillset and shine.... 

Weather guess as of Monday 14th January 2019

Alas by today the forecast has changed significantly. It may be 29℉ before we start and going up to 44℉+ before we finish, oh well time to re adjust what I will be wearing. 

Warmer than I was expecting earlier in the week. 

When I prerode the course a couple of weeks ago, my bike (Emma) was acting a little strange. There was a distinct lack of rebound from the rear shock. A trip into the Bike lab and the diagnosis was that the rear shock had blown. This meant the shock needed to be sent off to Specialized for a rebuild. Unfortunately this was going to take around 3 weeks which means I wouldn't have my mountain bike for the 419 race. Luckily I have been living by the n+1 formula for bikes, note this is always a good formula to live by for cycling. 

Henceforth for the 419 race, I will be riding my trusty (lets hope I haven't jinxed it right there) Borealis Yampa (Gloria). I have ridden many many miles on on Gloria in the snow, although this is the first time I have raced her on dirt. I will be riding my 27.5" plus wheelset and since I never invested in a suspension fork, I will be fully rigid, luckily the course is fairly smooth or at least it seemed that way when riding Emma. Gloria has a fresh dose of sealant and a new chain so we are all set to ride. I'm looking forward to taking part in my first race in Oklahoma, even if it isn't riding Emma. 

And finally 

I had a Retul 3D motion capture fit carried out today at the Bike Lab by Tony Steward. 

It was fascinating for me to learn about my body and how that relates to fit on the bike. A few minor adjustments were carried out and I am looking forward to seeing the difference when I next get out on Cross/Gravel/Road bike early next week. 

2019 rolled in and it's just as busy as the previous ones.....

We left Anchorage Alaska, a little over a 6 months ago and are really feeling a little more settled into the life down here in the lower 48. There are many things we as a family miss from Alaska but equally things we appreciate down here.

The munchkin is now swimming four times a week at the local swim club (King Marlin Swim Club),

Getting ready for another training session

she has also joined the cub scouts where I am helping out as a leader.

Becoming a Bobcat, she is actually a Webelos 

Amanda is getting to grips with her job, learning lots about the many different clients she now is working for. She also completed a course about landscape gardening. I am expecting exciting projects to come.

We have also managed to start to find some interesting hiking areas where we get to see some cool geology. 

Family fun looking at rocks

I am currently still playing at being a home maker although I am pursuing work opportunities somewhat related to my degree rather than going back to work at a bike shop. The bike shop is still on my mind though since it was a super fun job. The current situation would mean working weekends for any job would be complicated as Amanda's schedule is so irregular.

I have also joined a new bike team whose primary sponsor is the Bike Lab. They are a lot bigger than Revolution Racing I believe over 80 members. Many of them are road riders/racers but I won't hold that against them :D  they are a really fun crowd to ride with. 

On the road trying to keep up. 

I am riding a lot of gravel in preparation for the gravel races I have signed up for in February and March. Fortunately I can get onto nice and quiet gravel roads within 7 miles of the house, although they don't have (m)any bends I am improving my riding of 90 degree turns and stop signs.

Solo training for the gravel rides

The mountain biking here is very different to Alaska, there are no mountains, although Kincaid wasn't on a mountain either. I am enjoying riding when I get to ride though it normally involves a 40+ min drive to ride. I am to be racing on the 20th January for a 4hr 19min race at a location called Thunder Bird Lake, I pre rode the course with some team mates the other week and enjoyed it a lot.

MTB team pre ride of 419 course

I am also excited to try and work out what category I will race in for the rest of the year on mountain bikes. In Alaska it was easy to choose, I had worked my way up to Expert/open. I don't know how this relates to here though. Hopefully I'll work it out after the 419 event.